LIVING in a conflict zone often confuses one’s existence. The perpetual state of war alters human behaviour, beliefs, and emotions. Growing up in the valley of Kashmir with never ending uncertainties, fear, and insecurity has a deep disturbing effect on the psyche of the local population especially children.
The lockdown in Kashmir has entered its fourth month now with children being the worst victims. About 1.5 million children are cooped up in their homes with parents playing the role of teachers and guards. Rounding up of underage children by the state makes the situation unprecedented. Reportedly, scores of minors have been detained without any legal recourse. With no schools, curfew, and volatile situation, it is not hard to imagine how they cope. No education and no play cannot make any child content with their existence.
Happy childhood is a key to a happy life. There is enough evidence that negative childhood experiences are key to many mental health issues in adulthood. Children look for constant stimulation and activity for engagement, otherwise, they get bored which can lead from minor behavioural problems to severe mood changes. With no schools, the forced holidays have become a burden.
Parents trying to keep children safe often restrict their movement. Children lose the freedom to play, explore and learn from natural surroundings. This is akin to be born in prison where you are caged in a scary basement completely deprived of outdoor play. They cannot even watch their favourite videos and programmes due to continued internet blockade. After being born is conflict, growing up in siege, they live under constant reminder of abnormality without any reasonable explanation as to why they cannot attend school, play or even socialise.
Children have also become victims of state politics to showcase normalcy. Recently the government tried to force them to attend schools and attend examinations. One could argue that their safety and wellbeing is put under risk to score brownies merely by forcing the local population to surrender and humiliation. With mass arrests of people, it is clear that children again bear the burden of not seeing their parents, and are constantly reminded of living in a society which is under collective punishment.
How would a tender fragile mind deal with such severity? Having a role model sans ambiguity in a child’s life is a key to development of the kid as a confident adult with self-esteem. Even a minor parental discord or conflict can ruin a child’s life forever. Now imagine a tender population with lack of direction, clarity, multiple connotations, ongoing reminders of trauma, and unnatural normalcy.
The suffering of children does not stop here. When one is born in such circumstances and grows up in such abnormal surroundings with reminders of pain, barbed wires and locked schools, without any semblance of what normal childhood looks life, the trauma becomes generational. How does generations cope and what becomes of them can ever be underestimated? There have been numerous research studies and reports, documenting the scale of psychological trauma the population has experienced over the years. The current generation is virtually born in the shadow of the gun and continues to experience the conflict daily.
There is no family in the valley which has remained unaffected. The number of killed is reportedly more than one hundred thousand, many more orphaned, enforced disappearances in thousands, most men and youth having been subjected to some kind of torture, beatings, bullying, and the list goes on. Anyone who makes out of jail will give you a heart-wrenching account of torture from being beaten-up black and blue, paraded naked, cuts, electric shocks, sexual abuse to third-degree torture being used with impunity. Humiliation and denigration go hand in hand in the process.
Psychological issues are bound to creep up with children showing signs of distress- like irritability, behavioural changes, aggression, self-harm, suicidality, and predilection towards illicit drug use. It is hard to fathom how to help them unless the psychological and physical siege is addressed for good. With hardly any access to relaxation, entertainment, and means of education, such problems are bound to become deep-rooted.
There is no access to child counselling or for that matter mental health first aid when required. With a complete ban on internet access and wobbly phone connectivity, professionals willing to intervene are themselves helpless. The dismantling of civil society and voluntary organisations with no local governance catapults the melancholy of these children. I shiver thinking about the children living in hundreds of orphanages across the erstwhile state. The silence of world powers and people who could drive an impactful, sustainable change in the lives of these children, is equally baffling.
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