Kashmiri children tread a new path
Far from the sweltering heat of the plains of Punjab, a few young Kashmiri boys waited anxiously for their matriculation exam results in the mountains of militancy-infested remote areas of Kashmir Valley. While those living in cities and suburbs had access to the Internet to see their results, the boys living in far-flung areas did not have this facility.
To their bad luck, the BSNL network too hadn’t been working smoothly for the past few days in Kashmir. There wasn’t any other way results could have been communicated to these students studying in the Army Public School, Beas in Punjab; they had come home for the summer holidays. Butterflies fluttered in their stomachs as they awaited a phone call from their school to inform them about their fate.
And the call did come, bringing with it a new dawn, a new hope and a new zest for life. The Kashmiri boys had surprised everyone in northern India. They had not only secured very good marks, one of them had even topped the school having a strength of 1,000 children from the entire northern India, securing 95.4 % marks in the matriculation exam.
For Ishfaq Zahoor of Astingoo Bandipore, this was a new dawn that kindled a hope and promise of a bright future. A shy student who had opened his eyes in Kashmir’s violent situation and had never witnessed anything but bloodshed, it was the best moment of his life so far. He had made the Kashmiris proud of him.
Three years ago, when Ishfaq’s father Zahoor Ahmed Lone, a head constable in Jammu and Kashmir Police, got to know about the Army’s initiative to send some Kashmiri students to different Army schools outside J&K for further education under Operation Sadhbhavana, a civic action programme launched by the Army in 1998, he did not lose the opportunity and encouraged his youngest son Ishfaq to avail of the opportunity. And he did.
The Army conducted an entrance examination all over Kashmir Valley in which hundreds of Kashmiri students appeared. Not everyone was successful. Ishfaq Zahoor and Aamir Nazir Khan of Sopore, Baramulla, were among those who cleared it. A total of 100 militancy-affected children from Jammu and Kashmir, mostly orphans, were given admission in this institution in 2003.
For the hapless Kashmiri children, it was a new beginning. Their identical sufferings arising out of similar unfortunate circumstances became a bonding between them. Most of them had suffered because of the militancy. Somebody’s father was gunned down, while another was deprived of his mother. There were many whose both parents had been killed by militants. They had been living in different areas of the state in a depressing atmosphere.
Besides, militants had disrupted and destroyed academic infrastructure. This was done primarily because an educated and liberal Kashmiri could not easily be converted into a jihadi, but would have questioned their authority. There are enough schools in Kashmir but their infrastructure is in poor shape. Once militancy was brought under control, to instill confidence in the minds of children and wean them away from jihadi organisations, education was on the army’s priority list. Unaware of the sufferings of the other children, they were selected by the Army for a healing touch and were admitted to the Army Public School, Beas, in classes 5 to 7.
Had the Army not given Ishfaq Zahoor the opportunity to go to APS Beas to pursue his studies, he would have probably passed out from the Al Mustafa Islamia Model Public school, Bandipore, north Kashmir, where he studied and would have taken admission to the Government Higher Secondary school in the same area. In the turbulent situation in Kashmir, he could at the most think of a graduation degree from the Sopore Degree College, which is some 20 km away. Boys and girls from Bandipore have to travel to Sopore everyday for pursuing higher education.
Ishfaq (16) is among that generation of Kashmiri children who have never seen normal lives. What normalcy is all about, what life could be away from guns, grenades and bloodshed, is unknown to the generation of Kashmiri youths born after 1990 when insurgency had already taken its roots in Kashmir.
Thanks to the Army, some 100 children from Kashmir got a chance to study outside the state. Today, they are different boys. Smartly dressed, they reside in one of the best campuses of Army schools in the country. Their confidence level has gone up. The transformation has to be seen to be believed.
If a beaming Ishfaq Zahoor responds to each and every question in fluent but slightly Kashmiri-accented English, Aamir Nazir Khan, however, has no such accent problem in his conversation and can well stand out as any north Indian boy.
Overcoming all the challenges that he and other Kashmiri children had to face in an alien land in Punjab at the Army Public School, Aamir too has made his father, Nazir Ahmed Khan, Principal in charge, Government Higher Secondary School, Younsho, proud.
For lack of facilities and infrastructure, Aamir, a resident of Khanoo Babagund village, situated some 20 km from Sopore town, studied in Government Middle School, Haripora, and then Government High School, Younsoo.
Though there were some apprehensions about his joining the Army Public School, his father ,who is much emancipated, told him that it wasn’t necessary that he should join the Army after studying in that school
Abba (father) told me that I could choose any career even after studying in an Army school. He knew that it would give me confidence and discipline,” says Aamir who would be leaving for Beas by the end of this month as the school is reopening in the first week of July and he has to gear up for his 11th class studies.
For all these Kashmiri boys and girls who could ultimately make it to APS Beas, life wasn’t so easy initially. Away from their homes, they had not only to adjust to the new surroundings and a new culture, but also learn about coexistence.
“What we did see in these 14 years in Kashmir was dead bodies, bloodshed, blasts and abductions. When we opened our eyes in this world, we were greeted with big explosions nearby and as we grew in the lap of our mother, we only heard gunshots. But in the past three years, we saw the strength of diverse culture of the country,” says Aamir Nazir, adding that all of them had never lived with people from other religions. Kashmiri Pandits had fled the Valley and it was only one community that they interacted with in Kashmir. This generation of Kashmiri youths was never exposed to Kashmiriyat or the concept of coexistence. Though it was difficult, it wasn’t impossible.
Today, at the end of three years, they have many Hindu and Sikh friends and they are very happy about it, thanks to the Army’s Sadhbhavna.
Besides, they had to overcome problems like weather (the weather difference between Kashmir and Punjab is all too stark), homesickness, shifting from Urdu medium to Hindi and English medium, from state board to Central board, and so on. But hard work, extra coaching, counselling to the students and parents, congenial hostel environment and remedial measures taken in time by the APS authorities produced outstanding results of all the class X boys of J&K studying at APS, Beas.
But did they expect that they would secure such good marks?
“Yes, there was a lot of expectation from me. When I was sent outside by my parents, obviously I was under pressure, I had to perform and I am happy I have come up to the expectations of my parents and teachers,” says Ishfaq, adding that he was confident he would fetch over 95 per cent marks.
However, the confident young Kashmiri boy is perturbed as to why one mark (he got 99 out of 100 in mathematics) was deducted. He claims he had attempted the full paper correctly.
Such an inspiration Ishfaq has become for the Kashmiri children, that his elder brother Nayeem Zahoor, who failed in 10+2 examination in Bandipore, now wants to appear in the examination again and continue with his studies.
“Never in their lives had these children expected that they would get to see the outside world, not to talk of seeking good education in a normal situation away from the gunfire and the smell of the cordite in which they had grown up,” says Zahoor Ahmed Lone, Ishfaq’s father, adding that his son is determined to become a police officer, which in fact is also his dream.
“I am a head constable in the state police. I wanted to become an officer in the force which I could not. I would think that I have performed Haj if my son can become an officer, thus fulfilling my own dream,” he adds as his eyes turn moist.
Now that Ishfaq, Aamir and other students are exposed to the outside world and have tasted the success, their quest for knowledge has increased further and they are all set to chase their dreams.
“Now we want to see the outside world. We would like to go to new destinations, explore new avenues - may be out of India where we can leave our mark as Indians,” says Ishfaq, adding that till they were given the opportunity by the Army to explore their potential, to find out more about their capabilities, they did not know they were capable of doing so. Now having known that, these kids think the sky is the limit.
“My father is a simple head constable but I am proud of him. He trusted me and now I want to become an IPS officer and come back to J&K to serve my people,” says Ishfaq.
His classmate, Aamir, who has secured 87.20 per cent marks, wants to become a software engineer. His adaptability to the new environment is clearly reflected by the fact that he has excelled both in academics and cultural events, especially singing, and has won accolades.
Today is the beginning of a new life for them.
(The author is a Special Representative of The Statesman based in Jammu)
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