Nighat Shafi Pandit

Original Source-  http://www.1000peacewomen.org/eng/friedensfrauen_biographien_gefunden.php?WomenID=2313

 Researcher- Hansa Rochlani

Nighat Pandit stepped out of a comfortable home to address the trauma of people in a 16-year-long conflict. She focuses on helping orphans and widows, and promoting peace and intercommunal harmony.

Nighat Shafi Pandit (born 1951) stepped out of her home to help the people of her state at a time when very few Kashmiri women were responding to the crisis in their midst. In 1997, she was the first woman to start an orphanage for children left homeless by the armed conflict in the Kashmir Valley.

Today, Nighat’s organization, HELP (Human Efforts for Love and Peace) Foundation, J&K, which she founded with a few likeminded persons in 1997, works overtime to provide relief to those worst-affected by the conflict. There are other such organizations, but this is the only one that operates effectively in both regions of this deeply divided state - in both Jammu and Kashmir.

The main activities of the organization are the education and upbringing of orphans, the rehabilitation of widows, mental health counseling for women and children, and the rehabilitation of physically- and visually-challenged children.

It also works for the promotion of peace and intercommunal harmony. In fact, Nighat, a Muslim, has been working closely with the minority Hindu community in the state - those living in the Valley, and those displaced and living in refugee camps in Jammu. The huge divide between the Muslim majority and the Kashmiri Pandit (Hindu) minority in the state has left deep scars, and Nighat and her fellow workers have worked hard to bring the two communities closer to each other. They have visited the few Hindu families that have stayed behind in the Valley to make them feel, paradoxically, at home in their own home.

A tiny minority can only survive in such a situation if it feels there is goodwill from the majority community and a sense of security. Nighat’s organization is the only Kashmiri organization that does this for the minority community. Nighat has also taken an active part in promoting intercommunity dialogue and holding conferences, workshops, and seminars. Her efforts have been a source of inspiration for several other people working for the welfare of orphans, widows, and other sections badly affected by the turmoil.

Nighat makes personal visits to violence-affected areas and interviews the people. She also works with groups to organize income-generating projects. She runs Shehjar, an orphanage, and her own school and counseling center. She provides education and computer education to women and children, organizes medical camps and medical aid, counseling sessions and workshops, a child guidance and counseling centre, helps poor families conduct their children’s marriages, and aids widows and women’s groups.

HELP Foundation has given loans to 15 women who have set up their own mini ventures like coil-making, papier mache, mat-making, tailoring and cutting, embroidery, screen-printing, block-printing, and calligraphy.

The mental health of people living in the valley has been deeply affected by the conflict. To respond to this concern, HELP set up a mental health guidance and counseling centre in 2003 for women and children. Experts from outside the state are invited from time to time to hold workshops and counseling sessions along with local doctors.

The stress and conflict have contributed to a rise in the number of physically and mentally challenged children. HELP has tried to help them by enabling their assistance and training in and outside Srinagar. Those who have returned after training have been organized to work in small production centers under the aegis of HELP at Shehjar, Srinagar, where they produce items such as candles, file covers, and envelopes.

The places where Nighat works in the Kashmir Valley - the city of Srinagar, and the districts of Badgam, Pulwama, Baramulla and Kupwara - are prone to militancy and violence. It is not the scale of violence as much as the unpredictable nature of violence in the Valley that is a major source of concern. Thus, carrying on with this work involves physical danger. A major focus of Nighat’s work is the Loab valley, where most Kashmiris fear to tread, and where she makes monthly visits to meet with women and children whom her organization is helping.

During the winter months, though, the Valley is snowbound, and making physical contact with the people is, putting it mildly, extremely difficult. Another worry for Nighat is that her husband’s position in the government - he is a senior civil servant - creates an impression that she relies on government funds, which is not the case: HELP’s funds are raised by its trustees through door-to-door collection. Contributors include people from the Valley and from the rest of India.

Nighat belongs to a well-known family of Kashmir, which has played a pioneering role in the spread of education in the state. Her grandfather was the first registrar of Jammu and Kashmir University. Like every family in Kashmir, hers too, has been touched by the conflict. Her children (a son and two daughters) had to leave the Valley at an age when children most need their parents because kidnapping threats. Her husband was also threatened and narrowly escaped an ambush by a group of militants.

Kashmiri Hindu women have been inspired by her work and have formed an NGO that is taking care of children living in migrant camps in Jammu. Many others have followed her lead in social service. But Nighat is unique in being a field person who doesn’t hesitate to go anywhere at all. Her helping hand stretches across all social divides - class, caste, and religion.

Nighat Shafi Pandit stepped out of her home at a time when very few Kashmiri women were responding to the crisis in their midst. In 1997, she was the first woman to start an orphanage for children left homeless by the armed conflict in the Kashmir Valley. Today, the Help Foundation, Jammu and Kashmir, works overtime to provide succor to those worst affected by the conflict. The Help foundation is the only organization that operates effectively in both regions-Jammu and Kashmir-of this deeply divided state. The main activities of the organization are the education and raising of orphans, the rehabilitation of widows, mental health counseling for women and children, and the rehabilitation of physically and visually challenged children. It also works for the promotion of peace and intercommunal harmony: Nighat, a Muslim, works closely with the minority Hindu community-those living in the valley, and those displaced and living in refugee camps in Jammu.
Nighat's "theater of operations" in the Kashmir Valley-the city of Srinagar, and the districts of Badgam, Pulwama, Baramulla, and Kupwara-is prone to militancy and violence. As she has learnt only too well, it is not the scale of violence in the valley as much as its unpredictable nature that poses the greatest danger. What keeps Nighat going is her close affinity with the land and people of the region. She belongs to a well-known family of Kashmir, which played a pioneering role in spreading education in the state-her grandfather was the first registrar of Jammu and Kashmir University. Like every family in Kashmir, hers, too, has been touched by the conflict. Her children (a son and two daughters) had to leave the valley at a time when children most need their parents, because of threats of kidnapping. But Nighat has stuck on.