Through Drugs and Guns, Pakistan-Sponsored Strategists Ruin Kashmir’s youth!

Word For Peace Special 

“Bandook Se Na Goli Se, Baat Banegi Woolie Se”

(Woolie is Slang used for Mixture of Drugs)

By Minhaj Sheikh, Srinagar

The decades-long violence in Kashmir, which was sponsored by Pakistan, led to a killing spree in which thousands of Kashmiri youngsters perished from bullets while their mothers still wail and wait for them to come home.

According to human rights organisations, over 100,000 people have been killed since 1989, although according to official data from Indian sources, the number of civilians murdered as a result of the insurgency is estimated to be over 50,000.

In nutshell, since 1989, cross-border terrorism has been rife in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu & Kashmir, causing a severe socio-economic downturn that required the unrelenting efforts of security forces and the current administration of Jammu & Kashmir to counteract. In addition to contributing to social and economic deterioration, it had also upset the natural equilibrium. Many traders were forced to relocate their trading centres from the Valley to other parts of the country, and a large number of others were forced to look for an alternative source of income to survive the economic crisis. The conflict has affected all significant sources of livelihood for the local population, including agriculture, horticulture, tourism, and the handicraft industry.

The Pakistan-sponsored strategists are determined to harm Kashmir’s youth in one or the other way, and they target all the attempts time to time, made to settle and safeguard the region’s youth. Education is the main sector that terrorism impacted. Because of hartals and curfews, schools were forced to close for months, losing valuable instructional time.

Many government schools that serve children whose families cannot afford to send them to private institutions have been devastated by terrorists.

In 2015. In addition to it, separatists supported by Pakistan planted their people to amplify the feeling of secession among students at all academic levels, from elementary to tertiary. Illegal appointments and widespread favouritism turned educational institutions into a centre of separatism, instilling in young people an “anti-national” attitude. Once these faculty were planted, they used bribes to fill open academic jobs, which hurt education overall. Thousands of students lives were wrecked by the failing educational environment, rampant violence, and conflict, which increased socio-psychological trauma among the populace.

In order to deprive Kashmiri youth of their opportunities and force them to pick up weapons and become cannon fodder for Pakistan and its allies in Kashmir, the playgrounds were abandoned and turned into graveyards. People who supported terrorists and separatist camps illegally occupied the playfields for their personal purpose.

However, since 2019, things seem to have changed. Over the past three years, Kashmir has seen a return to normalcy as terrorists and Pakistani stooges who were active in the Valley are now cornered and their ability to maintain a parallel system has been dismantled.There are no longer any terrorists carrying weapons or grenades since the security forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police have taken them down to size. There are no more cross-fires or grenade attacks. Both shutdowns and stone-throwing episodes are nonexistent.

The return to normalcy in Kashmir has brought peace to the common man. He performs his daily tasks in peaceful conditions. The return to the normalcy led to businesses staying open full time, which increased sales and profits for businessmen.Youth are free to continue their activities in Naya Jammu and Kashmir by taking part in sports competitions that are held in every part of the city. As a result, more than 17 Lac people took part in various sports activities, among whom a number of young people were chosen for National and International competitions and the remainder are performing admirably.

Jammu and Kashmir nowadays is progressing towards peace, prosperity, and development across the board, from the reforms in the education sector to all other sectors. However, as the infiltration of weapons and terrorists is becoming more difficult, Pakistan has now turned to drug trafficking to degenerate the youth of Jammu and Kashmir and to finance terrorism in the valley. Jammu and Kashmir has experienced a sharp increase in drug trafficking in recent years, with heroin and marijuana among the illegal substances that are grown and processed in Pakistan and Afghanistan before being trafficked into Kashmir.

Kashmir has overtaken Punjab as the most drug-affected region in the nation, with 1.2 percent of the population reportedly abusing drugs, with a drug use rate of 2.5 percent.

At least six lakh citizens of Jammu and Kashmir were impacted by drug-related issues, according to the state-level narcotic coordination committee meeting, which was presided over by the Chief Sectary in November 2022. Each year, a drug addict in the Valley spend lakhs, which raises Kashmir’s crime rate. Recent rape and murder cases in Kashmir are an indication of the rise in crime.

Pakistan has revised its policy to “Bandook Se Na Goli Se, Baat Banegi Woollie Se” in light of the fact that smuggling weapons and ammunition into Kashmir is becoming more difficult by the day. As a result, drugs function now whereas weapons & ammunition do not. The biggest challenge in Jammu and Kashmir at the moment is narco-terrorism, sponsored by Pakistan. Ruling elites around the world and human rights organisations need to pay attention to this grave concern. The bloodshed has already cost the lives of a generation of Kashmiris and we can’t afford to lose another to drugs.

Author of this article, Sheikh Minhaj, based in Srinagar, is Research Scholar of Journalism & Mass Communication.