Mir Tajamul Islam
Kashmir is the home to many tourist destinations, sheathing-fertile meadows, fresh rivers, scenic mountains and captivating valleys. Aharbal waterfall is one of the many such destinations’, where people from across length and breadth prefer to pass their day to meet their desire of being part of the mesmerising place.
Aharbal lies in the Kulgam at a distance of some 75 kilometres from summer capital Srinagar. Once a tourist destination, it is now a final destination (for some) as the Aharbal falls hands over the conundrum of whether to visit the place or not, and brings the pause and feeling of dismay at the same time – No, the place is not haunted, however from the past couple of months, many people have made the destination their last resort.
Kashmir is labouring multiple natural, as well as man-made catastrophes in the backdrop unprecedented happenings in political landscape particularly from August 2019 onwards. The valley has seen a steep surge in suicide cases, as SMHS only has received over five hundred cases of suicide cases in a year now. Fuelled by unemployment, mistrust, crippled economy, people, mostly youth end up with suicide. In the mud dance, Aharbal fall is no exception in fitting a hotspot for suicide attempts.
People prioritize the tragedies taking place at Aharbal by capturing the suicide scenes and uploading them on social media, which not only draws the suspicion of worry but also fuel up the grief of the family members, friends and relatives of the victims. What do such people want to show? To modernise death! To provoke those souls who are on the verge of ending their lives! One fails to understand, what type of people should we consider them? Incomprehensible or what! Rather than fulfilling their moral, legal and social duties, people show irresponsibility and utmost disdain to human life. Preferably people with the aid of social media must promote the positive aspect to society. People must attempt to encourage public meetings, posterize schools, hospitals, parks, all public places related to defeating the suicide trend. Any person in trauma, anxiety, depression must be motivated, counselled to positivity and willingness.
The authorities on the other hand have also seemingly turned their attention to arrest the trend. One believes that it is not a tough task for the government to deploy a protection squad to overcome the suicide attempts around the Aharbal fall or constrain the entry around (close) the boundary of the waterfall. To bring Aharbal again into the realm of tourist destination from the nightmare of final destination, the government must propose such strategies which could protect the value of the natural resort Aharbal as well as the lives of the people visiting.
Tailpiece: Look deep into yourself, you are beautiful!
– Mir Tajamul Islam is pursuing a Bachelors degree in Legislative Law from the School of Law, University of Kashmir and can be reached at mirtajamulislam2@gmail.com
