MANZOOR-UL-HASSAN
Srinagar, Feb 11: Governor NN Vohra on Saturday said the Kashmiri youth were being alienated and frustrated by ‘worrying political happenings’ in the past including 1987 elections that prompted violent reaction from them and changed the political discourse thereafter.
“Post 1970 years were very eventful that changed the political discourse and later the worrying elections of 1987 frustrated the Kashmiri youth,” he said while chairing a panel discussion on ‘Kashmiri Youth and Media: A Perception Survey’ at a hotel here.
Speaking on the occasion, Vohra admitted said the time had come for shifting full attention to governance issues. “Our concern this time should be to provide a space to youth to engage them productively,” he said.
Governor said the recent Home Ministry survey had tried to touch some of the important points vis-à-vis Kashmir. “It should be treated as a starting point. However there are certain areas which were left out in the survey like pre-1990 period,” he said. Much more needs to be done to carry this exercise forward, he added.
“There is a need to conduct such surveys in far-flung districts with a much larger sample size,” Vohra said.
The panel discussion was organized by the Institute for Research on Indian and International Studies in the backdrop of releasing its study report regarding media impact on Kashmiri youth conducted by its honorary director Navnita Chadha Behera. “The idea of the research was to understand the usage and impact of media and other communication channels available to the youth in Kashmir. And one important thing which comes out of it is the realization that we need to engage youth. There is a need to give them sense of security and democratic freedom,” Behera said.
She pointed to the total opaque system under which the media was functioning in Kashmir. “There is no such thing as Audit Bureau of Circulation in Kashmir. There is no way to know circulation of newspapers or reach of the electronic media,” she observed.
According to her the research has also found that use of force by government and booking youth under various laws like Public Safety Act (PSA) keep them at bay from political rallies and mass protests.
Other participants in the discussion including journalists and academicians were critical about the timing and language of the survey report. “This is the first survey that tries to know the media usage in Kashmir but the vocabulary used in the report is confusing as it doesn’t put the statement made in it into perspective,” said BBC’s Kashmir Correspondent Riyaz Masroor.
Quoting an example from the report, Masroor said the finding that Kashmir youth is turning to Islam has been misrepresented in the report. “This statement creates confusion in the minds of people. We were religious before also and the frame in which this point was made doesn’t clarify the finding,” he said.
Journalist Bashir Manzar said the survey should have incorporated the perception of youth living outside Jammu and Kashmir. “The next generation of Kashmir is moving towards New Delhi and other parts of India but rather than becoming the ambassadors they return with bitter experience of harassment and assault. So government has to think over the issue,” he said.
Academician Prof Neera Chandhoke expressed her views on the genesis of Nation States in the international context, the glorious pluralistic traditions of Kashmir and the significance of Article 370 of the Constitution of India.
“Kashmir issue and aspiration of valley people should be thoroughly discussed at the academic level and at social science forums to get the clear understanding about it,” she said.
Prominent among those present on the occasion were Vice-Chancellor, SK University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Dr. Tej Partap, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar H Samoon, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune, R. Chengappa, journalist Ahmad Ali Fayaz, academicians from Kashmir University and Islamic University, businessmen and social activists.
(www.greaterkashmir.com)
