Srinagar: Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir are intensifying their surveillance on several educational institutions, particularly private schools, due to growing concerns over the alleged “radicalisation of young minds”, especially among female students, officials said here.
The concerns also extend to the alleged widespread use of narcotics, a problem flagged as being particularly rampant in some private schools.
Officials familiar with the developments spoke about disturbing information coming from some private schools forcing authorities to quietly warn them against the spread of radical ideologies among youngsters.
The initiative is part of a larger effort to fight back against the transmission of extremist narratives at the ground level.
Apart from security authorities, the surge in radicalisation has even startled some ex-separatist groups as they are concerned that “another religious extremism wave, forced from the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), will destabilise the valley’s centuries-old ‘Sufi’ tradition”.
There is a palpable concern that radicalisation is still taking place in certain institutions and “unofficial” madrassas.
The sources indicate a sudden surge in pan-Islamist thought among youths, including girls, in the valley as intelligence reports suggest that fanatical clerics are indoctrinating them with a rigid interpretation of Islam that rejects traditional Kashmiri practices, such as visiting and paying obeisance at the shrines of Sufi saints and Rishis.
These customs are being condemned as violations of Islamic teachings, a trend that has been worrying the ex-separatists who did not wish to be named.
The abuse of social media by terrorists has aggravated the issue, creating new challenges to the security of the state.
The educational system of the Valley has been irrevocably harmed, repeatedly proving incapable of presenting students with a future vision and thus resorting to a strict interpretation of Islam as a refuge, officials said.
Three decades of terrorism and geopolitical turbulence have immensely impacted the psychology of the youths in Kashmir, the weakness of which is also usually manifested when incidents of stone-pelting are analysed, they said.
Besides the instability, “there is an increase in the uncontrolled expansion of unregulated madrassas compared to conventional educational institutions, and terror groups are taking advantage and spreading propaganda to emphasise the perceived benefit by using religion as a tool,” the officials said.
Some people nurturing the pro-Pakistan sentiment are also utilising fake images to target “victimhood,” depicting crimes against innocents to incite fury and revenge.
Parallel but no less worrying is the drug abuse menace that has been observed to be a serious issue in some of these schools.
Security authorities believe that a comprehensive solution must be found to combat the double menace of ideological indoctrination and drug addiction in order to shield the youths and ensure the region’s long-term stability.
The Srinagar district police has declared a comprehensive offensive against drug abuse and trafficking, and the last three-month campaign has led to the arrest of 97 people and the registration of 73 cases.
Following intensified police crackdowns that have made heroin more difficult to obtain, addicted youth in Srinagar are increasingly turning to medical opioids as a substitute.
