A Journey from Gulmarg to Beijing

Kashmir Rights Forum
3 Min Read

This article is in continuation to the Article ‘Directing the Energies our Kashmiri Youth’

Arif Khan, a Kashmir born skier born in the hills of Gulmarg saw his dream turn into reality last year as he earned a spot at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The Alpine skier from Kashmir is the lone Indian participant in the February 4-20 quadrennial event. The 31-year-old secured his berth in the Winter Olympics in a qualifying event in Dubai last year. On 01 Feb 2022, Arif left for the Chinese capital along with Chef De Mission Harjinder Singh and support staff. Arif will take part in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events which are scheduled to take place on Feb 13 & 16. Hailing from J&K’s Tangmarg area of Baramulla, Arif was introduced to the sport at a very young age by his father.

There are a lot of examples of the young Kashmiris making their country proud at various international pulpits, whether in games and sports, science and technology, literature, or in any other field. Proper guidance from the parents at a very young age is the basic thing that needs to be understood by all the people and the government to direct the energies of the youth.  This is the prime responsibility of the parents to ensure their future is in good hands, rather than playing in the hands of the inimical elements, whosoever. The gain of the opportunities at the specific time is requisite for securing the future of a happy home, and a free-of-confusion mind.

Many find it difficult to decide between one narrative and another, as many ideologies had had taken the free space in the mind of the youth— thus right from the inception of understanding in the children, the future mindset needs to be secured for positive phenomenon. We have experienced in many cases, the pollution of thoughts due to carelessness or, waywardness from the right context to be unrolled to the child leaves a negative impression on his mind, which creates a gap between the positive processes— nationalist, patriotic activities going around and the rebellious nature nurtured due various elements, whether due to the wrongful literature or, due to inimical elements.

Putting the things in line, the responsibilities lie deeper, multiplied, in order to shape the future of youth, eventually transforming the future of Kashmir. The loss of youth to terrorism is loss of huge wealth­— human resource, the gold in gold itself for excavation.

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