On PAMPORE MURDER SPINE CHILLING IT IS TIME WE ALL BREAK OUR BRAINS AND AS A SOCIETY GET OUR ACT TOGETHER

The frequent occurrence of grizzly crimes like the murder of a teenager from Pampore some days ago has now reached an alarming, frightening precipice. A historically benign Kashmiri mind has over the years witnessed rapid criminalization as the sudden exposure to a pervasive media age has been met with a vastly leaderless generation, grown up to live in a trance of cynicism and passivity, often misled at one pretext or the other. The spine-chilling murder in Pampore is not the first such case. We have now seen what we once thought was unseen; sons murdering their fathers over property issues, friends murdering friends over love affairs gone wrong, and a growing spate of teenage suicides. Our society, it seems, is morphing into a society that is the diametrical, dark opposite of what our forefathers dreamt for our nation. Coupled with such a self-destructive and alarming transformation into social and moral darkness, our denial to accept the sordid state of affairs and stack it in the account of conflict and dispute, has kept us away from a general societal introspection. Our political, social and religious leaders have failed to assess and accept the consequence of militancy and violence on our collective mindset, our acceptability of gore and ruthlessness due to our exposure to a prolonged social sanctity for gun-culture and lack of accountability – both from our leadership and our society at large. We, it’s now pretty evident, have reached the stage where taking corrective measures is not an option we can afford to delay any longer. Such corrective measures would have to come from our leadership, not in the form of religious sermons and diktats but in a realization that sanctifying violence – for whichever goal or end – has long-term social consequences. A realization that exploiting a generation is not a substitute measure for engaging a generation and a realization that history has time and again taught civilizations and nations that hope, moderation and rationality are the only antidotes for decaying social rot.