Faizah Gillani
The Covid-19 pandemic is taking a heavy toll on human lives across the globe. The pandemic has not even spared the most developed and well-structured health care systems of the world. But places of conflict, such as Kashmir, are where the real danger lies.
Since 5th of August 2019, when the Indian government stripped the held Kashmir of its special autonomous status under the Indian constitution by revoking its article 370 and illegally annexed the divided and disputed region, the people of Kashmir have been living under a brutal lockdown. The rest of the world has only recently accustomed itself to lockdowns after the outbreak of coronavirus outbreak, but for the people of Kashmir this had become a norm and part of their life much earlier.
Kashmir’s weak healthcare system has made the restive region a potential hotspot for the coronavirus. Continuous internet restrictions have become a major obstacle in the availability of information to common people with regard to the deadly virus particularly for the healthcare professionals. The internet service has either been completely cut off or even if it is available its speed is so slow that it could hardly be of any use for professionals and students.
The world relies heavily on awareness campaigns for the general public about the pandemic through mainstream and social media in the present trying times and provision of high-speed internet service in this advanced and modern era of communications is a must for this purpose.
Iqbal Saleem, a professor of surgery at Government Medical College (GMC) has complained that he was unable to download a Covid-19 manual for doctors, proposed by medical professionals in England. Other doctors have also shared similar frustrations over the ban of high-speed internet in the region. The doctors cannot conduct online video consultations meaning that they could not update themselves with the latest medical research and skills to deal with the patients.
Amnesty International has been persistently raising concerns over internet restrictions in Kashmir and has called on the Indian authorities to restore it particularly in the wake of ongoing pandemic. But those calls have fallen on deaf ears in New Delhi.
More than 170 academics across the globe have written to the World Health Organisation and United Nations Special rapporteurs pleading for the restoration of high-speed internet service in Kashmir.
Another major concern for Kashmir during the pandemic is the weak healthcare structure. Hospitals are understaffed and ill equipped. Hospitals struggle under normal circumstances to provide relief to suffering people but now the healthcare system burdened by coronavirus outbreak has virtually collapsed. Hospitals in Kashmir are not fit to fight the outbreak, with many senior doctors fearing a major disaster for the region.
A senior doctor and former principal of GMC has expressed his concerns over the situation. “We will be devastated. We will die like cattle,” Doctors are understandably fearful of the impact this will have on the community, but they are also concerned over their own safety, as well as that of their families.
There are not enough doctors or nursing staff to cope with the situation and they run high risk of being exposed to the virus in the absence of proper medical kits. If doctors contracted infection, there will be nobody to cater to the growing numbers of infected people that may end up in a big disaster.
The girls and women are the most vulnerable group in the conflict-ridden held Kashmir. Their predicament could multiply in case of major outbreak of pandemic in the region as they are already suffering because of poor healthcare system.
Many Kashmiri women and girls are living with the physical and psychological trauma caused by brutal occupation. Many of them have seen their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons either killed or disappeared. An alarming number of these women are either widows or half widows (wives of the forcibly disappeared).
A lot of these females have the burden of running households as well as the responsibilities of raising their children. Some of them are even the breadwinners of the family.
The lockdown restrictions could make many of them crippled financially. All these challenges are incredibly stressful for women.
Kashmiri women are characteristically known to be resilient and strong willed. But sadly, the current scenario will most likely put them out of their depth.
Their ongoing struggles on a daily basis topped with the pandemic will be extremely exhausting. Their experiences of mistreatment at the hands of Indian occupation forces have already etched in their memories and horrors of the pandemic would deepen their agony.
Those living in conflict zones or under illegal occupation like Kashmiris are already facing world’s apathy towards their plight but the outbreak of Covid-19 would exacerbate their miseries and it would be unfortunate if the international community continues with its indifferent attitude towards them.
The writer has studied History and Politics at Queen Mary, university of London. And Near and Middle East Studies at SOAS, University of London.
