It is unfortunate that youth are often become the immediate victims during the public protest and demonstration. Be it in the North East, Naxal-affected areas or Jammu & Kashmir the story is indistinguishable. One of the most recent instances (on December 23, 2005) was the brutal killing of three students (at Kokrajhar in Assam) who are on their way to Guwahati University's inter-college festival at Kokrajhar.

These youth have lost their lives in the Cops (IRB of Haryana Police) firing when some Bodo students attacked a train (Guwahati-bound Brahmaputra Mail) in which some girls of their community have allegedly being molested by the Cops.

Not so distant past, on September 30, 2005 nine Garo youth were also gunned down by Central Reserve Police Force in Tura (Meghalaya) when the Garo Students' Union (GSU) protested against the State level committee's decision to restructure the MBoSE (Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education) headquarter at Tura.

So is the case in December 2005, three civilians were killed and six other seriously injured when the security personnel resorted to indiscriminate firing to disperse a crowd who are protesting against the construction of Khuga Dam in Churachandpur district of Manipur.

No doubt, this is because youth represent the vigour and strength of a society. The youth are the sources of idealism and dynamism of a society.

They have the potential to either mould the society towards the augmentation of all or can lead the society into retrogressive and servitude. Youth are needed to ignite and imbibe with the ideology and aspiration of a society. No amount of investment can make a society develop until its youth are properly trained.

For the youth who are at the receiving end of the State forces high-handiness again this provides an opportunity to prove their stand on Armed Forces (Special Power) Act or AFSPA as 'license to kill' that can trigger at the slightest altercation.

The police brutalisation of youth is nothing but a vindication of their sentiment how AFSPA can undermine basic human rights including right to life. Presumably, it appears that none of the above mentioned killings are related to the Act.

However, it is a usual tale for the local that in whatever ways killing has taken place, the version from army personnel and state agencies usually does not free from the tyrannical power of the Act. It may be indeed over simplistic to rule out excessiveness when freedom to shoot is given near complete.

Although, the present low-level armed conflicts in the North East is not treated as 'conventional war' which occurred between two nations, however it is not different from 'war' in regard to nature of its impact on one's life, not to mention the huge economic lost.

The logic of using the AFSPA by the government of India to curb insurgency is a kind of declaration of 'internal war', assuming the area as 'disturbed area' occupied by the enemy from within. This Act not only declared the area/territory where there is tribal and ethnic minority movement in North East as 'disturbed area' but also empowers the armed forces, who are supposed to be deployed in external aggression, to use maximum force to suppress the armed opposed groups.

The unlimited and uncounted provisions in the AFPSA in which even a non-commission officer was given excessive power, including the power to take life without a judicial determination of guilt, all in the name of 'the nation', it is only a matter of time before the power is abused.

The problem is not the character of the person wielding the power; it is the power itself. This is one of the main reasons why little follow-up action is taken, though the State government usually orders judicial inquiries to probe the killing.

For instance, the Meghalaya government has ordered a judicial commission of inquiry of the above mentioned killing by a High Court judge but the probe is yet to begin. It will not be surprising if the two cases also meet the same fate. As inquires are delayed or have hardly completed, most victims are denied justice.

It brings forth, therefore, once again the long-standing issue of development strategies and internal security measures in trouble-torn regions. It is pertinent to note that development and employment generation do not simply meant more army battalions.

The problems that confront the youth do not happened out of vacuum but are, by and large, the manifestation of institutionalised violence and denial of socio-economic justice. However, it is disturbing to learn that in its recent meeting the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has decided to raise more Indian Reserve Battalions (IRB), particularly in the North East, Naxal-affected areas and Jammu & Kashmir.

If the youth have paid the price through their lives in demonstration against the State's anti-people stand is not enough, this initiative is fraught with difficulties to use the local youth to fight their own communities in the absence of addressing the core issue.

Leaving aside the questions of merit from this sort of strategy, more battalions will not only arrest the youth from joining the violent path but also can generate vicious circle of hardship to the native until the government seek to understand the people's sentiment. If regional disparity, economic deprivation and unemployment are what the government considered the root cause of the problems that confront the youth, it requires concrete strategy to restore normalcy rather than merely recruiting the youth in defense.

This calls for inclusive approach of socio-economic development, respecting politico-historical rights and accommodation of cultural peculiarities. The creation of more battalions may not be altogether bad but without noble agenda for lasting solution will kills its very goal. This sort of measure can be meaningful if it is formed part of the package in the mutual settlement.

Otherwise, more battalions are just another form of militarisation that will add more fuels to the existing problems. As long as the core issue remains unresolved it can further terrorizing the common people since none can deny the possibility of forcing the local to torture the local in the name of law and order.

First and foremost, the youth expected to be treated them as normal human being like their counterparts in rest of the country. The demand of the youth is not only more employment but also a fair sense of justice and social security.

It is the desire of the youth that their regional identity should be protected within the larger national identity. They aspire to look forward an environment with a sense of belongingness, free from discrimination and considered them more than just a buffer to protect 'national territory'.

Ironically, insurgency impedes development but process of militarisation, lack of development (or strategical flaw in developmental initiative) and socio-economic discrimination fuels the problem of insurgency.

What is a matter of concern is that growing discontentment with the established system and thwarted aspirations among the youth have driven them away from the nation building process.

To make up, we need to value the worth of youth in a right perspective for a fruitful result and to achieve long- lasting peace.