The abrogation of the limited-autonomy of the world’s most militarized didn’t deter human rights violations, obviously. Instead, it was institutionalized. The Kashmir Walla moved fast and broke stories, with solid ground reporting, as the state-sponsored idea of impunity is graved in. Here are our best reads that gives a deep insight inside troubled times in Kashmir:
Madhosh Balhami: ‘My verses are witness to Kashmir’s history’
The story of Madhosh Balhami, a poet who lost the work of his lifetime in a gunfight in March 2018, is a journey of a Kashmiri, and Kashmir together.
“I’ll die, please call them”: Three friends row boat to save pellet-injured friend in Srinagar
“It was his eye. I wanted to cry out loud. But I didn’t tell him. I kept repeating: ‘You’ll be okay.’”
“All is gone”: Four families of Shopian devastated after two gunfights
“If I want to drink water right now, I don’t even have a glass. We have nothing left.”
“Shoved gun barrels in mouths, tied civilians to tree”: A ransacked Budgam village
When the troops raided their neighbours, “my father and I locked our door, and hid in the attic,” says 12-year-old Muntazir Ahmad Mir. “The forces kept saying, ‘Saalo, baahar niklo!’”
WATCH | Family of civilian killed in Budgam speaks out
“He was not a militant. He was innocent. Innocent! Innocent! My brother was innocent, and they killed him.”
“I hate light, it increases pain”: 9-yr-old Pulwama boy hit by pellets in eye
“I have pain continuously in my eye and I feel something like the ball is rounding there. I hate the light.”
“Bol, Jai Shri Ram”: Srinagar locality alleges mass beatings by Army after militant attack
“We were not allowed to scream,” he said. During this, he said, one man shouted in agony: “If you are going to kill, [then] shoot us.”
In lockdown, Shopian families’ quest to bring buried militants back home
The bodies from Kupwara are yet to be returned to families, leaving them in long wait. And, for the Shopian families, the same starts from tomorrow.
“Where are you, mother?”: Srinagar woman shot dead in front of son
“They did not give any warning or say anything to us. I voluntarily turned the vehicle around,” said her son. “They opened fire at us, the bullets hit her.” He broke down as he said that his mother had “died on the spot”.
As guns silenced, a firefighter returns to his burnt home
A firefighter doused the fire of thousands of houses in his life but on 19 May 2020 he returned to his home in Nawakadal, Srinagar, only to witness soot and debris of his own home.
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