NEW DELHI: With more than $120,000 in debt and after exhausting all options for help, a 28-year-old Kashmiri man says he was forced to post an advert this week to sell his kidney, despite being aware that it was unlawful across India and part of the disputed Kashmir region that New Delhi rules.
More than five people have responded to Sabzar Ahmad Khan’s ad in the Srinagar-based Kashmir Reader newspaper, which reads: “I want to sell my kidney because I have lost everything in business, but I am still indebted to pay 90 lakh rupees. I request anyone in need of a kidney to contact me.”
Speaking to Arab News on Tuesday, Khan said: “You post such an ad when you face a difficult situation.”
Khan, who ran a contracting business for a decade, added that while work was slow, things took a turn for the worse due to economic disruptions caused by a year-long shutdown in Kashmir after the abrogation of its special constitutional status by New Delhi last year.
On August 5, 2019, the central government scrapped the semi-autonomous status of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, sent in military reinforcement and suspended all democratic rights and political activities in the region. It also detained political leaders and civil society activists in large numbers and barred Internet and mobile connectivity, putting the valley under complete lockdown for months.
“After that (move), I got into financial trouble and suffered a loss in business. I would not have faced this load had Kashmir not been shut for a year, I would have done something,” Khan, a resident of the Nussu village in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, said.
“Every day, a lender comes to my house to demand money. I need compensation from the government for the business loss I suffered,” Khan said, adding that before posting the newspaper ad on Monday, he had reached out to several community leaders for help, but to no avail.
Since his ad appeared, five to six people had gotten in touch with Khan, he said, some as potential buyers and others to offer financial support.
Khan hopes to sell his kidney for $47,000, to be used to pay back loans and restart his business.
But experts say it is “impossible” for such a sale to happen.
“It is illegal, and nobody can sell kidneys, and there should be no financial transactions. It is not possible. You can face imprisonment if you sell a kidney. Let’s not talk about it,” urologist Dr. Amit K Devra of Noida-based Jaypee hospital told Arab News.
But Khan said he was sure he wanted to sell his kidney: “If the law comes in the way, then the law should save me. The government should help me if it is illegal.”
Questions have also been raised about the newspaper that ran the ad.
“It was by mistake,” the editor of the Kashmir Reader, Hajji Hayat Bhat, told Arab News. An apology published in the paper added: “The newspaper does not subscribe and support such unethical practices. But due to human error, the notice slipped through and got published. We deeply regret the error and the hurt it caused to our readers.”
