By: RAYEES AHMAD KUMAR
Kashmir is not only famous for it’s enchanting beauty as the land has a distinction because of the number and stature of Sufis’ and Reshis’ who made this land as their abode. These great souls travelled from distant lands and once they arrived here, very little among them went back while the majority stayed here and intermingled with the local populace. They gradually played a pivotal role in shaping the spiritual and moral fabric of Kashmir, leaving an indelible mark on its cultural landscape.
Besides preaching the noble teachings, they played a crucial role in reviving the economy of this region by equipping the masses with skills of varied handicrafts. Recently, our city of Srinagar was granted the status of ‘World Craft City’ by Global Craft Council in view of being home to a dozen of crafts recognized globally. The credit for this recognition goes to Mir Syed Ali Hamdani (RA) who brought hundreds of skillful artisans alongside him possessing myriad of handicraft prowess, who besides giving religious education taught these skills to local populace besides spreading the message of love, tolerance, brotherhood and unity.
We can say that it is due to their virtuous character, nobility and selflessness that people in huge numbers would throng to listen to them and embrace the true teachings. It was the impact of their teachings that Kashmir became a place of great reverence and plurality and became popular all over the world for its hospitality, honesty, decency and accomodative culture.
Sir Walter Lawrence in his famed book ‘Valley Of Kashmir’, is of the view that Kashmir is a part of the planet where crime rate is almost zero and its people are trustworthy. He generally portrays the Kashmiri people as honest and trustworthy and often praises their integrity and sincerity in various aspects of life including their dealings with others. Lawrence describes them as having a strong sense of honor and ethical conduct, which he attributes to their cultural values and traditions.
However in the recent few decades, the place has witnessed a noticeable decline in the moral values among it’s inhabitants. There are disputed among families, discord among people of faith, hatred among partners and peers and deceit among brothers and sisters. Not only this, Kashmir has also witnessed a steep rise in the incidents of crime and some of the most shocking events have come to light here. Be it a son killing his mother, a mother dumping his newborn, a father raping his dauther and what not!
Youths who are the future of this nation are frequently engaging in immoral, unethical and indecent deeds bringing shame to the society and inviting the wrath of almighty Allah. Be it the recent tragic gangrape of a minor girl that had cooured on the auspicious occasion of Eid or the news about the killing of an eight days old girl child by her own motheris all a staggering example of how low we have stooped morally and ethically. There are more such incidents reported every now and than and we are simply asahamed of this not ready to delve deeper to understand the complexities that are pushing us down the trench!
A place kown for its simplicity, unity, brotherhood, societal bondigs etc besides being crime free, has been downgraded to a point of no return. The moral bankruptcy and criminal behaviours have crossed all limits here and we, as a society, must awake to this grave tragedy and get togather to chalk out a strategy to fight this growing trend. Inhabitants of this land are now committing the worst ever crimes on daily basis breaking all previous records of illegal acts, unlawful activities and offenses. To put a curb on this environment of lawlessness and prohibit the objectionable activities in the society, stringent laws need to be formulated at earliest and implementation of these laws must be prioritised. Individuals committing these heinous crimes must be put behind the bars and subjected to punishment. Besides yielding good results, it will help in creating a desired community of responsible and good mannered people.
The writer is a columnist hailing from Qazigund Kashmir.