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Terrorists spreading aids in J&K
Jammu, Mar 30: The spread of the dreaded Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Jammu and Kashmir has been attributed in part to terrorists from across the border operating with impunity till recently in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu, Mar 30: The spread of the dreaded Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Jammu and Kashmir has been attributed in part to terrorists from across the border operating with impunity till recently in Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the National Aids Control Organization (NACO), Jammu and Kashmir has 14,589, HIV patients with a sizable number being in Kashmir. A large number has unfortunately gone unreported due to the social stigma attached to this disease. Till now, Jammu and Kashmir was considered a low prevalent state for aids and as such ill-equipped to handle the large number of cases.
According to Dr Farooq Omar of bones and joint hospital, at present? facilities for testing blood for HIV before transfusion were available only at four hospitals in the state. These are Smhs Lal Ded, Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and bone and joint hospital, Srinagar. None of the district and sub district hospitals have blood testing facility.
The increase in these figures has now been traced to foreign terrorists many of the Afghans and Pakistanis who may have been spreading this deadly virus through homosexual or heterosexual contact, according to a defence ministry spokesman here.
The problem initially started with the young girls taken in by the ruddy romantic ''Che Guevara'' image of the foreign ultras, according to the spokesman. There were many instances of marriages or ‘nikahs’ with the foreign Mujahideens in Kashmir without the women realising that their husbands, like the other foreign ultras, have been sent for only brief tenures. After this they simply vanished from the scene, leaving the girls with unwanted children, pregnancies or dreaded diseases like AIDS. A large number of the foreign terrorists are former inmates of Pakistani jails where they were offered a chance to 'redeem' themselves by enrolling for the 'jihad' in Kashmir. Their highly promiscuous behavior to combat stress unfortunately has contributed to the spread of the HIV infection, the spokesman added. Right now there are 273 full blown cases of recent HIV infection including 40 from the six districts of the valley. This killer disease is spreading to the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region as also to the border districts of Kupwara and Baramulla, he said.
Bureau Report
The increase in these figures has now been traced to foreign terrorists many of the Afghans and Pakistanis who may have been spreading this deadly virus through homosexual or heterosexual contact, according to a defence ministry spokesman here.
The problem initially started with the young girls taken in by the ruddy romantic ''Che Guevara'' image of the foreign ultras, according to the spokesman. There were many instances of marriages or ‘nikahs’ with the foreign Mujahideens in Kashmir without the women realising that their husbands, like the other foreign ultras, have been sent for only brief tenures. After this they simply vanished from the scene, leaving the girls with unwanted children, pregnancies or dreaded diseases like AIDS. A large number of the foreign terrorists are former inmates of Pakistani jails where they were offered a chance to 'redeem' themselves by enrolling for the 'jihad' in Kashmir. Their highly promiscuous behavior to combat stress unfortunately has contributed to the spread of the HIV infection, the spokesman added. Right now there are 273 full blown cases of recent HIV infection including 40 from the six districts of the valley. This killer disease is spreading to the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region as also to the border districts of Kupwara and Baramulla, he said.
Bureau Report