Childhoods Lost In A Troubled Paradise

Kashmir’s children grow up traumatised by conflict and live in perpetual fear of being picked up by the state

- R. Vaigai, Anna Mathew & Devika S.

Every third child in Shopian district, Jammu and Kashmir ( J&K), has a clinically diagnosable mental disorder, said a survey published in the Community Mental Health Journal earlier this year. Around 1.8 million adults in Kashmir Valley — 45% of its population — showed symptoms of mental illness in 2015, according to Doctors Without Borders. Thus, even prior to the incidents of August 5, the disastrous results of a history of violence, illegal detentions and torture in the Valley were visible on the region’s children.

The horror has since continued and got magnified, as chronicled in many reports. Media has reported illegal detention of scores of children, many of them whisked away at midnight by law enforcement officers with no record of their arrests, making it difficult to trace them. A report by economist Jean Dreze in August detailed illegal detention and torture of boys. A recent report by the Indian Federation of Indian Women and other organisations gave a first-hand account of the haunting spectre of mothers standing at their doorsteps in the desperate hope of their children’s return, not knowing where they are. These disappearances are in clear breach of the Supreme Court’s directions in the D.K. Basu case, where the court said that the next of kin have to be informed of every such arrest and the reasons thereof.

Pawns in a political game

Kashmir’s children have become pawns in a political game where the government wants to punish those protesting against its authority. Between 1990 and 2005, a total of 46 schools were occupied by the armed forces and more than 400 schools gutted between 1990 and 2005, according to a 2006 report of the Public Commission on Human Rights. Such destruction of educational infrastructure, in addition to the unlawful detentions, leaves a lifelong impact on children, perpetuating a cycle of trauma, fear and bitterness.