Curfew teaches women art of survival in Valley

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 29

The curfew in the Valley has changed the schedule of Amina Begum, 50, who lives in the congested locality of Nawab Bazar in Srinagar. Before security personnel take control of streets at 5 am to impose curfew, she makes sure to buy milk and vegetables for a day or two from the vendors in the locality who come from various places.

This has remained the norm for the past 50 days of curfew in most of the localities in old Srinagar city. People get up at the crack of dawn to buy eatables.

Women like Amina might not be at the forefront of street protests but they make sure that there is food at home, sacrifice their sleep and suffer silently.

“I always say that we (Kashmiris) will never die of starvation. We will mix salt with rice and eat. In the last 20 years of trouble, we have learnt to survive and the situation has made us resilient. I manage with whatever little I get,” she says.

These women do not only remain busy in house chores, they discuss the current situation and want an end to the bloodshed once and for all.

In the evenings, Amina and other women in her congested neighbourhood meet and discuss the situation for hours and sometimes the conversation is interspersed with jokes on the current political scenario.

“We have seen bloodshed all these years, but we are fed up now. There needs to be a solution for all this, otherwise this cycle of violence will repeat. The government must act seriously now. Mehbooba Mufti is blaming people for everything while the ground reality is different. She must remove the curtain from her eyes, we are losing our children. We can’t see it anymore,” says Saira Begum, 52, mother of two teenage sons and a daughter.

The women also keep track of news. When they hear about killings or see scenes of death and destruction on TV, it upsets them.

They are worried about the future and safety of their children. Despite the difficult circumstances, they take care of their family members and become their support.

“To whom we will complain? Our children have only seen destruction. They see a bleak future for themselves, they are being blinded. We are their support, but inside we too are dying. We carry on with the daily chores just for survival,” says Gulshan Ara.

Women in the Valley are slowly becoming the victims of mental disorders. A research released by Médecins Sans Frontières in May this year has revealed a grim picture of the mental health of women in Kashmir.

The report says that 50 per cent of the women suffer from mental health disorders here.

Many believe that the reason for growing stress among women is conflict-related trauma. The research has also shown that an estimated prevalence of three mental disorders was significantly higher among women than men in Kashmir.

Valley’s leading woman entrepreneur Gazala Amin says that in the present circumstances, which has already consumed 70 lives, she doesn’t care about her economic losses. She thinks it is high time for the government to come up with a political solution to the Kashmir issue.

“Sometimes there is no baby food at home, sometimes there are no medicines for the sick children. All these things impact us as mothers and as women. We want an end to all this with some solution from the Central government. No one feels safe here, I worry for myself, I worry for my children as such a situation has been created here due to continuous curfew,” she adds.

Many women who had high hopes from state’s first woman Chief Minister say that she has failed them and has failed to safeguard their children.

“When I heard in the news that there is a chance that Mehbooba Mufti will become the Chief Minister, I was happy and prayed that only she should head the state. I rejoiced as a woman but the real test of any leader is in difficulty. She has totally failed us,” says Khalida Wani, a homemaker.