Ghaziabad Tragedy Sparks Wake Up Call For Kashmir Families

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) The news came in the early hours of February 4, 2026, while Mohsin Bhat ate breakfast with his wife. Their kids had already lost their everyday schedule, and the update made him leave his tea and toast untouched.

That morning, a father in Ghaziabad found that his three daughters had taken their lives, leaving a note that read,“Sorry, Papa.”

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The girls, 14, 17, and 19, had spent long nights on a Korean game.

When Mohsin realized his teen son was staying up late on gaming and trading, he felt a chilling warning.

“If a note like that can land in Ghaziabad, it can land here,” Mohsin told his wife. She checked her inbox, and found three small debits while they slept.

Winter nights are long, and data costs less than a small packet of almonds in the valley. Almost every home has a glowing screen now.

Young Kashmiris now compete with gamers across India, where 507 million people played in 2025, spending 39,800 crore rupees. Analysts say that number could reach 73,000 crore by 2030.

Three out of four Gen-Z kids play at least six hours a week. More than a third play three hours or more a night. Young adults aged 18 to 30 supply 61 percent of real-money trading.

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A tenth-grader who calls himself“Z” opens his phone without shame. The other day, he played a battle game till midnight, before logging into a forex app to lose 2,000 rupees.

His father only noticed the debits after the bank froze their account over“suspicious transactions”. Since December, the family lost 46,700 rupees, most of family savings.

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Dr. Yasir Ashraf studies teens in brain scanners. He recently studied 42 kids and found the same“reward light” in their brains lit up for both game wins and cash gains. Homework and sleep quickly disappeared in this“vacational venture.”

The apps promise big returns. You put in 5,000 rupees and suddenly control 500,000. But even a tiny half-percent change can wipe out everything in under a minute. Most small traders lose it all within three months.

“MegaTrade Global, FXKing, and CryptoRush don't have Reserve Bank approval,” says a financial educator in Srinagar.“The Securities and Exchange Board of India has warned about them three times since August. These sites break the law and don't give refunds.”

Meanwhile, Instagram reels show teens holding 500-rupee notes next to cars, with captions like,“Started with 3K, built this in four months. Link in bio.”

Influenced by the same Instagram culture, seventeen-year-old Saif put 5,000 rupees into a trading app before school. A tiny 0.4 percent dip in the pound wiped out his account.

His father, a carpenter, had saved the money for household needs. Saif stopped opening his books, and his attendance fell to 32 percent.

Ghulam Nabi, a math teacher, has been tracking students showing red flags. The list has grown from nine to 47 since last summer.“They can read candle charts but not quadratic equations,” he says.

The math failure rate jumped from 11 percent to 28 percent in just one year, showing how social media and trading apps are altering kids' focus and learning.

Dr. Ruhi Asgar, a child psychiatrist, saw 14 new cases of screen-linked sleep loss in January alone in Srinagar. Symptoms include red eyes, foggy minds, and short tempers.

“We start with one rule: lights out at 10,” she says.“Parents must follow it too.”

Clerics are also shifting their sermons as games and gambling take over homes and leave parents in Kashmir worried. They used to focus on Islamic history and lessons about heaven and hell, but now they increasingly address real social issues.

“Parents need to play a proactive role to save their children from this living hell,” said Peerzada Sadiq, an imam at an old city mosque.“These apps and games are a path to distress and destruction.”

Amid these community-correction calls, many are inspiring change by using the good boy-bad boy analogy.

“One wastes time, money, and focus on apps and games,” says Suhail Nazir, a businessman.“The other learns skills and actually achieves something. The lesson is clear: discipline matters.”

Officials now plan to ban phones in schools and keep a list of risky apps. But some trade apps still replies on WhatsApp within minutes and even offers bonuses.

But Mohsin didn't wait for rules following the Ghaziabad tragedy.

At 10 p.m., he unplugged the router and tucked it into a drawer. His son protested for a while, then yawned and fell asleep at 10:40.

“Small win,” the father said.“Tomorrow starts without a margin call on childhood.”

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