On Monday morning, a strange advertisement caught attention in Kashmir, highlighting the growing economic crisis in the region. A 28-year-old youth from the Nussu village, of Qazigund in south Kashmir sought buyers for his kidney, hoping to raise enough funds to repay his debts.
The advertisement, published in Urdu, was captioned: “Kidney for sale, one Sabzar Ahmad Khan has appealed on the people to buy his kidney.“ In the advertisement, Khan has stated that he has “lost everything in business but I am still indebted to people to the tune 90 lakh rupees, to repay which I have nothing. I request anyone in need of kidney to contact me.”
The distressed youth, speaking who was recently married, said that he saw no other option but to sell his organs to raise the money he owes to the bank and other creditors. “A couple of people have already called me, I am hopeful someone will buy it,” he said. “I tried everything and despite that I still owe 60 lakhs to bank and 30 lakhs to other people.”
A pass out of standard 10, Khan is a contractor by profession. “I know it is illegal but I am in distress, what else can I do,” he rued, adding that the interest on his loans continue to multiply. “In the business I was in, I needed money every month. So I would take loans from creditors who would charge me 20-25 percent interest. In just few years, I drowned into credit of more than one crore rupees. This is a punishment from God to me.”
Khan said that his business had taken a severe hit after the abrogation of Article-370 in 2019 and the subsequent lockdown owing to the coronavirus pandemic had further added to his miseries. “Maybe I would have been able to work and repay the loan [in installments] but after the abrogation and pandemic induced lockdowns and [subsequent] economic crisis, I couldn’t find any work,” he said. “I am helpless, otherwise, I would not have done this.”(TKW)
