By| Aadil Salaam
The object and sanctity of human existence are in giving and helping. When the whole world has gone to shut its borders, an exit and entry have been made more strenuous & people were compelled to starve in the stranded positions, there are some who upheld the human values by rescuing. Treating,nourishing the most helpless and hapless people at every way irrespective of statuses.
The same valour which this trust Raahat has shown during this miserable heavy snowfall is a commendable and appreciable on the humanitarian and progressive natured grounds.
The rich, the poor, the destitute and the underprivileged. There are many classes who do not even have two times of bread. A party has come out to cure all of them, the only purpose of which is to go to the bottom of these cases and heal their wounds.
Highway Blockade
The Kashmir Highway is closed every single day in Jammu and Kashmir after bad weather. So in February 2019, when the National Highway was closed for a month at least, the drivers of light and heavy vehicles were entitled to food. Raahat; a new ray of hope came for an idea and helped those passengers, drivers. The trust came to prominence those days and provided free food including milk pouches, bread and biscuits every day for two consecutive weeks to feed the needy people on NHW, irrespective of any religion.
During the days when the highway remained closed, the volunteers of this trust would cover a distance of 200 km daily while providing meals to around 600 people, mostly drivers. Milk pouches, bread and biscuits every day. After NHW blockade many respected people from different sections of the society helped the trust and in those days “the wall of kindness” was held and clothes were also provided to these helpless drivers. During this time many Sikh drivers came forward and offered to help in preparing the food.
The trust has been feeding the needy passengers on NHW since its inception.
“Likewise, Qazigundians have always been at the disposal for the service of humanity. Serving stranded people has now been a normal thing for the people of this area. On numerous occasions, I have personally experienced such episodes being out in the field of social service for the past two years. No doubt there are evil-minded people in this society as well, but you can’t paint all with the same brush. Mostly, Qazigund remains in the news with the onset of winter as the day in and day out you have national highway blockades.
“It has been a practice now for highway hamlets of Qazigund to rescue and help stranded truckers and passengers for decades now. I have observed and now being part of the community kitchen (langar). Last year too there was a disruption of normal movement of traffic on the highway for around two weeks and we continued free larger and served all the stranded truckers unit the highway was restored. Youth comes behind wits and winds to help passengers stranded on National Highway”, said Younus Rashid, Spokesperson of Raahat: a new ray of hope and a student by profession.
Abrogation of Article 370/35A
Soon after this idea, they tried to come up with more rehabilitation so that more needy people could get benefited. But unfortunately, given the circumstances, they couldn’t proceed more. After the repeal of Article 370, the situation in Kashmir remained bad and the communication blockade slightly hindered the work of this trust. But then the courageous youth of this trust stand on the forefront and took these helpless people to their homes, irrespective of any religion.
After all the ‘Raahat’ trust is giving all possible aid to needy people, after the Abrogation of Article 370, this trust tirelessly worked to get on the trackback.
Covid Pandemic
The issue of repeal of Section 370 was still fresh but another epidemic has engulfed Kashmir. The coronavirus that created an atmosphere of fear and terror in the world. Once again, the trust had the responsibility to manage other expenses for the needy and the society, which was an inevitable process.
During the epidemic, the trust provided 1,500 masks. The disinfectant tunnel was also provided to Emergency Hospital Qazigund. 20 PPE kits and more than 100 sanitisers were set up at different places. Sanitization was organized by the trust at various religious places during the Pandemic and people of other religions of Kashmir also started providing help in this regard because they were very much happy with the work of this trust. Despite these medical facilities, food and drink expenses were also provided during the outbreak.
The organisation also helped the families whose bread earners were drivers. Almost trust supported 30 families including non-locals by providing them food packets which costs three thousand each packet.
During Ramadan
The trust gave assistance to many poor families during Ramadan. The trust was instrumental in providing them with food and other daily expenses. A few days before Eid, this trust becomes a source of joy in the hearts of poor children by providing them with clothes, toys, sweets and much more.
This Trust is headed, Ishrat Rashid Khan as Manager,he said, “when the National Highway was closed, there was nothing to eat for the needy passengers and the idea came to our minds that why not to run a trust to feed these hungry passengers and this time for at least two weeks. Until then, we have served all of them by starting “Langhar”. We’ve been doing a lot of work since then and one of the special things we’re focusing on these days is helping girls who have nothing to marry. We pay them Rs 40,000 for each wedding. However, we also pay for the treatment of cancer patients and took many serious patients out of the valley for furthermore treatment. Medicines and other expenses are also being provided to the patients suffering from other diseases on a monthly basis through this trust. We do this work not in the name of any religion or caste but in the name of humanity. Some non-Muslim brothers are also helping us in this good work, based on which we have more efforts to serve with more passion”.
Crew
This trust is made up of members of all ages. That includes business personalities government employees, students. The trust has a total of 20 members, nine of whom are core members. The trust does not reimburse any individual monthly salary while the trust consists of volunteers.
What Next?
1- The trust will now provide support for more marriages, including both the brides and grooms. And each marriage will be given 40,000 thousand rupees in the form of goods, not in cash.
2- The trust will adopt orphans and provide monthly assistance to more poor families. 3- Monthly medicines will be provided to cancer patients and patients with other diseases also.
4- Though the area is located on NH44 and with altitudes and shooting areas near Jawhar tunnel, makes it accident-prone. So trust had decided to have an ambulance for emergency.
Now, people must not only donate but to appreciate its functions, as there are less who likely to risk their lives to save others, one is the Raahat at the forefront always.
