Srinagar, May 23 -- By Amaan Mir

A young man collapses during a cricket match in Srinagar. A doctor in his early thirties suffers a fatal cardiac arrest after a long shift. A gym-going professional with no visible illness dies without warning.

Such stories now travel through Kashmir with frightening frequency, turning private grief into a public fear.

Cardiac arrests among people under 35 once seemed rare in the valley. Today, families discuss them with growing alarm.

Hospitals continue to examine cholesterol levels, blood pressure, diabetes, smoking habits, and hereditary conditions. Those medical causes remain important.

But a larger truth now demands attention: emotional stress and depression have entered the center of this crisis...