The daughters of Jammu and Kashmir are making huge strides across fields by breaking all barriers, President Draupadi Murmu said on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Sunday.
The President honoured a few of them on Sunday as she presented the National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for 2021 and 2022 during a function in Delhi. Jammu and Kashmir’s first wheelchair-bound basketball player Insha Bashir was also among the recipients of this award.
Expressing her happiness on receiving the award, Insha said the seriousness of the Central government towards the disabled is commendable.
Insha is the first wheelchair-bound basketball player from Kashmir to win a silver medal in the first-ever International Wheelchair Basketball Championship held in India recently.
Earlier, Insha represented India in the US in 2019 and also in the 2019 national championship as the captain of the Jammu and Kashmir women’s wheelchair basketball team.
Insha belongs to the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir and his success story inspires many people. She was confined to a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury at the age of 15. After the accident, Insha also had to undergo surgery but with no success.
Insha said the accident changed her life forever. After the surgery, she had to spend nine years in bed. She was unable to sit as the plate was attached. She was frustrated all the time while regaining mobility.
“I had given up but my parents did not. They supported me every step of the way,” she added.
While Insha has become a role model, she is also emerging as a writer. In 2020, Insha co-authored the book ‘101 in Conventional Strategies’.
While Insha’s spirit inspires youth to break barriers to achieve success, the story of Rukhsana Kausar of Rajouri depicts the courage and prowess of women.
A film is now being made on the bravery of Rukhsana, who hails from Shahdara area of Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir. She shot a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander and forced two other militants to flee in September 2009.
Shraddha Kapoor will play Rukhsana in the film.
Rukhsana, who is currently serving in the police department, expressed her happiness saying it was, indeed, a great honour that her story will reach millions through a film.
On Sunday, September 27, 2009, three militants broke into Rukhsana’s uncle’s house and took him to the house of his elder brother Noor Hussain.
As Noor Hussain did not open the door, they broke the window and entered.
Noor Hussain and his wife Rashida Begum hid their Rukhsana. As the militants demanded that Rukhsana be handed over to them, a fight broke out between the militants and the family. In the meantime, Rukhsana suddenly appeared with an axe and struck the Lashkar commander on the head.
Rukhsana picked up the commander’s AK47 rifle and started firing at the other militants, killing one commander while the other two escaped.
Rukhsana was also conferred with a gallantry award for standing up to terror.
In October 2009, unknown gunmen fired multiple shots at Rukhsana’s house and also threw two hand grenades which exploded some distance from the house. Rukhsana’s entire family had to leave their native area due to constant threats to their lives.
Rukhsana said, “Even today, the passion is still there. Every woman of this region has the passion to sacrifice her life for the sake of the dear motherland.” (ANI)
