Kashmir and Lockdown: Is it high time to realize the seriousness of the pandemic?
The deadly second wave of COVID-19 is claiming lives at an alarming rate with India being the most affected country in world.
Jammu and Kashmir has seen more than 2000 deaths due to COVID-19 since in the start of the second wave which forced the UT administration to shut down all the markets and public places or in other terms, a lockdown that can break the chain of the virus.
Lockdowns worldwide proved very effective in halting the transfer of the virus from one person to another and that is the reason various states resorted to this practice at an earliest this year.
People in Kashmir are very sensitive towards the lockdowns, hartals and other types of shutdowns but the question is where does such sensitivity take us?
People in Kashmir habitually throng petrol pumps, line up outside shopping malls and other places that see huge gatherings, whenever administration issues such types of circulars for public safety.
This year’s lockdown demands implementation in strict terms, because more the virus spreads, the more it mutates and more deadly it turns.
Administration should not be held by collar everytime a natural calamity strikes, all that administration can do is to provide better health care, arrange all the necessary medial equipments immediately needed in our hospitals, arrange more and more beds and possibly some makeshift hospitals.
Now the question is, how is public responsible for hampering the business of the administration?
Several videos and photographs that are being circulated on social media platforms from various districts show a very dirty picture of the behaviour of the irresponsible masses.
Massive traffic jam is the last thing one witnesses in such a destructive pandemic.
Manhandling policemen, misbehaving with magistrates on duty is something where administration feels absolutely helpless.
People were asked to venture out only in case of emergency situations, unfortunately the word “emergency” in our valley apparently is defined as “a long drive with friends, trying to reach to a tourist destination,” the problem with our masses is “least understanding of the gravity of the pandemic.”
The message is loud and clear, “if you don’t care about youself, kindly learn to care about others.”
