By Nikhat Fatima, TwoCircles.net
Ever since the unilateral decision of the Government of India to revoke the special status of Kashmir and to severe all means of communication such as mobile and landline phones, internet, newspapers, news channels, cable TVs the people of Kashmir have not been able to contact their loved ones in other parts of India and the world.
Students in other states have been desperate to contact their parents and to go home for Eid on 12th but have not been able to.
Those living abroad have been worried about their folks back home as they have not been able to contact them from the last 8 days.
One post on Facebook by Shafat Gangoo where he shared his emotions saying he is heartbroken on not being able to contact his family and then suddenly he sees his father on the TV requesting the army personnel to allow him to go for the Eid Namaz; was particularly heart-melting.
TwoCircles.net chatted up with Shafat Gangoo, who is a surgeon in the National Health Services of United Kingdom, Cambridge. Shafat said, “I have been unable to contact my parents from the day the revocation was announced. And I have been thinking about them constantly and more on Eid. And then I saw my dad on the TV and tears rolled down my eyes”.
Shafat has been living there from the last 14 years and visits at least twice a year. His mother has recently undergone major heart surgery and is on medication. Says a worried Shafat, “Mom is on life-saving drugs. How can she survive without these drugs?”
He has been following the news and knows that people are having a hard time to move out and need curfew passes. He shared that he got emotional on seeing his father on BBC News and also angry that his father had to plead to go to the mosque for the prayers. “They stopped my dad from going to the mosque” He repeated with sadness.
“I don’t know how long this will go on. But I am constantly worried about my aged father and mother who is unwell. I also don’t know what the Indian Government wants to do by making our lives miserable. This looks like a war on civilians” he said.
However, he is most eager for things to become normal so he can fly home.