Shaheena is 42, and unmarried. Although she was engaged in 1994, her would-be in-laws broke up the engagement within a month after they learnt that Shaheena’s brother was a militant. Her family kept on looking for a match for her but had to face disappointment everywhere for the same reason.
“They tried to find excuses to get rid of us. They gave us a month’s time to make preparations for the marriage. We couldn’t get ready in that short period. Finally they broke up the engagement,” says Shaheena. In the same month Shaheena’s brother was arrested.
Her mother, who could not bear both these incidents, died of a shock.
A decade ago, nobody objected marrying a militant’s or ex-militant’s sister. But now, it is common for families not to marry off their sons in a family where a brother or any other member has been a militant. The reasons are many. The main reason is that the families don’t want to be the targets intimidation or raids by the army or police.
It is a painful reality for girls who are related to militants or those having some association with militancy.
“There was a time when being the sister of a militant used to be an matter of pride but now we are being treated in an entirely different way. I feel really angry about those people who reject us for beingrelated to militants.Our brothers took up arms and joined the freedom movement for the sake of these people only,” says Sahiba. more
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Conceiving hope
Infertility has become a serious issue ensuring a lot of attention throughout the world.Some experts say the problem may have assumed proportions of ‘an epidemic’ with sterility almost tripled in recent years even among couples trying to have babies early.
The condition is somewhat similar in Kashmir. According to a study carried out by the Department of Endocrinology at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in 2008, 15.7 percent of women in Kashmir who are of child-bearing age will never have a child without clinical intervention. PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) is believed to be one of the main reasons for this problem.Kashmir’s renowned endocrinologist, Dr. Ashraf Ganaiesays that in recent years there has been a tremendous increase in the number of PCODpatients. A specific unpublished study revealed that 90% of female infertility problems are due to PCOD and related diseases, 5% are due to POF (Premature Ovarian Failure) and another 5% due to other stresses in our lives.
“These problems are not only female specific. It is also present in males as a metabolic syndrome. We call it a genetic disorder,”says Dr. Ashraf, who believes late marriages areadding to this problem.
All these problems have lead to a blooming of IVF (In-vitro Fertility) treatment centers in the valley. The IVF is a treatment where fertilization of the egg is done outside the womb in a Petri-dish. The man’s sperm and woman’s egg are fertilized in a vitro (glass) dish and after fertilization the resulting embryo is transferred into the uterus of the woman.Worldwide success rate of this IVF treatment is 40%.
However, the percentage varies with age. It is highest when the patient is between 25-30 years while for patients below 21 and above 40 it can be less than 20 percent. Initially it was used on women who had tubal factor infertility, a condition in which the fallopian tubes are blocked, damaged or absent but today it is tried on most of the infertilitypatients.
IVF started in Kashmir valley in 2003 with Rotunda Hygeia Clinic that hire doctors from outside the state for the treatment.A few others are run by the gynecologists from the valley. The first clinic is believed to have done about 1000 successful pregnancies in 8 years. Such clinics witness a huge rush of patients with each passing year and with increasing number of problems leading to infertility.
“In females it is because of stress, POF, late marriages, endometriosis, fibroids, PCOS, tubal blocks, PID (pelvic inflammatory disease), pelvic Koch’s, hormonal disorders (prolactin and thyroids). In males it is due to contact with pesticides, alcohol consumption, smoking, in laptop users, people exposed to more heat like drivers and mechanics as due to heat their sperm count gets reduced so naturally their mortality decreases,” says Dr.Ruheel Nisa, Lab Director Rotunda Hygeia clinic. “Most of the infertility problems in males are due to the interrogation in jails.”
Infertility in tortured people is very common in Kashmir where two decades of conflict has inflicted psychological as well as physical sufferings.“In jails people (males) are interrogated on their private parts resulting in their infertility.
Females have also got effected equally, like PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder) leads to their infertility.For the rape victims, mostly, it is very difficult to conceive,” says Dr. Ashraf. Dr. Arshid, Psychiatrist, government Psychiatric hospital is of the similar opinion.He also says stress changes neuro-hormonal environment of the body affecting fertility.
Stress disorders have reduced the reproductive age of Kashmiri women by almost 10 years, reveals a finding by Dr Abdul Hameed Zargar, former Director SKIMS. The finding shows that 11 percent women out of the 2,000 women examined between 2004 and 2006 in J&K suffered from premature menopause — a rise of 2 per cent from the late 90s. Some experts also claim reproductive age has reduced but Dr. Ashraf says it is puberty which starts early, then due to late marriages like at 30 or 32 reproduction period reduces. more
The condition is somewhat similar in Kashmir. According to a study carried out by the Department of Endocrinology at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in 2008, 15.7 percent of women in Kashmir who are of child-bearing age will never have a child without clinical intervention. PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) is believed to be one of the main reasons for this problem.Kashmir’s renowned endocrinologist, Dr. Ashraf Ganaiesays that in recent years there has been a tremendous increase in the number of PCODpatients. A specific unpublished study revealed that 90% of female infertility problems are due to PCOD and related diseases, 5% are due to POF (Premature Ovarian Failure) and another 5% due to other stresses in our lives.
“These problems are not only female specific. It is also present in males as a metabolic syndrome. We call it a genetic disorder,”says Dr. Ashraf, who believes late marriages areadding to this problem.
All these problems have lead to a blooming of IVF (In-vitro Fertility) treatment centers in the valley. The IVF is a treatment where fertilization of the egg is done outside the womb in a Petri-dish. The man’s sperm and woman’s egg are fertilized in a vitro (glass) dish and after fertilization the resulting embryo is transferred into the uterus of the woman.Worldwide success rate of this IVF treatment is 40%.
However, the percentage varies with age. It is highest when the patient is between 25-30 years while for patients below 21 and above 40 it can be less than 20 percent. Initially it was used on women who had tubal factor infertility, a condition in which the fallopian tubes are blocked, damaged or absent but today it is tried on most of the infertilitypatients.
IVF started in Kashmir valley in 2003 with Rotunda Hygeia Clinic that hire doctors from outside the state for the treatment.A few others are run by the gynecologists from the valley. The first clinic is believed to have done about 1000 successful pregnancies in 8 years. Such clinics witness a huge rush of patients with each passing year and with increasing number of problems leading to infertility.
“In females it is because of stress, POF, late marriages, endometriosis, fibroids, PCOS, tubal blocks, PID (pelvic inflammatory disease), pelvic Koch’s, hormonal disorders (prolactin and thyroids). In males it is due to contact with pesticides, alcohol consumption, smoking, in laptop users, people exposed to more heat like drivers and mechanics as due to heat their sperm count gets reduced so naturally their mortality decreases,” says Dr.Ruheel Nisa, Lab Director Rotunda Hygeia clinic. “Most of the infertility problems in males are due to the interrogation in jails.”
Infertility in tortured people is very common in Kashmir where two decades of conflict has inflicted psychological as well as physical sufferings.“In jails people (males) are interrogated on their private parts resulting in their infertility.
Females have also got effected equally, like PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder) leads to their infertility.For the rape victims, mostly, it is very difficult to conceive,” says Dr. Ashraf. Dr. Arshid, Psychiatrist, government Psychiatric hospital is of the similar opinion.He also says stress changes neuro-hormonal environment of the body affecting fertility.
Stress disorders have reduced the reproductive age of Kashmiri women by almost 10 years, reveals a finding by Dr Abdul Hameed Zargar, former Director SKIMS. The finding shows that 11 percent women out of the 2,000 women examined between 2004 and 2006 in J&K suffered from premature menopause — a rise of 2 per cent from the late 90s. Some experts also claim reproductive age has reduced but Dr. Ashraf says it is puberty which starts early, then due to late marriages like at 30 or 32 reproduction period reduces. more
The grace of charity
About 100,000 children in Jammu and Kashmir are estimated (by UNICEF) to be orphans. A poor fatherless child under the age of 18 falls in the category of an orphan. Most of the orphans here are a result of the ongoing conflict.
According to surveys by various government and private agencies, Kupwara district has the highest number of orphans at about 24,000 follwed by Anantnag and Budgam with 10,000 each.
In the 2007, a survey done by Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) found that in some parts of Kashmir, one in three Kashmiris had lost members of their extended families to the conflict and a similar number had contemplated suicide. more
According to surveys by various government and private agencies, Kupwara district has the highest number of orphans at about 24,000 follwed by Anantnag and Budgam with 10,000 each.
In the 2007, a survey done by Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) found that in some parts of Kashmir, one in three Kashmiris had lost members of their extended families to the conflict and a similar number had contemplated suicide. more
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The Unexpected Day of My Life
Memories are sacred. How fortunate are those who have a sharp memory. more
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The hero of 13 July,1937
There have been a number of debates about the Hero of 1931 but nobody is clear who he was. Every historian, scholars, writers who has written about him lacks proof Abdul Qadeer Khan left the political scene of Kashmir as dramatically as he entered.
Leaders often have a lobby or what we can say followers who support them but Abdul Qadeer Khan had none. He came from nowhere, delivered a single speech which flared out the age old anger of civilians who were suffering under different autocratic rules of Sikhs, Afghans and then Dogras.
MAKING OF A HERO
21 June 1931
The ‘Young man’s Muslim Association’, led by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, had planned a public meeting on the 21st June of 1931 at the Khanqah-i-Moulla. It was a unique meeting because all Muslim divines, irrespective of their schools of thought assembled at the sacred place.more or more
Monday, June 20, 2011
First girl's orphanage
They may not be related but they share everything with each other. Living together has give rise to a strong emotional bond. They live as sisters. They are all orphans.
“They come crying when they are brought here but with time, they get used to this place and begin to live as a member of this big family,” says Isha Nighat, chief warden of the Bannat Girl’s Hostel, a wing of J&K Yateem Trust. There are 110 orphan girls in the orphanage.
Rehana Razak was just one year-old when her father died. “My mother would say that he had been militant and was killed,” says Rehana.
Rehana’s grandfather and uncle took up the responsibility of looking after Rihana and her three siblings. But a few months later their grandfather died. Her mother also died a year.
“My mother’s hopelessness killed her. She was shattered by the death of our father and died of a heart attack,” says Rehana.
She became a part of the orphanage because her uncle could not take her responsibility anymore. She was nine then. The decision was also made by her brother so that Rehana, the youngest child of her parents, could continue her education.
“Initially I would remain alone. I would sit in a corner, hide my face with my hands and cry as long as I could. Then with time and after seeing other girls who had also passed through similar misfortunes, I got adapted to this place,” says Rehana. She wants to become a doctor.
Like Rehana there are 109 other girls who live in this girl’s orphanage. They are not allowed to move out of hostel premises and the administration has built a school in the vicinity of the hostel, where girl students from local areas also come to study.
The school was started at the same time when the hostel was established.
“We started with an idea that no child should be left uncared. The idea was to give them good education and this dream was inherited from my father,” says Zahoor Ahmad Tak, Chairman J&K Yateem Trust, who started the girl’s hostel in 2002. Tak says that his father’s dream would never have become a reality if they hadn’t the support of their donors.”
Girls living in this hostel seem quite satisfied with the facilities available to them.
“We have selected a representative from every room who takes care of the monthly needs like soaps, shampoos, clothes, beddings, etc. and, God forbid, if anybody falls ill, the representatives inform warden who then calls a doctor,” says Kausar Jabeen, a student of class 9 and representative of her room. “A ‘mother’ also sleeps in each room.”
There are three cooks in the hostel who prepare food for the children. Though they have every facility available in the hostel but the parents’ separation make them sad often.
“Some girls don’t have any of their parents alive. Their limited resources have brought them here and we agree that a children is safest where her or his mother is but to keep them here is only because we want to give them better education and want to make them independent,” says Tak, Chairman of J&K Yateem Trust. All the girls and workers in the orphanage call him Papaji.
“To take care of a girl child is a very tough job in the present circumstances and when it comes to 110 girls, one can think how tough it could be,” says Isha Nighat. “We can’t be liberal when it comes to girls. They need a lot of care because at times they get too emotional. Whenever that happens we try to be patient to motivate them.
I am not saying that they irritate us, but they treat this place as their home so they also expect to be treated in a similar way.”
The students have also got a female private tutor who takes care of their studies and teaches them languages like Arabic and Persian. For other subjects, their school takes care of that. Some special teams also visit this hostel to impart vocational training. In winters their warden teaches cooking. She says, “They are my daughters so I want them to have every skill so that they don’t get any problem in future”.
Life in this hostel starts from six in the morning. After the morning prayers, they make their beds and iron their uniforms. Then the children get ready for school. In the evening when they are back they do their homework. Seniors do their work themselves and for juniors there are mothers who take care of them.
“The upper class limit is 12th and the youngest one is Shakeela who is presently in 4th class and was brought here when she couldn’t even talk,” says Warden Isha Nighat.
J&K Yateem Trust dates back to 1972. It was started by Abdul Khaliq Tak, popularly known as Tak Zainagari, father of present chairman, in Hardushiva Sopore. After getting registered in 1973, they began their work in Srinagar 1974. Presently, J&K Yateem Trust has about eight orphanages in which there are about 400 children (orphans) and in whole valley they have 78 units.
“They come crying when they are brought here but with time, they get used to this place and begin to live as a member of this big family,” says Isha Nighat, chief warden of the Bannat Girl’s Hostel, a wing of J&K Yateem Trust. There are 110 orphan girls in the orphanage.
Rehana Razak was just one year-old when her father died. “My mother would say that he had been militant and was killed,” says Rehana.
Rehana’s grandfather and uncle took up the responsibility of looking after Rihana and her three siblings. But a few months later their grandfather died. Her mother also died a year.
“My mother’s hopelessness killed her. She was shattered by the death of our father and died of a heart attack,” says Rehana.
She became a part of the orphanage because her uncle could not take her responsibility anymore. She was nine then. The decision was also made by her brother so that Rehana, the youngest child of her parents, could continue her education.
“Initially I would remain alone. I would sit in a corner, hide my face with my hands and cry as long as I could. Then with time and after seeing other girls who had also passed through similar misfortunes, I got adapted to this place,” says Rehana. She wants to become a doctor.
Like Rehana there are 109 other girls who live in this girl’s orphanage. They are not allowed to move out of hostel premises and the administration has built a school in the vicinity of the hostel, where girl students from local areas also come to study.
The school was started at the same time when the hostel was established.
“We started with an idea that no child should be left uncared. The idea was to give them good education and this dream was inherited from my father,” says Zahoor Ahmad Tak, Chairman J&K Yateem Trust, who started the girl’s hostel in 2002. Tak says that his father’s dream would never have become a reality if they hadn’t the support of their donors.”
Girls living in this hostel seem quite satisfied with the facilities available to them.
“We have selected a representative from every room who takes care of the monthly needs like soaps, shampoos, clothes, beddings, etc. and, God forbid, if anybody falls ill, the representatives inform warden who then calls a doctor,” says Kausar Jabeen, a student of class 9 and representative of her room. “A ‘mother’ also sleeps in each room.”
There are three cooks in the hostel who prepare food for the children. Though they have every facility available in the hostel but the parents’ separation make them sad often.
“Some girls don’t have any of their parents alive. Their limited resources have brought them here and we agree that a children is safest where her or his mother is but to keep them here is only because we want to give them better education and want to make them independent,” says Tak, Chairman of J&K Yateem Trust. All the girls and workers in the orphanage call him Papaji.
“To take care of a girl child is a very tough job in the present circumstances and when it comes to 110 girls, one can think how tough it could be,” says Isha Nighat. “We can’t be liberal when it comes to girls. They need a lot of care because at times they get too emotional. Whenever that happens we try to be patient to motivate them.
I am not saying that they irritate us, but they treat this place as their home so they also expect to be treated in a similar way.”
The students have also got a female private tutor who takes care of their studies and teaches them languages like Arabic and Persian. For other subjects, their school takes care of that. Some special teams also visit this hostel to impart vocational training. In winters their warden teaches cooking. She says, “They are my daughters so I want them to have every skill so that they don’t get any problem in future”.
Life in this hostel starts from six in the morning. After the morning prayers, they make their beds and iron their uniforms. Then the children get ready for school. In the evening when they are back they do their homework. Seniors do their work themselves and for juniors there are mothers who take care of them.
“The upper class limit is 12th and the youngest one is Shakeela who is presently in 4th class and was brought here when she couldn’t even talk,” says Warden Isha Nighat.
J&K Yateem Trust dates back to 1972. It was started by Abdul Khaliq Tak, popularly known as Tak Zainagari, father of present chairman, in Hardushiva Sopore. After getting registered in 1973, they began their work in Srinagar 1974. Presently, J&K Yateem Trust has about eight orphanages in which there are about 400 children (orphans) and in whole valley they have 78 units.
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