The involvement of some Kashmiri youth in militancy and OGW activities, the arrest of these youth, and the subsequent claim by parents that their son is innocent. This is actually a very sensitive issue. But circumstances demand that we should be talking about it. For all parents caught in this tragic set of circumstances, their son is innocent. Even the son carrying a gun on his shoulders is innocent. In their own way, for these grief-stricken parents, their son is innocent.
It has become a norm in Kashmir now. Violence has got some kind of social sanction. With social sanction, violence becomes normalized in the society. The unfortunate parents whose sons take to militancy – they are part of the same society which accords sanctity to taking on to arms. Hence the son is regarded as innocent.
This is a vicious circle which either the parents are ignorant of, or they conveniently pretend to be ignorant about it. In most of the cases, militants get tracked during the calls made to their parents, siblings, or any other relative. But whenever security forces, particularly the police summon the parents or family members of a man who has joined any militant group, they always deny having any kind of contact with him since he left home. This denial of the parents or the family is self-defeating. The youth who could have been saved from near-certain death loses the chance since the parents deny any communication with him. On the other hand, parents who informed the police of the son’s involvement in militant or OGW activities were able to bring the youth back from the brink. These youth are now rehabilitated and are living a peaceful, harmonious life within the fold of their family.