With banks, schools, hospitals, chemists and markets shut for the last two months, the silent majority in Kashmir has now come to the end of its tether. Irate parents whose children are studying in schools across the valley are complaining that if the situation is not brought under control, their children will end up missing an academic
year. Presently, there are ten lakh school students studying up to Class 12 in the valley. Said one parent whose sons are studying in the Delhi Public School in Srinagar, “Children are becoming so disillusioned. If the situation continues like this, they could well end up losing interest in their studies.”
Kiran Dhar, who along with her husband, Vijay Dhar, is running the DPS, points out, “We have children ringing us us and pleading with us to restart school. We have no answer to their queries.” Dr Muzzaffar Khan, a clinical psychologist working in a de-addiction centre in Srinagar pointed out, “People are engulfed by a feeling of helplessness. If one is caught by the mob transporting a patient to a hospital, it can cost the doctor his life. Hundreds of my patients, many of whom are young boys, have suffered a relapse because their medicines are not available on the shelf.” Dr Khan further pointed out, “Yesterday, there were incidents of mobs destroying homes of those inmates who had refused to participate in this violence. But no one came to their rescue.”
Saiba Verma, an anthropologist based in the Valley working in the area of drug addiction, said, “We are going to see an epidemic of mental disorder amongst the youth. People’s everyday lives have been affected and no one knows in which direction this violence is headed.”
Yusuf Bhat, who owns a shikara at Dal Lake, said, “We are struggling to make ends meet. With our rations having finished, we do not know where our next meal will come from.”
Nazir Shah, a shopkeeper in Batmaloo, has two ailing parents in his house. “My father is a heart patient but he cannot be taken to a hospital. There is no petrol in the Valley and no medicine either.”
The unanimous opinion across a cross-section of Kashmiris is that no one can understand why this violence has accelerated. “There are groups of boys going around threatening people to close their establishments. Obviously, they are doing it at someone’s behest but the administration has not taken any action against them or the forces at whose behest they are operating,” said a senior educationist on condition of anonymity.