OF all the horrors of war, none is as sordid and painful as the phenomena of child soldiers, or worse, children being moti-vated to join terrorist groups. You see these soul-searing images from the ravages of the ethnic wars in Africa, LTTE in Sri Lanka and in the several jihads being waged in various parts of Asia ---- young, teenage boys clutching Kalashnikovs and glaring fiercely into the cameras. Behind the childish exuberance lies the unspeakable horror of a mutilated childhood of sodomy, sadism and sickness. Little boys play with toy guns and grow up to be 'soldiers'.

That is a romanticised image of a normal progression from childhood and infancy to the adult terrorist, with mostly a short life-span. What happens when this normal progression is stood on its head? What happens when boys in their early teens are driven to fight and kill? What transforms a normal child into a psychotic killer? There is no romance involved in this transmutation of innocence. There is simply the horror of a brutalised and trampled childhood. Today the world gasps in horror when it is told of child labour. What about children lured into militancy and terrorism? Of all the unspeakable crimes against humanity this is the very worst.

In its telling report on the future of Pakistan, the International Centre for Peace Initiatives estimates that amongst the various jihadi tanzeems, there are at least 20, 000 child soldiers in Pakistan.

The Indian Army in its efforts to stem this rot has been trying to reach out to the remotest hamlets in Kashmir to build schools with the long-term aim of weaning children away from the lure of terrorist organisations.

The Indian Army has recently constructed such a school in Chatru—a remote village in the backwaters of Kishtwar in
J-K. The school has been designed on the lines of the playway philosophy. It has a colourful polka-dotted roof and gaily painted walls decorated with comic strip characters and Walt Disney cartoons. The aim is to attract children and to encourage them to come forth and play even as they learn. The Army formation of that area had earlier adopted an existing school and similarly transformed it.

A chorus of demands for more such schools from the locals was met by the Army, which constructed a gaily painted and colourful primary school at Chatru at a cost of Rs. 6.5 lakhs. It also went ahead and built an orphanage at Kishtwar at a cost of Rs. 20 lakhs.

The Army has been building schools, orphanages, hospitals, roads and water supply schemes and has also been distributing solar lanterns in the remotest corners of Kashmir. On the principle of people being the worst-hit in counter-terrorist campaigns and the need to assuage their feelings as well as to ameliorate their lot, the Army has been trying to keep its operations as people-friendly as possible and also undertake civic assistance projects for them. The current cease-fire, if sincerely sustained, will give the Army an opportunity to intensify its civic action programmes, which will provide meaningful long-term benefits to the local population.

Following the 1996 elections in J-K, the desperation of the ISI at not being able to recruit more Kashmiri youth, drove it to ‘invite’ foreign terrorists. This time around, after the unprecedented J-K elections in 2002, the scenario in the Valley has changed greatly, much to the displeasure of the ISI. In both cases, its attempts at trying to recruit children never stopped. The Army in J-K, even during the peak periods of operations, continued its civic assistance programme, a major thrust of which has been trying to help children suffering from effects of terrorism. For a number of years, it has been arranging tours for children from interior areas of the Valley to other parts of the country.

As this feature is being written, there is a group of 100 children of Bakarwals and Gujjars who have been brought out on a tour to a number of cities, including Agra, Ajmer and New Delhi. The current cease-fire has given an opportunity to the Army to devote more time and effort towards civic schemes, of which it is pursuing the one for children with missionary zeal.