Srinagar, Aug. 20 -- On a cold spring night in Srinagar, the corridors of LD Hospital were hushed except for the shuffle of feet and the sound of machines.

It was nearly 3 a.m. when an elderly woman's blood pressure surged dangerously above 200. Panic rippled through the ward as attendants called for help.

Before the doctors could respond, a young man from Pulwama lifted her into his car and drove her to another facility, staying by her side until the crisis passed.

The man was not a doctor or a nurse. He was Suheel Gulzar Sofi, a 27-year-old civil engineer from the village of Wahibugh. For him, that night was no exception.

"This is what a human being should do when someone's life is in danger," he said later.

In Wahibugh, where near...