DANISH NABI
SRINAGAR, Oct 29:
The sun is too low in the overcast sky to cast shadows on ground. The shutters are all down on almost deserted streets. There are no foreign laborers (Biharis) at the Bihari (Hawal) chowk; students and employees too are missing from the bus stop.
At a little distance from the cinema-turned-CRPF camp at Hawal, smoke is coming out from the Chimney of a Kandur (Baker's) shop. Elderly men in Pherans are rubbing hands for warmth as they walk step by step to get the morning bread. In absence of any surprise around, the frown on their faces is reflecting the intense cold unusual at this time of the year. A few policemen carrying batons are standing at a little distance from the camp gate.
A few cars whistle past Firdous cinema, uninterrupted. An elderly person enquires from a middle aged man coming in the opposite direction: “Az chu Zehre Yalai (It is perhaps open today)?”
“Waeseye chune Hartal kaenh, Pate Zaene Khudah ((As such there is no strike today. Rest God Knows better),” comes the reply.
During this exchange of enquiries, a bike moves past the men with a Maruti 800 ahead of it. The young rider wearing jeans, shirt, sweater and a helmet on is shivering with cold. His pace suggesting he is in hurry.
He looks around at the closed shops and blows horn to overtake the slow moving Maruti. But couldn’t go past it.
The car and the bike decelerate to cross the speed breaker near the camp. In that jiffy a white armored policy gypsy appears on the scene. On its rooftop is a concertina wire. A few policemen are hanging out on its back door.
The vehicle pulls up at the feet of the policemen already standing there. The driver takes right and everything comes into motion.
Policemen hanging from the doors step down and the ones already present come closer to the vehicle. An exchange of glances and a policeman brings down the concertina wire onto the road.
The Maruti has already passed but the police vehicle comes in way of the biker. He tries right but cannot pass. He slows down further, pauses and turns left. This time he is able to make way from behind the vehicle.
Behind him a policeman pulls the concertina wire to a shop inline with the camp and anchors it to something. With his baton he pulls away its other end spreading it across to the far end of the road.
The biker looks behind a couple of times, almost losing control over his steering. Then, undeterred, he accelerates in the forward direction but pulls up again near the Jammu and Kashmir bank. All shops are closed. The Hostel of Islamia college of Science and Commerce on the left looks lifeless. Only artificial light on the road is coming out from the bank ATM on the biker’s right.
He looks ahead through his helmet. Concertina wire is spreading across the road in front of him. On one side it is fixed to the electric pole near the hostel gate. On the other, it is anchored to a shop.
Across the wire are three policemen: one standing next to it and two others on either side of him at a little distance. The biker inches closer at snails pace, pulls up and lifts his helmet.
“Kanha Jana hai (Where are you going)?” policeman asks.
“College staff chu office chu gaechun (I am college staff. Have to go to the office),” the biker replies.
“Koet college (Which college)?” policeman asks again.
“Baramulla degree college,” biker replies and policeman frowns: “Baramulla College!”
He points towards the direction where the biker had come from. “Eidgah se jao (Go via Eigah),” he suggests.
“Magar Mujhe Lal chowk Jana hai wanha kanha se jao. Door padta hai (But I have to go to Lal Chowk. How can I go from Eidgah? It is a long distance away,” biker argues.
Policeman now points to right his: “Then go from here.”
The biker looks towards right with a look of disappointment on his face. He looks at his watch tied on the right wrist. It is 7:45 in he morning. Another motorcycle with rider and a pillion on is coming out from the by-lane policeman pointed to.
The biker moves inches towards right and then changes both mind and the lane. With a row of the engine the bike sets on the dilapidated side of the road. And a second or two later he is back at the white armored vehicle.
By now the concertina wire is anchored at both ends of the road. Policemen standing across have increased in number.
He pulls up close to the concertina wire. Three TATA 407 vehicles are standing across it with policemen ordering the drivers to return.
A driver argues: “Aes kapaer gachaewe (Wherefrom shall we go)?” he asks the policeman in a charged up tone.
“Jao ynah se jao. Yanha se band hai (Go away from here. It is closed from here),” intervenes a second policeman standing a little away from the vehicle.
The driver stands his ground. Policemen are enraged.
The second policeman shouts: “Argue kyun karta hai (Why are you arguing)?” that sets the first policeman into action and he starts hitting the vehicle with baton. The diver takes away the vehicle.
The policemen now turn to the biker whose world was reduced between Islamia College and Firdous Cinema.
“Kanha Jana hai (Where are you going)?” they ask him.
His reply unchanged “College staff hai office jana hai (I am college staffer. Have to go to the office).”
Policemen do not look amused and slide the wire rather unpleasantly. “Jao yana se (Go go from this side),” they point towards the Eidgah road.
The biker passes to left, speechless. His pace clearly slower than it was earlier. On the down slope a few men standing at the doors gaze at him. A young man walks past the biker who looks around with curiosity. Nevertheless, the biker moves ahead.
He passes the CRPF bunker at the end of the slope and the fenced wetland, both on his right. In the gloomy weather historic Aali Masjid becomes visible in front of him. A few CRPF men are standing outside the CRPF bunker near the Masjid.
A white Maruti 800 is coming in the opposite direction of the biker in the same lane. The biker does not notice the car or its unusual movement in reverse direction.
Seconds later another concertina is spread across the road, inches away from the bunker, hindering biker's movement. He stops. Looks right, left and then straight. The wire is anchored at both ends, blocking the passage. But there are no policemen across to talk to.
The biker sighs and turns back. He now notices the white Maruti, and perhaps the reason of it, entering into a by-lane on the right side of the road.
A middle aged civilian is moving on the road.
“Yaeth Che haez Beye kaneh waeth Ali Jan roadas paeth gaechenas (Is there any other way to Ali Jan road),” the biker enquires of the civilian.
“Aa. Yapaer gaechive. (Yes. Go from there),” he points towards the same by-lane from which the Maruti just went.
The biker starts again and takes a right turn into the small untidy and under-constructed lane. The Maruti moving ahead of him with a lady at the wheels. The biker follows.
Another Maruti 800 driven by a lady is coming in from the other side of the by-lane as the biker reaches the tip of the by-lane. The Maruti ahead of him takes right so does the biker.
Wide open Eidgah ground is standing in front of him at a little distance which is, but, manned by the CRPF men with concertina wire blocking one side of the Ali Jan road. The Maruti pulls up at the feet of CRPF men.
The biker slows down but does not stop. He moves slowly perhaps waiting for a call from CRPF men which, however did not come. He surpasses the Maruti and the men in uniform, takes left and accelerates till he reaches another CRPF bunker near Safa Kadal where another concertina wire greets him.
CRPF men standing near it are sending back every vehicle. A white car in front of him has been stopped and the driver has been ordered to window. CRPF men are looking into the car.
There are no directions for the biker but out of visible fear he stops behind the car.
“Kya barosa if I leave they may even shoot from behind (What is the guarantee that if I leave they will not shoot me from behind),” he tells this reporter.
The CRPF let go the car and the biker follows into the non-cufewed areas after a much troubled journey on an otherwise 'normal' day.
10.30.2010
5.11.2010
Kashmir shuts on Bar call
12 Injured In Clashes Across Valley
DANISH NABI
Srinagar, May 10: The strike called by High Court Bar Association and supported by various pro-freedom groups Monday evoked total response across Kashmir Valley. Around one dozen persons were injured in the clashes between police and protesters at several places.
The summer capital Srinagar wore a deserted look as all shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed while traffic was completely off the roads. The work remained affected in most of the government and semi-government offices.
In old city areas authorities, fearing protests, imposed restrictions to ensure that propitiatory orders under Section 144 were not violated. Police and troopers had laid concertina wires on all approach roads to the old city to restrict civilian movement.
The inhabitants said policemen and paramilitary CRPF personnel were positioned at all nooks and corners of the city. “They didn’t allow anyone to come out of homes,” said a resident of Gojwara in old city.
Restrictions were also in place in some resistance hubs like Maisuma and its adjoining areas. A heavy deployment of police and CRPF was guarding the streets to restrict youth from staging protests. Forces had also placed barbed wires on Gaw Kadal in the area.
Reports said Additional Secretary (Education), Pervaiz Ahmad, received splinter injuries when a stone-hurling mob attacked his official vehicle at Bemina and smashed its windscreen. The officer, hit by pieces of broken glasses in head and face, is undergoing treatment at SMHS hospital.
In Qamarwari, however, youth came out on streets to protest in the afternoon but were dealt severely by police and CRPF, triggering clashes. Witnesses said two protesters were injured. The strike showed good impact elsewhere in the uptown.
The call for strike was given by High Court Car Association against the “Indian plan to change the demographic complexion of the state, collapse of state judicial system in mitigating the sufferings of political detainees’ and Inter-District Recruitment Bill.
The Government, however, put several pro-freedom leaders and activists under house arrest. These include chairman Hurriyat (M), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, his close aide, Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam, General Secretary Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Ashraf Sehrai, Mass Movement President Farida Behanji and Zamrooda Habib chairperson of Muslim Khwateen Markaz.
NORTH KASHMIR:
Amid complete shutdown in north Kashmir’s largest district Varmul, at least 10 persons including four policemen were reported injured in clashes between youth and police.
In the morning, youth came out pelting stones at police and paramilitary CRPF deployed near Cement Bridge. The forces retaliated with intense tear gas shelling and firing rubber bullets, resulting in injury to two youth.
Sources in the district hospital told Greater Kashmir that the duo was hit by rubber bullets.
“One of them was hit in the chest and the other in the head. But the injuries were minor and we have discharged them,” sources said.
Four youth were injured by stones and tear gas shelling at various places, witnesses said.
The clashes also took place near police station Varmul and in Delina, 6 kms from the main town.
In apple town Sopur, youth attacked a police gypsy patrolling the main road. Reports said the vehicle turned turtle and four policemen were injured. Subsequently, clashes took place between youth and forces which continued for several hours.
Complete shutdown was also observed in other North Kashmir districts of Kupwara, Bandipora and Ganderbal. Reports said routine businesses in the districts remained closed and traffic was off the roads.
SOUTH KASHMIR:
Strike showed impact in most South Kashmir districts where life remained off gear. Reports said a heavy deployment of forces was maintained in all volatile areas, restricting the civilian movement.
Although there were no reports of clashes from anywhere, witnesses said in Malakhnag area in Islamabad district the paramilitary CRPF, without any provocation, went on rampage.
“They broke the windows panes of houses and also damaged the vehicles parked on roads,” witnesses said.
In the evening, youth attacked the office of District Development Commissioner Islamabad and damaged a government vehicle parked there. Police baton charged the protesters, triggering clashes.
BAR COMPLIMENTS PEOPLE
The High Court Bar Association Monday complemented the people for making today’s strike call successful. In a statement, Bar said, “The resilient Kashmiri people have time and again shown that they will not let anyone to snatch their rights.”
DANISH NABI
Srinagar, May 10: The strike called by High Court Bar Association and supported by various pro-freedom groups Monday evoked total response across Kashmir Valley. Around one dozen persons were injured in the clashes between police and protesters at several places.
The summer capital Srinagar wore a deserted look as all shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed while traffic was completely off the roads. The work remained affected in most of the government and semi-government offices.
In old city areas authorities, fearing protests, imposed restrictions to ensure that propitiatory orders under Section 144 were not violated. Police and troopers had laid concertina wires on all approach roads to the old city to restrict civilian movement.
The inhabitants said policemen and paramilitary CRPF personnel were positioned at all nooks and corners of the city. “They didn’t allow anyone to come out of homes,” said a resident of Gojwara in old city.
Restrictions were also in place in some resistance hubs like Maisuma and its adjoining areas. A heavy deployment of police and CRPF was guarding the streets to restrict youth from staging protests. Forces had also placed barbed wires on Gaw Kadal in the area.
Reports said Additional Secretary (Education), Pervaiz Ahmad, received splinter injuries when a stone-hurling mob attacked his official vehicle at Bemina and smashed its windscreen. The officer, hit by pieces of broken glasses in head and face, is undergoing treatment at SMHS hospital.
In Qamarwari, however, youth came out on streets to protest in the afternoon but were dealt severely by police and CRPF, triggering clashes. Witnesses said two protesters were injured. The strike showed good impact elsewhere in the uptown.
The call for strike was given by High Court Car Association against the “Indian plan to change the demographic complexion of the state, collapse of state judicial system in mitigating the sufferings of political detainees’ and Inter-District Recruitment Bill.
The Government, however, put several pro-freedom leaders and activists under house arrest. These include chairman Hurriyat (M), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, his close aide, Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam, General Secretary Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Ashraf Sehrai, Mass Movement President Farida Behanji and Zamrooda Habib chairperson of Muslim Khwateen Markaz.
NORTH KASHMIR:
Amid complete shutdown in north Kashmir’s largest district Varmul, at least 10 persons including four policemen were reported injured in clashes between youth and police.
In the morning, youth came out pelting stones at police and paramilitary CRPF deployed near Cement Bridge. The forces retaliated with intense tear gas shelling and firing rubber bullets, resulting in injury to two youth.
Sources in the district hospital told Greater Kashmir that the duo was hit by rubber bullets.
“One of them was hit in the chest and the other in the head. But the injuries were minor and we have discharged them,” sources said.
Four youth were injured by stones and tear gas shelling at various places, witnesses said.
The clashes also took place near police station Varmul and in Delina, 6 kms from the main town.
In apple town Sopur, youth attacked a police gypsy patrolling the main road. Reports said the vehicle turned turtle and four policemen were injured. Subsequently, clashes took place between youth and forces which continued for several hours.
Complete shutdown was also observed in other North Kashmir districts of Kupwara, Bandipora and Ganderbal. Reports said routine businesses in the districts remained closed and traffic was off the roads.
SOUTH KASHMIR:
Strike showed impact in most South Kashmir districts where life remained off gear. Reports said a heavy deployment of forces was maintained in all volatile areas, restricting the civilian movement.
Although there were no reports of clashes from anywhere, witnesses said in Malakhnag area in Islamabad district the paramilitary CRPF, without any provocation, went on rampage.
“They broke the windows panes of houses and also damaged the vehicles parked on roads,” witnesses said.
In the evening, youth attacked the office of District Development Commissioner Islamabad and damaged a government vehicle parked there. Police baton charged the protesters, triggering clashes.
BAR COMPLIMENTS PEOPLE
The High Court Bar Association Monday complemented the people for making today’s strike call successful. In a statement, Bar said, “The resilient Kashmiri people have time and again shown that they will not let anyone to snatch their rights.”
5.10.2010
I-witness: ‘His foot got stuck and a bulle hit him in lower back’
Danish Nabi
Twenty five year old Khursheed, a matriculate, had been a salesman at a hosiery shop, Beauty Selection, in Koker Bazar for past 10 years. He had been staying with his employer at Hyderpora. Yesterday he had left the shop early to see his parents but it turned out to be his last visit home.
“He returned late this morning so we opened the shop late because I am paralytic and can’t do it on my own. When we heard the gun shots we went inside the shop for cover and Khursheed too started running. But his foot got stuck in something and when the firing stopped and we went to see him, he had received a bullet in lower back,” Khursheed’s employer, Noor Muhammad, told Greater Kashmir. Noor Muhammad was among dozens of people who were waiting outside the emergency operation theatre at SMHS where Khursheed was being operated upon.
Khursheed was the eldest son of the family of four comprising of his parents and younger brother, who is working at a petrol station. His family, relatives and fellow businessmen had come to the hospital to see him, not knowing that he won’t come out of the operation theatre alive.
“We heard that his pancreas is ruptured,” Khursheed’s young cousin, Zahoor Ahmad, said.
Among those waiting outside were his wailing father and brother who were moving around uneasily. On seeing others talking to media they came closer.
His farmer father, Abdul Rahim, said: “He came home yesterday and left early in the morning to reach office. But we didn’t know we will have to hear this news barely few hours after he left.” He broke into tears and others around him started to console him. Khursheed’s younger brother was also standing nearby but couldn’t help his father for his own condition was consolable.
During the course of the surgery they kept waiting outside, hoping to get good news from the surgeons. But it didn’t happen. Khursheed died on the operation theatre after a prolonged two and a half hour surgery.
What happened at Koker Bazar
“We were returning from a patrol. Our three men (two of whom got injured) were moving ahead of us. Two men in early 20s, one carrying AK-47 and another carrying a pistol, appeared in the internal lane and started firing at the three men moving ahead of us. Two of our men fell down on the spot and one started running away. We too started running towards our camp,” said Constable Arun Naik of 132 Batallion CRPF who was guarding his injured colleague in causality ward of SMHS.
“Three was too much crowd around and after hearing the gun shots everyone started running. And in that the “militants” also fled from somewhere. They were in civvies, not donning Pherans,” the constable added.
Locals, however, said the CRPF also opened fire, though not sure how the civilians got injured.
“After a few gun shots initially, I saw CRPF men running towards the bunker in Palladium and they were firing bullets. We saw them firing but can’t say whose bullets injured the persons,” said Riyaz Ahmad a Shopkeeper in Koker Bazar, who had been in his shop when the incident took place.
“We came out only after police arrived at the spot and the firing had stopped. We saw two salesmen, Khursheed Ahmad and Mehraj Ahmad Wani, and a young shopkeeper, Mehraj-u-Din Shah, had received bullets,” he said.
Proper care at right time can prevent suicides
Danish Nabi
Srinagar, May 10: Charming smile on her dull-looking face and the whisper of the lips “han mai jeena chahti hon (yes I want to live)” is proof enough that at least one innocent life has been saved from falling prey to suicides.
As the twenty year old Shaista Amin (name changed), whose lean and weak physique makes her look younger than her age, enters the doctors’ room at Psychiatric disease hospital, it is with a desire to live and get well. But it was not the case when she was brought to the hospital earlier this month in a state of acute depression and intending suicide.
“When we decided to brought her here she put a condition to it that the doctor must poison her in the hospital,” Shaista’s much relieved father, Muhammad Amin (name changed), said.
Shaista, according to her father, was “always ill” and she had been under treatment of noted psychiatrist in the town. Despite being on medication, she had often attempted to commit suicide in the past. And she had done the same before she was brought to the hospital.
“She stopped taking food, water and even medicine for 14 to 15 days just with the intention of dying. Her condition had started to deteriorate and we took her to the doctor, who gave her medicine. Such was her condition that she swallowed the medicine without taking water,” Muhammad Amin narrates.
“But even that didn’t help her as she abandoned food and medicine again. When her condition deteriorated alarmingly, I put my head on her feet and begged her to let us take her to the hospital. We had no option but to accept the condition she put for agreeing to go to the hospital,” he said.
After treatment Shaista is eager to live and her desire to get well makes her seek doctor’s advice on uneasiness she faces: “I often stop my breath for long time that makes me feel uneasy. Please help me come over it so that I can go home and live peacefully.”
There have been several cases of suicides in the past and the number of victims is rising alarmingly. In a recent incidence, a 10th standard student of Burn Hall Public School strangulated himself due to academic pressures.
An analysis by psychiatrists has shown most number of unnatural deaths after the start of militancy in Kashmir has taken place due to suicides. And there is an outcry against rising umber of suicides from all walks of life including pro-freedom leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who often quotes it as an example of moral degradation of the society.
Psychiatrists feel that suicides can be avoided if the family is keen to do it.
“The people with suicide tendencies are always read to harm and hurt themselves. If the family picks up the signal and brings them to the doctor for treatment, their lives can be saved,” Shaista’s doctor at Psychiatry disease hospital told Greater Kashmir.
“All deaths because of suicide are preventable. We as society and community should do everything possible to prevent deaths because of suicides,” psychiatrists say.
Srinagar, May 10: Charming smile on her dull-looking face and the whisper of the lips “han mai jeena chahti hon (yes I want to live)” is proof enough that at least one innocent life has been saved from falling prey to suicides.
As the twenty year old Shaista Amin (name changed), whose lean and weak physique makes her look younger than her age, enters the doctors’ room at Psychiatric disease hospital, it is with a desire to live and get well. But it was not the case when she was brought to the hospital earlier this month in a state of acute depression and intending suicide.
“When we decided to brought her here she put a condition to it that the doctor must poison her in the hospital,” Shaista’s much relieved father, Muhammad Amin (name changed), said.
Shaista, according to her father, was “always ill” and she had been under treatment of noted psychiatrist in the town. Despite being on medication, she had often attempted to commit suicide in the past. And she had done the same before she was brought to the hospital.
“She stopped taking food, water and even medicine for 14 to 15 days just with the intention of dying. Her condition had started to deteriorate and we took her to the doctor, who gave her medicine. Such was her condition that she swallowed the medicine without taking water,” Muhammad Amin narrates.
“But even that didn’t help her as she abandoned food and medicine again. When her condition deteriorated alarmingly, I put my head on her feet and begged her to let us take her to the hospital. We had no option but to accept the condition she put for agreeing to go to the hospital,” he said.
After treatment Shaista is eager to live and her desire to get well makes her seek doctor’s advice on uneasiness she faces: “I often stop my breath for long time that makes me feel uneasy. Please help me come over it so that I can go home and live peacefully.”
There have been several cases of suicides in the past and the number of victims is rising alarmingly. In a recent incidence, a 10th standard student of Burn Hall Public School strangulated himself due to academic pressures.
An analysis by psychiatrists has shown most number of unnatural deaths after the start of militancy in Kashmir has taken place due to suicides. And there is an outcry against rising umber of suicides from all walks of life including pro-freedom leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who often quotes it as an example of moral degradation of the society.
Psychiatrists feel that suicides can be avoided if the family is keen to do it.
“The people with suicide tendencies are always read to harm and hurt themselves. If the family picks up the signal and brings them to the doctor for treatment, their lives can be saved,” Shaista’s doctor at Psychiatry disease hospital told Greater Kashmir.
“All deaths because of suicide are preventable. We as society and community should do everything possible to prevent deaths because of suicides,” psychiatrists say.
7.28.2009
‘Barbed Wire Around CRPF Camp Was Electrified’
DANISH NABI
Witnesses said that the 32-year-old Fayaz Ahmad Bhat of Khalidabad, Bhagaat slipped from the banks of the Bemina canal he and six of his colleagues were measuring.
However, he grabbed the barb wire around the CRPF camp to stop his slide into the waters.
“The wire was connected to electricity. He was taken to hospital in half-dead condition and he later succumbed,” said an eyewitness, Noor Muhammad.
After the incident, all the shops in the area closed down and the residents started dismantling the fencing. But when they tried to bring down the fencing of the bunker, the CRPF troopers stopped them, triggering a demonstration. The protesters blocked the traffic and shouted slogans against the CRPF.
The CRPF camp housing 44 battalion has been recently deployed in the area. The residents said the troopers have connected barb wire to a supply line from a nearby power transformer. “We avoid going close to the camp, but people who are not aware are prone to fatal electrocution like what happened today. If the wiring is not removed it may consume more lives,” they added.
Fayaz was working as a helper in the Irrigation and Flood Control department and he was lone bread winner of his family. He is survived by his wife, mother, and a 3-year-old daughter. The body was taken to police control room for post mortem and it was handed over to the family for last rites.
Relatives of Fayaz said, “He left for the job in the morning but only hours after his departure we came to know about his death. We don’t know what happened to him. All we have been told is that he was electrocuted,” said a relative of Fayaz.
The commandant of the CRPF, P K Mandal, said the wire was not electrified for security reasons. “It is Just an accident. Our power supply line passes underneath the barbed wire and its insulation may have got damaged, resulting in electrification of the concertina wires,” he said.
Sub-Inspector of police at Parimpora police station said the police have registered a case of accident and negligence under section 304 Crpc. The Senior Superintendent of Police Srinagar, Riyaz Bedaar, said the police would investigate.
“We are waiting for a statement of the employees who were accompanying him at the spot. After that we can fix the blame,” he said. Asked about the electrification of the fencing for security reasons, he said, “We don’t know anything about it yet but we will investigate into it.”
Hit by earthquake in 2005, family looses new house in windstorm
Danish Nabi
Kulangam (Handwara), July 28: After loosing their house in the 2005 earthquake, the nature chose this family for another spell of destruction on Sunday when the devastating windstorm made uninhabitable their newly constructed house here.
The Loan family of fruit growers has been living at the Veranda of their single storey house since Sunday evening as the wind blew apart the roof top of their house. The rainwater entered all rooms of the house, forcing the family to move out. The damaged house is surrounded by debris of roof top, fencing, damaged furnishing, clothes of the family members left for drying and the relatives who had come to see them.
The son of the family Tahir Ahmad Loan, said, “Our house was destroyed in 2005 quake and it took us almost four years to reconstruct the new one. But the nature did not spare us this time.”
Narrating the horrifying 60 minutes of devastation, the daughter-in-law of the family, Mubeena Loan, said, “I was sitting along with five kids in the house when the windstorm started. As it gained speed kids started shouting and we all shrunk in one corner of the kitchen. The roof of our house blew apart with a bang and my infant daughter, Tabish, became unconscious,” she narrated.
“The windstorm was followed by the intense rainfall and hailstorm. The rains entered into all the rooms and I had to rush to our neighbor’s for shelter. The children of the family were crying and it was impossible to calm them down,” she said.
Another daughter-in-law of the family Aisha Loan wife of Muhammad Iqbal Loan, said she was out in the orchard when the windstorm hit the area.
“When the wind started, it appeared everything would be blown apart. Hell was let loose on the area and I went to a house near the orchard for shelter. It was more horrifying than the 2005 quake,” she said.
“My three-year-old son, Zakir Loan, was playing at the canal nearby and the wind had drowned him in the water. He was rescued by his aunt and she brought him home when the storm stopped,” she said.
The family comprises of three women, five children and three men. Most members of the family, however, were away from the house when the earthquake struck. “I was coming back to home in a sumo when the windstorm struck. We could not move ahead in that storm. I was aware that the storm could have damaged everything at my home but the storm did not allow me to come for their rescue,” Muhammad Iqbal Loan said.
“When I returned home I saw the roof top was blown apart and my family had run out to neighbor’s house. Soon the other family members returned and we had to spend the night outside the house. Everything was destroyed and it will take us months to repair the damage,” he added.
Storm wrecks havoc in Handwara Trees, houses damaged
Danish Nabi
Handwara/Langate, July 27: Uprooted trees, blown up roof tops and broken fences of hundreds of houses lying on the roadside here in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district tells tale of destruction caused by 60 minutes of devastating wind which, the survivors say, was more horrifying than the 2005 earthquake.
The windstorm that started at 6PM on Sunday caused devastation in 39 villages in the district. The storm has damaged around 1200 houses including five completely destroyed ones. Forty persons were injured in the storm and one woman lost her life when a tree fell over her. Officially around 700 hectares of standing fruit crops were destroyed in the storm.
The most hit villages include Guloora, Chutipora, Kargam, Maratgaon, Kohru, Ranen Ashpora, Mawar, Langate, Pohru Chakla, Galoora, Bonagam, Lalbugh, Kargama, Chutipora, Hangah, Shathgund, Pandithpora, Hampora, Kulangam, Chogal, Braripora, Handwara town, Nutnusa, Vodhpora, and Wadipora.
Most roads were either partially or completed blocked by the trees and electric poles that were blown apart by the wind. The broken trees had blocked the road to Langate Tehsil and its far-off areas were completely inaccessible.
People were seen walking miles to reach Handwara as the transportation to Langate was suspended. The electric lines are down on the roads at most places and the power-supply to both the Tehsils has been cut off.
While many fruit trees were lying uprooted in the Orchards, around 70 per cent of the standing crops on the trees are damaged by the storm. The experts say the storm has damaged 30 per cent fallen crops of apple and walnut.
“The maximum damage to the crops is seen in Kulangam, Chutipora and Langate areas where 70 per cent standing fruits are damaged. The storm has degraded the quality of both the fallen and standing crops,” programme coordinator Krishna Vigyan Kendra Kupwara, Abdul Hameed Hakeem, told Greater
All along the way from Chowgal, visible traumatized people were clearing the rubble while the official machinery was nowhere visible. At many places rainwater had entered the houses, forcing the inhabitants to seek refuge elsewhere.
‘Our roof top was blown apart and the rain entered our houses damaging the entire furnishing of the house. We spent the night at our neighbor’s house,” said Aisha Lone, whose family has been living in the lawn.
The survivors said the windstorm let lose the hell for an hour that was followed by intense rain and hailstorm. “I haven’t seen anything like this before. At around 6 PM the wind started slowly and everything went dark. Within seconds it started blowing at full speed and it appeared everything will be blown apart,” said Bashir Ahmad War of Kulangam whose house’s roof top was blown off by the wind.
“It was more horrifying than the 2005 earthquake. When the windstorm hit here it appeared like a doomsday and we went searching for cover. There were noises of rooftops falling apart,” said Manzoor Ahmad of Chtipora. In Chutipora alone around 40 houses were damaged by the windstorm.
The survivors said they have been clearing the debris since last evening and they have been left on their own. “Till 10 PM Sunday we were clearing the debris. We started again this morning but no one came to our help,” said Muhammad Aslam. The people themselves had partially lifted the electric poles at many places to make way for the traffic.
People said they were still scared of going into the houses. “It was like a God’s providence and we fear there may be another storm. We feel secure outside the houses,” they said.
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