Shabir Ahmad
In the remote valleys and border districts of Jammu and Kashmir, a quieter form of nation-building is taking shape. Indian Army veterans, many of whom spent decades on the Line of Control and in counter-terror operations, are increasingly stepping into the role of mentors. They are guiding local youth towards education, skills, national service and even pathways into public institutions, including the judiciary and legal aid systems.
The effort sits at the intersection of two long-running Army initiatives: Operation Sadbhavana’s community outreach and the growing institutional focus on veteran welfare. Recent events, from Veterans’ Day programmes to interactions between the judiciary and the armed forces, have underlined the same message — those who have served the nation in uniform remain a vital resource for those who will serve it in other ways.
The theme was evident at Veterans’ Day events held earlier this year across Rajouri, Kupwara, Poonch and other districts. In Kupwara, one gathering carried the explicit title “From Battlefield to Nation Building: Veterans as Pillars of Progress.” Hundreds of ex-servicemen and Veer Naris attended despite harsh weather. Speakers stressed that a soldier’s duty does not end with retirement. Discipline, resilience and a sense of purpose acquired in uniform can be passed on to the next generation.
The Indian Army’s youth programmes in the region already provide the infrastructure for this mentoring. Army Goodwill Schools, established under Operation Sadbhavana, educate thousands of children in areas where access to quality education was once limited. National Integration Tours take students from remote colleges in Poonch and elsewhere to other parts of the country. Career counselling sessions, coaching for Territorial Army and Agniveer recruitment, and vocational centres such as Chinar YUVA in Baramulla have helped young people move from being job-seekers to job-creators or uniformed personnel.
Veterans often participate in these programmes as resource persons. Their lived experience — of leadership under pressure, of service in difficult terrain, of the values of the Indian Army — carries a credibility that textbooks cannot match. In recent months, hundreds of Kashmiri youth have joined the Army as Agniveers after training at the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regimental Centre. Many cite the example of local officers and veterans who rose through the ranks as inspiration.
A distinctive strand of this mentoring now involves the judiciary. In March 2026, Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant, during an interaction with the Fire and Fury Corps in Leh, urged the inclusion of trained ex-servicemen as paralegal volunteers within Army units. He emphasised that access to justice under Article 39A of the Constitution must reach every soldier and veteran.
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has already moved in this direction. Veer Naris and ex-servicemen have been engaged as paralegal volunteers. Amendments to legal services rules have brought Zila Sainik Board secretaries into District Legal Services Authorities. Dedicated mechanisms such as the Lieutenant Governor’s Sainik Sahayta Kendra help serving personnel and veterans resolve civilian legal issues — pensions, property, family matters — without long delays.
This creates a two-way street. Veterans with legal aptitude or simply with organisational skills can assist fellow soldiers and their families. At the same time, they become living examples for local youth considering careers in law, the judiciary or public service. The message is practical: national service is not confined to the battlefield. It can be rendered as a judge, a paralegal volunteer, a teacher in an Army Goodwill School, or a mentor in a skill centre.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha recently chaired the 81st meeting of the Jammu and Kashmir Rajya Sainik Board in Srinagar. The discussion covered welfare, healthcare, grievance redressal and better coordination on pensions. Officials reaffirmed that honouring veterans includes giving them meaningful roles after service.
The Army continues to expand these efforts. Coaching classes for Territorial Army aspirants, cyber-awareness programmes, medical camps and sports events in the Pir Panjal region regularly bring veterans and serving personnel together with young people. NCC collaboration with the Army in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh further reinforces leadership training and a sense of national integration.
The results are visible in small but accumulating ways: students from border villages who have never travelled far now speak of becoming doctors, engineers, civil servants or officers; families that once viewed the Army only through the lens of security now see it as a partner in education and opportunity.
Veterans themselves often describe the work in simple terms. Having protected the nation’s borders, they now help protect its future by shaping the character of its youth. In a region that has seen both conflict and remarkable progress in recent years, that continuity of service — from the ridges to the classroom, from the barracks to the legal aid clinic — is quietly rewriting the relationship between the Army, its veterans and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
