Come to Kashmir, the Valley of Roses, Apple Trees and Corpses

Generation after generation in Kashmir are crushed in slow motion, and the longings of a people are inscribed on the scars and burns of their young. Shama Naqushbandi A man rows his boat in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Credit: Reuters I have been visiting Kashmir since my childhood. Over the years, the valley has taught me many hard lessons about the world. With my early trips to Kashmir, the terrain between history and reality blurred. It was the first time I realised that tragedy was not a foreign country. Its proximity was…

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Situation tense in Kulgam, dozens injured during violent protests, Geelani, Mirwaiz stages sit-in, lashes out at UN

 25 injured reach Kulgam Hospital, situation very tense Reports from Kulgam in south Kashmir suggest that situation is very tense and more than 30 persons have sustained injuries in the ongoing clashes in the district however officials were not available for comments. District Hospital Kulgam sources told Kashmir Post that they received 25 injured persons who have different sorts of injuries. Intense clashes erupted in Adeejan area of the district after thousands of protesters were stopped from marching to DH Pora. Local people had called a prayer meeting at DH Pora in…

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Army major chants azadi slogans ‘Hum Kya Chahte? Azadi!’

Curious scenes, recorded on mobile phone cameras for posterity, were witnessed in Vessu village of Qazigund on Monday of an Indian Army officer full-throatedly shouting ‘Hum Kya Chaahte? Azadi!’, ‘Hum Kya Chaahte? Azadi!’, ‘Nara-e-Takbeer, Allah-u-Akbar!’ Not just this, there were Kashmiri youth carrying the army officer on their shoulders, cheering as he chanted the slogans and his subordinate troops chanted after him. The drama began at 5:30pm in the evening when locals were offering Asr prayers in the local mosque. The major of the army’s Rashtriya Rifles unit in the…

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Two more deaths push Kashmir to the edge again

Protests erupted in Srinagar and south Kashmir on Wednesday following the death of two young men – one in Srinagar and the other in Pulwama – on Tuesday night. People came out on roads in Chattabal area of Sirnagar’s old city after Reyaz Ahmad Shah, a bank ATM guard was found dead under mysterious circumstances near Shri Maharja Hari Singh Hospital. Protesters alleged that the guard was shot dead by security forces. Police said he was shot by a pellet gun from close quarters and had a deep wound in…

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Massive clashes erupt in Kulgam, 04 Persons injured in forces action, Pro-freedom march in Pahalgam

At least four persons sustained injuries when forces fired tear smoke canisters and pellets to disperse the protest rally at Damhal Hanjipora in south Kashmir’s  Kulgam district  on Wednesday, reports said. Massive clashes between government forces and protesters Wednesday erupted in Kulgam district after police and Para-military forces stopped people from reaching DH Pora. Earlier, a large number of people from dozens of areas in district Kulgam assembled and started their march to DH Pora to pay homage to those killed recently at the hands of government forces. Sources said…

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Another youth killed by pellets, death toll crosses 60, Curfew extended to more areas across Valley

People defy curfew in Srinagar, reach Eid Gah along with Chattabal man’s body Hundreds of people defying curfew and restrictions on Wednesday succeeded in reaching ‘martyrs’ graveyard situated at Eid Gah, Srinagar to bury Reyaz Ahmad Shah there. Reyaz was killed after fired by a pellet gun at a blank range during the night. People took the body of Reyaz and raising anti-India slogans marched from Chattabal to Eidgah defying curfew. Reyaz was later laid to rest. Autopsy report of Reyaz Ahmad Shah resident of Chattabal Wednesday revealed that there were hundreds…

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Mehbooba asks; where children of pro-freedom and pro-India leaders are currently

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has said that “those  people whose children were studying abroad were instigating other children to violence” and “many forces have joined hands to vitiate atmosphere in the valley.” She has not named anyone. In the only elaborate statement on the protests, she again referred to unnamed people who “go from place to place”, incite young “boys to attack security installations and escape” while leaving the boys to face bullets and pellets. Since protests occur at several places (a few days ago a police statement said 70…

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#Twist ‘Mehbooba asked cops to apologise for Burhan Wani’s killing’

Tuesday’s attack on the house of J&K education minister Naeem Akhtar is only the latest instance of brazen defiance in the trouble-tossed valley. In the last few days, two other PDP MLAs, one of them a minister, have been targeted by angry mobs. One of them, Khalil Bandh elected from Pulwama, has been in critical condition in a Delhi hospital since July 18. Rural development minister Abdul Haq was set upon at Tangdhar in north Kashmir by an angry mob with stones and chased. He managed to escape in his…

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Business Community in Kashmir at the receiving end

Abdul Majid, a shopkeeper at Srinagar’s city centre was all geared up on Monday evening as the Resistance camp had asked business establishment to keep open shops/establishments from 6 Pm in the evening, as he went to lift shutters of his shop, there was a loud shouts from forces asking everybody to shut their establishments. Frustrated, Majid tried to argue with the security forces personnel but to no avail. “We are caught between devil and deep sea,” he said while talking with other fellow businessmen who had come with a…

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Police spying on injured?

‘Many patients left SMHS hospital against medical advice because of fear of being spied’ SSP refutes allegations Fearing spying by police sleuths roaming around in civvies, many persons injured in police and CRPF action who were admitted at SMHS hospital have left the hospital against the medical advice of doctors. Of the 720 patients, who were admitted to SMHS hospital in past 25 days, only 64 are presently undergoing treatment there. “There is a lot of fear among patients here. They think they are being spied upon and police will…

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