Response of Households to ‘Armed’ Conflict - A Case Study of the Srinagar District

Conflict involves situations in which two or more parties choose costly inputs that are adversely combined against one another and generate no positive externalities to third parties. (Stergios Skaperdas 2011). Violence is bound to inflict innumerable costs on micro and ultimately macro economy of regions. The case of Rwanda Genocide-1994 is a well-known example where the consequences were in terms of excess mortality and traumatization of women leading to insecurity in the region. Economists across the globe are engaged in conducting continuous research over the impacts of conflict and violence on micro as well as macro variables of the economy. One of the oldest reasons for interstate and intra-state tension in Asian continent is the curious issue of Kashmir Valley. Despite of the measures that were taken at the international level, vis-à-vis discussions, confrontations and ceasefire, no consensus has been reached either between India and Pakistan or with the people of Kashmir.Since 1989, this part of world has witnessed a huge amount of human rights abuses, thousands have been killed, the same number of children orphaned and an unaccounted number of young people disappeared, thus halting the security perception of people living in this zone of the globe. It is in this line of affairs that this study aims to understand the response of directly affected households and add to the literature the consequences of conflict over the security perception and the resultant displacement levels.