The Story of the Kashmir Welfare Trust

Other NGOs (non-government organisations), aid agencies and non-profit organisations working in Kashmir

Throughout the early years of the conflict there was very little aid and relief work in progress, particularly by international aid agencies and NGOs. This was primarily because of the Central Government of India’s insistence that the conflict was a domestic issue. After the earthquake in 2005 a large number of aid agencies, NGOs and non-profit organisations began to work in the region. Many pulled out once initial relief work had been done, but some medium and longer-term plan organisations are still at work. There are several chapters about the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and the relief work described in In the Valley of Mist. Organisations and foundations that are working at a very grass root level with good results are listed below:

Médecin Sans Frontières (http://www.msf.org) joined the huge task of psychiatric care in the region in 2000 working with a few local psychiatrists to set up MSF’s psychiatric programme at the Government Hospital of Psychiatric Diseases in the state’s summer capital, Srinagar. MSF continues to have a base at the hospital on Central Jail Road, as well as outreach programmes in other towns.

During the course of the conflict many thousands of young men have been taken into custody by the Indian Security Forces for ‘questioning’ about militant activities. And many thousands of these boys and men have never returned to their families, and no bodies have been produced for their families to mourn. These men and boys are referred to as the ‘disappeared’. One brave woman decided to take action after her son was taken for interrogation in 1990. Parveena Ahanger started the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) with other campaigners in 1994. They have little funding or heavyweight support, but Parveena, and those who have joined her, help others face their situation of loss. (for more information contact: apdpkashmir@gmail.com or call the office on: + 91 1942 136337)

Kupwara is one of the towns that has been the worst hit by the militancy and the resulting military crackdowns. Almost every family in the town has lost a father, son or brother in the fighting. There are many orphans as a result of the conflict, and many girls who have bleak futures. Two young men came to Kupwara in 2002 to carry out of survey. They were so horrified by the plight of orphan or partially orphaned girls in Kupwara that they set about creating a refuge for as many of these girls as they could. So Basera-e-Tabassum (Sanctuary of the Smile) began. For more information about the project see (http://www.bwfindia.org.in). There is also a film about Basera-e-Tabassum: http://www.nitinupadhye.com/basera/basera.zip

The Central Asian Institute (www.ikat.org) set up by former mountaineer Greg Mortenson to build girls’ schools in some of the most isolated areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Greg’s book Three Cups of Tea has been read by many, and though Greg is now well known his grassroots work continues, battling to keep the schools open as the Taliban try and shut them down in excessively violent ways. To join jihad a man, or boy, has to get the blessing of his mother and his mullah. A woman who has been given a basic education is unlikely to allow her son to join jihad.