Vol: 3

| No.: 3 | March 30 2010

Kashmirs growing
psychiatric disorders

200
men for 5

Lab newspaper of Media Education Research Centre

lakh vehicles

Faisal Rashid

ith the exponential increase in the number

of vehicles in Srinagar city, managing traffic
has become an increasingly tough task for the
concerned agencies. Their problems are further compounded
by the lack of man-power to deal with the crisis.
Describing lack of human resources as the biggest
problem faced by Traffic Department, S P Traffic Showkat
Hussein said, There are only 200 men for controlling five
lakh vehicles within the municipal limits of Srinagar city.
Hussein attributed the frequent and long traffic jams to
poor infrastructure like bad roads and faulty engineering
system besides lack of awareness about traffic rules among
people.
It is not only the traffic enforcement department but
other departments too owe the responsibility, he said while
blaming some civil works departments for the problem.
Hussein stressed on the need for proper traffic education.
There is dire need of inculcating sense of responsibility to
follow the traffic rules and ethics among the people, he said.
Transport Minister, Qamar Ali Akhoon recently
said that about 40,000 vehicles are added on the roads of
the state every year. He also talked about introducing a
comprehensive plan for scientific management of traffic in
the state. Besides lack of human resources, there are other
factors which also contribute highly to the traffic snarls in
Srinagar city.
Meanwhile, people of the city have demanded proper
management of traffic on city routes.
Blaming traffic police for jams and frequent accidents,
Nazir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Batmaloo said, Traffic
police doesnt regulate the traffic efficiently which causes
frequent accidents and jams.
Zubair Ahmad, a resident of Brain Nishat, accused
traffic police of being corrupt.
The defaulters bribe police and go scot free, he said.
Denying the allegations, S P Traffic said, Allegation
should not be for the sake of allegation. If anybody comes
with concrete proof against any official, I will take action.

Children, Crches
and Concerns

for private circulation only

I want to play
for India

TRAFFIC MESS

MERCTIMES

Faculty Development Program held for first time in KU

epartment of Business anacd

Financial Studies (DBFS)
of Kashmir University organized a week-long Faculty Development Program (FDP) on Stock Market Operations
During
the
programme,
the
participants took up the task to
submit papers on various topics
including: Demutualization of Stock
Exchanges The Indian Experience,
Prospects of Growth of Capital
Market in Kashmir, Role of SEBI
towards regulating Indian Capital
Market; besides other areas.
The participants in the program
came from various colleges and institutions s as well as universities of the
valley. The department assured the
participants that the papers would
be published in the form of a book.
According to Dean Faculty of
Commerce and Management Studies, Prof M A Sahaf, The FDP
tried to strike balance between
knowledge, skill and attitude of the
teacher.
While laying stress on the need for
teachers to upgrade in their respective
disciplines, Sahaf said the real test of
the success of the program would be
when the knowledge acquired during
the program would percolate to the
students in various colleges.
Speaking at the valedictory
function of the programme, Vice
Chancellor of Kashmir University,

Vice-chancellor addressing the concluding session of the programme

Prof Riyaz Punjabi said time demands when we need to research a
lot regarding the impact of globalization on Kashmir economy.
Terming DBFS as one of the
prestigious departments of the varsity, Prof Punjabi said by organizing
the FDP for the first time, the department had taken the lead in keeping pace with changes in the global
scenario and the challenges ahead.
No other discipline has faced
such enormous challenge and with
every passing day, the challenges are
becoming more and more complex,

Punjabi said, adding that the department should also conduct general
orientation courses to apprise the
faculty of the university and interested students in Global share market trends.
On the occasion, the Dean Academic Affairs, Prof A R Yousuf said,
The faculty should conduct such
programmes more often for the benefit of the faculty and ultimately for
the benefit of the students.
Head Department of Business
and Financial Studies, Prof Nazir A
Nazir while delivering the welcome

address said that the program was a

step towards making the faculty in
the discipline more and more aware
of changes in the field.
The program was sufficiently
loaded with conceptual and analytical as well as practical orientation
covering major areas of business and
finance he added while giving details of the program.
The coordinator of the program,
Dr S M Shafi while conducting the
proceedings of the function said that
the program would help the faculty
to build a knowledge base in the
capital market scenario of the valley;
which is bereft of a genuine investment scenario.
We plan to launch a program
which will help create proper investment zeal among masses he asserted.
On the occasion, a standalone
website of the department www.dbfsku.net was also launched by Prof
Punjabi.
Various officials from the varsity were also present at the function including Director South Campus, Dr Khurshid A Bhat, Director
DLL, Prof Neelofer Khan, Head,
Department of Political Science,
Prof Asifa Jan, Special Secretary
to VC Qaisar Ajaz, former Dean of
the faculty, Prof Mohiuddin Sangmi besides faculty and students
from the department.

Dals ambience adds Geo-informatics course gets overwhelming response

to barbeque sales

Mudassir Kuloo

hough one can find barbeque stalls in

various parts of city, none matches the
ambience of the stalls along the banks
of Dal Lake. No wonder, more and more stalls
are coming up along the boulevard and they are
making a brisk business with tourists and locals alike relishing the taste.
I have never tasted such a barbeque anywhere. My wife and son too liked its taste. Our
week-long stay in Srinagar was about visiting
beautiful places and keeping our date with
barbeques on the banks of Dal Lake every evening, said Mukesh, a tourist from Mumbai.
The vendors are also elated with the response.
These barbeques are found everywhere,
but on the banks of Dal Lake they have entirely
different taste owing to the pollution free ambience, says Fayaz Ahmad, a barbeque seller.
If the vendors are to be believed they make
good money with each stall earning more than
Rs 3000 every day.

Faisal Khan

asters in Geo Informatics, a newly introduced

course at Kashmir
University, has received
an overwhelming response
from the aspirants. The
response can be gauged
from the fact that over 300
students have submitted
entrance forms while the
intake capacity in the department is mere 10.
One of the aspirants, Umar
Bhat said, It is a welcome
move by Kashmir University. Other courses such
courses with good scope
should also be introduced
in the varsity which will
benefit students.
The parents also hailed the introduction of the course. Muhammad Usman Sheikh, father
of one of the aspirants said, The

course will open new job opportunities for the youth.

Though the number of seats
is limited, students will benefit
from the initiative, he added.

Programme Coordinator, Dr
Shakil Ahmad Romshoo expects
the number of seats to go up in
the coming years.

The course has good career

prospects across the world and
the students will not face any
hurdles to find a job, he said.
In 2004, PG Diploma in Geoinformatics was introduced
which was also very well
received.
All the previous batches
got 100 per cent placement in related fields, Dr
Romshoo added, terming
this initiative as need of the
hour.
The department o geo-informatics has also sent a
proposal to Indian Space
Research
Organization
(ISRO) to introduce monthly courses for the students
of different streams.
This department provides
all the infrastructure facilities
to the students which they will
find in other parts of India, Dr
Romshoo said

MERCTIMES

Kashmirs growing psychiatric disorders

Nisar Ahmad Khan

he ongoing turmoil in Kashmir has taken a heavy toll on

people who are directly or indirectly affected by it resulting in an
increase in psychiatric disorders.
According to the records of Government Psychiatric Disease Hospital, Srinagar, there were 1,700 cases
of mental illnesses registered in
1989 which increased up to 60,000
by 2004. Doctors say it is just tip of
the iceberg.
While in 1990, six patients on
average attended the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the hospital per
day, this number had gone up to 59 in
1994. By 1999, the number increased
to 100 and reached 200 in 2002.
Moreover, due to the social stigma attached to the mental problems,
many people do not visit psychiatrists. This stigmatization has several repercussions on the social and
personal activities of the patient.
According to Dr Parvaiz Madani, a psychiatrist, The kind of uneasy situation people of the valley
faced because of this turmoil has
caused number of psychological problems. The mental stress has given
birth to several other disorders and
the chain multiplies if not taken care
at preliminary stages, he says.
Misuse of drugs and other sub-

stances also increased over the years.

People also attribute this trend to the
turmoil.
Shabir Ahmad Beigh, a chemist at Hari Singh High Street says,
There were very few psychiatric
patients before 1989 and the sales
of anti-depressant drugs was lowest. But after the onset of turmoil in
Kashmir, the cases of mental disorders increased alarmingly and the
demand for drugs like Alprax, Mirtaz, Sulpitac, Chlozep, Donep and
Clonotril has increased.
No age group remains untouched
from the conflict, children being the
worst affected. Parental loss and frequent displacement have led to an
increase in pediatric psychopathology. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) is common in children living in orphanages. There has been a
mushroom growth of orphanages in
the valley over the last two decades.
The children no doubt get a good care
in these orphanages but how can it
replace the parental care, the sense
of security and the warmth of mothers lap.
As per the records of Srinagars psychiatric hospital, at least
15 per cent of women are suffering
from prolonged trauma and stress
resulting in symptoms such as frequent palpitations, lack of interest,
sleep disorders and loss of appetite.

Out of 100 cases of acute depression, 70 to 80 are women but only

a few of them go to the hospital for
treatment. PTSD is reported to be
16 per cent among women which is
huge in terms of medical science
statistics.
Moreover, the numbers of widows

and half-widows has also increased.

They also suffer from depression and
other mental disorders.
Owing to the rise in psychological disorders, suicide incidents have
also increased becoming the second
most common cause of unnatural
deaths in Kashmir.

Islamia College Srinagar crowned No 1 in J&K

slamia College of Science and Commerce

(ICSC), Srinagar has
been declared the best college of the state by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and has been
awarded one crore financial assistance.
In a statement issued by
the ex-officio secretary, Prof
Muhammad Saleem Khan,
UGC has declared ICSC as
the college with potential for
excellence.
Islamia College has
made its mark by securing
the award from among many
contenders. The college enrolls students for post graduate courses in Management
Studies and undergraduate
courses in Science, Computer Applications, Commerce,

Management and Business

Administration.
Affiliated to University of
Kashmir, the college is a premier learning institute of the
state. Situated in the foot hills
of Kohimaran, the college
was established in 1961 as an
autonomous institute in association with Moulana Moulvi
Atiqeullah (RA).
The college has emerged
as a centre of quality education with highly qualified and
experienced faculty and stateof-art infrastructure and supportive facilities.
Earlier, National Assessment and Accreditation
Council (NAAC) had acknowledged the quality of the
college by accrediting it B++
level in its certificate issued
in 2004.

MERCTIMES

Filmmakers in the making

Students capture different themes of life

Ibrahim Wani

ewspapers, Pandits life,

Crches and Charar-esharief were the diverse
themes chosen by the students of
mass communication to display
their filmmaking talent. Their
hard work was well acknowledged
during the select screening of the
films before the faculty of Media
Education Research Centre and
Electronic Multimedia Research
Centre.
It looked as if the films had
been made by the best persons
in the field, some of the faculty
members commented.
Students were equally excited
to see their work being appreciated.
Ever since I joined this
course I was waiting for this
chance to try my hand at filmmaking, said Tahir Iqbal, a student, who along with his group
came up with a seven-minute
film titled I live for a day. The
film portrayed life and fall of a
newspaper.
Tremendous hard work goes
into making a newspaper everyday till it is published and then
distributed in the morning, said
Malik Aasif Hamid, another
member of the group.

Asif Sultan, who also worked

with the group observed, The
newspaper becomes a worthless
entity and then it is used only as
mere packing material in roadside shops.
Appreciating the film, Shahid, a student of another group
said, The special thing about the
film was that it had no narration
and it relied only on the visual detail to tell the story.
Shahid and his group came
up with a travelogue to Charare-Sharif, titled Chrar the Sta-

tion of Bliss. Shahi

Shaika who gave the
narration in the film
said, We thought
that Charar holds
a special reverence
in the minds and
hearts of the people,
thats why the subject.
She was seconded by Nisar who
said, The place is
famous for a number of things which
include the Shrine,
special charar Kangri and the bustling
local market.
One
of
the
groups had come up
with a documentary
on the life of Pandits
who decided to stay
back in Kashmir
despite mass migration of their community. The film was

titled Those who dared against

the wind.
The 16-minute film was the
longest in duration among the
films screened. According to Shafat, who was part of the group,
The idea was to highlight the
condition of Pandits who did not
leave the valley despite many
odds. He added that one of the
basic aims was to portray the
courage of these pandits.
Another film titled, Crches
shifted the attention from spiritual and political to contemporary
social trends. According to one of
the members of the team, Naveed
Iqbal, The film dealt with the
modern trend of sending toddlers
to crches to prepare them for the
competition and secure admission
in good schools.
Mehraj who also worked on the
film said, We tried to explore why
parents are admitting their children in these day-care centres.
We came to know that it is
not only a trend with the class
where women are working and
dont have time but also with the
women who are homemakers, he
added.
All the films made by the students were first attempts. But
they stood out in quality and exhibited the potential of the students in filmmaking.
It was a very nice attempt
and the students came up with
very good products, said coordinator of the project, Dr Saleema
Jan.
She informed that a valedictory will be held soon in which
the films will be shown to a bigger audience with dignitaries
like the vice chancellor of Kashmir University also expected to
attend the function.

MERCTIMES

Children, Crches and Concerns

Naveed Iqbal

ver the years crches have

come up in large numbers
across Srinagar city. While
some people welcome the trend others are apprehensive about the impact on the upbringing of children.
Earlier in joint families elders
of the house would take care of kids
at home while their parents would
be out for work. But as nuclear
families have now become order
of the day, there is nobody to take
care of them and are subsequently
sent to crches.
The trend is attributed to other
factors as well like growing competition with parents struggling to
secure admission of their wards in
top schools of the city.
Mehnaz, a working mother,

It is wrong to
try and educate
children at such
a tender age as
their brains are
not yet prepared
to read and
their fingers not
ready to write.

says that although she has her in

laws at home who can take care
of her two-year-old daughter but
in these times of cut-throat competition she wants her child to be
prepared for school admission interviews.
I have no option but to leave
my little girl in a crche because
both me and my husband are working so I cannot leave her at the
mercy of domestic help, says Ishrat Shafi, who teaches at a government school in Pattan.
She says many times her child
is reluctant to go to the crche because she wants to spend time at
her home. Her other child Majid,
who used to go to crche has now
been admitted in one of the top
schools of the town.
Usually children in the age

group of 18 months to five years are

admitted at these day-care centres
before they enter formal schools.
The crches concentrate on overall
personality development of children and train them in etiquettes
besides providing formal education.
They use play way methods and audio-visual techniques of teaching to
make it interesting. However, there
are also some serious issues which
cannot be undermined.
Although it is a novel concept
it is wrong to try and educate children at such a tender age as their
brains are not yet prepared to read
and their fingers not ready to write.
They should be allowed to be free
and play as they like, says noted
academician, Prof A G Madhosh.
This, he, asserts would help

them in developing their personality.

Some people also believe that
at such a tender age, what a child
needs most is his mothers love
which cannot be substituted by
care takers in day-care homes.
Saima Nazir, who runs a
crche, Baby Care at Zakura says
that they provide a homely atmosphere and motherly care to the
kids.
They do take some time to
adjust to the new environment
but as soon as they become familiar to the place and the teachers,
they start making friends and enjoy their time here, she says.
HOD Sociology, Anisa Shafi
opines that there should be a regulating body to take care of licensing of these crches.
They must see to it that
crches employ professional people
who can take proper care of kids,
she adds.

There
should be a
regulating
body to
take care
of licensing
of these
crches.

MERCTIMES

VC reviews facilities at North Campus

ashmir University vicechancellor, Prof Riyaz

Punjabi has expressed his
desire to convert the Universitys
North Campus into a technical and
scientific wing.
I want this campus to attract
students from across the LoC and
beyond, he said while interacting
with the Bachelor in Technology
and MCA students at the North
Campus in Delina Baramulla on
April 1.
Prof Punjabi was on a visit to
the campus to review infrastructural facilities and preparations
for the formal inauguration of the
main campus.
He also planted saplings in the
gardens of the picturesque campus.
Try to give your best to the
environs. Tomorrow your younger
brother or the future generation will
come here; so leave something of nature for them, he told the students.
KU Registrar Prof S Fayyaz

Ahmad said that the Universitys

primary focus was to not only create physical infrastructure for the
students but to also provide adequate and highly qualified faculty
for various courses at the campus.
The Director, North Campus,
Prof Farooq Ahmad thanked the
vice chancellor for taking keen interest in commissioning the cam-

pus from the current academic

session.
He said the courses started
would definitely benefit the student
community especially in the technical areas which is the need of
the hour given the current market
trends. Our endeavour is to make
this campus an enviable destination for the students of the valley,

he said.
Prof Farooq said that the campus was in the process of starting
various job oriented courses that
were in the process of being approved.
We have plans to start a Diploma Course in tourism besides
having a research centre for New
and Renewable Energy. We would
harness the natural resources of
the region like wind, biomass, and
solar energy.
During the campus inspection,
Prof. Punjabi directed the concerned officials to make the classrooms multimedia ready for the
students.
Incharge Landscape Division,
Prof B A Wafai, Director EMMRC,
Dr Shahid Rasool, , Special Secretary to VC, Qaisar Aijaz, Executive Engineer Er. Mufti Burhan
Ahmad and Deputy Registrar Development, Altaf Ahmad were also
present.

Week-long NSS plantation drive held at KU

A

week-long plantation drive was

organized by National Service
Scheme (NSS) wing of Kashmir
University. During the week long drive,
more than 40,000 plant saplings were
planted including various varieties like
deodar, pine, chinar besides a variety of
ornamental trees in north, South and
central Kashmir.
On the last day about 100 Chinar
saplings were sown by NSS volunteers
in Naseem Bagh.
Congratulating the KU NSS wing
for successful completion of the drive,
Prof Punjabi said, Plantation Drive
in the University is aimed at educating
our younger generation that they have
a pivotal role to play in strengthening
and sustaining life systems. Greenery
and plantation is the very soul of this
life system.
Dr. Iqbal Ahmad Hakim, NSS Program Coordinator of Kashmir University expressed happiness about the successful completion of drive.
He said that the drive was in continuation to the plantations of about
40,000 saplings undertaken by NSS
units of colleges and secondary schools
across the valley in collaboration with
Rahim Greens that had started on
March 11 from Degree College Dooru.
Principals and NSS Program Officers of various colleges and academic

institutions played a significant role in

organizing and coordinating the plantation campaign.
NSS volunteers from the Hr Sec
School Shalimar and Islamia College
Hawal Sgr also participated in the
drive.
Rahim Greens sponsored 20,000
saplings and their logistics cost to about
40 academic institutions and seven other governmental and non-governmental
organisations. Besides this, additional
20,000 saplings were also procured by

the institutions on their own from Department of Social Forestry and other
agencies.
NSS took the plantation initiative
across the state in a coordinated manner whereby 10,000 student volunteers
in various educational institutions
planted the saplings. The volunteers of
the university were also given special
uniforms while they went about planting the saplings.
During the plantation drive a documentary film On the Edge by Rahim

Greens was also released. The film provided a glimpse of our deteriorating water bodies, lakes and forest resources.
The film was appreciated and
viewers said that it would prove an inspiration for the civil society especially
younger generations to replete forest resources by planting more trees. On the
occasion, Vice President Mahindra &
Mahindra Ltd D S Bhatnagar assured
that copies of the film would be distributed at every outlet across the country
for awareness.

MERCTIMES

Testing times for commuters on Bemina-Parimpora road

Aasif Sultan

here is no crossing for the

entire stretch of 4 kms from
Bemina to Parimpora, resulting in a lot of inconvenience to
the commuters particularly those
who have to reach Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences
(SKIMS) Medical College, Jammu
and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) Srinagar Development Authority (SDA), and
Womens Polytechnic.
In order to save time, drivers often switch to wrong side which often
proves lethal. The highway stretch
has become prone to accidents. Many
students and BOSE officials usually
drive on the wrong side of the highway for nearly one kilometre before
taking proper lane.
Assistant Secretary (Estates)
BOSE, Syed Afzal Shah says, We use
wrong side of the road to avoid unnecessary delays. BOSE officials as well
as students suffer badly due to absence
of crossing near the office.
Some 500 metres ahead of
BOSE is SKIMS Bemina. It lies
exactly at the centre of the 4 kmlong highway stretch. People, including patients, attendants and
the medical staff, use a crossing
carved out of the pavement by
some auto-rickshaw walas so as
to save time, money and petrol.
This illegal crossing sometimes saves lives.

Patients
coming
from North Kashmirs
Kupwara, Sopore and
other areas have to go
up to Bemina crossing
to take proper route and
then only they can enter
the hospital, said Muhammad Ramzan, who
works in the SKIMS
parking lot.
Issues related to
highway design and construction comes under
central government, said
Tanveer Ahmad, Traffic

In order to save
time, drivers
often switch
to wrong side
which often
proves lethal.
The highway
stretch has
become prone
to accidents.

Sub Inspector.
There should be no cuts for
about 5km on it, as it will cause
many accidents, he asserted.
When asked what people will
do while coming out from places
like BOSE, SKIMS, the Sub Inspector said, They have to use the
proper way. They have to make a
turn at Parimpora. It takes extra
bit of time, but it is the fault of the
state government (that they build
such institutions on the highway).
Abdul Bhat, a constable, adds,
It is better to be late than never.
Drivers must drive on their respective lanes.
As the rush on the highway
gathers momentum, many people
resort to driving in the wrong di-

rection.
There is no point of bisection,
says renowned columnist, Ajaz ul
Haque, adding, I have to take my side
some 7 km from here at Parimpora.
Though driving on the wrong
side is not justified, but there has
to be bisection at least at SKIMS
college, he says.
Being the most important of all
the institutions on this side suffers
the most, having no crossing outside it.
Many old people cannot cross
the highway. Vehicles travel at very
fast speed. About 4-5 accidents occurred in the past 8 months, said
Muhammad Ramzan. He added
that the only solution to this problem is building flyovers.

Workshop exposes students to field of video-prodution

Shahi Shaika/Khurram Rasool

or the third consecutive

year, Educational Multimedia Research Centre
(EMMRC), University of Kashmir
organised a 14-day Video Production workshop for third semester
students of Media Education Research Centre (MERC).
The aim of the workshop was
to expose media students to the
practical aspects of production
work including outdoor shooting
and multi-camera setup in the
studio.
Around 30 students, divided
in four groups, participated in the
workshop. Each group had to come
up with a multi-camera discussion
programme and a 10-minute documentary film under the guidance
of their respective trainers.
Producer EMMRC, Ajaz-ul-

haque said, The workshop develops a good relation between

teacher and students beyond
classrooms. Such exercises enable students to understand time
management and explore their
talents.
The workshop was devised
in three phases. The first phase
was a student-trainer interaction regarding various subjects
viz, camera, lighting, set-designing and script writing. In the
second phase each group did a
discussion and went out for documentary shoot. Editing and postproduction was later done in the
third and the last phase by the
students themselves.
Muhammad Shahid, a third
semester student of MERC said,
It was exciting to work with such
dynamic and experienced trainers who taught us how we can be

better and powerful without being

loud.
Head, MERC, Dr Shahid Rasool had directed the trainers to
let the students make use of equipments and work upon the scripts
on their own.
I would love to see a badly
taken shot by a student instead of
the same shot taken by a trained
cameraman, he said.
The documentaries were made
on various topics namely Chara-eSharief- The station of bliss, I live
for a day( about the short life of a
newspaper), I love you Maa, Pandits- who dared against the wind.
The discussion programmes were
about Reservations, Changing
face of Indian cinema, Is it still a
male dominant society and Social
networking.
Shafqat Habib, a well know
cinematographer and one of the

trainers said, It was a good

learning experience for me. Students taught me many important
things. The workshop was more
than a classroom, more interactive and more innovative.
Screening of films, to assess
the student products, was held in
EMMRC after the conclusion of
the workshop.
Nasir Mirza, faculty member
MERC said, Students have done
brilliant job. Their documentaries
can be screened at the national
level.
Workshop Coordinator, Dr Salima Jan seemed quite impressed
after the preview of the documentaries.
We are glad to have very
bright students in MERC department. The workshop successfully
exposed them to the practical
field, she said.

MERCTIMES

Despite all odds, Samiullah

hopes to make it big
I want to play for India

Aasif Sultan

t six feet, he stands out from his fellow

cricketers. In achievements too he has
made a mark in the game at state level.
Samiullah Beigh, 28, belongs to the finest pool
of talented cricketers in Kashmir.
A resident of Soura, he
developed an immense interest for cricket when he was
a class 10 student. Watching children play on the road
leads him down the memory
lane of his childhood days.
My journey of playing
cricket began from the narrowest lane of my locality,
recalls Samiullah.
Presently, Samiullah
represents Kashmir Gymkhana Cricket Club at Sheri-Kashmir Cricket Stadium.
Unlike many who merely
become sportsperson because
they are not good in academics, Samiullah has had a good
academic record. He made it
to the premier engineering
college, REC Srinagar (now
National Institute of Technology) in 2001.
When I played for REC team, many people
who watched me playing appreciated and that is
how my journey started, says Samiullah.
The then coach of Jammu Kashmir Cricket
Association (JKCA), Abdul Qayoom, was impressed by his bowling talent and thought of his
induction in the state team for Ranji Trophy. His

first big game was in 2003, when he

played his first Ranji Trophy match
representing J&K against Bihar.
That was the first grand leap and
since then the talented bowler has
never looked back.
In 2006, Samiullah was selected for MRF Pace Foundation camp for a period of six
months. The camp provided
him the opportunity to
meet the bowling legend, Dennis Lillee
and other International
players
l i k e
C h a minda Vaas, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh
Prasad and Abhay Kuruvilla.
They were all pleased with my bowling especially Lillee who told me that if I didnt represent India at the highest level, then it will only
be my bad luck, quotes Samiullah as saying.
Unfortunately, Lilees words proved true for

Samiullah. Bad luck follows him in different

ways. Sometimes he suffers some injuries and
yet sometimes, for unknown reason, he is not
included in the squad.
Cricket is played at three different levelsRanji cricket, Zone Cricket and then national
cricket. Unfortunately my talent is cut short at

Zone cricket. I am part of North Zone team, but

not in the final eleven, dejected Samiullah says.
Notwithstanding the lack of opportunity,
Samiullahs record at Ranji level has been exceptional. In the last five games, he has taken
25 wickets and scored more than 300 runs.
As years pass by, Samiullah worries about
his future. The big question on his mind is what
actually hinders him to be part of final 11 of Indian national team.
There are many things which are behind
this which I cant tell. People like Srisanth,
Munaf Patel were part of MRF Pace Foundation. When they can play for India, why cant I?
questions Samiullah.
I am quicker than Srisanth and Munaf Patel. Though I havent measured my speed anywhere, but it has to be 140 plus, he asserts.
Samiullah is not alone in the discriminated league. Players like Sameer Ali, Aabid Nabi
and Mudassir Ali are also not able to carve a
niche in the national team.
Srinath and T A Shekhar asked me if they
can get more players like me and I replied in you
will find them in hundreds, he says.
Samiullah laments that
the talent of the valley was
not being properly channelized. He believes that Kashmir has got enormous talent
but it was not being properly
streamlined.
Meanwhile, Samiullahs
bad luck continues. He was
to play in the Indian Premier
League for Deccan Chargers,
but Adam Gilchrists shot injured his right little finger
during practice ruling him
out of the tournament. So he
was out of the contest before
even playing a single match.
Moreover, the climate of
Kashmir also disturbs his
rhythm. To remain in touch
with his game, Samiullah remains out of the state during
winters.
He loves to ball with new
ball where he is good at out swing. He also reverses the ball when it gets a bit older. He is also
handy with his batting.
Samiullahs first and last dream remains to
represent Indian national cricket team.
I want to represent India and represent
consistently, he says.

Patron: Prof. (Dr) Riyaz Punjabi

Editorial team: Nisar Ahmad Khan, Mansoor Altaf, Asif Sultan, Syed Adil Andrabi, Mehak Fayaz, Firdous Ahmad Dar
Chief Editor:Dr Shahid Rasool Editor: Muslim Jan Sub-Editor : Suhail Ahmad Graphic Designer: Shahi
e-mail: editor.merc@gmail.com
The opinions expressed in the write ups are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy of MERC Times or the department of Media Education Research Center