Victim of Oppression – The facial expression expresses the feelings of thousands of camp dwellers - no hope 'Paradise' lost.
Image details
Contributor:
Adrian Page / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
BP75APFile size:
28.9 MB (787.8 KB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
2610 x 3872 px | 22.1 x 32.8 cm | 8.7 x 12.9 inches | 300dpiLocation:
Jammu and Kashmir IndiaMore information:
This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage.
In 1989 / 90 over 350 000 Kashmiri ‘Pandits’ (KP), men, women and children fled Kashmir Valley. Some KP’s took up refuge with family or friends living in other parts of India, but for the vast majority their accommodation was initially tented accommodation before being moved to either one room tenements in New Delhi or to the government constructed camps around Jammu. Just one room to accommodate the whole family where husband, wife and children all eat, sleep and entertain, whilst outside are the squalid communal toilet and bathing facilities. No longer do they have the luxury of kitchen, laundry or hot water. Washing clothes and household dishes has to be conducted with cold water outside braving the elements summer and winter. But strive to overcome they do for the children who are the Pandit’s future. Education is viewed as being paramount so they ensure that from primary school upwards their children will be educated in the makeshift schools within the camps. Many of these children were born in these camps and know no other lifestyle and it says a great deal for the parental guidance they receive in that there is no alcohol or drug related problems within the camps. Today, although more KP have been moved from the camps and rehoused in one room tenements tens of thousands of men, women and children remain ‘living’ in the squalid camps around Jammu. The environment of the compounds that these people have to endure leaves much to be desired. Their clean fertile Kashmir Valley has given way to open drains, dirt and stones where KP attempt to grow vegetables in the baron soil. Cramped unhygienic living conditions have given rise to a variety of diseases and with the death rate rapidly out pacing a declining birth rate it is little wonder those Kashmiri’s who remain surviving in the camps view their future as being very bleak.