The Impact of Pornography on Adolescent:

Pornography use today is becoming more mainstream and normalized, especially since the advent of high-speed internet. The influence of internet pornography has been debated and researched by numerous disciplines as the internet is expanding throughout the world. The internet has become the central vehicle for the distribution of pornography, which has altered the way in which individuals use pornography.The internet makes pornography available, because nearly everyone has internet access; the use of pornography has become anonymous, because one can access pornography without anyone else knowing about it; the internet makes pornography affordable, because one no longer has to spend on a VHS tape or DVD because the majority of internet pornography is free; and finally, the internet makes pornography increasingly addictive, because it removes all barriers to access, and because of the sheer quantity of content, both of which have contributed to heightened levels of arousal that were not prevalent in pornography users before the advent of internet. In discussing the influence of pornography use, it is important to define pornography and its distinction from erotica. In one study, Senn and Radtke (1990) differentiated between violent pornography, non-violent pornography and erotica:“Violent pornography” contains “images that portray explicit violence of varying degrees perpetuated against one individual (usually female) by another (usually male).” “Non-violent pornography” contains “images that have no explicitly violent content but may imply acts of submission or violence by the positioning of the models or the use of props. They may also imply unequal power relationships by differential dress, costuming, positioning or by setting up the viewer as a voyeur (e.g., the model is engaged in some solitary activity and seems totally unaware or very surprised to find someone looking at her).” “Erotica” contains “sexual images that have as their focus the depiction of mutually pleasurable sexual expression between people who have enough power to be there by positive choice. They have no sexist or violent connotations and are hinged on equal power dynamics between individuals as well as the camera/photographer”.
EXPOSURE TO PORNOGRAPHY IS COMMON IN ADOLESCENCE:

Recent studies suggest that exposure to sexual material is common. Fifteen percent of 12–17 year old children report looking at ‘X-rated’ material either online or through traditional mediums. When unwanted exposure also is included, 42% of such 12–17 year old in one nationally representative survey report any exposure to x-rated material online, 20 and 70% of such 15–17 year old internet users in another nationally representative survey reported accidentally viewing pornography online ‘‘very’’ or ‘‘somewhat’’ often. In a study of 876 young people aged 15-25 years in Sweden who visited a youth center for a period of one year, “nearly all of the participants had viewed pornographic movies (among those 15 years of age, 98.9% of boys and 73.5% of girls). The majority of males (62.7%) responded positively toward pornography, describing it as ‘stimulating’ and ‘cool,’ but about all ‘exciting’.
EXPOSURE TO PORNOGRAPHY HAS NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT AND RELATIONSHIPS:Using a study of 2,343 Dutch 13-20 year olds found frequent exposure to sexually explicit materials (pornography) via the internet was related to greater sexual uncertainty (i.e., clarity of one’s sexual beliefs or values) and more positive attitudes toward uncommitted sexual exploration (i.e., sexual relations with casual partners). Prolonged exposure to pornography leads to exaggerated perception of sexual activity in the populace (e.g. sodomy, group sex, sadomasochistic practices and bestiality). It also creates dispositional changes including diminished trust in intimate partners, the abandonment of hopes for sexual exclusivity with partners and the evaluation of promiscuity as the natural state. It fosters cynical attitudes about love, and sexual pleasures are considered attainable without affection toward partners. A rigorous meta-analysis of 46 studies provides clear evidence confirming that pornography exposure is one important factor contributing directly to the development of sexually dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours. The adverse effects of pornography exposure identified include: developing sexually deviant tendencies; committing sexual offenses; experiencing difficulties in one’s intimate relationships; and accepting rape myths (e.g. a rape victim deserved to be raped because of how she dressed).PORNOGRAPHY EXPOSURE CONTRIBUTES TO SEXUAL AGGRESSION IN SOME USERS:A study of 804 Italian males and females aged 14 to 19 found pornography use and sexual violence were significantly correlated. Females who watched pornographic videos were at significantly greater likelihood of being a victim of sexual harassment or sexual assault, while males who viewed pornography were significantly more likely to report having sexually harassed a peer or forcing someone to have sex. Among the 10-15 year old respondents surveyed nationally in the Growing up with Media Study, self-reports of intentional exposure to ‘x-rated’ violent material are associated with significantly higher odds of reporting perpetration of sexually aggressive behavior. This association remains significant even after a range of risk factors are considered. Importantly the relationship between ‘x-rated’ material and sexually aggressive behavior appears to be driven by the violent content of the ‘x-rated’ material. When violent and nonviolent ‘x-rated’ material are examined separately, consumers of violent ‘x-rated’ material are almost six times more likely than non-consumers of violent ‘x-rated’ material to report sexually aggressive behavior. In contrast, consumers of non-violent ‘x-rated’ material are statistically equally likely to report sexually aggressive behavior compared to those who report no consumption of non-violent ‘x-rated’ material.In a study of 483 seventh and eighth grade boys increased exposure to sexually explicit media at the study’s outset predicted more frequent sexual harassment perpetration two years later, even considering controls (i.e. demographics, pubertal status, and sensation seeking).A growing body of evidence indicates that high-frequency pornography use or consumption of violent pornography among boys and young men intensifies attitudes supportive of sexual coercion and increases their likelihood of perpetrating assault.Sexually Reactive Children and Adolescents (SRCA’s) are individuals who engage in sexually inappropriate and/or coercive acts with other youth and adults. Such children and adolescents are often victims of neglect, sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse. SRCAs who used pornography were 5.1 times more likely to engage in coerced vaginal penetration, and 4.9 times more likely to have engaged in sex with animals than a nonusing cohort.In a sample of 312 juvenile sexual offenders and non-sexual offenders, more than 50% percent of both groups saw some form of pornography before age 10, and nearly all youth were exposed to pornography after age 10. Pornography was not found to have a correlation with the age at which sexually offending youth began abusing others, the severity of their offenses, the total number of their victims, or degree of force used in their offending behaviors. However, pornography exposure was significantly correlated with their sexual arousal toward males under 12, masochism, males and females aged 13-18, and sadism. Additionally pornography exposure prior to age 10 was significantly correlated with felony assault, general delinquency, felony theft, drug sales, alcohol use, drug use, robbery, public disorderly conduct, and property damage.ADOLESCENTS AT RISK:Pornography viewing among teenagers disorients them during that developmental phase when they have to learn how to handle their sexuality and when they are most vulnerable to uncertainty about their sexual beliefs and moral values. A study of 2,343 adolescents found that sexually explicit internet material significantly increased their uncertainties about sexuality. The study also showed that increased exposure to sexually explicit internet material increased favorable attitudes toward sexual exploration with others outside of marriage and decreased marital commitment to the other spouse.Another study by Todd G. Morrison, professor of psychology at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and colleagues found that adolescents exposed to high levels of pornography had lower levels of sexual self-esteem. A significant relationship also exists between frequent pornography use and feelings of loneliness, including major depression.Finally, viewing pornography can engender feelings of shame: In a study of high school students, the majority of those who had viewed pornography felt some degree of shame for viewing it. However, 36 percent of males and 26 percent of females said they were never ashamed of viewing pornography, 10 giving some idea of the level of desensitization already reached in society. High adolescent consumption of pornography also affects behavior. Male pornography use is linked to significantly increased sexual intercourse with non-romantic friends, 11 and is likely a correlate of the so-called “hook-up” culture. Exposure to pornographic sexual content can be a significant factor in teenage pregnancy. A three year longitudinal study of teenagers found that frequent exposure to televised sexual content was related to a substantially greater likelihood of teenage pregnancy within the succeeding three years. This same study also found that the likelihood of teenage pregnancy was two times greater when the quantity of that sexual content exposure, within the viewing episodes, was high rather than low.ADOLESCENT EXPOSURE TO PORNOGRAPHY IN THE MEDIA:The phenomenal growth of mass media during the late 20^th century and particularly the establishment of the internet, has vastly increased accessibility to pornography and other sexually-related information. This creates a major obstacle to the healthy development of sexuality, especially among youth. Though most U.S. parents (78 percent) are worried about their adolescents accessing internet pornography, not all teenagers readily take to this sexualized culture. Most start out being ill at ease with any display of pornography: they tend to be upset or embarrassed, with reactions ranging from fear to shame to anger to fascination.In one survey, about a quarter were “very” upset by this exposure, but they tend not to report it. Adolescents often come across pornography accidentally on the internet. One study found that 70 percent of youth aged 15 to 17 accidentally came across pornography online. A study of 1,501 youth aged ten to seventeen examined unwanted exposure incidents more thoroughly: in 26 percent of the cases, respondents reported that when they tried to exit an unwanted site, they were actually brought to an additional sex site. The same study showed that out of the total number of unwanted exposure incidents, 44 percent of the time the youth did not disclose the episode to anyone else.These initial reactions of disgust, however, rapidly dissipate so that older adolescents tend to use sexually explicit Internet material more often than younger adolescents and are twice as likely to report intentional pornography use as are younger adolescents. Repeated exposure to pornography eventually wipes out any feelings of shame and disgust and gives way, instead, to unadulterated enjoyment.A 2005 survey showed that respondents who reported unintentional exposure to pornography were over 2.5 times as likely to then report intentional exposure as those who did not report any unintentional exposure. It seems the unintentional exposure has its effect of bringing them back for more, which of course is one of the fears of parents. Several factors predict an adolescent’s use of pornography. Teenagers who watch pornography more frequently tend to be high sensation seekers, less satisfied with their lives, have a fast Internet connection, and have friends who are younger. Adolescents are at greater risk for intentionally seeking out sexual material when they have high levels of computer use. The more time spent on the computer, the more likely these adolescents will search for sexually explicit content. Not surprisingly, given all that has already been reported, viewers who masturbate while viewing sexually explicit material assess the material more favorably than those who do not masturbate. There is a difference between boys’ and girls’ reasons for seeking pornographic sites, differences that parallel the different patterns of adult male and female use of pornography. Boys tend to seek pornography initially because they are curious or want sexual arousal, while girls tend first to go to non-pornographic but sexually oriented sites for sexual health or relationship-related information. Also, the impacts are different for boys and girls: males report more positive memories of sexually explicit material than females and report “more positive attitudes toward uncommitted sexual exploration” as their use of pornography increases. In one study, adolescents who watched the highest level of sexual content on television doubled the likelihood they would initiate intercourse.PORNOGRAPHY IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERNITY’S SOCIAL AND SEXUAL PROBLEMS:Nearly two-thirds of United States high-school students have had sexual intercourse by grade twelve. Of these sexually active high-schoolers, 70 percent of females and 55 percent of males report that they wish they had waited instead. These numbers have massive implications for the future of the American family, for of women who have had three sexual partners other than their eventual husband, only 39 percent will be in a stable marriage by their mid-thirties.
In 2007, 20 percent of U.S. girls in grade 12 already have had sexual intercourse with four or more partners. The vast majority of their children will grow up without their fathers present. As the said data make clear, pornography further misshapes this already dysfunctional sexuality and the consumption of pornography can become a destructive addiction as well. This sexual malformation not only affects the consumer of pornography, but also weakens those close to him or her. Habitual consumption of pornography can break down the relational substrates of human life and interaction—family, friends and society. As such, reinforcing these relationships is the surest guard against such destructive sexual tendencies. The closer adult men were to their fathers growing up, the fewer non-marital sexual behaviors they engage in and the greater their levels of marital happiness and family satisfaction.
The proportion of adolescents who rate their fathers as very close to them is highest among those from intact married families (40 percent) and lowest among those from single-parent families (three percent). Society benefits when it fosters a healthy sexuality. Human beings are healthiest and happiest when they are monogamous (only one sexual partner in a lifetime) and that happiness is directly related to monogamy’s long-term stability and exclusivity. Healthy relationships yield additional positive sexual outcomes. Some research indicates that married couples have the most frequent, and Conservative Protestant women have the most enjoyable, sexual relations.
The supreme and tragic irony is that, while the desire for the highest levels of sexual fulfillment are likely the motive for many adolescents’ first peek into pornography, the attainment of that universal longing is most likely to be had through monogamy and regular participation in religious worship. These insights, until recently, were common social assumptions and institutionalized patterns. Until the dawn of the sexual revolution and, later, the digital age, they were reflected in a public opprobrium of pornography. One 1994 study found that 71 percent favored a total ban on sexually violent movies and 77 percent a total ban on sexually violent magazines. Only eight percent thought that there should be no restrictions on the former, and only three percent thought there should be no restrictions on the latter. Concerning merely sexually explicit magazines, less than 10 percent thought there should be no restrictions on the material.
The cultural censure of disordered sexuality that enables stable family life has faded with the proliferation of Internet pornography. As a result, the effects of hyper-sexualization permeate society. Today’s youth are reaching puberty earlier, engaging in sexual intercourse sooner, while “Emerging Adults” are cohabiting more, having children out of wedlock and getting married significantly later or not at all. The key to militating against these damaging patterns and to protecting against the effects of pornography is to foster relationships of affection and attachment in family.
The first and most important relationship is between the father and the mother. The second is engaged parents who love their children. In today’s technological society, this means limiting, monitoring, and directing their children’s Internet use. This, in turn, provides an invaluable shield against Internet pornography and allows room for a healthy sexuality to unfold in a natural and socially supported way. In our over-sexualized culture, with a longer pre-marriage period, children need the capacity for abstinence if their sexuality is to be channeled into stable marriage, procreation, and healthy family life for their children. Strong families remain the best defense against the negative effects of pornography, especially when aided by regular religious worship with all the benefits it brings.
STATISTICAL DATA: CONCLUSION:Contemporary society is alarmingly sexualized, and the traditional sexual taboos of a well-functioning society have broken down. Pornography has never been as accessible by and popular with young adults as it is today. The Internet has made pornography use mainstream and commonplace, influencing attitudes about sexuality, women, and relationships. What we need now is a re-conceptualization of harm from repeated exposure to pornography. Past and current research indicate a significant difference between individuals who are exposed repeatedly to pornography and those who are not, in the areas of attitudes toward women and sexual assault, number of sexual partners, and relationship satisfaction. The fundamental role of government (including the courts) is to protect innocent citizens, most especially children and adolescents, and to protect the sound functioning of the basic institutions of family, church, school, marketplace, and government. They are all interdependent. Pornography, clearly, undermines both marriage and the family, and has a host of ill effects. It is time for government to reassess its laissez-faire attitude towards the proliferation of pornography, especially on the Internet. Our present and future families need protection from this insidious enemy of love, affection, and of family and social stability.
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Advent of International Crimes and adjudication mechanism with special reference to Dutch Courts and International Criminal Court.

International criminal law deals with with most serious nature of offences on a global parameter such as war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression/torture. Such crimes have been defined in several international treaties and agreements. The Hague Convention in the end of 19th century to begin with, which not only extended criminal responsibility by issuing directives against perpetrators of any particular crime but also laid down policies that are meant to be adopted against those who commanded, planned or allowed such crimes to take place at the outset.

Netherlands is divided into 11 districts, each with its own court. Each district court is made up of a maximum of 5 sectors, which always include the administrative law, civil law, criminal law and sub-district law sector. There are four Courts of Appeal at Hague, Amsterdam, Arnhem-Leeuwarden and 's-Hertogenbosch along with the Apex Court, Supreme Court of the Netherlands. Some of the international crimes that have shook the world over the past half a century and were tried by Dutch Courts at Netherlands are as follows:

I. In April 1978, Afghanistan was affected when army officers of a of left-wing group carried out a coup d’état (military rebel) killing President Daoud, the head of state. Popularly known as Saur Revolution fought between the new communist regime (established in Kabul and a few major cities) and other rebel groups across Afghanistan. Russian and Afghan troops loyal to the new communist regime and para-military units carried out warfare against resistance groups primarily which were Islamic thereby killing and torturing thousands of opponents.

II. Until April 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina was part of the Republic of Yugoslavia. Civil war broke out on April 06, 1992, in the wake of a referendum on independence. Three parties were involved in the conflict: Bosnian Croatians, Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks), and Bosnian Serbs. All parties were guilty of a range of crimes in the course of the conflict. The signing of the Dayton Agreement in November, 1995 finally brought the conflict to a close.

III. The Republic of Zaire, established in 1960, was under the leadership of Mobutu from 1965. Protests against Mobutu’s dictatorship multiplied rapidly in the early 1990s, and ethnic riots broke out. These worsened as a result of the genocide in neighboring country Rwanda in 1994. Mobutu was eventually deposed in May 1997, and the Republic of Zaire was transformed into the Democratic Republic of Congo.

IV. In 1979, Saddam Hussein, a leading figures in the Ba’ath party, became President of Iraq. Resistance within the country was violently repressed, and the Kurds and Shiites, particularly, were oppressed and persecuted. Both groups responded to this repression with public acts of rebellion. In addition to this internal struggle, Saddam Hussein waged war on Iraq’s neighboring countries. From September 1980 to August 1988, the country was at war with Iran, and on August 02, 1990, Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait. Throughout the whole period of the Hussein regime, the authorities used violence to enforce their policies. Thousands of people disappeared or were killed.

V. In 1991 Croatia, formerly part of the Republic of Yugoslavia, declared its independence. This declaration prompted the first fighting between Croatian troops and the Yugoslav army. Heavy gun battle took place from 1992 to May 1995, especially in the Croatian province of Krajina.

VI. Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, is the continent’s oldest republic. Following a coup d’état (military rebel) in 1980, civil war broke out in the late 1980s and early 1990s. International intervention in 1997 ushered in a period of relative calm and Charles Taylor came to power. From 1999 to 2003, however, the country again disintegrated into conflict.

VII. On April 06, 1994, the aeroplane carrying Juvénal Habyarimana, the President of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, the Hutu President of Burundi, was shot down as it prepared to land at the city of Kigali at Rwanda. Both presidents were killed in the crash. Even before that, violent incidents had occurred over the years between the two main ethnic groups in Rwanda: Hutus and Tutsis. The shooting down of the president’s plane triggered the genocide in which an estimated 8,00,000 people – mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus – were killed within the space of just three months. Atrocities were committed on a huge scale, openly encouraged by the authorities through, for instance, hate propaganda on Radio RTLM. In July 1994, the RPF (Front Patriotique Rwandais), the Tutsi army headed by General Paul Kagame, succeeded in putting a stop to the genocide.

VIII. In the wake of Sri Lankan independence in 1948, the Sri Lankan Government, in which the Singhalese were the dominant ethnic group, took several measures that privileged the Singhalese population. These measures led to ethnic tensions between Tamils and Singhalese, which, in the 1970s’, prompted a desire on the part of various Tamil groups to found their own independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka since the Singhalese were engaged in mass killing or genocide of the Tamils in Jaffna and other parts of Sri Lanka. A few of these organizations set out to achieve this through violent means. One such group was the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), established in 1976. From its foundation, the LTTE was associated with violent campaigns, such as bomb attacks and contract killings. From 1990, the LTTE acquired ‘its own’ territory in the north-eastern part of Sri Lanka, where it acted in a sort of semi-official capacity. The LTTE had its own army, police, and judicial system, and a tax structure of its own to fund its armed struggle against the Sri Lankan army. For their funding activities, the LTTE also appealed to Tamils who had left Sri Lanka and were living all over the world. Early in 2009, the Tamil Tigers were defeated by Sri Lankan government troops. That summer, a new leader of the LTTE announced that the separatist movement would fight on. The LTTE has been on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations since 2006. LTTE was also responsible for the assassination of India’s Ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

International crimes since its advent have been prosecuted by several national and international courts amongst which the International Criminal Court (ICC) constituted under the Rome Statute in 1998, based in Hague at Netherlands and so far 123 countries forming members of it acts as the apex adjudicating and a permanent body, which was finally given effect of operation from July 01, 2002. The primary purpose behind constitution of ICC with regard to dealing matters related to international crimes with the purpose of prosecuting and bringing justice to those responsible for the worst crimes like genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. ICC acts as a framework for an international criminal justice system, representing the highest point of a process that began in the wake of the Nuremberg Judgement, when the first time United Nations considered the establishment of an international criminal jurisdiction. The preamble of the ICC says ‘the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished’. The ICC is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore only exercise its jurisdiction when certain conditions are met, such as when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals or when the United Nations Security Council or individual states refer situations to the ICC. ICC is also termed as the Court of last resort.

The Rome Statute which acts as the Bible for the ICC has defined (1) Genocide under its Article 6 as ‘the intention to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group’ (2) Crime against Humanity under its Article 7 as ‘a number of different acts committed as part of the widespread or systematic attack directed against any civial population, with the knowledge of the attack’ and (3) War Crimes under its Article 8 as ‘serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts’. The Rome Statute also defines other underlined acts which includes murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance of persons, apartheid and others. ICC has the power to prosecute individuals unlike the International Court of Justice which adjudicates disputes between governments.

ICC's first verdict, in March 2012, was against Thomas Lubanga, the leader of a militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was convicted of war crimes relating to the use of children in that country's conflict and sentenced in July, 2012 for 14 years of imprisonment. The highest profile person to be brought to the ICC is Ivory Coast's former President Laurent Gbagbo, who was charged in 2011 with murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and "other inhumane acts". Other notable cases included charges of crimes against humanity against Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was indicted in 2011 in connection with post-election ethnic violence in 2007-08, in which 1,200 people died. The ICC dropped the charges against Mr Kenyatta in December 2014. Again, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir was the President of the Republic of Sudan since October 16, 1993. Prosecution application for a warrant of arrest was filed on July 14, 2008, and the first warrant of arrest issued by Pre-Trial Chamber-I on March 04, 2009. Thus he became the first sitting president to be indicted by the ICC for directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur at Sudan and charged for causing Genocide by ICC.

ICC has been alleged and criticized to be biased when it comes to the African Union, for its focus on Africa. In the court's history it has only brought charges against black Africans primarily. Although, the ICC denies any bias, pointing to the fact that some cases, such as the Lords’ Resistance Army in Uganda, were self-referred by the country affected, and some were referred by the UN. Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the ICC, who is Gambian, has argued that the ICC is helping Africa by its prosecutions of criminals.

An Analysis on the Insurgency of Radical Extremism in Kashmir and its Probable Solution

Kashmir, the paradise on earth is bleeding today. Since, the time of independence, back in 1947 the rivalry of Nehru and Jinnah has costed India to pay a heavy price and the prime sufferers had been the common Kashmiris who were left amidst a political gimmick and in a state of dilemma in respect to its acquisition between  India or the newly formed state of Pakistan. Though India managed to retain the most part of Kashmir but it could not restrict from a portion getting departed from her which led to the emergence of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. After partition Article 370 was awarded to the state of Jammu and Kashmir primarily with the vision of Gopalaswamy Ayyangar (Ex-Prime Minister of J&K). The segregation started with this, as by this provision Jammu and Kashmir was neither governed under the Constitution of India nor ruled by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Jammu and Kashmir was entitled to have its own Constitution and adjudicated by its own High Court. Subsequently, Jammu and Kashmir was also taken out under the purview of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and replaced by Ranbir Penal Code, which is criticized and argued to be faulty in many respect by legal pioneers.

The insurgency primarily erupted in late 1980’s and early 1990’s, when the Kashmiri Pandits who were slaughtered and compelled to leave Kashmir which again is alleged to be sponsored by Pakistan acting as a non-state actor and gave to rise to militancy in Kashmir. There were several separatist groups by that time which had formed and leaders of such group started revolting for a ‘Free Kashmir’ or ‘Azad Kashmir’. Youth who are volatile as well as vulnerable were targeted and made a party to be engaged in extremist groups to free Kashmir from India backed by the Hurriyat which aims at self-determination by liberating Kashmir from India.

The government had little option but to send military power to bring situation into normalcy. However, things proved out to be fatal and disastrous with such move, as the Kashmiris had such a rebellious spirit that they defied in every possible means against such armed forces. The army too had abused its power which resulted increasing the insurgency by raping Kashmiri women and arresting innocent Kashmiri youths at gunpoint, portraying them as militants and torturing them in concentration camps till when some of them either died in custody or committed suicide by the shock and trauma they had to undergo. This can conclude that Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1990 which exercised military supremacy in state has been extensively abused.

Pakistan which has been an ardent enemy to India added fuel to fire by extending all possible support to extremist and separatist groups to keep alive the Kashmir issue. The separatist leaders minted their treasury under the veil of patriotism and religious pretension terming the same as ‘Jihad’ or Religious was with Inter-State-Intelligence of Pakistan aiding to such rebellion activities. Today, Kashmir has become an international issue and has transformed from being a political issue into a shameful business which involves the west primarily USA with Pakistan playing the catalyst to cause infiltration of their own trained militants into the Indian territory to create terror in J&K along with ensuring constant insurgency in the valley. Under the pretext of religious extremism or ‘jihad’ thousands of unaccounted dollars are infiltrated for arms and ammunition and supplied to extremist groups to keep flame burning in Kashmir which engages India to address Kashmir and hinder it from global development, as part of their post 9/11 political pluralistic approach by USA.

Plebiscite has not been excercised in J&K after February 20, 1948 held in Junadgarh though is believed to be the only medium where people can opine their democratic views under the current scenario. The government has purposively overlooked plebiscite with an apprehension of a nepotist viewpoint from the people of J&K of choosing Pakistan over India being a muslim infested state. However, presumptions and prejudice cannot be a decising factor to such a burning issue.

Non-State Actors play a pivotal role in the Kashmir insurgency as several islamic fundamentalist are working to promote terrorism in Kashmir by sending militants who are infiltrating the LOC constantly belonging from terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Indian Mujahiddin and others with tenets of jihadi warfare and being non-state actors they cannot be hold accountable for their actions.

India on January 01, 1948 took assistance of the United Nations Charter and under Article 35 of the same, it approached the Security Council of the UN to seek assistance on the Kashmir insurgency and took plea of refraining Pakistan from creating terror in the valley to which Resolution 39 was adopted by Security Council to address the Kashmir issue.

However, probable solutions which can revive the stability in Kashmir are, reforming diplomatic relation between India and Pakistan by taking serious stand over ceasefire violations, eliminating disturbance across the Line of Control, initiating a free trade belt benefiting both parts of Kashmir in India and Pakistan, rural areas across Kashmir should make agriculture a vibrant part of the economy, privatization can be a method to generate employment and opportunities for the youth. These measures can bring peace and tranquility in Kashmir and restore the serenity it deserves till eternity.