Justine Hardy—the founder of Healing Kashmir, a mental health project in the divided Kashmir region—highlights the importance of addressing the mental health of people in conflict-ravaged areas. “How can you build a leadership out of people who cannot sleep at night?” she asks. Sustainable positive change must come from within, from a people who can think with clarity and take responsibility for their actions. Kashmiris developed what Justine describes as a “pathology of victimhood;” they think that nothing is their fault. The youth are particularly damaged, having never known a peaceful existence. One psychologist estimated that 90% of the population suffers mental damage. Hardy clearly illustrates that in order to build a healthy future for Kashmir, the problem of mental health cannot be ignored.
The Kashmirian 