Kashmir's disabled: Lives broken by conflict, yet uncared for
In J&K many men and women have lost lives in terror attacks in cities and villages. Many have been seriously injured as well as disabled. The financial and occupational concerns of many such disabled and affected people have not been addressed.
SHAHIDA is one such disbaled person. Her arms were blown off in a suicide attack in the Dal lake area of Srinagar city few years ago. Flesh was also torn from one of her legs, and she lost much of her vision. Her mashed face is split by an uneven scar. Now, at 35, she has four children but not much else. "I can not even drink water by myself," she weeps silently, dabbing at a tear with one of her stumped arms.
What is left of her limbs is covered by a black shawl that also partially hides red lumps of flesh on her neck and jaw. "Of course, I would have plans if I had hands or eyes. But now I have half a body. I don't even have a husband," she says. Her husband, a day labourer, was killed in the attack as he sat in the front seat of the private taxi (Tata sumo) that was taking them home from a wedding.
Shahida was dozing in the back of the sumo with her then three-month-old son in her lap and her arms resting on the front seat, when the car bomb exploded directly in front of them on November 2, 2005. She said a police party signalled a car to stop. As the police was trying to stop the car, there was a massive explosion resulting in the death of police constable, two civilians and a suicide bomber.
Now she and her children live with her policeman brother, who supports them. Her daughters, both under 14, are her hands, cooking and cleaning, and helping her to eat and drink. In her humble room at Rafiabad in Baramulla district, Shahida does not know where to turn for help. "I don't know where to go or what to do," I just want one hand, she says.
On the other side of the valley, in the Trehgam area of Kupwara district lives 27-year-old Nafisa, who has an attractive face but no legs. She waddles around her family's small and spotless home on her hips, unable to even use a wheelchair on her own due to a search and cordon operation launched by the security forces which destroyed her home about 14 years ago and mangled one of her hands. She remembers the chilly autumn day the attack happened.
The family had gone into their courtyard to catch a little sun with Nafisa's mother named Sara Begum calling all her children including the oldest, who was 17. She took her sewing machine out into the sunshine with her as she used it to earn some cash. "There was the sound of a blast in a military camp nearby their home," recalls Nafisa's mother. “I told everyone: Let's move.”
Soon after our house was surrounded by security forces, my son Mushtaq Ahmed Dar was blind folded and taken to the military camp, they accused him of treating militants, says Sara. This time it was another sound of a blast and cross firing at our home, she says. "I saw the legs of my daughter cut off from her body, there was a bullet in her legs and another in her arm. I fainted. When I woke up I was in hospital," says the 50-year-old, a tear sliding down her cheek.
Sara Begum lost a leg in this incident. Sara’s family is one of the few to collect a government disability pension totalling Rs 400 per month. But it is not enough for them to live on and they rely on relatives and the little money that the only surviving son earns selling cigarettes and Nafisa can make from sewing for the neighbours.
Only 1.20 lakh physically challenged people in militancy related incidents have access to the government disability pension. The J&K state, according to 2001 census, has a total disabled population of 302,670 (272,816 males and 130,853 females).
Shahida was dozing in the back of the sumo with her then three-month-old son in her lap and her arms resting on the front seat, when the car bomb exploded directly in front of them on November 2, 2005. She said a police party signalled a car to stop. As the police was trying to stop the car, there was a massive explosion resulting in the death of police constable, two civilians and a suicide bomber.
Now she and her children live with her policeman brother, who supports them. Her daughters, both under 14, are her hands, cooking and cleaning, and helping her to eat and drink. In her humble room at Rafiabad in Baramulla district, Shahida does not know where to turn for help. "I don't know where to go or what to do," I just want one hand, she says.
On the other side of the valley, in the Trehgam area of Kupwara district lives 27-year-old Nafisa, who has an attractive face but no legs. She waddles around her family's small and spotless home on her hips, unable to even use a wheelchair on her own due to a search and cordon operation launched by the security forces which destroyed her home about 14 years ago and mangled one of her hands. She remembers the chilly autumn day the attack happened.
The family had gone into their courtyard to catch a little sun with Nafisa's mother named Sara Begum calling all her children including the oldest, who was 17. She took her sewing machine out into the sunshine with her as she used it to earn some cash. "There was the sound of a blast in a military camp nearby their home," recalls Nafisa's mother. “I told everyone: Let's move.”
Soon after our house was surrounded by security forces, my son Mushtaq Ahmed Dar was blind folded and taken to the military camp, they accused him of treating militants, says Sara. This time it was another sound of a blast and cross firing at our home, she says. "I saw the legs of my daughter cut off from her body, there was a bullet in her legs and another in her arm. I fainted. When I woke up I was in hospital," says the 50-year-old, a tear sliding down her cheek.
Sara Begum lost a leg in this incident. Sara’s family is one of the few to collect a government disability pension totalling Rs 400 per month. But it is not enough for them to live on and they rely on relatives and the little money that the only surviving son earns selling cigarettes and Nafisa can make from sewing for the neighbours.
Only 1.20 lakh physically challenged people in militancy related incidents have access to the government disability pension. The J&K state, according to 2001 census, has a total disabled population of 302,670 (272,816 males and 130,853 females).
According to estimates, this number has increased to 605,340 (343,632 males and 261,708 females) in 2009. According to census reports there are five major types of disabilities in the state - ‘seeing’, ‘speech’, ‘hearing’, ‘movement’ and ‘mental’.
The mental and movement disability were found to be dominant while other disabilities were comparatively low.
While 2.12 per cent of the total population at all-India level suffers from such disabilities, in J&K 3 per cent of population is disabled. The percentage of disabled population in J&K is higher in comparison to northern states of Punjab (1.74 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (2.56 per cent) and Union Territory of Chandigarh (1.72 per cent). This higher proportion of disabled in J&K can only be attributed to perpetual conflict in which thousands of people were treated brutally and beaten mercilessly or have suffered mentally.
This gets confirmed from the district-level disability data according to which border and militancy affected districts have more number of disabled people.
The mental and movement disability were found to be dominant while other disabilities were comparatively low.
While 2.12 per cent of the total population at all-India level suffers from such disabilities, in J&K 3 per cent of population is disabled. The percentage of disabled population in J&K is higher in comparison to northern states of Punjab (1.74 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (2.56 per cent) and Union Territory of Chandigarh (1.72 per cent). This higher proportion of disabled in J&K can only be attributed to perpetual conflict in which thousands of people were treated brutally and beaten mercilessly or have suffered mentally.
This gets confirmed from the district-level disability data according to which border and militancy affected districts have more number of disabled people.
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