Shehr-e-Khaas gets only the gate, with children under deep cover of depression in autumn
By: Mudasir Ahmad Khan VOV
Srinagar
Downtown or Sheher-i-Khass is still in this autumn with children staying either indoors are coming now into the compounds of shrines and Mosques, built in the medieval period and now given a face lift by the present regimes.
The Omar Abdullah government, having an eye on the vote bank of downtown Srinagar, decided to give a face lift to downtown Srinagar and said that they will try to preserve its heritage value and will try to promote heritage tourism in this area of Srinagar city.
In this direction, they decided to demarcate Shehr-e-Khaas and made its gate near Baba Demb Khanyar as an entry point into the treasure of heritage and shrines.
Children playing in the compound of an old Mosque now rebuild near Pather masjid on the bank of river Jehlum
Pic by Mudasir Ahmad Khan
The gate was completed and the project to preserve Shehr-e-Khaas s never saw the light of the day. The soul of their survival was pashmina and shahtoosh wool weaving and it died slowly because of the previous government decisions including ban by the central government on shahtoosh.
The worst sufferers in the Shehr-e-Khaas are the children. They have been locked in their homes in the past 14 months first due to the clampdown of the central government and now Covid lockdown. With schools closed, these children have no outlet to go for their extracurricular activities like playing their favorite games.
Children playing on Tuesday in the compound of BulBul Shrine as most of the shrines remains closed due to the pandemic Pic By Mudasir Ahmad Khan
On Tuesday this reporter could see some children playing cricket in the compound of an old Mosque on the banks of Jhelum near Zaina Kadal opposite Khaniqah-i-Maula. Another group of children were seen by me playing in the compound of the shrine of BulBul Shah again on the banks of Jhelum near Nawa kadal.
This shrine in its old design was the real char balm shrine with the architect of central Asia but some people of the area decided to make a trust and demolished this treasure of the past and have constructed a new shrine.
The parents in downtown Srinagar are worried about the health of their children as most of them have provided mobile phones to their children so that they can kill time. “My children do not move out of the home and play games on their mobile phones. They now have the problem of vision and have to be taken to the eye specialist. Many children in my neighborhood are also suffering in the same way and need treatment” said Sheikh Javeed Ahmad resident of Shalla Kadal Karfali Mohalla Srinagar.
