After the debacle caused to Kashmir tourism due to bloody unrest 2016,  the recent heavy snowfall across Kashmir has brought happiness and smile back on people especially those who depend on Tourism for livelihood purposes .With the impressive snowfall,  Tour operators and Hoteliers in Kashmir are gearing up for winter tourism in Kashmir.

Also, with this impressive snowfall one of  the longest dry spell in Kashmir history came to an end. Kashmir desperately needs to promote winter tourism to boost its economy and increase the sources of income is the pulse on ground  .We need to remind ourselves that Tourism is an important, even vital, source of income for many regions and countries. Its importance was recognized in the Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980 as “an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and on their international relations.

In a related optimistic development, J&K tourism department has already decided to hold a snow festival in Gulmarg at the end of January. Pertinently, more measures should be taken to promote Kashmir as best winter tourism resort and the necessary infrastructure with reference to it should be built. We also need to look beyond Gulmarg as in winters whole flow is to Gulmarg and in this regard more destinations should be showcased as winter tourism destinations.

For the moment, snowfall is giving hope of revival of winter tourism in Kashmir.

World human rights day is observed every year on 10th December. 66 years ago UN General Assembly proclaimed 10th December as Human Rights Day in 1950 to the attention of the ‘People of the World’ the universal declaration of Human Rights as common standard of achievement for all peoples and all Nations. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by UN General Assembly in 1966 declares in its.  It envisaged several bright articles as was found suitable for forward of humanity.

Article 1 envisages : All people have the right of self- determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Article 6 states : Every human being has the inherent right to life. The right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life, and pertinently, Article 9 describes : Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention.

But, in current times human rights situation from Syria to Iraq, Palestine to Kashmir is heartrending . Killings, bloodshed, childhood brutalized, women dishonored etc have become order of day . The world we live in is having from all paradigms a very grim human rights situation .

Realities urge that the sane global leadership should brainstorm so as to improve the overall human-rights picture of world.

Recently, in a positive development Director School Education Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, has issued orders for regularization of services of 470 Rehbar-e-Taleems (ReTs) of Kashmir division, a communiqué informed.

“470 ReTs have been regularized including 82 from Anantnag, 44 from Bandipora, 49 from Baramulla, 51 from Budgam, 35 from Kulgam, 77 from Kupwara, 01 from Leh, 24 from Kargil, 24 from Ganderbal, 22 from Shopian, 43 from Pulwama and 18 from Srinagar district,” the statement issued by DSEK said.

The Director School Education said that efforts are being made to sort out all the pending issues so as to develop an efficient work culture in the department. He said process of regularization shall continue on a fast-track basis.

Last year,  thousands of Rehbar-e-Taleem teachers who were protesting against the decision of the government to make screening test compulsory for teachers.

As a matter of fact, ReT  scheme was started by the previous National Conference government in 2000, which had appointed qualified people as ReT teachers in their respective areas to improve literacy and lower unemployment in the state. There are nearly 65,000 such teachers in the state, who are paid a consolidated monthly salary of Rs. 3,000 for five years before they get regularised.

 

With time, series of issues surfaced and virtually the ReTs were on warpath but now  this process of kickstarting of ReTs, hopes are pinned that things will move toward betterment.

 

The firing and shelling along line of control, International Border in Jammu and Kashmir has escalated forcing number of border residents to flee. Many civilians and security force men  in both countries have died, injured due to these increased  acts of flare up in tensions between two countries.

Pakistan media reports claim that  in total, more than four people, including an infant, have been killed and 26 residents of villages along the Working Boundary have been injured since Monday, the new report said.

On the otherhand, another BSF Head Constable was killed in cross-border firing from Pakistan in Jammu’s Abdullian district on Thursday. BSF HC Jitender Kumar was a resident of Motihari in Bihar. He joined BSF in 1991.This is the third death of a BSF personnel along the Pakistan border in Jammu in the past one week.

India media reports state that there have been over 40 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops since India carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir after the Uri terror attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed.

In nutshell, heavy border clashes compounded by material and human loss is worsening the already weakened relations between India and Pakistan.

Over the past near three and a half months Kashmir has become synonym of sad news and pessimistic developments. One after another bad news has dawned the sphere of life in the browbeaten valley of Kashmir .Killing, injuries, continuous shutdowns, blindings have defined the life in Kashmir during this time.At least 92 civilians have been killed and over 13,000 injured in the last 104 days of the on-going civil uprising since July 9, a day after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.Hundreds have been left blinded by the brutal use of pellet guns.

In another worrying development, The Jammu and Kashmir government has sacked over a dozen of its employees for their alleged involvement anti-India activities.“Reports on their anti-national activities prepared by the state police were forwarded to the Chief Secretary, who then directed respective heads of departments to issue orders terminating their services,” reports said.

cross Line of Control (LoC) firing  incidents have grown making innocents living on border pay a heavy price and incidents of violence have alsp grown in Kashmir.

In late 2015 and early 2016, observers of Kashmir reported growth in home-grown militancy and radicalisation of the Kashmiri population. Several reasons for this trend have been cited such as the absence of a political dialogue, the lack of economic opportunities, frustration due to high unemployment, excessive militarisation of the public space and repeated human rights violations by the security forces.

Globally noted organizations have expressed concern over the worsening of condition in Kashmir. Amnesty International accused Indian security forces were using “arbitrary and excessive force” to deal with the protests in Kashmir. It also stated that their actions were a violation of international standards and were leading to a worsening of the human rights crisis in the state. The organisation also criticized the use of pellet guns stating they had been used a 100 times in Kashmir during the first week of September 2016 even though its use was meant to be rare. It called for their ban stating they were dangerous and also expressed concern at the deployment of PAVA shells in the state as they could be used in an “arbitrary or indiscriminate manner”

Undoubtedly, sad developments have defined life in Kashmir since long.

 

Protests by students against government announcement to conduct the 10th and 12th class examinations from this month across Kashmir have continued unabated,  with several groups taking to streets in the city and elsewhere.

Students state when there is political uncertainty in the Valley from the last 100 days, when Schools and Colleges remain totally closed and students were not able to attend the tuitions due to imposition of Curfew restrictions and strike calls, how could the  student community have got the mental stability to  prepare  themselves for the examinations.

On their part, student bodies have made it clear that  Government should be aware  that examinations are directly linked with the bright future of students and as such students are neither mentally nor the situation presently allows them to sit in examinations, adding, the examination are not like state or parliamentary elections to which government will expect the normalization in political situation.

Education experts  have also made it clear that the need of hour is to grant Syllabus concession to students and in case concession is not granted in syllabus majority of the students will not be able to fair good in examinations, which can cause grim mental trauma and also adversely  impact their prospects for eligibility to different colleges as well as competitive examinations.

Realities urge that examination schedule should be relaxed in Kashmir and syllabus relaxation should be given so that students fare better in the exams.

save Owing to the volatile and violent situation in Kashmir over the past three months the masses in valley have been hit hard by the phenomenon of mental stress. The relatives of people injured, blinded and killed are the worst affected by this, followed by those who are incurring losses or joblessness due to the ongoing agitation. .Doctors say conflict in the region is the main cause for depression cases in Kashmir. Nearly half the population of adults is suffering from stress in Kashmir. A huge chunk of Kashmir population is suffering from depression, according to a recent survey.The survey, conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF,

 

The study says that nearly 1.8 million adults equaling 45 per cent of adult population suffers from mental distress in Kashmir valley and a majority of people have experienced or witnessed conflict-related trauma. Nearly three decades long political conflict and deadly violence has made valley of Kashmir a hotbed of mental trauma.

We need to ensure proper treatment and aid to patients so that they fight this mental tension and distress. As a matter of fact, The World Health Organization defines psychological first aid as “humane, supportive and practical assistance to fellow human beings suffering serious crisis events.” It is recognizing people in distress, listening to whatever they have to say, and linking them to the services and support they need immediately, whether food, shelter, communication with loved ones or something else. It’s a response that was developed in contrast to “psychological de-briefing” – making a victim recount the details of their experiences – which Doctor Roudaut says has been linked to the later development of PTSD.

Ending conflict and proper treatment can only save Kashmir from Mental Distress.