Srinagar, Sept. 23 -- By Mohammad Ilyas Bhat

Surinder Sharma, the Indian satirist, once told a story that scolded parents for sending their children abroad.

Better, it argued, to share a simple meal with a son at home than to live in comfort while the family sits in different countries.

Kashmir has voices that say the same, and some of them go further, treating the young Kashmiri who takes a degree or a job abroad as someone who has committed a social offence.

The worry underneath is real.

Elderly parents need company and attention, and children owe them both. The argument weakens at the point where it asks a son or daughter to surrender a future so that a body can remain in the next room, and it weakens further when it hints at self...