Abstract

Conflict in any of its forms affects the human beings; Youth are the future leaders of any nation and impact of conflict hampers their efficiency of work and thinking; this study looks at the issues faced by the youth of Kashmir due to ongoing conflict, arose by infiltration after 1989. A study on youth aging between 15 to 30 years was conducted in three conflicted affected districts of Kashmir. Interview schedule was used to collect the responses of youth so that both illiterate and literate youths can be interviewed. Survey method was used to conduct this study, the questions were asked to youth in local language namely Kashmiri and back-translation (Brislin, 1970) procedure was used to ensure validity of the interview schedule. The study results make some interesting revelations. It emerges that most of the youth think that issues like identity crises, unemployment, psychological stress, identity crises etc., are all offshoots of conflict. In any conflict hit zone, the government and other agencies should ensure economic security, safety of women and children, skill based education should be provided to youth and parents at their ends should properly do counselling to their children about good and bad. The study about the impact of conflict on youth reveals many facts and also re-verified many others, the data collected from different districts of Kashmir Valley showed youth feels and sufferings they go through due to conflict.

Key words: Youth, conflict, Kashmir, identity crises, unemployment, psychological.