District Kargil is known for its simplicity and egalitarian society where a one-time observer would not easily differentiate between rich and poor. The lifestyle in the public sphere was/is such that no one could differentiate between the poor and the rich.

Unfortunately, it seems that a remarkable section of the people is now overridden by their desires in terms of constructing huge lodges, procuring luxury cars, and nowadays conducting expensive marriages. Imam Ali (a.s.) has said, “Those whose desires are prolonged, his deeds will be bad”.

In this season of marriage, some village elders feeling a sense of responsibility laid down some customs and norms to avoid unnecessary expenses on marriage; like a ban on the cooking Kashmiri wazwan. However, the rich reportedly feels pride in paying the fine but do not abide by the custom.

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Eroding the ancestral customs, moral values, and tradition of The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) we are pushing our society in such an irreversible tradition from where exit would be very difficult. Those, who are spoiling the praiseworthy customs will be remembered as traitors when this new innovation will reach its height to panic the public.

The religious organizations, faith figures, and village elders have the responsibility to stop this new innovation that would affect the economy and will lead to grave sins in society. These types of expenses would cause hesitation among the poor to conduct low-expense marriages that would lead to delay in marriages, and delay in marriage would lead to social evils.

Abolishing the root causes of social evils is better than lamenting soaring evils in society. As Kashmiri scholar, Ghulam Ali Gulzar rightly said, “Light a candle is better than curse the darkness”.