Homegrown Trouble

Local suicide attackers come cheap, and with less hassle, for the terrorist groups

- Pradip R. Sagar

Gowhar Wani had hardly slept since her son, Farhan, 16, left their home in Kulgam last October. The police said he had joined the militants. She would start crying when she heard about an encounter in the valley, and would be relieved only after she was sure that her son was alive. But, on January 9, she got the worst news in her life.

Farhan Wani was killed in a gun battle with security forces. The class 11 student was one of some 150 youth, most of them below the age of 20, who have joined terrorist groups in Kashmir valley in recent months. An assessment says 45 youth from Pulwama and Awantipora, 24 from Shopian, 12 from Anantnag and 10 from Kulgam joined various militant groups in 2017. While south Kashmir has been a fertile recruiting ground for militant groups after the killing of local boy-turned-terrorist Burhan Wani in 2016, it seems north Kashmir is also getting radicalised. Seven youth from Bandipore, six from Baramulla and Sopore, and four from Kupwara have joined militant groups. These figures could be much higher in reality, as most families in the valley do not report missing young men.

While the security forces are worried about the spreading radicalisation of youth in the valley, they were shocked by the act of Fardeen Khanday, the 16-year-old son of a policeman, who led the suicide attack on the CRPF training centre in Pulwama on December 31. The security forces are worried because local youth were rarely used as suicide attackers in Kashmir. An assessment by the Directorate General of Military Operations in the Army headquarters in Delhi says the way teenagers are embracing militancy and turning into suicide attackers is a serious concern.