Hawal Massacre

Women of Kashmir have suffered equally if not more than its men.They've lost their sons,daughters,their honour nd what not.We'll never forget our Mothers,sisters nd daughters who fought battles no other can imagine of.  Following is a small thread of Kashmiri women in resistance. These are the victims of Kunan Pashpora mass rape that occurred on February 23,1991, when Indian armed forces raped 23 to 100 women without even a slight of hesitation.  Asiya and Neelofar Jan, belonging from south Kashmirs Shopian, were raped and then brutally killed by Indian troops in 29 May 2009. Local police and Kashmiri Mainstream political parties rejected it and said they drowned in a ankle-high stream.  This is 21 year old Shaista Jan from Pulwama who was killed in an encounter for a crime of " peeping through the window of her home ".   Insha Mushtaq, a 16 year old girl from Shopain blinded by pellets in 2016 uprising for the same cri...

Shahmali Begum This is Shahmali Begum, mother of Shaheed Maqbool Bhat who was hanged in Tihar Jail on February 11,1984. Her other two sons were also killed by Indian armed forces and the another son was allegedly "disappeared", her last one remains locked up in an Indian prison. Parveena Ahangar Parveena Ahangar, also called The Iron Lady Of Kashmir, is the founder and chairperson of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Kashmir. She was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 and was awarded Rafto Prize fir Human Right in 2017. Her son was disappeared. In 1990's, since then she has been protesting against "Enforced Disappearances" and demanding justice for victims of violence in Kashmir. Asiya Andrabi This is Asiya Andrabi one of the most important woman of resistance. She is the founder of Dukhtaran e Millat. Her Husband Qasim Faktoo, is in jail for than 20 years. She is labelled as a terrorist by Indian te...

On the last row of the Srinagar’s Martyr’s graveyard, two graves- adjacent to each other- await the mortal remains of two Kashmiri men who were hanged in India’s Tihar Jail and buried within the jail premises. One grave awaits since 1984 while the other, since 2013. On one epitaph the inscription in archaic Urdu reads, “The martyr of the nation, Mohammad Afzal Guru, Date of Martyrdom: 9th February 2013 Saturday, whose mortal remains are lying in the custody of the Government of India. The nation is awaiting its return.” The other epitaph reads exactly the same but with a different name and date. The other grave is reserved for Mohammad Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged in Tihar jail on 11 February, 1984. Kashmiris strongly believe that both – Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat – were wrongly hanged by the Indian Government and were not given a fair trial. In the year of 1962, Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, a resident of Trehgam village in Kupwara, formed a movement called Kashmir Independence Committee (K...

Do you remember Asiya and Neelofar? 9 years ago, they went missing in the evening while returning home from their family orchard in Nagbal area of South Kashmir’s Shopian. On the following morning, their dead bodies were found raped near the Rambiara Nala. Their bodies were mysteriously found – deeply wounded, their clothes in tatters. The locals say that they had been ravished and murdered by the Indian security forces present in the area, but the Indian inquiries subtly refuted any possibility of rape. Nine years on, the justice eludes, there is no hope for it now anymore. The case has been closed with a conclusion that both died from drowning. Only in Kashmir can someone drown in a knee high stream with their clothes tattered and bodies bruised. In the run-up to the 2014 elections, MehboobaMufti had been very vocal about it & had made this double rape and murder a central issue in the area. She had promised justice if her party was voted to power. She buried it af...

I saw people climbing unsuccessfully the fencing of a veterinary office. The CRPF men were targeting them as well. Several injured fell on me but, somehow I managed to hold my nerves. Then firing stopped finally, I saw CRPF men with their guns oozing smoke from the windows of the college building.They had taken positions along the wall of the college and I could see them in the bunker. After some time, the CRPF men came out of the college and began searching the pockets of the dead. They also removed earrings from the women martyrs. When they left, the people of the area showed exemplary courage and started lifting the dead and injured in hand driven carts. The injured were taken to the hospital in carts. The CRPF posted at Saidapora stopped them saying ambulances were arriving. The people waited for sometime for the ambulances. However no ambulances arrived and people marched ahead. –Tahir Ahmad Baba, a witness to the blood-spattered incident that took place on this...