Kashmir Valley has entered a new era of community activism as local citizens are coming together to take personal and social responsibility for fighting against increasing numbers of people abusing drugs in their area. This incredible act of unity and moral responsibility has created one of the most important collective actions within the Kashmir Valley recently.
There are over 4000 mosques/shrines (places of worship) and 955 religious leaders participating in this development (the ‘Nasha Mukt J&K Abhiyaan’, a drug-free J&K Initiative and assisting in the protection of Kashmir Valley’s children/children’s future.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this effort represents one of the largest social intervention efforts in the most recent period of the history of Kashmir Valley. Since its large-scale initiation on April 11th, this effort has also turned into an educational and prevention initiative (religious leaders are now using religious sites as education/prevention sites).
There are no religious, social, administrative barriers to this effort as many of the religious leaders are using loudspeakers and gathering thousand’s of people together for Friday prayers at their various religious sites, to encourage families to be aware of, and protective of, their children/youths.
The message is simple, drug addiction is not an individual problem but rather a social crisis, requiring a collective, spiritual, and communal solution to this issue.
The participating 955 religious leaders are providing educational information on the individual and social consequences of drug abuse (which includes the increasing trend of using synthetic drugs) to their congregations.
Imams are defining the fight against drug abuse as a collective communal obligation (imams are integrating traditional religious teachings with contemporary public health concepts and principles).
This initiative seeks to connect healthy lifestyles with community integrity due to the fact that the drug addiction epidemic has affected youth’s vulnerability to being manipulated and the expansion of the drug trade. Furthermore, through calls for parental support, education and open dialogue to remove the stigma associated with drug abuse, the initiative allows families to seek assistance earlier than otherwise.
Furthermore, many of these initiatives demonstrate how well the collaboration of citizens and police are able to protect the children of each respective community from drug traffickers.
Moreover, this initiative is indicative of the strength of the people of Kashmir, where leaders, clergy and citizens are united together to form an impenetrable wall around their children against those whom would want to harm them.
In addition to fighting drugs, the citizens of Kashmir are creating a loving, nurturing and rehabilitative support system for their communities. As a result, over 4,000 mosques have served as signposts directing the community towards a brighter, healthier and safer future.
