Why Jammu and Kashmir noticed the best tried suicide charge in India in 2022

Wahid Mir, 43, from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, appears to be like older than his years as prays on the graveyard in his village— it’s a ritual he has been performing every morning for the final six years. He prays for his lifeless son and brother, each misplaced to the Kashmir battle in 2016. His son, was solely 10 when he was killed in a stone-pelting incident, and his brother died below related circumstances two months later.

Mir labored in an area authorities college. Because the meagre wage was not sufficient to assist his household, he left the job to strive his luck at cricket, a recreation practised and adopted with avid curiosity throughout India, particularly in Kashmir. Regardless of having expertise, he did not make a mark within the recreation. Monetary struggles strained his marriage and shortly, his spouse left him. “Regardless of frequent fights, the couple had been held collectively by their son. Once they misplaced their solely son, his spouse moved out, leaving Mir alone together with his loss,” mentioned one among Mir’s associates.

Mir has tried suicide over 5 instances up to now three years. His story is consultant of that of a substantial variety of folks in Kashmir who’ve been left depressed and traumatised by the extended battle within the Union Territory (UT). The most recent report of the Nationwide Crime Data Bureau (NCRB), printed in December 2023, revealed that Jammu and Kashmir had the best variety of reported instances of tried suicide in 2022. Of the 1,769 instances recorded by the Bureau throughout India in 2022, 497 had been reported from the UT alone.

Kashmiris conflict with safety forces following the scrapping of the particular constitutional standing for Kashmir by the federal government. Srinagar, September 13, 2019.
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Danish Ismail/ REUTERS

Jammu and Kashmir Police data revealed an increase in suicide makes an attempt in 2021, with 586 instances reported within the Valley in 2021, in comparison with 472 instances in 2020. The pattern was highlighted additionally by information from the State Catastrophe Response Pressure (SDRF), which recorded 365 suicide makes an attempt and 127 deaths between February 2021 and August 2022.

A report by the Nationwide Human Rights Fee of India on Might 21, 2004, says that 20,000 folks have tried to die by suicide within the 14 years of socio-political unrest in Kashmir, from 1990 to 2004. Of those, 3,000 makes an attempt resulted in demise, principally amongst these aged 16 to 25. Militancy, intently adopted by suicide, reportedly causes the best variety of deaths in Kashmir.

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There’s virtually no mohalla (locality) in Jammu and Kashmir with none instances of demise by suicide. Psychiatrists from the UT say that the persistent violence has severely affected the psychological well being of Kashmiris, resulting in an increase in stress-related sicknesses, and pushing many, particularly the youth, in the direction of suicide. Added to the unrest are associated causes like post-violence issues, unemployment, and cultural constraints that restrain victims of abuse from talking out. A 2015 research referred to as “Kashmir Psychological Well being Survey” carried out by Médecins Sans Frontières revealed that the suicide charge surged from 0.5 per 100,000 folks earlier than the insurgency to 13 per 100,000 now.

Longterm stress

As per the NCRB report, Jammu and Kashmir accounted for almost 30 per cent of the full variety of suicide instances in India in 2022, thus sustaining a constant sample noticed over time. After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the UT witnessed a spike, with over 450 instances of suicide—the best in a decade. The quantity escalated additional in 2021, with 586 instances, says the NCRB report.

Dr Yasir Relatively, a psychiatrist on the Institute of Psychological Well being and Neurosciences (IMHANS) in Srinagar, make clear this: “In Kashmir, drowning and drug overdose are the same old strategies of tried suicide. Each result in a scenario the place intervention is sort of unimaginable.” Relatively pressured the central function performed by the battle, with its short-term and long-term fallouts, in shaping the psychological well being panorama of Kashmiris, including that home violence, monetary difficulties, unemployment, an increase in instances of sexual harassment of girls, and inter-relationship points additionally led to melancholy and suicide. Relatively and his colleagues at IMHANS attend to roughly 350 sufferers every day, with 30 per cent of the instances involving psychological counselling after suicide makes an attempt.

There’s virtually no locality in Jammu and Kashmir with none instances of demise by suicide. Official statistics from the NCRB report reveal a surge in incidents of gender harassment, with the variety of instances rising from 3,069 in 2019 to three,937 in 2021.
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Tahira, a 23-year-old lady from Sopore in north Kashmir who had been raised single-handedly by her widowed mom, aspired to turn into a health care provider. Regardless of persistent efforts, she couldn’t crack the Nationwide Eligibility cum Entrance Check (NEET). This failure, coupled with monetary challenges, quickly grew to become an excessive amount of to bear. In November 2022, Tahira didn’t return from her NEET tuition lessons. She in all probability selected to finish her life by leaping into the Jhelum—her physique, nevertheless, was by no means discovered.

Tahira’s case is indicative of the issues confronted by the vast majority of Kashmiri youth. Restricted job prospects have made many Kashmiri college students rethink their instructional paths. That is demonstrated by the truth that the admission charge in colleges, faculties and universities was abysmally low in 2023. Faculties recorded a 40.63 per cent lower in admissions throughout the UT in 2023.

In 2022, the Authorities Diploma Faculty in Ganderbal had admitted 1,700 college students, which dropped to round 700 in 2023. The Authorities Diploma Faculty in Beerwah additionally noticed a decline, from 493 to 311. The Authorities Diploma Faculty of Khansahib in Budgam, Handwara faculty, and a girls’s faculty in Srinagar confirmed related traits.

Universities additionally noticed only a few admissions whilst they confronted criticism for premature examinations and late outcomes. The College of Kashmir, as soon as identified for its intently contested entrance examinations, prolonged the admission course of by nearly six months in 2023 because of a scarcity of response. There have been widespread vacancies in postgraduate programs throughout the Valley.

The dwindling admission figures level at younger Kashmiris’ frustration with the schooling system in an UT the place job prospects are very low. This despair can also be one of many causes behind the rise of drug habit and deaths by suicide.

Medical doctors at IMHANS see round 100 instances of drug habit each day. Relatively identified that that the precise variety of addicts might be greater, since many don’t overtly admit their habit or search assist. “There’s a discernible shift within the drug utilization sample in Kashmir, from medicinal opioids to stronger and harmful hardcore medicine, predominantly intravenous heroin,” he mentioned.

Drug menace

In keeping with information from the United Nations Workplace on Medication and Crime, 60,000 folks in Jammu and Kashmir are grappling with drug habit since 2018, marking a considerable improve of 1,500 per cent over the previous three years.

“Within the 10-17 years age group, roughly 1,68,700 kids are drug customers in Jammu and Kashmir,” mentioned a report of the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment in August 2023. The report came upon that these kids are consuming substances reminiscent of hashish, opioids, sedatives, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, and hallucinogens, in addition to taking inhalants. The bulk desire opioids and inhalants, whereas sedatives and hashish are fairly widespread too.

Within the 18-75 age group, there are 11,80,000 drug customers in Jammu and Kashmir, the Standing Committee knowledgeable Parliament. They’re primarily hooked on opioids, adopted by hashish, sedatives, and inhalants. The overall variety of drug customers within the UT is 13,48,700, with the potential of the precise determine being greater, contemplating that the estimates are based mostly on the projected inhabitants.

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A drug addict spends roughly Rs.88,000 every month on a mean to maintain their behavior—which is a large monetary burden, contemplating that a lot of Kashmir’s inhabitants lives under or close to the poverty line. The monetary pressure usually leads addicts to begin stealing. “There are various instances wherein an individual overdoses and dies. That too is taken as suicide,” Relatively mentioned. This dismal actuality contrasts sharply with the projected resurgence of Kashmir, as marketed in jubilant authorities campaigns like #NayaKashmir.

Wall of silence

Kashmir has a excessive incidence of instances of sexual harassment and home violence too, and the pattern reveals no indicators of taking place. Cultural and spiritual teachings emphasising respect for girls appear to be at odds with the fact on the bottom. Disturbingly, 2022 witnessed 237 reported instances of kid rape throughout Jammu and Kashmir.

Arbeen, 24, a college scholar, struggles with acute nervousness points. Her issues started with harassment on native transport. Recounting her ordeal, Arbeen expressed frustration on the lack of assist, saying, “Practically day by day, a person twice or thrice my age would contact me, harass me, and simply stroll away. I’m unable to talk out as I used to be lectured on my clothes once I tried.” The reluctance to handle these points creates a wall of silence. Notably, Jammu and Kashmir doesn’t have a chosen girls’s fee ever because the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

Manaal Andrabi, a counsellor at Tele-Manas. Kashmir’s dismal actuality contrasts sharply with the projected resurgence of Kashmir, as marketed in jubilant authorities campaigns like #NayaKashmir.
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Raashid Andrabi

A 2021 research by BMC Girls’s Well being reveals a regarding 160 per cent improve in reported instances of “cruelty by husbands and relations” in Jammu and Kashmir between 2001 and 2018. The report additional exposes that 11 per cent of married girls within the UT skilled bodily or sexual violence in 2021, with husbands sometimes recognized because the perpetrators. This can be a phenomenon which has remained nearly unchanged over time. The corresponding determine within the 2015-16 and 2005-06 reviews was 12 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

Amidst all this bleakness, some comfort is supplied by initiatives reminiscent of Tele Manas, a psychological well being helpline in Kashmir. It consists of a small room with six tiny cabins the place 19 girls strive their greatest to avoid wasting as many lives as attainable. Until date, Tele Manas has handled round 30,000 calls since its formal opening in November 2022. Of those, roughly 10,000 had been labeled as acute misery calls, with points starting from suicidal ideas to self-harm.

In keeping with Dr Hina Hajini, a psychiatrist with IMHANS who additionally supervises Tele Manas, the every day sample of greater than 100 calls has remained constant over time, however elevated consciousness of the initiative has led to a rising variety of folks reaching out for assist. Manaal Andrabi, one of many counsellors on the helpline, mentioned, “There’s a stigma connected to psychological well being points, significantly amongst kids and girls. It is very important break this barrier and enhance communication.” The group at Tele Manas has acquired specialised coaching to deal with suicide instances. Andrabi mentioned, “We inform them they aren’t alone; we attempt to make them really feel secure.”

Tele Manas maintains steady contact with susceptible people, serving to them within the therapeutic course of. “Nobody has ever died by suicide after giving a name to Tele Manas,” Hajini mentioned.

Raashid Andrabi is a Srinagar-based journalist who writes on political, societal, and environmental issues.