Body counts and missing person reports reveal one side of the human toll from Kashmir's insurgency, but they are unable to tell us much about the mental state of the living. How does one assess the mental and social health of Kashmiris, and by what measure do we calculate the accumulated damage on the mind of 13 years of conflict? Data collected from Srinagar hospitals and social surveys conducted by scholars and students in the state of Jammu and Kashmir are beginning to provide a partial answer to this pressing question. What they reveal is a highly traumatised population beleaguered by the effects of daily violence and social dislocation. Even if all violence in the state were to stop tomorrow, the psychological and social damage would continue to be felt for years to come. But the fact is that this political conflict is not likely to be tidily resolved in the foreseeable future, and the battle between the up to 700,000 troops stationed in the state and the 3500-odd insurgents (the figure presented by New Delhi) is expected to continue. Meanwhile, a continuously rising tide of depression, troubled families, delayed marriages and suicides is swamping the state.
Missing persons, disturbed survivors
Official statistics say 13,184 people have gone missing in Kashmir since 1990, most of whom state officials say have joined militant outfits, a claim disputed by many families. Out of this total, 135 (about one percent) have been declared dead by the government. Most families that are missing members have, despite repeated efforts, failed to find satisfactory explanations for the disappearances. In 1994, a group of these relatives formed the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). They have since visited security officials, police stations, politicians, courts and prisons throughout India with photographs of sons, brothers, fathers and husbands, trying to settle the uncertainty surrounding the disappearances. As of June this year, the State Human Rights Commission had received 1726 complaints concerning disappearances, out of which 811 have been 'processed', leaving 915 pending.