CHANGING MINDS : THE STORY OF KASHMIR
The youth of Kashmir have been amongst the most affected lot since the beginning of Pakistan sponsored militancy in late 1980`s.The valley has seen a lot of troubled years due to the constant provocation and instigation from across the border. However , Kashmir today has seen a paradigm shift from the path of violance as more and more youths are realising the futileness of the path of anger and are joining mainstream society.
A lot of measures are being taken these days by the govt to win over the youths and to project a human face of the forces with the message ‘you are our own’. Engaging the youths in varied activities is the way forward. Sports, handicraft, tourism, culture, photography and recruitment rallies are a few fields where the youths are being engaged.Al Jawad Sports Academy, located at Khanpeth is one such institute which works tirelessly towards ‘Youth Engagement’ in collaboration with Indian Army. Several actitivies like games, athletics meet, painting, taekwondo, X-Country runs, yoga classes etc are organized throughout the year for locals. The General Secretary of the Academy, Mr Syed Shujat Khan himself is a black belt in martial arts, He is also an international medallist at Bangkok, Korea, Singapore & Kattmandu. He takes keen interest in imparting `Self Defence` training to the young girls and boys of the locality. All necessary help are being provided by Indian Army to this Academy to harness the budding talents and to channelize them towards success. Another success story is of a local boy from Chinabal, Yawer Ali Khawaja. Son of an auto driver, but with dedication, hardwork and help from Army,he has won gold at National level in Taekwando, Wushu, Kick Boxing & Jeetkunedo.
These days, the youths of Kashmir are trying hard to grab every opportunity thrown at them to lead a purposeful, successful & peaceful life. The govt needs to live up to their dreams and come up with multi-pronged strategy for youth engagement. If minds can be changed once, they can be changed again with our continuous and dedicated efforts, The descent into violence is slowly but steadily being reversed towards peace and prosperity.
