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Kashmir is the most militarized zone in the world. As per the data of the concentration of troo ps quoted by outlook India and the article written by Rani Sigh in the Forbes magazine followed by the JKCCSS data.<\/p>\n
The overwhelming density of Indian armed forces\u2014and their systematic increase after every incident\u2014has catastrophic repercussions for Kashmiris. In this suffocating environment, where trigger happy Indian army stand at every street corner, Kashmiris live in a state of collective helplessness.<\/p>\n
The silent assault is quietly eating away at the valleys tomorrow. The continued fear, isolation, unemployment, anxiety is cashed by the occupational power weaponized the healing drugs. Since the abrogation of Article 370 on 5th August 2019, all institutions\u2014from the local administration to the police\u2014have been placed under the direct control of New Delhi.With no legal relief, no political space, and no hope of redress, Kashmir has been pushed into a new battlefield: drug addiction.<\/p>\n
This war is silent, insidious, and far more lethal, than bullets. Anxiety, depression, and trauma born of decades of occupation have made the youth vulnerable, and India\u2019s ruling establishment has found in drugs a weapon that erases resistance without bloodshed.The age group of 17 to 22 years\u2014the prime bearers of Kashmir\u2019s future and its resistance\u2014is deliberately targeted.<\/p>\n
The easy flow of narcotics is no accident. It is by design. For the occupying forces, a generation crippled by addiction is a generation that will not rise to demand self-determination.Since 1990, Kashmir has lived in a war-like situation.<\/p>\n
The present generation has never seen peace. Born under occupation and raised under the shadow of gun barrels, today\u2019s youth know only checkpoints, raids, and curfews. Instead of reducing troop concentrations, New Delhi has steadily increased them. Soldiers once confined to garrisons now patrol every corner.<\/p>\n
Trauma is woven into daily life.In this environment, drugs have been unleashed as another weapon of control. After August 2019, when Kashmir was reduced to a Union Territory, the menace intensified. Homes, hospitals, and markets are now infested with narcotics.<\/p>\n
The easy availability of substances\u2014from cannabis and heroin to pharmaceutical opioids\u2014signals a system working not to stop but to sustain the flow.The danger is not limited to traditional narcotics. More alarming are Buprenorphine and Verner-N\u2014drugs meant as medical substitutes but now turned into widespread addictions.<\/p>\n
Available as syrups, tablets, powders, and injectables, they are openly sold in Kashmir\u2019s pharmacies, often without prescription.Patients admitted in SKIMS, SMHS, and IMHANS hospitals reveal a reality far removed from the government\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n
Families and even medical store owners confirm that these substances are freely consumed.Doctors admit that medicines like Buprenorphine are essential in controlled detoxification programs. But in Kashmir, where supervision is absent and hospitals themselves supply them unchecked, the cure has become the curse. Youth consume multiple doses daily, falling deeper into dependency.<\/p>\n
Official figures grossly understate the crisis. Data presented in the Indian Parliament estimated 10,000 drug users in Kashmir. But the Parliamentary Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment put the figure at 13.5 lakh, including young women.<\/p>\n
According to surveys by IMHANS, 90% of Kashmiri drug users are aged between 17 and 33 years. This is nothing less than generational destruction.The consequences are devastating. Families are breaking apart. Crime rates\u2014particularly theft and burglary\u2014have risen as addicts struggle to finance their cravings. Pharmacies, mafias, and profiteers exploit the desperation of addicts, while enforcement agencies turn a blind eye.<\/p>\n
Psychiatrists like Dr. SabreenaQadri warn that opioid substitution therapies (OST) such as Buprenorphine and Naloxone require strict medical supervision. Without it, they become addictions themselves. She acknowledges that misuse is the \u201cmega issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The availability of Tapentadol and Pregabalin\u2014again sold without prescriptions\u2014has only worsened the spiral.The tragedy is best captured in the voice of a young man outside a hospital: \u201cI quit heroin six months ago. But now I cannot live without Buprenorphine. I need three doses a day.\u201d His testimony is a warning. What was once meant as treatment has become a dependency worse than the disease.India\u2019s war on Kashmir is no longer confined to guns, prisons, and laws. It has entered the veins of Kashmiri youth. By making drugs easily accessible, the occupier weakens resistance from within, ensuring that tomorrow\u2019s generation is broken before it can rise.<\/p>\n
This silent war is far more dangerous than open conflict. Bullets kill the body, but addiction kills the spirit of a people. Kashmir today is not only the world\u2019s most militarized zone but also a region where the future is being systematically erased through narcotics. The drug epidemic in Kashmir is not an accident. It is a design.<\/p>\n
In a place already suffocated by militarization, surveillance, and political silencing, addiction has been introduced as another layer of subjugation. The young generation that should be shaping Kashmir\u2019s tomorrow is instead being crippled today. The world must recognize this crisis for what it is: a war crime in slow motion.<\/p>\n
The international community, human rights defenders, and civil society cannot remain silent as the veins of Kashmir\u2019s youth are turned into battlefields. The cure has indeed become the curse. And unless urgent intervention is made, Kashmir\u2019s future will be lost\u2014not with the sound of gunfire, but in the silence of addiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kashmir is the most militarized zone in the world. As per the data of the concentration of troo ps quoted by outlook India and the article written by Rani Sigh in the Forbes magazine followed by the JKCCSS data. The overwhelming density of Indian armed forces\u2014and their systematic increase after every incident\u2014has catastrophic repercussions for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":183560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/09\/images-1-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183561,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183555\/revisions\/183561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}