This Pune-based engineer helped 32 Kashmiri women reunite with their families
Pune-based Harminder Singh Ahluwalia went live on Facebook on August 5 asking all Kashmiris living outside to either contact him or take the shelter in their nearby Gurudwaras.
Since the abolition of Article 370 and 35 A in Jammu and Kashmir, restrictions have been imposed on all communication channels across the area. As a result, people who live outside the state or country, but have families in the area, are having a difficult time connecting with them.
But people like Harminder Singh Ahluwalia are helping in more ways than one. A software engineer by profession, Pune-based Hariminder went live on Facebook on August 5, asking all the Kashmiris leaving outside the union territory to either contact him or take the shelter in nearby Gurudwaras.
The post went viral and around 32 Kashmiri women who were trying to reach home contacted him.
In a conversation with the Indian Express, Harminder said,
“I got a call from a woman named Rukaya and she told me that there were 32 Kashmiri girls, all from underprivileged families, just waiting to get back home because of the recent government moves in Kashmir.”
These women were enrolled in a nursing training and placement programme in Pune under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana. They are all aged between 17 and 32.
The group sought help from the state government, who told them they could help them reach Srinagar but the women couldn’t afford to pay for it.
According to Storypick, Harminder started online campaigns and tried arranging funds for the girls.
He recalls,
“A Sikh businessman was quick to contact me and sponsored the air tickets for the girls and four volunteers.”
With their help, the group soon reached Srinagar and with the assistance of the Army, each was escorted to their respective homes.
Harminder said that he decided to help these women because after the Pulwama terror attack, Kashmiris outside the state were being targeted, and he didn’t want the same thing to happen to these women.
(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)
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