Darakshan Hassan Bhat
Rehabilitation and reintegration are not soft ideas; rather, they are hard necessities for any society that aspires to lasting peace. Peace does not come through security measures alone or with silence in the streets. It becomes a reality when people who have been driven to the fringes of life are given a fair chance to resume normal living with dignity. In areas suffering from protracted conflict, where youngsters have grown up enveloped in fear, uncertainty, and limited opportunities, reintegration becomes the litmus test for a nation’s ability to engage youth in nation-building.
The other side of this reality is the disintegration and alienation of youth from the system and society, or their falling into the trap of drugs or other anti-national activities. This is a result of three decades of turmoil and violence, during which youth, especially the unemployed, have been adversely affected and have often become victims of false records. Many are now facing serious obstacles in pursuing higher education, employment, and even obtaining passports due to prolonged verification processes. Investigation is necessary, but when verifications are not cleared for years together, it leads to disintegration and alienation among the youth. Government machinery must make it clear who is involved in crises and who is not.
After disintegration, rehabilitation is a must. Rehabilitation of the disintegrated Youth must be provided a chance to become responsible members of society. Kashmir, over the past decades, has faced intense violence and radicalization, in which youth were deeply drawn and became victims, leading to their disintegration under different forms of crime. For their integration, rehabilitation is essential. Secondly, there have been various false allegations over the past decades against thousands of youths in Kashmir, which have further alienated them. This process needs to end now, and youth with a clear vision must be given a chance to build their careers and contribute to the future of the nation. Reintegration involves more than merely releasing a person from detention or removing active surveillance; it means restoration of access to education, mobility, employment, and social participation.
Over time, the alienation of youth from the mainstream becomes a serious problem in society. They feel segregated and isolated. These youth are the strength of our society. Such practices deepen disintegration and alienation, particularly among youth, who come to perceive the system not as a pathway to justice or rehabilitation but as a source of collective blame, pushing them further away from the social and political mainstream.
There are minor cases, and there are people whose crimes have not been proven. Some cases have been registered but are not under trial. Investigation is a common procedure and must continue. However, if punishments are imposed based on provocation, anti-national activities, or allegations that later prove to be wrong, and innocent youth are mistakenly trapped, it becomes a matter of alienation that requires immediate reintegration.
Families are suffering. They constitute the first level of support through which youth are guided toward normal life and stability. When families are punished, ostracized, or pushed into homelessness, that support system collapses. The loss of education and career prospects for sons and daughters during prolonged trials makes youth vulnerable and accelerates disintegration. Such damage ripples across generations, internalizing fear and injustice, making peace fragile rather than secure.
The only promising element of intervention for mitigation in such damage is education, but then access to education has to be real and unconditional. Universities and skill institutions would need to become spaces for recovery rather than suspicion. One incident or accusation can’t rub out academic potential. Special review mechanisms, counselling support, and a time-bound clearance system eventually ensure education remains a bridge back into society rather than a locked gate guarded by stigma.
Case-by-case evaluation, clear timelines, and transparent appeal processes can provide security without ruining lives. When a youth has shown years of good behaviour and obtained a verified opportunity abroad, further denial is punishment, not prevention.
Equally crucial is community acceptance. Reintegration comes to naught when labels never fade. Employers, neighbours, and institutions must be encouraged to judge individuals by present behaviour, not permanent suspicion. Here, civil society, educators, and religious leaders bear the responsibility to foster accountability without cruelty, discipline without humiliation, and justice without collective harm.
Peace is built when young people believe that lawful effort leads somewhere and that the system responds fairly to their actions. When doors remain permanently closed due to prolonged procedures, unresolved verifications, or inherited suspicion, despair replaces hope. This form of alienation is not a rejection of law but a gradual disinheritance from the system itself, where youth feel excluded not by ideology but by process. Rehabilitation policies, therefore, must prioritize long-term stability over symbolic toughness. Unnecessary procedural barriers must be removed, old and minor cases reviewed, families protected from collective punishment, and clear, time-bound pathways created for reintegration. Law is not an adversary of integration; it is the very instrument through which responsible citizenship is shaped. Every responsible citizen requires both accountability and the protection of rights under the law. Only when reintegration is real, when education is accessible, livelihoods restored, families protected, and suspicion replaced by opportunity, can peace cease to be a slogan and become a lived reality. Only then can society move forward, not by abandoning its youth, but by enabling their dignified return to the mainstream.
(The author can be reached at darakshanhassanbhat@gmail.com)