Every human conflict invariably destroys life as well as property. Society gets shattered. However, most of the Wars that are terrible and destructive, sometimes unintentionally result in some gifts for humanity, which prove a God sent boon. The most important gift of Second World War was the discovery of Penicillin, the antibiotic. This single event was able to save millions of lives and the humanity is still grateful for this discovery. The same War resulted in the perfection of Rocket Engine, which ultimately propelled man to the Moon. As the scientists of the combatants untiringly search for newer weapons to destroy each other, they often stumble upon the positive uses of these discoveries. A conflict always results in human misery but unwittingly there are sometimes positive side effects, which would not have occurred in normal course. The turmoil of last decade and a half in Kashmir has turned the entire society up side down. There has been terrible human loss. Property has been destroyed. Social set up has been adversely affected. The prolonged state of uncertainty has caused a psychological trauma for almost the entire population.

The first positive effect of this conflict has been the opening of the outside world to Kashmiris. The valley people have remained confined to this small piece of land for centuries. Even in ancient times they were very reluctant to leave this place voluntarily. Most of the temporary or permanent migrations were under one or the other compulsion, natural or man made. The situation has dramatically changed now. Not only have Kashmiris gone all over the world for business, in search of jobs but also for education. There is not a single well-known tourist destination within the country or even abroad where one does not meet a Kashmiri trader/hawker selling handicrafts. Some people go on temporary rounds selling shawls and a host of other embroidery items etc. Some have established permanent outlets. There are more than 100 kiosks of Kashmiris selling small handicraft items on the beach resort of Mahabalipuram in Tamilnadu. Kochi, the famous town of the country’s present top foreign tourist destination, Kerala, the God’s Own Country, has more than 40 permanent handicraft stores of Kashmiris. Goa is almost like a second home to Kashmiri traders. In foreign destinations, U.A.E. alone has over 300 Kashmiri outlets. There are people in Bangkok, Colombo, Singapore, Malaysia and many other places selling handicrafts. A Kashmiri chain owns one of the top most carpet stores on the Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York. Most of these outlets have opened up during the course of the present turmoil. Apart from the traders going out to personally sell these wares, there has been a big boost in exports. According to the figures of Export Promotion Council of India, the carpet exports from Kashmir increased phenomenally during last decade or so. The main reason for this has been the elimination of middlemen and the direct exposure of Kashmiri Exporters to foreign buyers. Earlier export houses from Delhi or Mumbai used to buy from Kashmiris and in turn export to foreign markets. Now Kashmiris have set up their own offices in these metros and are handling exports themselves. Moreover, in the earlier case there was a limited channel for export in Srinagar. Now these items are first taken to Delhi, sometimes by road and then exported from there. The exporters have a choice because of dozens of channels available in Delhi and other major cities for export. Apart from handicrafts, a group of young Kashmiri entrepreneurs have been exporting spices worth millions to many countries in Europe and Middle East. The greatest handicap faced by some other young exporters is the lack of post production/harvest infrastructure in Kashmir. Had the Government paid attention to this aspect, Kashmiri products from a variety of fields would have been competing in International Markets. May be some of these entrepreneurs set up these facilities on their own, which again would be boon of this conflict.

The other aspect of the society, which has received a tremendous boost, is the initiative of Kashmiri boys and girls to travel to distant lands for higher education. Normally Kashmiri parents were reluctant to send their wards especially girls to even different parts of the country for higher education. Not now. They have been personally taking their wards to distant lands for education in Medicine, Information Technology, Business Management and so on. Our boys and girls are studying in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Canada and a host of other countries. We have now a large number of Russian trained doctors, even though unfortunately quite a few are without jobs. Most interesting aspect of this outflow for education is that a large number of boys and girls are from rural areas that have had a lesser exposure to outside world. After getting all the education from some of the top most institutions, our boys and girls still remain unemployed. The reason for this is lack of opportunities in Kashmir. Reluctance of employers within the country in giving jobs to people of Kashmiri origin especially the younger lot. Inability of these educated unemployed youth to go abroad easily because of hassles involved in getting passports. The most discouraging fallout of the turmoil has been to make Kashmiris suspect everywhere. A number of countries think twice before issuing visas to young people from Kashmir. The only places where they do not have much difficulty are the Middle Eastern countries. If only Government would accelerate the issue of passports to qualified youth, they could get a large number of these people employed in the Middle East.

A short-lived boon of the conflict had been daylight marriages. In the early years of the present turmoil due to prolonged night curfews and hassles faced in mid night travel on different routes, the people had switched over to performing marriage ceremonies along with accompanying feasts during daylight hours. This had greatly eased the situation of the marriage parties, which would in normal times carry on throughout the night. One would often be served food after midnight. However, with the improvement in situation, people have switched back to nocturnal ceremonies and feasts.

A very significant side effect of the turmoil has been the real estate boom and mushrooming of shopping complexes in Srinagar and other major towns of the valley. It is debatable whether it is a positive or a negative effect? Normally all hot spots of conflict face massive destruction such as Beirut, Kabul and Baghdad. But in our case it has been reverse. There has been a mad construction spree as well as rush of land acquisitions all over Kashmir. This has not only shot up construction costs but even the land prices have touched an all time high. The villas, which have already come up or under construction are some of the best anywhere in architectural designs and utilisation of special building materials. Some even have imported fittings and fixtures. Almost every residential area has now more than three to four multi-storey shopping complexes. One would have preferred these things to come up only in commercial areas to ensure privacy of the residences but we are, like the British, slowly turning into a “Nation of Shopkeepers” and do not hesitate even to construct a shopping line on one side of our own private homes. We may give up all bad habits but not the material greed. After all, according to some researchers, we do have a streak of Jewish blood running through our veins!