Team visits today a Valley wilting under curfew

The all-party delegation on its way to find a solution to the current impasse in Kashmir will face a veritable humanitarian crisis. Days of curfew and strikes have not only shut schools and derailed businesses and the economy, the entire population is facing serious shortage of basic necessities like milk and vegetables.

The most difficult thing to acquire in Kashmir today – and the most valuable asset – is a 5×4 inch of paper signed and stamped by an Additional District Magistrate: the curfew pass. It comes in different colours for different sets of people. The civilian curfew pass is white and the most difficult to acquire, but even this pass is no passport to movement, it all depends on the security men at the checkpoint.

Particularly traumatic is the plight of those who suffer a death in the family or have someone needing emergency medical attention. There is no procedure to procure a curfew pass for exceptional situations, like a medical emergency or a wedding.

Consider these:

Zahood Hassan’s 62-year-old uncle Rafiq Ahmad Mir died of cancer. They live in Rajbagh, which was largely peaceful but then curfew was clamped. “Police wanted to see the body first and then issue passes. We were given six curfew passes, which included one for the driver of the truck that carried the body. It was hell. It was more tragic than even losing a family member… It was very painful to mourn alone. Our relatives couldn’t come,” said Hassan.

In downtown Khankah, Firdous Ahmad’s daughter Aalam Firdous, 7, has congenital heart disease. “I am helplessly waiting to find an opportunity to go out and get medicine,” he said. Ahmad’s second daughter is three, she’s been asking for milk for days. “Only God knows what I am going through, I console the girls but they are too young to understand.”

In Khaiwan in downtown city, Ghulam Mustafa Malik’s 40-day-old daughter Iram fell ill. “She was dehydrating. I went out with her in my lap and pleaded with an auto driver to take me to hospital,” Malik said. “We were stopped at the Aali Masjid checkpoint. The policemen didn’t allow us to go ahead. They saw the condition of the baby but didn’t listen to my pleas.” A Pashmina weaver, Malik said that for the next 24 hours, he watched his baby slowly get worse. “Next day, I somehow managed to take her to hospital, but she died. I will never forget what the policemen at the checkpoint did to me…”

Sajjad Ahmad is a schoolteacher in Jalal Sahib in Baramulla. His three-year-old child Asif was unwell. He got him to the Baramulla district hospital pleading with the securitymen at checkpoints. Asif was diagnosed with typhoid and as the Baramulla hospital doesn’t have a paediatrician, referred to the children’s hospital in Srinagar. There was no ambulance available so Ahmad took the referral slip and drove his child in his Maruti. “They stopped me at the first checkpost on the highway and asked me to return. I took an interior road to avoid the checkpost and drove till I reached Tapar,” he said. “The securitymen stopped me and asked me to return without even listening to me. They were so angry that I was scared to explain my son’s situation to them.” He had to return and keep his child at home, waiting for a pause in the curfew. “It’s been hell,” he said.

Abdul Sattar Kassana was bitten by a snake in his Uri village. Doctors at Uri Sub District Hospital asked his family to rush him to Baramulla. There was no anti-venom available and he was referred to Srinagar. Kassana was sent back from Pattan, where securitymen didn’t allow anybody to move ahead. He was taken back to Baramulla where a doctor found one vial of anti-venom and saved his life.

The shortage of medicines across Kashmir, in fact, has taken a dangerous turn. Pharmacies are empty because no fresh supplies can reach. Strikes have hit movement because stone-throwers target every vehicle and have been routinely blocking the national highway. The director of Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Dr Abdul Hameed Zargar, said supplies of life-saving drugs have “completely depleted” across Kashmir.

“There is an acute shortage of medicines for hypertension, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. Inside the hospital, we have somehow managed to keep supplies intact but there are hundreds of patients who need medicine and care that’s not available at all,” he said. “Each morning, I call senior police and civil administration officers to help make sure our ambulances are not stopped. The problem of patients who are on chemotherapy is tragic. They are unable to reach the hospital,” he said.

In Baramulla, Arjumand Majeed runs the biggest medical store. He says his shelves are empty. “We are unable to bring supplies. There is nothing available,” he said.

Curfew passes are issued by the district administration. A person who needs a pass has to visit the district magistrate’s office. People with “influence” are the only ones who can procure a curfew pass. District Commissioner, Srinagar, Mehraj Kakroo said curfew means no movement. “In case of emergency, however, the people have to come to my office to get a curfew pass,” he said. “We have no way to distinguish between a genuine case and otherwise. But we are trying.”