Srinagar, July 25 -- At SMHS Hospital in Srinagar, clinical care gave way to institutional collapse. What should have remained an internal strike spiraled into a public confrontation, exposing the fragile scaffolding of Kashmir's public institutions.

Doctors, attendants, and journalists weren't allies. They stood opposed, caught in conflict.

Outside the emergency ward, a father carried his electrocuted son, pleading for attention. A doctor, without meeting his eyes, motioned them to leave. Inside, a journalist was physically restrained by an angry doctor.

In that moment, the hospital became a theatre of disorder. The professional codes that normally hold such institutions together seemed to vanish.

All that remained was a struggle, fo...