‘Why Youth Pick Guns’-The New Age Militancy of Kashmir-
Qazi Shibli
Khalid Abbas, Senior Software Engineer based in Bangalore, is worried about the success of the e-business he is about to launch, due to the frequent internet bans. Unofficial data reveals that in the past three months internet has been blocked more than two dozen times in various parts of Kashmir valley, mainly down in the four districts of Southern Kashmir, Pulwama, Kulgam, Islamabad (Anantnag) and Shopian. Khalid, 29 is a resident of South Kashmir.
Since 2010, agencies in India have fixed their gaze over the four districts of the Southern Kashmir –Islamabad (Anantnag), Shopian, Pulwama and Kulgam. Post-2010, there has been a drastic rise in the number of local youth taking up arms from here. Encounters between Militants and Government forces are daily news and the local...