Couriers Turned Carriers: The Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis in Kashmir

Couriers Turned Carriers: The Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis in Kashmir

A New Face of Addiction in Kashmir By: Javid Amin | 21 October 2025 Prescription drug abuse, once considered a fringe issue, has now entered the mainstream of Kashmir’s public health crisis. Traditionally overshadowed by heroin and synthetic narcotics, pharmaceutical abuse is quietly reshaping patterns of addiction. Recent reports and investigations reveal that courier services—once a lifeline for online orders—are now being exploited as conduits for trafficking addictive medications. Drugs meant for legitimate therapeutic use are slipping into the hands of youth, creating a legal high with dangerous consequences. Couriers…

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Jammu & Kashmir Bypolls Expose Rifts Within National Conference, Strain With Congress

Jammu & Kashmir Bypolls Expose Rifts Within National Conference, Strain With Congress

A Test Beyond Two Seats By: Javid Amin | 21 October 2025 As Jammu and Kashmir heads into the crucial Budgam and Nagrota assembly bypolls, the political atmosphere has grown increasingly turbulent.What was expected to be a routine mid-term exercise has instead turned into a showdown that exposes widening cracks within the ruling National Conference (NC) and its uneasy alliance with the Congress. Both contests—Budgam in central Kashmir and Nagrota in Jammu—carry political and symbolic weight far beyond their boundaries. They represent the first real test of coalition discipline, governance…

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Faith, Faction, and the Ballot: Three ‘Aga’ Candidates Lock Horns in Budgam Bypoll 2025

Faith, Faction, and the Ballot: Three ‘Aga’ Candidates Lock Horns in Budgam Bypoll 2025

With NC, PDP, and BJP fielding Aga candidates, the contest transcends party lines—testing loyalties, legacies, and the future of Shia representation. By: Javid Amin | 21 October 2025 An Unprecedented Political Triangle in Central Kashmir The upcoming Budgam Assembly by-election, scheduled for November 11, 2025, has taken an extraordinary turn — not because of its high-profile parties, but because of its unusually personal political dynamics. For the first time in Kashmir’s electoral history, three prominent candidates from the same Shia clerical lineage — all bearing the title “Aga” — are…

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