The Menace of Drug Addiction

Abdul Lateef, 40, is a pharmacist working at a health centre in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital, Srinagar. Barely audible, he warbles some verses from Islamic scripture as we meet at Drug Addiction Centre run by J&K police in Srinagar. In the middle of the conversation, he forgets what he was talking about! Married with a son and a daughter, Lateef was addicted to drugs over the last 10 years. Initially, he used to smoke Cannabis. But his friends once suggested him to try other drugs. Once he did, he couldn’t stop.

“Since childhood I have been loyal to my parents. My father died some years ago and I don’t want to get separated from my mother now. I have even tried to kill myself many times out of fear that my mother will die. The last 10 years have affected my work a lot. I can’t even fix a drip set to a patient,” he says.

Over the last 10 years, he has consumed Cannabis, Diazepam, Corex, Alprax and Aspirin, “I love to be in a state where I forget everything, where I don’t have to think about my family, what will happen to me when my mother will die. In that state, I feel closer to God. I don’t know why but I love to be closer to my death.” Lateef even consumed pesticides a number of times but timely intervention by his family and doctors saved him. Lateef has now decided to lead a normal life and enrolled himself at the de-addiction centre. He was admitted to the centre in 2008 by his family but he started taking drugs again.

There are two government-run de-addiction centers in Kashmir valley. One is in Srinagar’s Police Control Room (PCR) and the other was recently established at SMHS hospital. To tackle the swelling number of substance abuse cases, a de-addiction cum rehabilitation centre “Rahat” was started at Gousia Hospital in Khanyar, Srinagar, which has treated 8853 patients for drug abuse so far. more

The Mediation Phenomenon

Manzoor Ahmed is anxiously waiting for his turn in a two-room apartment built in the premises of Saddar Court complex in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir. He is here to meet a counsellor who will try to sort out a litigation filed by Manzoor against his ex-wife over the guardianship of his son. His ex-wife has taken a seat in the waiting room of the complex. The aura is befuddling, not the one you would expect in a normal court.

The counsellor sits in large room in the mediation centre. The door of the rooms opens and the name of Manzoor and his ex-wife is called. Accompanied by their lawyers, the two get up and move in. The room has a large table on one side. Manzoor, along with his advocate and a friend, take seats towards one end of the table. In most cases, the victims are accompanied by close relatives, usually parents or siblings, who sit in a corner, away from the table. On other end of the table, his wife sits along with her lawyer and brother. The mediator, Ghousia-ul-Nisa Jeelani, a retired Principal and District Sessions Judge, arrives. She faces the couple and starts the session. 

Manzoor and Shaheena got divorced after the birth of their son whose custody was given to Shaheena by a court in Srinagar. Manzoor now wants his child back, which Shaheena opposes. The boy is sitting with his uncle, his mother’s brother, carelessly listening to his parents’ arguments, perhaps unmindful of the happenings. 

With two chocolates in one hand, the boy seems irritated by the verbal duel between his parents and asks his uncle whether they could leave the room. Before they leave, the mediator stops him, “Who do you wants to live with?” the mediator asks him. The boy doesn’t answer. He is too small to understand the complexity of the matter and leaves the room. The couple start levelling allegations against each other as soon as the boy departs. The mediator interrupts them, trying to put the derailed train of their life back on tracks. 

This is their second sitting with Ms Jeelani as she carefully picks points in their arguments and explains the consequences of their decisions. Manzoor wants to spend few hours with his son every evening while Shaheena says she would not let her son spend more than an hour on weekend with Manzoor, as has been decided by the court where the litigation was recently filed. The case was then shifted to the mediation centre for counselling the couple.  After the session is over, Manzoor is devastated. He desires to remarry Shaheena for a better future of their son and feels guilty for all that has led to the divorce with his Shaheena. But the mediator gives them another date and asks Shaheena’s brother to make her understand how the divorce is going to affect her future. She is agitated and doesn’t want to remarry. Both parties leave quietly. more 

The Scooty Revolution

In early 90’s when Kashmir was engulfed by violence, there was a time when females were advised to confine themselves to the four walls of their homes. Using a distorted understanding of religion in a patriarchal, feudalistic society, the diktats of moral brigades were forcibly implemented on the streets in the valley. Then there was the constant gaze of that uniformed man with a gun on the street. The spurt in violence had made women, especially young girls, easy targets. They not only felt cramped but were humiliated and attacked too.

Not anymore!

Kashmir is gradually calming down and an uneasy, deceptive peace is taking roots, bringing a cultural shift buoyed by popular cable television networks. This societal metamorphosis has altered the perception of people in Kashmir towards the women who were denied their rights for long. In a society where females felt uneasy to come out of their homes, a good number of women, shunning the traditional taboos, are now regularly seen in the markets, rubbing shoulders with their opposite gender. Be it academics or careers, women of Kashmir are not lagging behind in any field. 

These days, Scooty bikes have become a craze with women, mostly students and professionals, in Kashmir valley. Introduced by Honda Motors, a leading automobile dealer located in the heart of Srinagar in Kashmir in 2010, the bikes have become an easy purchase for women with Kashmir’s leading bank, JK Bank, offering attractive finance facility for the prospective buyers, majority of them being women. The cost of Scooty ranges from Rs 39,800 - 50,000 and one can get it with easy installments of Rs 800 per month. The main dealers of Scooty bikes in Kashmir – Rahim Motors and Kashmir Motors -  claim that they sell about 120 Scooties per month. As per records, a total number of 4019 Scooties were sold in Srinagar from March 31, 2009 to August 4, 2012.

The introduction of Scooty bikes was warmly welcomed by the women. Abida Bashir, a class 11 student, was filled with excitement when her brother purchased a Scooty for her. “It is very important for a girl to be independent. I have to go for tuitions at four different places. I cannot expect my brother to accompany me every time.” Belonging to a conservative Muslim family in Srinagar, she had to seek advice of a religious scholar on whether Islam allowed a girl to ride a bike. 

For Bisma, 26, a private employee, who availed J&K Bank’s loan facility, riding a Scooty was a dream which has come true. “Now I reach office on time every day. Otherwise I had to board overcrowded buses where instances of harassment and immodesty are a routine matter. It’s beyond description what happens inside these buses,” says Bisma. more