Short Description
Kashmir Muslim youngsters are choosing to end their lives by committing suicide, in a new phenomenon in the war-torn community.
Living in a region hit by a restive conflict for more than two decades, a growing number of Kashmir Muslim youngsters are choosing to end their lives by committing suicide, in a new phenomenon in the war-torn community.
“For the last four months, the scale at which people are killing themselves has shown an upward trend owing to different reasons,” Akram-ul-Hassan, who works in Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, told Onislam.net.
“What prompts people to end their lives is question of concern for all.”
Working in a medical institute, Akram warned that about 22-25 cases are reported monthly across Kashmir valley, with most of the deceased persons happen to be teenagers.
Official figures registered in police stations put the number at more than 20 cases per month.
“Suicide is heinous crime of self murder and now more people die of self killing than in militancy related incidents across Kashmir valley,” Sayeed Majid of south Kashmir said.
Many experts refer the worrying phenomenon to the problems related to the devastated social fabric in Indian Administered Kashmir.
Others blame a cocktail of social and psychological problems for being responsible for the deaths.
“Lack of religious education, patience and human emotional stability, misunderstanding among members of family, unawareness regarding suicide as a great sin, impure educational system existing in the state and eradication of moral aspect from the education curriculum,” Shabir Ahmad Sheikh a teacher of sociology in Government School in Qazigund village of South Kashmir told Onislam.net.
Shabir added that “unjustified planning/ Job policies of the government imbalanced society, drug addiction and alcoholism, oppression and suppression existing in Kashmir are commonly responsible for rise in suicide.”
Many poor Kashmiris find suicide the only way to escape their abject poverty, Mohd Rafiq Beig, a Lecturer in Government school said.
“Conflict is also responsible for the increase in such menace as people living in conflict zone are prone to oppression and depression,” Beig added.
Religion Solution
Seeking a solution to the suicide menace in Kashmir, Muslim scholars were urged to offer youngsters a solid moral example to follow and avoid frustration.
“Imams and teachers being builders of societies can play a vital role in shaping the society by imparting proper education and moral beliefs which would encourage all to behave rationally and provide a stage for them to put advance their estimation in a understandable and planned manner,” Ghulam Mohd Mir a retired teacher told Onislam.net.
Mir added that Muslim scholars could also create a sense of self-confidence, belief and support among Kashmir young people to prepare them to face life challenges.
“It is essential to remember that life though may bring distress but it does not mean that we should have the spirit of defeatism in us; rather we should confront it with optimism,” he said.
“Life is under no obligation to give us what we expect so, it is we who have to turn our dreams into reality by our own efforts,” he added.
Suicide is prohibited in Islam, and is considered a criminal offence with punitive laws in almost entire Muslim world.
Kashmir is divided into two parts and ruled by India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars since the 1947 independence over the region.
Pakistan and the UN back the right of the Kashmir people for self-determination, an option opposed by New Delhi.
In the past years, the Himalayan region has been rocked by unabated demonstrations against the Indian rule.
More than 60,000 people have been killed since Kashmiris took up arms against the Indian rule in 1989.
New Delhi has consistently rejected any foreign mediation to solve the Kashmir conflict, leaving Kashmiris empty-handed.
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/asia-pacific/464404-conflict-drives-kashmiris-to-suicide.html
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