While protests, curfews, shutdowns and stone-throwing are not rare in the Valley, the scenes witnessed in the streets of Kashmir have changed. Children as young as five can be seen carrying banners and raising slogans like ‘Hum kya chahte — Azadi’.
These children have been exposed to bloodshed and violence for the first time. People say that the new generation is getting consumed by the conflict.
“We have blocked this road because we want azadi, there should be complete shutdown. We block this road every day. We are being killed by police and CRPF. They are firing pellets. We should not stay quiet. Humko azadi chahyay (we want freedom),” says Danish (8), a student of Class III in uptown Srinagar.
When asked how does he differentiate between the CRPF and the police, Danish takes a pause, thinks and answers. “Policemen speak in Kashmiri, CRPF personnel speak in Hindi,” he says.
This generation has become conscious of the current atmosphere of violence and bloodshed around them. Their parents say that for them the games have changed and they are slowly losing their childhood.
“They don’t hear rhymes and songs, their game is raising slogans. They don’t have the childhood like children in other states. They know bullets and pellets which are their words. They get scared when they see images of killings in newspapers and scenes in the streets. We cannot change anything for them, we are not able to stop them,” says Fareeda Begum, a mother of four.
A Valley-based psychologist says that the current scene of violence in Kashmir has impacted the children and their participation in the street protests is the reaction.
“The children observe everything and it becomes difficult for their families to control them because they want to take their own decisions. These children understand that things around them are not normal. The closure of schools is one of the reasons that these children start thinking about these incidents,” he added.
“We are not paid protesters as we are being defamed. We are in the streets because we are under oppression,” says a 16-year-old Class X student, Kamran, from Srinagar.
“I have not opened my books for the last four weeks. We feel life is priority for us,” he added.
Armed with slogans, 5 Yr olds lend hype to ‘Azadi’ Chorus
