Srinagar: Amid crises in Kashmir, the state government has allegedly started to pressurize humanitarian groups not to lend support to the needy at Srinagar-based hospitals, which are bearing the brunt of causalities in the past over two months of “mass uprising”.
Official sources said a senior official in the divisional administration on the instructions of a “coterie” comprising some select ministers and officials has asked the official machinery to launch a “smart crackdown” on humanitarian groups, who have been running relief camps for the wounded and their attendants.
Sources said the past over a week the police and civil administration have started questioning the volunteers of such groups with an “intention to harass them to a level so that they quit the relief work.”
In the latest, the staff from the office of Tehsildar visited a relief camp, operating from a Karan Nagar-based Masjid, which would offer meals and refreshment to the people at SMHS Hospital, at a time when the Valley continues to reel under curfew and hartal.
Sources said initially some land officials inspected the relief camp for questioning. “During questioning they tactfully conveyed to the area respectable that they could land in trouble if they continue with the (good) work,” said an official in know of the matter asking not to be named.
Sources said but the relief camp remained undeterred and continued to feed the needy at the hospital. Subsequently, some cops visited the camp and questioned as how come the camp continues to run and “tactfully asked them to wind up the stall as it was sending a wrong signal to the outside world.”
Sources said apprehending to get booked for no fault of theirs, the area respectable decided to stop the humanitarian work. “Instead of feeling ashamed for being absent from the ground for all these weeks, this government wants to put the wounded and their families to more of problem,” said a group of young volunteers, who would actively dedicate their services in relief operations.
The camp, which started operations soon after Kashmir erupted in the wake of killing of militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani and his two associates on July 8, was widely hailed for its relentless services.
Elsewhere also, such humanitarian camps are being shut, with its organizers saying that they were threatened by the government to wind up.
Since the day Kashmir erupted, none of the ministers have ever visited government hospitals where wounded are undergoing treatment, though such facilities often ran short of resources.
Even though the medicos had been demanding personal visit of the Chief Minister and the Health Minister for issuance of “standing orders” to overcome shortage of resources, officials said the top brass avoided inspecting hospitals for “security reasons.”
Till now at least 86 persons have been killed and over 10,000 wounded in action by government forces. While wounded and their attendants struggle for want of resources it has mainly been the relief camps run by locals who provided succor.
“But it seems that government wants to fester the sufferings of the people,” said a senior member of the High Court Bar Association adding that the HCBA has taken serious note of this “satanic ban on humanitarian work.”
Despite repeated attempts, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Sardar Baseer Ahmed Khan could not be contacted for comments.
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