20 years of conflict have left scars on the people of Kashmir. Not just the scars some carry from bullet wounds and tear gas shells but the invisible scars of dealing with daily fear, insecurity and often unbearable loss.
There are only 20 psychiatrists and a handful of clinical psychologists working in a region of four million souls. And most of them are based in the capital, Srinagar. That leaves the vast majority of people in the remote rural areas, stranded.
Dr Arshid is a psychiatrist with the Government Mental Health College in Srinagar. He says that there’s little data on the rise of mental health problems in Kashmir since the conflict, but empirical evidence – what he and his colleagues have witnessed in recent years – points to a definite increase.
Suicide
“Kashmir had the lowest suicide rate in India according to one study” he says. “It was .01% of the population. In fact we didn’t even have a word for suicide in the Kashmiri language. But now if you visit any hospital in Srinagar the doctors will tell you that they’re seeing four, five, six people a day who have attempted it…and the figures state that for every seven attempts you see and save, there was one successful suicide.”
Dr Arshid says that the conflict is directly and indirectly responsible for the increase in suicide, depression, psychosis and drug abuse. “We used to have a society where women would go to the river to wash their clothes – and there they would wash all the dirty linen. They would talk about their problems in the family and society, and together the women would suggest solutions and s€upport each other. But now the conflict means that no one trusts each other anymore.”
Dr Muzaffer Khan is clearly tired. He left his house on the outskirts of Srinagar at 5 a.m. to try to get to the city before the curfew. For three months now, Kashmir has been shut down because of the curfews enforced by the security forces, and Dr Khan was worried about the patients he has not been able to see. It’s late afternoon, but since his dawn breakfast, he’s not had time to eat. He rushed from his private practice to the drug addiction clinic where he works and then drove 15 kilometres out of Srinagar for a group counselling session at the Shehjar boarding house for orphan boys.
Boys home
One of the boys at the session was seven-year-old Aurangzeb. He was five when his father was poisoned by a woman from his village, for being a police informer. In a small, timid voice, Aurangzeb told the doctor that when he grew up, he was going to kill the woman who killed his father. But for now, he settles for just beating up her children every time he visits his family in the village.
When I ask the doctor to try to guess how many people in Kashmir have mental issues because of the conflict, he turns his melancholic eyes to me and answers instantly, “almost all of them.”
“Even you?” I ask. ”Yes, even me, my colleagues, friends, family – we all have things we’ve seen and experience which come back every time we witness more violence here.”
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Dr Arshid seems a very competent is counselling young Aurangzeb and such other children. Without his optimism and hope in bringing about changes in victim-perpetrator blaming processes, mutual hatred is difficult to overcome. I hope his outlook is shared by others in his profession. I congratulate Dheera for being able to locate likes of Dr Arshid who are able to inform us about the basic social network which was keeping Kashimirs' self-confidence and self-respect intact is being eroded by the current situation. Sure enough we do not require labels like PSTD(post stress traumatic disorder)but identifying the problem that is relevant to the culture is what Dr Arshid is so suitable. Although solution for healing Kashmiris' pscyhe may not be at hand, I hope people like Dr Arshid continue the good work.
Pakistani militants 'hijacking' Kashmir causeBy Zulfiqar Ali
BBC News, Islamabad
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11425831
"20 years of conflict have left scars on the people of Kashmir. Not just the scars some carry from bullet wounds and tear gas shells but the invisible scars of dealing with daily fear, insecurity and often unbearable loss."........These are symptoms and as Dr Arshid stated "...that the conflict is directly and indirectly responsible for the increase in suicide, depression, psychosis and drug abuse...." India has a choice to give into the same forces and demands that split India in 1948/49 into Pakistan and East Pakistan or stand firm and fight the same forces which want to control all of India. It appears Dr Arshid is going to be busy for a very long time.
Go and visit the refugee camps of Kashmiri Pandits as well in Jammu, if you really want to report the full problem of Kashmir for the past 20 years. Study their medical and psychiatric reports too. Kashmir does not mean only Kashmiri Muslims. You should know better about being a refugee. I am astounded by the lack of apathy for 4 lakh Kashmiri Pandits by your goodself and RNW. Media bias at its worst, I would say. RNW is purely about and for Muslims, I am afraid!
Hey Anon aka Jasmin
There was no mention of either Pandit or Muslim in this piece - not in the audio and not in the web story. Please listen to our stuff and find out what whe have to say before sending off kneejerk reactions to what you THINK we're about.
Dheera Sujan, you stated "Hey Anon aka Jasmin" and "There was no mention of either Pandit or Muslim in this piece - not in the audio and not in the web story. Please listen to our stuff and find out what whe have to say before sending off kneejerk reactions to what you THINK we're about."..........You were correct about not mentioning either Pandit or Muslim in your article but you were not correct when you stated ""Hey Anon aka Jasmin". I don't think or don't remember her "anon" address herself as Jasmin in her piece. You responded in a "kneejerk" fashion to anon's kneejerk response to your article. In your response you gave away someone's name and it was not written. Confidentaility, right? No, wonder there are so many problems in India! Everyone gets offended by "kneejerk" responses and reactions to their neighbours because of their perceptions. Now, if both of you can get so offended and upset by a few words, just think how the people in your article feel. Be, nice, okay! Both of you.
Hey Dheera. Extremely sorry, my fault: the names-Arshid and Aurangezeb are common names shared by both Pandits and Muslims, so you can't really differentiate about whom we are talking about;there was no Pandit exodus in 1989 and the demography of the valley is equally shared by both Pandits and Muslims, so the patients in Srinagar Mental Health College are from both the groups; there are no KP refugees in other states of India, and the Sikhs are not being harrassed in the valley; RNW is an unbiased site- found scores of articles on Pandits living happily with the Muslims in the valley. Wonder why I felt the kneejerk reactions...must get myself examined for knees, jerks and illusions....I too need a psychiatrist. Thanks a lot for correcting me..
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