THE child is father of the man." This line by Wordsworth goes a long way in reflecting the credibility of words, behavior and children's attitudes in judging the crisis they are experiencing. This factor surfaced strongly when children were interviewed about the prospects of an Indo-Pak war.
An attempt was made to reach out to families of both Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri background. With the Kashmir dispute being the cause of the Indo-Pak conflict that has brought them to the edge of a fourth war, Kashmiris could not have been ignored. The non-Kashmiris were deliberately approached to highlight the difference in approach.
A young mother who lives in Srinagar said, "We have had war on our doorsteps for more than a decade. Every night, I put my daughter to bed, fully dressed, even with her shoes on, lest some armed persons knock at our door forcing us to flee. An Indo-Pak war would only make things worse for us. We don't want a war. No Kashmiri wants a war." A question was directed to her daughter but the mother interrupted saying, "Kashmiri children do not know what peace is. The Kashmir-crisis dominates even the games they play, acting like Indian or Pakistani militants. Though the lady's living room reflected some degree of affluence, her words showed clearly that wealth had not exempted her family from the trauma that all Kashmiris were experiencing.
When the question was asked of non-Kashmiri children living in Delhi, their reactions were less emotional and surprisingly objective. A fourteen-year-old said, "We don't want war but it's difficult to say what will happen in the future." One of his classmates continued, "Will war solve the problem? If it would, India should go ahead and fight Pakistan but as war is unlikely to solve the problem, I fail to see what India would gain." Another student commented, "With practically the whole world against an Indo-Pak war, India faces the risk of turning the world against it." A girl added, "There will not be any war. All my friends are of this opinion. Besides, we all know, the entire war-drama is for winning votes in elections." When the children were questioned about Kashmiris caught in the crisis, they had no comments. Stunned by the children awareness, they were asked for their sources of information.
Did they read newspapers? Did they watch TV news? They responded strongly and almost unanimously: "NO." "We don't have time to read newspapers." "On weekends, I read the headlines." "I read only the cartoons." "I read only the cartoons and horoscopes." "We have a lot of school work to do. The little time that we have for television is for entertainment."
So where did their opinions come from?
They explained that their parents, elder brothers and sisters were more or less constantly discussing the subject. Home discussions had helped them form opinions. When asked whether they were voicing their family members' views, most shook their heads and said not.
Would Kashmiri-children have reacted in the same way? This question was asked of a Kashmir journalist and her answer was "No. In Kashmir, the atmosphere is not conducive to such free and open discussions. People are too frightened to speak loudly for fear of being targeted. Even at home, parents are wary of expressing their opinions in front of their children. With the mind of Kashmiri-children a blank, the militants can put a gun in their hands and have the children follow them blindly. With the Kashmiri child seeing guns all around him, he does not hesitate to reach for one without thinking."
Informal conversations revealed that the people affected most by the Indo-Pak tension, the Kashmiris, are strongly against a war. They are desperate for peace. While Indians are in general against the war, they still have not awakened fully what the Indo-Pak tension means to those living in and near Kashmir. At this point, it is difficult to close one's eyes to the hard reality. Whether the children remain silent spectators or participants, they are marked as much, if not more, by the events as their elders.
