What about our Responsibility
It is but natural that everything has its after effects as it leaves some remnants. So is the case with the recent India Pakistan conflict which left scores of people dead for no fault of theirs, hundreds rendered homeless and made thousands of people displaced. Though the end of the war is a welcome step, received well by all sections of people across the borders; the international forums and organisations praised both the nations for showing restraint and readiness for ‘peace’.
When the US president, Mr. Donald Trump came up with the news on the evening of the 9th May, 2025, everywhere it was like an Eid day for the people of India and Pakistan but the people of the border areas felt really over the moon on knowing about the ceasefire by the two nuclear powers of the Sub-continent. The decision of the ceasefire provided a hope to the hopeless people of both the countries who were somehow of the opinion that the tension would escalate given the intensity of the artillery used for those few days. And when the news of ceasefire came, it was unexpected and hard to believe. But thankfully it was true and authentic and even testified by the US.
Now the war is over and we have a new dawn and a new hope. But have we individually or at a collective level thought of the people who have lost their loved ones, who have lost their houses, who have lost their life savings, who have lost their dreams, who have lost their aspirations and hopes - who have lost their everything to this bloody war and perhaps it is hard, rather impossible for them to restart their lives, dreams and aspirations from zero.
At an individual level it is our moral and social obligation to channel our resources, money and material, men and machinery, to help build homes for the homeless people, to help displaced people relocate to their origin places, to empathise with those who lost their beloved ones, to help them to come out of the trauma which otherwise will haunt them for times to come, to cooperate and help them in restoring dreams that were shattered to the ground.
On the one hand we have to raise funds for their proper rehabilitation while on the other hand, we have to make them believe that they are not ‘the other’ rather they are one among us and a part and parcel of our society.
The role of the administration cannot be sidelined; its role multiplies because it has to execute a feasible, proper, strategic and viable planning for their relief and rehabilitation. Additionally, the government, both at the state as well as the centre has to distribute sufficient funds which would at least make their life relatively comfortable and peaceful.
The media - print, electronic as well as the social media - have to be professionally used to comfort and console them in the best possible manner. There must be a perfect and proper message from both the UT government as well as the central government to show that the nation is with them in this hour of grief.
Last but not the last, every social, political and religious agency has to be properly utilised to make the process of rehabilitation fast.
Bilal Ahmad Khanday writes for the Greater Kashmir
