Tasaduq Maqbool Bhat
It has been coons age since we last met happiness here. Almost everyday the air gets charged with fear ,anxiety and shooting pain . The dwellers of kashmir have suffered ( and presently are suffering) a jambo loss of both lives and property . It is a pity that kashmiris are feeling insecure here but for visitors it is stable and reliable place to visit (as per the latest survey ) . Kashmiris scarcely can breath a peaceful breath .The situations are subtle and unpredictable. Catastrophes here come without an alarm. Massive genocides of unarmed ,innocent and impeccant people of kashmiri has devastated the whole valley ! The sobbing children ,the wailing women , old men encountered here just fill ones heart with great agony and fear . Terrified our hearts have become with skirmishes and CASO’s which belimp in every nook and cranny of kashmir . The nights here commence with the CASO’s and days with the gun battle .Mostly kashmiris come to an early grave after falling prey to the security forces ( armed to the teeth). The halfdead mothers of the deceased ones never find solace and hence live an abnormal life then.
What mostly shreds the dreams, glee and euphoria of kashmiri youth is PSA. According to an annual human rights review 2018 ,”the year 2018 was the deadliest year of the last decade in Indian administered Kashmir as violence peaked during the year resulting in the killing of at least 586 people in different incidents of violence , which is highest in the last decade “.
Compared to 2016 ,PSA detentions doubled in 2018. According to official sources a total of 510 persons were booked in Kashmir in 2018, as compared to 230 in 2016 . The draconian PSA shatters the dreams of youth of Kashmir. Besides gifting them agony, it subtracts the freedom from their lives and makes them psychologically ill. They stop dreaming their dreams and mostly end up becoming a rebellion. The draconian PSA stigmatizes the victim and makes him dependable character in the society. After receiving the tag, the victim finds it difficult to get a job even in private sector as nobody relies on him . With the result unemployment gets up surged and so the poverty.
Besides affecting the victim PSA has an inclement effect on the victim’s homey ones and acquaintances which is contrary to the title of this act. Edmund Burke once said that “For evil to flourish good people have to do nothing and evil shall flourish “. Our politicians who enjoy the sumptuous lifestyle should ponder over it . Life is a bed of roses for them but miserable for the laymen. They come up with fake promises during elections, rise to power but scarcely care for the voters then. If they can’t annihilate the sufferings of Kashmiris then they have no right to bamboozle us by providing a mere lip service. It is a pity that more often kashmiris give up the ghost because of bullets (Piercing their chests ) than natural causes. Alas! Life expectancy has been lowered to an alarming extent.
( The author is pursuing BSc Nursing student (first year) at institute of Nursing and paramedical science south campus ,University of Kashmir. Views are his own)