Unemployment Troubles Kashmiri Minds

When Mohammed Amin Bhat finished his graduate study, he was full of hope for the future. Today, the unemployed, poverty-stricken young Kashmiri suffers from depression and thinks of nothing but ending his miserable life.
"To me, unemployment is much worse than death," says Bhat, who is about to turn 35-years-old.
"I am not able to feed my father who managed to educate me despite his poverty," he laments tearfully.
Like thousands of unemployed youths in Kashmir, Bhat, a graduate of political science, has given up on hopes to get a state job.
"I have been trying to get a government job over the past five years but I failed."
The long years of dependence on his aging impoverished parents has led him to severe depression.
"I am the eldest son of my parents and I have to shoulder them at least now as they got old," said in a painful voice.
Irfan, another young Kashmiri, has applied to every single job he came across over the years, but in vain.
His failure to get a job has led him to fall prey to depression and anxiety.
"I am now turning old and I see no chance of getting employed."
Last month, the Jammu and Kashmir government sought European help in addressing the unemployment problem in the state which has around 300,000 jobless youth.
Colossal
Dr. Iqbal-ul-Zaman a retired physician, says depression is now a common mental disorder among the youth, citing unemployment as the main cause.
"Over the past two decades, about 76% percent of the patients come suffering from unemployment stress," he told IOL.
"It is a colossal problem. Patients with multiple psychiatric disorders have been coming to us for treatment."
Iqbal-ul-Zaman warns that unemployment does not only put Kashmiris under the yoke of depression but also affects their family life.
"I have seen family breakups and breakdowns due to depression among the youth."
Many young Kashmiris are turning suicidal or violent as they reel under the stress.
"Youth have lost self-control and they overreact to any kind of situation," said a local doctor in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital.
He added that the cases of committing suicide by hanging, stabbing and jumping into rivers have increased dramatically and they are linked to unemployment.
According police records, about 34 unemployed youth attempted to commit suicide, and 19 of them succeeded, in 2008.
Other depressed youth escape to drugs.
"Sometimes abuse of drugs, like anti-depressants, can also lead to death," Dr. Mansoor Qadri, a post-graduate student in Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), told IOL.
"In such cases, one cannot be sure whether the death was accidental or intentional."
A survey by the Kashmir chapter of Action Aid International last month showed that nearly half of the unemployed youth use drugs to overcome stress and depression.
"I do smoke and even some times take sedatives to ease the tension," Mukhtiyar Malik, a graduate from Kashmir University, told IOL.
He can’t help taking drugs to forget how his parents suffered to help him finish his studies, only to see him end up helpless and hopeless.
"How long will I remain dependent on my father? what is my fault?"