Engaging Kashmir's alienated youth

Political engagement is essential in Kashmir, but not just to capture power

Last week, I spent four days in Kashmir reading the mood amongst youngsters there. Engaging the Kashmiri youth is critical. With the decline of the Joint Resistance Leadership — largely the outmoded separatists of the Hurriyat Conference — a fragmented and highly localised youth leadership now guides confrontation with the security forces. 

Speaking to youths, especially in the roiling districts of South Kashmir, it becomes evident that the longstanding Kashmiri tradition of anger at mainstream India has turned into bubbling, visceral hatred. Almost every Kashmiri will argue that the flagrant anti-Muslim bias of the Narendra Modi government has validated the