Introduction to KashmirForum.org Blog

I launched the website and the Blog after having spoken to government officials, political analysts and security experts specializing in South Asian affairs from three continents. The feedback was uniformly consistent. The bottom line is that when Kashmiris are suffering and the world has its own set of priorities, we need to find ways to help each other. We must be realistic, go beyond polemics and demagoguery, and propose innovative ideas that will bring peace, justice and prosperity in all of Jammu and Kashmir.

The author had two reasons to create this blog. First, it was to address the question that was being asked repeatedly, especially, by journalists and other observers in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, inquiring whether the Kashmiri society was concerned about social, cultural and environmental challenges in the valley given that only political upheaval and violence were reported or highlighted by media.

Second, the author has covered the entire spectrum of societal issues and challenges facing Kashmiri people over an 8-year period with the exception of politics given that politics gets all the exposure at the expense of REAL CHALLENGES that will likely result in irreversible degradation in the quality of life and the standard of living for future generations of Kashmiris to come.

The author stopped adding additional material to the Blog once it was felt that most, if not all, concerns, challenges and issues facing the Kashmiri society are cataloged in the Blog. There are over 1900 entries in the Blog and most commentaries include short biographical sketches of authors to bring readers close to the essence of Kashmir. Unfortunately, the 8-year assessment also indicates that neither Kashmiri civil society, nor intellectuals or political leadership have any inclination or enthusiasm in pursuing issues that do not coincide with their vested political agendas. What it means for the future of Kashmiri children and their children is unfathomable. But the evidence is all laid out.

This Blog is a reality check on Kashmir. It is a historical record of how Kashmir lost its way.

Vijay Sazawal, Ph.D.
www.kashmirforum.org

Friday, March 30, 2012

A Land Where Human Development is Zero

A sad editorial in the Greater Kashmir, followed by an equally sad commentary in the Rising Kashmir unveils the depth of depravement in Kashmir


Unclaimed Baby

An unclaimed baby is lying in GB Panth Hospital Srinagar for last several days. The ill-fated baby girl was recovered from a house in Pulwama district after it was reportedly stolen by a nursing supervisor from the LD hospital. The story of the baby is not just heart wrenching, it openly points to the rot we as a society suffer from. While on the one hand it exposes the callousness of a lady official who apparently for the lure of money stole the baby from the hospital to sell it to some potential customer, on the other it unravels the heartlessness of some parents who abandoned the baby like a mere chattel. The story also points to the flawed and faulty system as also the utter unaccountability in our hospitals. Curiously, it is yet to be established how the baby had actually landed in LD hospital in the first place. Where it the parents who brought the baby to the hospital or was it born there? The incident underlines the need for fool-proof security system in our hospitals, particularly the maternity and child care institutions.

Kashmir as a society may have seen the turbulent times during past more than two decades, yet it has largely escaped a mesh with serious human problems like child and women trafficking. But now the time seems to have changed. Over past some time, media has highlighted a number of reports pointing to serious social challenges Kashmir is fast bracing up for. The falling child sex ratio, for example, is one daunting challenge that needs to be tackled both at the societal level as well as by the government. We must understand that the rich cultural ethos of Kashmir has no place for such things. There are reportedly some families who have offered to adopt the child. The state authorities must see to it that the adoptive parents adopt the child only after following all the requirements of the law.


G B Pant Hospital gets 4th unclaimed baby in 15 days

Sameer Showkin Lone

Srinagar: In a fourth incident of its kind in the last 15 days, a newborn baby was abandoned at Valley’s lone tertiary pediatric centre, the G B pant Hospital on Tuesday.

Clad in pink clothes the baby girl is lying on a warmer in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital waiting for somebody to come and take her home. A white strip pasted on her sweater mentions her date of admission to the hospital as 27-03-2012 and has words “unclaimed baby” written over it. It is the second incident of its kind in past three days.

Earlier a baby was recovered from a house in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district and is in the ICU of the hospital.

According to hospital sources the second baby was brought to the hospital by a woman at 11:30 PM on Monday but since then nobody has turned up to claim her possession.

“Although, she is not a victim of baby stealing, she seems to be a victim of parental neglect,” said an official of the hospital.

According to hospital nursing staff, a veiled woman brought the baby in ward number 09 of the hospital at 11:30 on Monday night.

“As soon as she brought the baby inside the ward she went back saying that she has to get some documents and will be back in few minutes. But she did not return,” said a nurse wishing not to be named.

Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Javid Chowdhary while narrating the whole story to Rising Kashmir said the baby was brought to the hospital by a veiled lady who introduced herself as Ameena of Tankipora and claimed the baby was the daughter of Bashir Ahmad also residing at Tankipora.

However, Dr Chowdhary said the baby was admitted to the hospital at 8:30 in the morning, as per hospital records. “The baby was suffering of hypothermia and has been kept on the warmer,” he said.

As per the hospital records four such incidents have taken place in last 15 days. “On March 13 and 14 two unclaimed babies were dropped in the hospital premises by some unknown person. One was behind the door of X-ray section and other on the ground floor,” said Dr Chowdhary.

Asked if any legal action has been taken in this regard, he said, “We first lodge an FIR at Ram Munshi Bagh Police Station and after other legal procedures are followed. Then we hand them over to the people who want to adopt them.”

He said two male babies who were dropped by some unknown persons in the hospital few days back have been adopted temporarily by somebody and processing of proper adoption papers is on.

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