ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of youth in the Kashmiri self-determination movement in the post-2008 period – in which three major youth-led political mobilizations occurred in 2010, 2016, and 2017. Looking at the varied expressions and modes of dissent by Kashmiri youth, the chapter advances three key arguments: first, youth has emerged as the most significant political actor in the Kashmir conflict. The post-2008 political mobilizations were led by the new political generation, whose insurgent political consciousness must be contextualized in its unique historical location, characterized by deep militarization, violence, and communicative practices. Second, this new political generation is part of the mobilized generation, an ensemble of intergenerational adherents of the azaadi movement cutting across age, gender, and class. This implies that pro-azaadi organizations do not necessarily need to reach out to the public to enlist or mobilize support, because support for resistance is a given. Finally, youth political resistance in Kashmir is driven by “the structural paralysis” that defines the relationship between India and Kashmiris.
