By Abid Hussain
Irfan Ali, who had a travel history to New Delhi, left his home in central Kashmir’s Budgam district in the last week of March to self-report at the local health facility. Ali, a research scholar, had got a phone call to visit the office of the chief medical officer, almost a week after he arrived home amid the coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 205,000 people and affected around 3 million globally.
To his astonishment, the 26-year-old was beaten up by Jammu and Kashmir police personnel who were enforcing a lockdown ordered by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The incident came just outside the health office where he was supposed to report.
“I and my neighbor, who also had come from New Delhi, stepped out to mark our attendance at the health office. But when we were close to the health centre, the police stopped me,” said Ali, who is doing his research in the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.
He said that a policeman in the group of cops beat him with a stick. “Without even listening to me even for a second, the policeman started thrashing me, questioning why I was not wearing a face mask,” he rued. His neighbor, who was meters away from him to maintain social distancing, after watching the incident, fled the queue.
“The police and paramilitary personnel should know the difference between lockdown and curfew. Sadly, they are adopting the militaristic approach even to the coronavirus lockdown in Kashmir,” dejected Ali asserted. “I was not allowed to enter the health office.” Several other residents alleged that the police resorted to beating during the COVID-19 lockdown in Budgam, 14 kms from Srinagar.
However, Nagpure Amod Ashok, the area’s Superintendent of Police, refuted these allegations. “The allegations are not verified. Police officials on [the] ground are doing duty in difficult times,” he said. “We appeal the citizens to please stay indoors and don’t venture out on roads. Violation of lockdown is an offence and legal action will be taken against those violators.”
Earlier, after several positive viral infection cases were reported from Kashmir, health authorities had asked all the people who had entered the region having a travel history of mainland India and abroad to self-report at the nearest health centres.
Many incidents of thrashing by police came to the limelight over the past few weeks, inviting massive criticism from Kashmiris. After March 22, the day when the country of 1.3 billion people observed the one-day “Janata curfew” (civil curfew) on the orders of the prime minister, several young Kashmiris were roughed up by security forces across the valley. The videos of these incidents went viral on social networking sites.
Ill-equipped healthcare sector
At a time when more than 2.9 million people across the world have tested positive for COVID-19, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the hospitals in Kashmir are ill-equipped to deal with the pandemic. Jammu and Kashmir, which was split into two federally administered Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh last year in August – has witnessed six coronavirus deaths and 523 positive cases. The Kashmir valley, which has a population of over 6.5 million, has less than 100 ventilators, according to local reports. Doctors fear, in case of an emergency, there would be a steep crisis.
Speaking to Muslim Mirror, a senior doctor associated with the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) came down heavily on the government, claiming they have never given priority to the ailing health infrastructure in the erstwhile state. He spoke to this reporter on the condition of anonymity given that the authorities had warned the doctors and paramedics to stop criticizing the government.
On April 1, the directorate of health services, Kashmir, came up with a circular threatening medics with stern action “under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code” if they disobey “any regulation or order made under the Epidemic Diseases, Act, 1897”. The warning, which the DAK termed as “choking order”, was issued a day after doctors and health workers protested against a lack of facilities at SKIMS Medical College and Hospital in Srinagar, designated as a COVID-19 facility.
“Kashmir hospitals lack sufficient oxygen plants, ventilators beds and trained ICU care specialists,” informed the doctor. “It seems the pandemic is going to crumble the entire structure.” The DAK affiliated doctor claimed that the valley hospitals cannot manage more than 150 coronavirus patients. Even doctors and paramedics are not provided with proper protective gear to deal with the COVID-19 patients, he added.
About the World Health Organization’s “call for aggressive actions” to contain the contagion, the senior doctor insisted, “It is the right time to expand testing to community pockets having symptoms consistent with COVID-19 but no travel history so that actual disease burden can be ascertained.”
Similarly, the situation of the quarantine centers is no different from hospitals. It could be gauged from the fact that students, who have been placed under quarantine after coming from abroad, have complained about a lack of facilities at quarantine centres. At one such facility in Budgam, several foreign returnees were kept for over one week without even basic facilities.
These students decried that no food or even drinking water was provided to them. “Leave aside food, no doctor visited us for a check-up,” they complained. “What is the fun of such quarantine? We had to bring heating blowers from our houses as we don’t have any heating arrangements available.” Inmates of many quarantine homes have similar stories to narrate.
However, the government has said that they are upgrading the health facilities in the UT to deal with the pandemic. “It (government) has set up 11 exclusive COVID-19 hospitals, an administrative quarantine facility of over 35000 beds and 2400 treatment beds. Masks and ventilators are being procured,” the UT’s Department of Information and Public Relations said in a tweet. Meanwhile, the contagious COVID-19 cases in the country have jumped to 26,900 with over 800 deaths.
Students worst-hit
In a situation like the present one, the students, who in February attended classes after more than six months, are the worst-hit. They had been idle at home since last August, when India’s Hindu nationalist government stripped Kashmir of its autonomous status, imposed siege and rendered the whole region incommunicado. Though the communication services were restored, the high-speed data services continue to be suspended.
During the current lockdown, students in other parts of the world have taken to the online mode of taking classes which, however, is nearly impossible in the valley, owing to its low-speed 2G internet. Mohsin Ali, a student told Muslim Mirror that they have been denied the right to use high-speed data even when their world counterparts are using the facility to stay in touch with studies and keep themselves aware and informed about the deadly COVID-19.
Kashmir academicians also assert that the lack of high-speed internet has severely affected the students. “Although, nothing can replace face to face teaching-learning, but internet assisted andragogy can compensate for it to a great extent,” said Wahid Waheed Dar, an assistant professor in Anthropology. “But lack of high-speed internet and e-infrastructure hinder the process.”
All the pro-India political parties in the Union Territory, even Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, have urged the Centre to restore high-speed internet. Despite appeals from all quarters including Amnesty International, the home department came up with the order to continue with the 2G services till April 27. The next decision regarding the 4G restoration will be taken today.