A Mother’s Tragedy

Guest Post By: Majid Maqbool

Sixty-five-year-old Nabza Bano stands near a small cornfield where her three-storey house once stood in Sundbrari village, about 85kms from Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. Lost in a melancholic silence, she points out all that remains of her old home – a few burnt logs.

She says two of her houses were burned down by the Indian army, along with two cowsheds, but what pains her most is the absence of her three sons – all of them killed by the Indian army. Their loss has inflicted a wound that only festers with the passing years.

But years of mourning have dried her tears and she is unable to weep now.

After their house was destroyed, Nabza and her family lived in a tent adjacent to the burnt remains of their home for six months during a harsh Kashmiri winter. The family’s neighbours and relatives helped them to build a modest one-storey house where Nabza now lives with her terminally-ill husband, her daughter, son-in-law, their two children and the two children of her now deceased eldest son.

They live in poverty. Nabza’s son-in-law works as a labourer, but he is the only wage earner in the family and his salary is not enough to support them all.

Nabza’s husband, Las Khan, suffers from asthma and his treatment costs about 15,000 Indian rupees ($340) a month. Last month, the family had to sell off one of their cows to cover the cost.

Picking up the gun Nabza displays pictures of her sons [Majid Maqbool]

Las Khan has lost four sons to the conflict, including one from his first marriage. Mukhtar Ahmad was 40 when he was killed in an encounter with the Indian army in 1997. Khan says his eldest son was a militant.

The youngest of Khan’s sons with Nabza was just 13 years old when he was killed in 1999. Nabza says Mohammad Abbas would sometimes help out militants who were active in the area by showing them safe passages. “But he was not a militant and never had a gun. He was innocent,” she adds.

On the day he was killed, Nabza recalls, he had put on his best clothes and taken food for a few of the fighters who were in the mountains.

“As soon as they finished eating, the army laid an ambush and killed all of them in the encounter,” Nabza says. Seven were killed that day, including Mohammad. The death certificate issued by the police refers to Mohammad as a “19-year-old militant”.

Ajaz Khan and Ghulam Hassan – the elder two of Khan’s sons with Nabza – picked up the gun in the early 1990s when the armed struggle broke out in Kashmir. They both joined the indigenous rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen.

Ajaz was 25 when he was killed in an encounter with the Indian army in 2002.

“He had come home that day after more than six months,” Nabza recalls.

But the army had laid an ambush outside their home and Ajaz was killed in the fighting that ensued. He was shot twice in the chest.

“Army from seven companies laid an ambush for him that day,” Nabza says. “Some families had offered him a safe house during the encounter but he declined, saying he could not bring harm to any civilians.”

Nabza says the shooting began at four o’clock in the afternoon and Ajaz fought until he ran out of ammunition. He was killed at around two o’clock in the morning. After his death, Nabza recalls, the soldiers fired shots into the night in jubilation.

Ghulam was one of the first young men from their village to join militant ranks in the early 1990s, Khan says.

“In 2003, he was arrested and tortured in custody for eight days in the RR [Rashtriya Rifles] military camp,” Nabza adds.

After he was released and returned home, Nabza says, her son bore the marks of torture on his body – his face was swollen, his kidneys damaged and he could barely walk or talk. A few days later he died.

“He died when he was offering morning prayers in this room,” Nabza says. “I held him close to my chest. I would not let him go,” she recalls. “Then I don’t know … I fainted.”

“After he died … the army lied and said that he had a heart attack in custody,” Khan interjects. “They even wrote this lie on his death certificate,” the old man explains.

Ghulam was the only one of their sons to marry. After he was killed, his wife remarried and Ghulam’s son and daughter came to live with Nabza and her husband.

‘Mother of militants’

Click here for more on the Kashmir conflict

Las Khan fell ill after the deaths of his sons and has been bedridden for the past 10 years. Photographs of his sons hang beside each other on the wall of his small room. He cannot speak or hear well, but he recalls the details of their deaths with clarity. He remembers the date and the deed. And even though illness has made him too weak to walk, he never misses a prayer. Gasping for breath, he prostrates himself in prayer five times a day.

Beside his bed is a small trunk. Nabza unlocks it and carefully removes pictures of their sons and their death certificates. She spreads them out on the floor, one by one, and stares at them. There are pictures of funeral processions, of people offering funeral prayers, others showing the burnt remains of their old home. She addresses the pictures as though talking to her sons in person – incoherent lamentations of how much she misses them and how she wishes that at least one of them had lived.

A child enters the room. He is the son of Ghulam. He carries a blackened samovar that had been found a few days before at the site of their old house. They gaze at it, turning it around. Their silence is filled with memories of their life before. Nabza explains that they used to serve tea to guests in this samovar. She says it was the only thing recovered from the burnt remains. Everything else was consumed by the fire.

Nabza recalls how in 1998, soldiers had raided their home, threatening to set fire to it. She says they had called her “the mother of militants”.

Las Khan produces a pocket diary. He flips its small pages, showing entries made in Urdu. It is a detailed record of the dates his sons were killed and his properties destroyed – a written testimony to the tragedies the family has endured.

When his sons were alive, Khan was himself arrested several times by the Indian army. He says he was tortured and beaten in custody for failing to convince his sons to surrender. His son-in-law shows an old mobile phone picture of Khan’s bandaged broken arm.

“The army said they would give me 1.3 million rupees if my son surrenders,” Khan explains. “But my son had not picked up the gun for money. He would not even call me father had I taken even 15 paisa from the army.”

Looking at her ailing husband, Nabza remembers how he was beaten every time their home was raided by soldiers looking for their sons. “I felt as if I was receiving those blows,” she says. “Those blows also hit my body.”

The family says the authorities told them that they could not claim any compensation for their houses or cowsheds because their sons were militants. Neither did they receive any substantial aid from groups opposed to Indian rule.

Now, all that Nabza is left with is her unshakable faith in God. She has a firm belief that her sons did not die in vain. “We will get freedom one day, God willing,” she says with conviction.

For Nabza, her sons remain alive in her memories. She talks to their pictures as though they are there with her. “All my sons are alive,” she says in Kashmiri, looking at the pictures spread out in front of her. And then, after a brief pauses, adds: “We are all dead.”

1993 Sopore Massacre, People Still Missing Women’s College

January 6 : In occupied Kashmir, massacre in Sopore town 18 years back, when the apple town witnessed the worst incident of arson at the hands of troopers of Border Security Forces leading to death of 57 people, a dozen of them roasted alive, besides reducing 350 shops and residential houses to rubble and ashes on 6 January, 1993.

The ‘Time’ magazine had titled the news report (on January 18, 1993) “Blood tide rising: Indian forces carry out one of the worst massacres in Kashmir’s history.” The publication described the massacre, and the protests that ensued thus: “Perhaps there is a special corner in hell reserved for troopers who fire their weapons indiscriminately into a crowd of unarmed civilians. That, at least, must have been the hope

of every resident who defied an army-enforced curfew in the Kashmiri town of Sopore to protest a massacre that left 55 people dead and scores injured.”

The memories of the bloodiest of the massacres carried against the civilian population in Valley remains fresh in hearts and minds of the people particularly denizens of the apple town even after eighteen years.

It was the chilly morning of January 6, 1993 when mujahideen attacked the BSF men at Baba Younis Lane near the Sopore town’s main street, killing two of them. The mujahideen also took away the rifles of the slain BSF men. The personnel after the shootout went berserk and opened indiscriminate fire on unarmed civilians and set on fire markets and Women’s Degree College near chowk of the town.

The local residents regard the incident as one of the worst massacres in the history of Kashmir. Abdul Rashid, an eyewitness while recalling the massacre said it was around 1030 hours on the fateful day when BSF personnel fired indiscriminately and carried out arson in the apple town.

“I still remember that BSF personnel intercepted a bus from Bandipore near Sopore and set it ablaze.” Fifteen persons were charred alive. “I along with nine other persons had taken refuge in a shop and there was destruction across Sopore. I still remember that corpses were scattered and police was watching helplessly,” he said.

Some 15 civilians who tried to rescue their brethren were also shot dead by the BSF personnel, said Abdul Majid, a survivor. Ghulam Nabi Butt of New Light Hotel shouldered 11 dead bodies and before he could carry the 12th, he too was shot dead. “I cannot forget that horrendous incident till I am alive; the troops were on rampage; I lost two relatives in the incident,” said an eyewitness and survivor of the carnage. “I wonder how can doomsday be worse,” said a resident.

As per the locals, BSF personnel sprinkled petrol and gun powder on all structure to set about 350 shops on fire,” said an eywitness, Ghulam Nabi. Recalling the horror at the hospital, an employee at local hospital said, “We could not rush outside as BSF personnel killed several persons who rushed the injured for treatment.”

“The massacre would haunt us as long as we are alive,” said Muhammad Abbas of Sopore.

The locals said that people searched the debris for bodies for next three days. The incident sends shock waves across the Kashmir valley and people protested for many days continuously. The martyred were later identified as Mohammad Maqbool Dar son of Karim Dar, Abdul Ahad Laloo son-in-law Razaq, Abdul Ahad Kanjwaal (85) of Muslim Peer Sopore, Zahoor Khan son of Shafi Khan, Bashir Ahmad son of Ghulam Mohammad Shalaa, Ghulam Rasool son of Mohammad Shaban, Ashraf son of Mohammad Maqbool Shalla, Sajad son of Razaq Shalla of Shalpora, Ismayeel son of Ghulam Ahmed Butt of Marajpora, Ghulam Mohammad son of Khaliq Wani of Iqbal Nagar, Sideeq Rahee, Ghulam Nabi Zargar Son of Qadir of Badami Bagh, Ghulam Nabi Butt New Light Colony, Farooq Banday son Rashid Banday, Javid Sheikh, Ghulam Nabi Butt son of Abdullah Butt of Sangrampora, Altaf son of Ghulam Rasool Ganie of, Ashraf son of Ghulam Hassan Kangoo, Ashraf Kernaie son Hassan Kernaie Khan Kahie Mohalla, Ghulam Rasool Sofi of Rafiabad, Majeed son of Ghulam Mohammad Gadoo of Baba Raza, Majeed son of Shafi Sofi, Haji Gh Mohammad Sheikh of Krankshun colony, Ashraf Wani of Handwara, Mohammad Hussain Wani of Baramulla, Bashair Wani of Wanigam Pattan, Mushtaq Ahmad Balla Son of Khazir Balla of Seer, Mohammad Ashraf Mir of Ashpeer, Rashid son of Jabbar Sofi Bandipore, Rashid son of Ghulam Mohammad War Tujar Sharief, Khaliq son of Ghulam Mohidin Malik of Arampora, Razak Chalkoo son Ghulam Mohammad of Baramulla, Ghulam Mohammad son of Sultan War of Tujar Sharief, Gulzar Sheikh son of Abdullah Sheikh of Shahabad, Ghulam Mohidin son of Asadullah Mir Bandipora, Ghulam Rasool son of Sultan Sofi of Langate, Ghulam Mohammad Khan of Bandipora, Bita Mir son of Gh Mohdin of Tawheed Gung Baramulla, Bita Ganie son of Wali Mohd of Syed Kareem Baramulla, Misra wife of Asadullah Lone of Hatlongoo and Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh of Krankshun colony

Earlier Published On Aalaw

2011: Unfortunate, Tragic And Painful

Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society today reviewed the overall situation in the year 2011 and again termed it as tragic and unfortunate year for Kashmiris. The body provided a detail data and statistics

TOTAL KILLINGS

Year 2011 has just passed, and many have declared this year, a peaceful year in Jammu and Kashmir. Of course, assertions of peace by various quarters are relative. Enforced silence cannot be construed as peace. Despite the hype of peace, people of Jammu and Kashmir have witnessed unabated violence, human rights abuses, denial of civil and political rights, absence of mechanisms of justice, heightened militarization and surveillance. The figures of violent incidents suggest that 2011 as usual has been the year of loss, victimization, mourning and pain for the people, the report said.

The report also said that in 2011, a total of 233 people have lost their lives due to violent incidents in Jammu and Kashmir. Out of 233 persons, 56 were civilians, 100 were alleged militants, 71 armed forces personnel and 6 were unidentified persons and counter insurgent renegades.

Out of the total 56 civilians killed this year, 11 were students, amongst whom 7 were minors. Also amongst the civilians killed 6 were women.

UNMARKED GRAVES AND MASS GRAVES

The body once again raised the issue of mass graves in their brief report and said that this year has been very significant for those struggling against the human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir. “It is for the first time a state institution like State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) endorsed the findings of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and International People’s Tribunal for Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK) regarding the presence of unmarked graves and mass graves in north Kashmir, besides acknowledging the possibility of burial of some of the people subjected to enforced disappearances in these unmarked graves and mass graves,” the report added.

So far APDP/IPTK has submitted the prima-facie evidence of 6217 unmarked graves and mass graves in 5 districts; Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Poonch and Rajouri. While as the SHRC has acknowledged existence of 2156 unmarked graves and mass graves in Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora. The SHRC inquiry in Poonch and Rajouri is not yet concluded, the report firther said in its findings.

ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES

The report also accused state government for not initiating any step to solve the saga of ‘enforced disappearances’, this year APDP submitted a list of 1417 cases of enforced disappearance to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and urged the government to inquire into all the cases of enforced disappearances, but so far the government continues to be indifferent.

Enforced Disappearances is not an issue of the past. People have disappeared even in this year. Atleast 2 persons, Susheel Raina of Aishmuqam, Anantnag and Nisar Ahmad Banday of Chechal, Banihal disappeared this year. The government as usual has failed to initiate any conclusive investigation into those who disappeared this year.

Successive governments have given contradictory statements about the total number of people ‘missing’ in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2002, the National Conference government said 3184 persons are ‘missing’, then in 2005 Peoples’ Democratic Party led government claimed 3931 persons were ‘missing’ and in 2009 the present National Conference led government divulged that 3429 persons are missing in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. In this context APDP on 7th October 2011, applied for information under Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009 from the State Home Department for providing all the lists of ‘missing persons’ as claimed by various governments. More than 2 months have passed the state government has failed to provide any information regarding the contradictory figures of ‘missing persons’ divulged by various governments on the floor of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

CUSTODIAL KILLINGS

The JKCCS in its brief report submitted the alleged custodial and extra-judicial killings in the state. “The year 2011 has not been free of custodial killings and fake encounters. 7 persons were allegedly killed in custody. In all the cases of custodial killings, the government has failed to either prosecute or conduct an impartial conclusive investigation. Whether it was the killing of Ashok Kumar, a mentally challenged person who was killed in a fake encounter in Surankote, Poonch or the killing of Nazim Rashid of Sopore who succumbed to custodial torture or the custodial death of ruling National Conference party worker, Mohammad Yousuf, who died after he was handed over by the Chief Minister to the Crime Branch officials, the practice of impunity is consistent. No credible investigations have been carried out, thus creating space for cover ups, which otherwise also is the norm in Jammu and Kashmir” the report said.

JKCCS on 4th August 2011, had filed an RTI application for seeking information regarding the investigations being conducted in the killing of Nazim Rashid of Sopore, but so far the Jammu and Kashmir Police has failed to provide the information.

PROBES AND INQUIRIES

Questioning the probes and inquiries the JKCCS said that in 2011, the government has ordered 8 different probes on various human rights abuses. So far no probe has yet yielded any results, which is nothing unprecedented as even in the past probes have been announced by the government to neutralize the public pressure. From 2003 to 2011, different governments have appointed 151 probes but justice remains elusive.

The report alleged the state government for its non-seriousness and said: “It appears the basic objective of the government to appoint probes is not to convict perpetrators but to only deflate the public anger. If perpetrators would have been punished as a result of meaningful and effective probes in the past, it would have helped in creating deterrence for the recurrence of these crimes. We urge the government to ensure that investigations and probe should not be politically motivated, but aimed at holding the perpetrators accountable.”

KILLINGS OF POLITICAL WORKERS

Condemning the killings of political workers and attack on people’s lives JKCCS expressed its shock and termed the killings unfortunate incidents. The report stated that killings of civilian political workers continue to be an unabated phenomenon. In the year 2011, we have recorded killings of 8 civilian political workers. 4 out of the 8 political workers killed belong to ruling National Conference party, 2 were from Indian National Congress, while as 1 belonged to Peoples’ Democratic Party and Moulvi Showkat Ahmed Ahmed Shah of Jamiat Ahle-Hadith. Killings of civilian political workers at the hands of state or non-state actors, is completely unacceptable. Killing of civilian political workers only creates a culture of intolerance and chokes dissent. It is therefore, JKCCS has been urging all the combatant forces – Indian military forces and the members of United Jehad Council to refrain from killing any civilian political workers.

JKCCS appreciated the speedy probe of death of Molvi Showkat Ahmed Shah. “Somehow government was very quick in probing the death of Molvi Showkat Ahmed Shah, which is a welcome step, but investigations into the killing of 7 other civilian political workers have not yielded any results so far.”

JKCCS demands an impartial and independent investigation into all the killings of civilian political workers. Impartial investigations would help bringing the perpetrators to justice and also act as a deterrent.

SUICIDES AND FRATRICIDES BY ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL

Suicides and fratricides by the personnel of the Indian armed forces, continues to exist as an issue in the year 2011. This year 15 armed forces personnel committed suicides in Jammu and Kashmir due to unknown reasons and another 9 were killed in fratricidal incidents of violence.

TORTURE/HARASSMENTS/ILLEGAL DETENTIONS

The paranoia of government regarding the summer uprising of 2010, was very evident this year in the actions taken by the government. Even in 2011, when there was no apparent street uprising, hundreds of boys were detained on the pretext of being stone pelters. These young boys are subjected to torture, intimidation and harassment. In many police stations boys are illegally being detained; sometimes for few hours and sometimes for few days. Some boys are regularly being called to police stations on one pretext or the other. There is complete disregard towards the juvenility of the boys being detained. This year many minors were arrested on charges of stone pelting.

In some cases people alleged that police officials have been demanding ransom for releasing these boys who were illegally detained in various police stations.

RAPES AND MOLESTATIONS

State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) passed a judgment on the Kunan Poshpora mass rape case of 1991, demanding re-opening of the case and also filing a case against the then Director Prosecutions. It is for the first time a government institution has acknowledged this mass rape incident. It took state 20 years to acknowledge the crime and it isn’t clear how long government will take to convict perpetrators.

This year in Kulgam area of south Kashmir, there was an allegation of rape, where a woman alleged that she was raped for 2 days. The way police conducted investigations into this case and also kept the family literally under house arrest, raised more suspicion against the government.

Fear and social stigma makes it difficult for the victims to report the rape or molestation cases. One such case, by coincidence came into the notice of JKCCS in north Kashmir this year where the rape victim did not want to report her victimization. In the month of February a woman (identity withheld) from north Kashmir was allegedly raped in police custody infront of her husband. The husband was kept under detention as a hostage so that his wife would not report her case. The woman did not want to file complaint as she had no hope of getting justice and also was worried that by filing the case she would endanger her husband’s life.

IMPUNITY

Government of India has been claiming that despite the imposition of AFSPA, mechanisms of justice are functional and deliver whenever anyone is found indulging in human rights abuses, but facts provided by the state institutions this year contradict the claim of the Indian state.

In a reply to an application under Right to Information Act by JKCCS, the State Home Department of the Jammu and Kashmir government on 6thSeptember 2011 claimed that from 1989 to 2011, they have applied for sanctions for prosecution from Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Home Affairs under section 7 of AFSPA in 50 cases only. Out of these 50 cases, 31 pertain to Ministry of Defence and 19 others have been sent to Ministry of Home Affairs.

Within these 50 cases stated to be applied by the State Home Department for sanctions under AFSPA, sanction for prosecution is awaited in 16 cases and declined in 26 cases. The State Home Department claimed sanction for prosecution has been recommended in 8 cases. A deeper study of these 8 cases where the State Home Department says that the status is “recommended”, it appears that the information given is incorrect as the cases according to Defence Ministry are still in the category of “under consideration” or sanction has been declined.

Above facts reveal that the provision of sanctions for prosecution under AFSPA is a fig leaf and the truth is that there is 100% impunity for the soldiers operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

In the context where in Jammu and Kashmir we have more than 8000 cases of enforced disappearances, thousands of cases of custodial killings and fake encounters, thousands of cases of rape and molestation and thousands of cases of torture etc; applying for sanctions for prosecution in only 50 cases speaks volumes about the seriousness shown by the State Government so far for protecting the human rights of people of Jammu and Kashmir.

This year there have been voices raised by politicians regarding the revocation of AFSPA, which is also aimed at generating an impression that human rights violations will end by the revocation of AFSPA. The fact is that Jammu and Kashmir Police has been an equal partner in crimes committed on the people. The Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel also have been responsible for a huge number of human rights abuses.

The armed Village Defence Committees (VDCs), Special Police Officials (SPOs), and the counter insurgent government sponsored militias like Ikhwan have also been responsible for perpetrating heinous crimes. Which law allows the creation of these groups? Which law encourages them to perpetrate human rights abuses? Which law sanctions their impunity? It is the law of lawlessness.

Revocation of AFSPA from some areas would not help in ending the human rights abuses as the sense of immunity in the soldiers is not derived from laws but from the political culture of impunity, for which State Government and the Government of India are largely responsible.

The government should help the processes of justice and help prosecute officials accused of human rights abuses. The mechanisms of justice which have been forced to not function by the government should be empowered to punish the guilty, which would be a meaningful confidence building measure for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

We urge the Government of India to end the culture of impunity and not just AFSPA from Jammu and Kashmir.

KILLINGS DUE TO UNEXPLODED SHELLS AND LANDMINES

This year 8 persons have lost their lives in explosions, which were caused due to unexploded shells used during counter insurgency operations and 1 out 8 deaths was reported due to landmine explosion.

ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS OF JUSTICE

State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has tried to assert its existence by passing some very significant judgments this year. Prominent amongst the cases where SHRC passed the judgements was the case of unmarked graves and mass graves in north Kashmir, Kunan Poshpora mass rape case and the plight of prisoners languishing in various jails across Jammu and Kashmir. Besides these judgments SHRC has been actively helping in the cases to provide ex-gratia relief.

Judiciary in Jammu and Kashmir continues to show an abysmal performance and has failed to live up to the expectations of the victims. Amongst the people of Jammu and Kashmir disillusionment regarding judiciary is at its lowest, as it has failed in holding perpetrators accountable. Notwithstanding the powers to protect life and liberty of citizens, judiciary has disappointed people of Jammu and Kashmir. Judicial activism for protecting the civil and political rights and seeking accountability from the state actors is very apparent in India, but it seems to be completely absent in the Jammu and Kashmir judiciary.

Making A Mark Online

Kashmiris are going online to express and establish themselves. Syed Asma surveys some Kashmiri websites that emerged in 2011.

Amidst the bans and restrictions on mainstream media in Kashmir, youth in the valley are finding alternative spaces to share stories—by starting their own websites.

“We have a passion for writing and it would do no good if it’s not used to tell the stories of Kashmir, for Kashmir holds a galaxy of untold stories,” says Samreen Mushtaq, a part of the three-month-old website Kashmir Currents. It was Samreen’s idea to start a website but she credits her team for making it a reality. Samreen is a presently pursuing her Masters’ in political science from Jamia Millia Islamia.

One day Samreen and her friends visited a woman in Kupwara who had

lost her four sons to the conflict, but had received no media coverage. It was then that Samreen and her friends decided to provide a platform for such unreported stories. “We wanted these untold, unheard stories to be told and re-told. Media [mainstream] often fails to follow up few stories,” says Samreen.

Fahad Shah seconds her view. He has turned his blog into a full-fledged website called The Kashmir Walla. He says organisations have their own pressures to handle but alternate media is the medium for the people and of people. “It reports what mainstream media cann

ot report because of its limitation.”

Fahad’s blog, set up in 2009, came from a need to write about Kashmir for his non Kashmiri friends who did not know much about Kashmir and the conflict.

Online enthusiasts in Kashmir say it is the global reach of the internet that plays a part in them turning to the web for highlighting conflict stories.

Sheikh Saaliq says online media is the main media source in today’s world. He believes repeatedly reporting on Kashmiri suffering to Kashmiris does not make much sense now, and that it is time to highlight these issues on a wider platform so it reaches the larger global community. He considers Internet to be the best medium for this.

Saaliq runs a website called The Vox Kashmir, meaning ‘voice of Kashmir.’ It started as a blog in early 2009.

“My website’s second issue had 15,000 hits in the first three hours of being uploaded, of which only 4,000 where from Kashmir, which suggested people outside are reading Kashmir,” says Saaliq.

The Kashmir Walla’s mention in Sunday Guardian, Indian Express, Mint Lounge, NDTV and Al Jazeera speak volumes about its readership in just the second year of its existence.

Kashmir Currents, The Vox Kashmir, The Kashmir Walla, The Parallel Post and other websites owned by Kashmiri youth came into existence after the recent unrest from 2008-2010. Limits on media during this time compelled them to create their own spaces for expression, they say.

At first, they turned to social networking sites such as Orkut, where they discussed issues with friends and refined their ways of expression. Then they started blogging and eventually turning to sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Each online outlet helped the young generation of Kashmir move one step closer to discovering and developing themselves in the virtual world—and gradually led to independent websites—designed and operated by Kashmir youth.

“We are all Orkut immigrants,” says Saaliq. “These social networking sites encourage us to use them to tell our stories. We have now moved on to more formal and authentic media, e-magazines and websites,” he says.

In addition to giving a voice to unheard stories of Kashmir, these websites have provided an opportunity to many individuals, and given them the chance to show their skills. Each website’s team includes trained journalists, passionate writers, graphic designers, and IT enthusiasts.

“The idea is to encourage new writers who are not established or who are amateur writers. We aim to encourage people beyond their social, intellectual, cultural and political existence,” says Anees Zargar.

Anees is a part of Kashmir’s online magazine, The Parallel Post.

“The Parallel Post also aims to help youth develop skills in various fields like filmmaking, writing and photography,” he adds.

Most of the youth running these websites are passionate to the extent that they sustain the websites with their own pocket money.

Saaliq says, “Tying up with other organisations means that they too will have a say in the content. It increases the tendency of outsider’s interference and may lead to some compromises as well. So, this makes us hesitant of trusting anyone.”

The enthusiastic young website owners say they may suffering on the financial grounds but are not ready to compromise in their content.

PUBLISHED ON KASHMIR LIFE

Forgotten Prisoners

GUEST POST BY FRONTLINE KASHMIR FAN

In the dark cells do we hang around and wait,
To hear the news about the world we hate.
What’s the current situation of the Muslim nation?
Are they soldiers of Allah, or guards at the police station?

Restlessly walking around the tiny mole holes.
Asking Allah to forgive us and protect our souls,
Quiet it is every day and every night
Where are your letters that you used to write?

Life in the cells is indeed cold and grim
Our hearts cry out loud, deep down from within
Why are my brothers and sisters so quiet all the time?

Do you not see these chains around his legs and mine?
Yes we are the forgotten prisoners of today.
All day do we wait to read what you have to say,
The kaafir next door has no trouble at all
His nation never forget him, sending him many letters for sure.
We do not ask for the world, sun or moon,
Only duaas written on paper, that we are released soon.

Paper and pen is all it takes my dear brothers
Do you have no time for those who left their mothers?
Plain are our walls, with only a written Du’aa or two
From our mothers, wives, children, nieces and nephews.
If only the walls were covered with the words which are great.

Indeed when I see the walls, do I shudder in disgrace
What a time I am in, where I must beg for support
It hardly comes willingly – though I wish it would
I cry and I weep, every night and everyday.
Remember me in your du’aas, write to me today.

An ummah of 1.5 billion is just a figure of no use
You enjoy your life as you watch us tortured and abused.
Our situation is no movie, why do you not understand?
Please, write to us – Let us see the words of your hand.
Lonely we are in the cold cells deep
Days and nights are horrid, we can hardly sleep.
Forgotten prisoners we are, our loved ones have all gone.

Though our Lord is always besides us, He is the only One!!

How a nation was raped? Tales from Kashmir that hit the core of my heart.

It dates back to the chaddeee days of my grandpa. I wont be talking about those past events, they will put Indians to shame. I will be talking about the more recent developements.

Kashmir is sometimes refered to as "Heaven on earth". Different titles given by different people. The world’s best saffron grown here and in the middle of those saffron fields is a Army Camp. The largest fresh water lake of Asia is in Kashmir – The Wular Lake. Adjacent to it is an Army Camp. Jahangir loved this place, now known as Verinag. A beautiful mughal garden, the source of river Jehlum. Half of it under military occupation (they are vacating though). Kokernag, the biggest spring in Kashmir, half of it under Army. The Almond orchards of the “HIGH GROUND”, completely under army control. Sher Bagh, a spiring in Islamabad district of Kashmir, surrounded by Army Camp. Lal Chowk, the hub of Srinagar city, home to an Army Camp. After the AFSPA was launched these army men didn’t even spare private toilets. You spit anywhere, at random, and you spit at an Army Personnel, such is their density in Kashmir. Doesn’t matter much though.

This nation, Kashmir, has been raped time and again by Indian troops. Be it the Tengpora massacre or the Zakoora massacre, the Gawkadal Massacre or the Sopore massacre. Be it the Bomai killings or any other fake encounters, rape rape everywhere. (Read my artng though). Kokernag, the biggest spring in Kashmir, half of it under Army. The Almond orchards of the “HIGH GROUND”, completely under army control. Sher Bagh, a spiring in Islamabad district of Kashmir, surrounded by Army Camp. Lal Chowk, the hub of Srinagar city, home to an Army Camp. After the AFSPA was launched these army men didn’t even spare private toilets. You spit anywhere, at random, and you spit at an Army Personnel, such is their density in Kashmir. Doesn’t matter much though.

“These killings aint random, this is an organised genocide”.

In the last 11 years, over 2000 people, between the ages of 10 and 70, have disappeared from the Kashmir Valley after they were allegedly picked up by the security forces. They have left behind desperate families who have tried everything to trace their dear ones, but to no avail. Consider these:

* Zahoor Ahmed Sofi. Arrested on August 8, 1994, by 15th Battalion, BSF. Petition filed under 491-CrPC no.20/99. Still missing.

* Mohammed Rafiq Bhatt. Arrested on August 19, 1992, by BSF. Petition filed under 491-CrPC No.19/99. Still missing.

* Mushtaq Ahmed Khan. Arrested on midnight April 13/14, 1997, by 20th Grenade Army C/O 56 APO. Petition filed under 491-CrPC No. 15/99. Still missing.

It was June 27, 2000 that some 300 Muslim refugees from Indian-controlled Kashmir have crossed into the Pakistani side of the disputed territory after being beaten and threatened by Indian troops. The refugees said they had been abused for several days and eventually threatened with death unless they left their village about three kilometres (two miles) from the unofficial border between the Indian and Pakistani sides.

"We were scared that we were going to be killed so it was better to get across to a Muslim area," said 24-year-old mother of one Kulsoom Begum, from the village of Tarkundi. "It was a collective decision to leave by the whole family."

Another refugee told how he brought his wife and one-year-

old son across the Line of Control after being beaten repeatedly for several days by an Indian officer.

"They said that they would set everything on fire and we would have nothing to eat but dust unless we left the village," said 25-year-old Zakir.

"We had to leave everything behind except the clothes we were wearing."

Local Pakistani military commander Colonel Rizwan Ali Khan said 284 people from 51 families had crossed so far and would be taken to a refugee camp near Kotli, 120 kilometres (72 miles) south of Muzaffarabad.

This aint the end MARWAL (PULWAMA), May 8, 2000, A shroud of fear had enveloped the village. The houses were all bolted from inside, even the windows are shut. Women do not venture out alone even during the day, 10 years have passed. Two men from the nearby Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) camp barged into the house of Abdul Rehman Dar and raped his 40-year-old housewife. The Dar household is still to recover from the shock. His wife, a Bengali, had come to Kashmir eight years ago as the bride of Abdul Rehman, who works as a labourer. "I had never imagined this will be my fate here," she says. The villagers who have assembled in front of her house are restless. She asks them to keep quiet. "Let me talk. I want to tell my pathetic story. Somebody will definitely listen to me," her voice is choked with pain and anger. Chill buddy AFSPA is at their backing you cant do anything.

"Aag lagao. Mere ko dead body chahiye". This is how J. K. Sharma Additional Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Commandant of Border Security Force's 75th battalion, is to have told his men before they shot nine innocent civilians

in cold blood in Mashali Mohalla, Srinagar district, on August 6, 1990. Now the BSF court of inquiry is drawing to a close. This will be the first court martial of its kind and E N Rammohan, Director General of the BSF, says the final orders against the DIG and others, will be issued later this month. (Buddies this is from the Indian Express dated 2, july 1998).

Mashali Mohalla was resounding with the wails of hysterical women and children. Mehbooba, one of the widows of Mashali Mohalla, told the court of inquiry that she first heard the sound of vehicles screeching at her door and some men shouting, "Pakistani Kutto, Bahar ajayo" (Pakistani dogs, come out). After this she heard sounds of rapid-fire and the shattering of windowpanes. Her husband, Bashir Ahmed Baig, 60,was sleeping by her side. Within minutes, the door was broken down and the BSF Jawans stormed in. They pulled off her clothes. In the meantime, she heard shots in the other room. Her youngest son, Izaz, had hidden himself under a table and was dragged out. One of the BSF men shot him too. Mehbooba ran to other room to find her husband, older son Muzzafar and a guest Abdul Rehman, all bleeding from bullet-injuries. Ten minutes later, a turbaned BSF officer returned. Seeing a new face in uniform, Mehbooba ran wailing to him, only to be shot at on the left side of her chest. She wrapped a quilt around herself and lay near the body of her husband. Her youngest son died on the way to the hospital. Abdul lived to tell the tale though he lost his left eye. The house was then set on fire. Tasleema, the other Mashali Mohalla widow, has also given a graphic account of the massacre at the hands of the BSF. She has stated that the BSF personnel came to the first floor of her house and opened fire. She hid under the bed when she was pulled out by a BSF jawan, who ripped her cloths and tried to force himself on

PAMELA CONSTABLE writes for The Washington Post, June 21, 1999 her. It was the whistle from DIG Sharma a signal to end the "operation" which Tasleema says she her self heard, that saved her from further humiliation. She stepped out only after the firing stopped to see the bodies of her father, Ghulam Qadir Magloo, and her two brothers, Mushtaq and Ahmed Magloo, lying on the ground, riddled with bullets. By their side was their neighbour, Farooq Baig. All of them were dead. The youngest witness for the BSF's court of inquiry is Baby Jaan, Farooq Baig's 15 year old daughter. She told the court of inquiry how the Jawans attempted to molest her when she was cowering under the bed. A BSF officer pulled her out but disgusted with her hysterical screaming, cut open her right cheek with a knife, spat on her and left.

Khargam - India: Until Tuesday, this was a prosperous village of brick and cement houses. Women and girls worked looms in shady yards, weaving carpets for export. Men tended apple orchards, rice paddies and plump milk cows.

Today Khargam is a heap of charred rubble, silent except for the sound of women wailing. Outside, families squat among their ruined possessions: scraps of flowered carpeting, piles of blackened cooking pots. Inside their sheds lie the corpses of incinerated cows.

According to authorities, the annihilation of Khargam was the consequence of "cross-fire" between Muslim separatist guerrillas and Indian security forces. According to villagers, it was an act of vengeance by army and police who sealed off the village, found and shot two guerrillas, torched the community with kerosene and kept watch while it burned for hours.

The incident was not the first of its kind in Kashmir, a scenic but heavily militarized region that is the subject of a decades-old dispute between India and Pakistan and the site of a long-smoldering guerrilla conflict that has caused some 700,000 Indian troops to be stationed here. But it was an especially gruesome example of how the latest flare-up of tensions over the region - a three-week battle in the Kargil mountains 100 miles east of here on the Line of Control separating Indian and Pakistani-Occupied Kashmir, has revived an array of regional problems that m

ost Kashmiris hoped they were finally putting behind them.

The News International, Jan 03, 2001

Indian forces have burnt down historical Jamia Masjid in Kishtwar, a town in Doda south of occupied Kashmir. The mosque was gutted in fire during the intervening night of January 1-2 when the whole town was under curfew.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the gruesome event triggered strong protest demonstrations and people raised slogans against India and in favour of Kashmir's liberation. According to eyewitnesses, the Indian forces prevented fire-fighting trucks from extinguishing the fire.

Add the following to it….

The burning of the 700-year-old Shah-e Hamdan shrine in Tral, Indian occupied Kashmir, on December 16 was no accident. This was the third 'accidental fire' that has destroyed an important Islamic monument in Kashmir.

In May 1995, the 600-year-old shrine at Charar-i Sharif was destroyed by what the Indian occupation forces described as 'cross-firing' with a group of mujahideen who allegedly had taken shelter there. No mujahid was found when the shooting stopped. Three years earlier, the library at Srinagar's main mosque was set ablaze. A large number of priceless manuscripts were destroyed.

After the Shah-e Hamdan fire, home minister in the Kashmir puppet administration, Ali Mohammed Sagar, was quoted by the AFP on December 20 as saying that the government would investigate the cause thoroughly, adding: 'We have nothing to hide.' The people of Kashmir have no faith in such pronouncements who consider the Farooq Abdullah administration as unrepresentative and a puppet of Delhi.

India, which claims to be the 'largest democracy' in the world, has drawn an iron curtain around Kashmir. Human rights organisations, especially Amnesy International, have been barred from entering the state since 1978. Even so, reports have trickled out painting a grim picture. Freedom House, a New York-based non-profit organisation, described on December 21 India's occupation of Kashmir as the 'worst of the worst' where basic human and political rights were denied to the people. In its annual report on Kashmir (December 1997), Human Rights Watch/Asia said that since the induction of the Abdullah government, there has been a marked 'increase in extrajudicial executions,' in Kashmir.

Brutalities in Kashmir have also been condemned by Indian human rights groups. The Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, Hyderabad; Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights, Mumbai, and Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi, issued a stinging rebuke of Indian forces' practices in Kashmir following a visit to the state by their fact-finding team last year.

The Indian team was particularly scathing in its attack of random killings of civilians by the occupation forces. Their report listed a large number of incidents in which innocent civilians were simply grabbed and shot dead. The purpose behind such brutality is to terrorise the civilian population. An even more insidious practice is the burning alive of innocent people by Indian-backed militants. On December 12, Bashir Ahmed Ganai, a 17-year-old youth, from Sundo village near Achabal, was burned to death by Indian-sponsored militants.

World press on Indian atrocities in Kashmir:

"As the conflict in Kashmir enters its fourth year, central and state authorities have done little to stop the widespread practice of rape by Indian security forces in Kashmir. Indeed, when confronted with the evidence of rape, time and again the authorities have attempted to impugn the integrity of the witnesses, discredit the testimony of physicians or simply deny the charges everything except order a full inquiry and prosecute those responsible for rape". (Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, May 09, 1993)

"Since January 1990, rape by Indian occupation forces has become more frequent. Rape most often occurs during crackdowns, cordon and search operations during which men are held for identification in parks or schoolyards while security forces search their homes. In raping them, the security forces are attempting to punish and humiliate the entire community." ('Pain in Kashmir: A Crime of War' issued jointly by Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, May 09, 1993)

"By beginning TV cameras and prohibiting the presence in Kashmir of the International Red Cross and of human rights organization, the Indian authorities have tried to keep Kashmir out of the news." (`Kashmiri crisis at the flash point', The Washington Times, by columnist Cord Meyer, April 23, 1993)

"Despite pressure from League of Human Rights and other humanitarian organizations the Indian forces have not desisted from using torture and sequestration of political opponents and using methods that defy imagination." (Le Quotidien de Paris, September 05, 1992)

"(On February 23, 1991), at least 23 women were reportedly raped in their homes at gunpoint (at Kunan Poshpora in Kashmir). Some are said to have been gang-raped, others to have been raped in front of their children ... The youngest victim was a girl of 13 named Misra, the oldest victim, name Jana, was aged 80". (Amnesty International, March 1992)

"The most common torture methods are severe beatings, sometimes while the victim is hung upside down, and electric shocks. People have also been crushed with heavy rollers, burned, stabbed with sharp instruments, and had objects such as chilies or thick sticks forced into their rectums. Sexual mutilation has been reported". (Amnesty International, March 1992)

"Widespread human rights violations in the state since January 1990 have been attributed to the (Kashmir) Indian army, and the Paramilitary Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force." (Amnesty International, March 1992)

"The term "rape of Kashmir", is no exaggeration. India's Hindu and Sikh forces have adopted a concerted policy of raping Muslim women which is designed to break the will of the Kashmiri resistance... The world community should immediately bring political and economic pressure on India to stop behaving like a Mongol." (Eric Margolis, Sunday Sun, April 12, 1992)

"The worst outrages by the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) have been frequent gang rapes of all women in Muslim villages, followed by the execution of the men". (Eric Margolis, The Ottawa Citizen, December 8, 1991)

"While army troops dragged men from their homes for questioning in the border town of Kunan Pushpura, scores of women say they were raped by soldiers....a pregnant Kashmiri woman, who was raped and kicked, gave birth to a son with a broken arm." (Melinda Liuin, Newsweek, June 24, 1991) [Anthony Wood and Ron MaCullagh of the Sundav Observer (June 02, 1992) estimated that over 500 Indian army men were involved in this orgy of rape and plunder in Kunan Pushpura.]

"The security forces have entered hospitals, beaten patients, hit doctors, entered operating theaters, smashed instruments. Ambulances have been attacked, curfew passes are confiscated." (Asia Watch, May 1991)

"Sexual molestation, beatings, threats of violence, and electric shock are the most common forms of torture. " (Asia Watch, May 1991)

"Jammu and Kashmir is almost the only part of India where demands for democracy and human rights and protest against corruption and administrative injustices were branded as treason. If a deliberate experiment had been launched, under controlled and most favorable conditions, with Kashmir as a laboratory, to implement a textbook model of terrorism, it could hardly have improved upon the present situation." (Hindu observer quoted in Asia Watch report, May 1991).

"Subjugated, humiliated, tortured and killed by the 650,000-strong Indian army, the people of Kashmir have been living through sheer hell for more than a year, the result of an increasingly brutal campaign of state repression. . India hides behind its carefully-crafted image of "non-violence" and presents itself in international forums as a model of democracy and Pluralism. Yet , it is unable to stand up the scrutiny of even its admirers. All journalists, especially television crews, were expelled from the Valley. with no intrusive cameras to record the brutalities of the Indian forces, the world has been kept largely in the dark." (The Toronto Star, January 25, 1991)

"Young girls were now being raped systematically by entire (Indian) army units rather than by a single soldier as before. Girls are taken to soldier's camps and held naked in their tents for days on end. Many never return home....Women are strung up naked from trees and their breast lacerated with knives, as the (Indian) soldiers tell them that their breast will never give milk again to a newborn militant. Women are raped in front of their husbands and children, or paraded naked through villages and beaten on the breasts." (The Independent, September 18, 1990)

These Indiots didn’t even leave sikhs. Yes buddy (may be they were demanding Khalistan). PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

SRINAGAR, MARCH 25: Five top foreign mercenaries, suspected to be involved in the massacre of 35 Sikhs in the Kashmir Valley early this week, were on Saturday killed in a gun-battle with security forces at Panchaltran, 82 km from here, a Defence Ministry spokesperson here said.

All the militants were in combat uniform and involved in the March 20 night massacre at Chattisinghpura village, 70 km from here, in Anantnag district, he said. He said five rifles, two wireless sets and five grenades were recovered from the militants' hideout which was blasted by security forces.

Police did not rule out the possibility of more militants being involved in the encounter as the operation was still continuing.

Acting on a tip-off provided by Mohammad Yaqoob Wagey, who is believed to have taken part in the massacre and was arrested by the authorities on Thursday, the security forces cordoned off the house where the militants were hiding and launched the operation to flush them out ensuing a heavy gun battle between the two sides.

However, the Indian lie was quickly exposed as the Kashmiris and even the Sikhs themselves accused the Indian forces for this heinous act. Rattled by this development, the Indians shot dead 5 Kashmiri civilians in a fake encounter and claimed them to be Kashmiri Mujahideen responsible for killing the 35 Sikhs. However, people protested against this blatant lie and the bodies of these 5 men were exhumed and examined by forensic experts. It was established beyond any doubt that these men were innocent and that they had been liquidated as part of the Indian game plan. It also became clear that the Indian government tried to falsify evidence in order to blame these five men. Thus, the entire world came to know of India's lies with regard to Kashmir.

For a detailed account of what really happened, read Valley of Death, an article written by Pankaj Mishra.

The best way to do it. Yes indians have discovered it. Indian army patrols looking for mines and booby traps in troubled Kashmir have found the safest and most effective way to conduct their dangerous searches -- get a civilian to do it.

Abdul Hamid, 16, steps gingerly into a large hole along an isolated stretch of the Rajouri-Poonch highway, around 200-km northwest of the Kashmiri winter capital Jammu. Clad only in a pair cotton trousers and a T-shirt and carrying a wooden stick, Hamid's figure cuts a striking contrast with the small army sapper patrol watching him. The soldiers are dressed in full army fatigues and flak jackets, and carry sensitive metal detectors and semi-automatic weapons. As Hamid hesitates, a member of the patrol points towards the hole with a stick, edging him on. Such scenes are common in Kashmir.

Hamid and his friend, Rashid, 20, remained with the patrol the entire morning, poking into bushes and under boulders along the sides of the highway. The patrols can be seen all over Kashmir, performing their daily check for landmines and other explosives.

Villagers in Poonch and Rajouri say most patrols will force two civilians to accompany them on the routine searches. "Two civilians, usually young men, accompany every 20 odd soldiers every morning to look for landmines or explosives planted by mujahideen," said Muhammad Hussain of Sarankote village. "They have to search along the roadsides, under the bridges and culverts, and behind the heavy rocks," Hussain said, adding that they were rarely given anything more than a wooden axe handle in terms of equipment.

An army officer leading the patrol containing Hamid and Rashid, denied any coercion was used when drafting in villagers for help. "It is with their agreement that we ask locals to accompany us who know the topography of the area very well," the officer said.

Darling, it doesn’t end here. In a charity hostel in Srinagar, young Kashmiri boys pray together. All of them are orphans, their parents have been killed during the ongoing struggle for the right of self-determination, which has resulted in savage Indian atrocities and genocide in the held territory. They are just a handful of an estimated 100,000 children orphaned by the crisis - many of them forced to fend for themselves as child labourers. Kashmiris say some eighty thousand people have been killed during the past eleven years. It was March 30, 2002.

The News International writes on March 30, 2002 Black laws for Kashmiris

Last 13 years have witnessed a rapid rise in human rights violations in Kashmir. The Indian security forces disregarding any fear of international criticism continue to practice their barbaric methods despite the fact that many human rights groups have consistently took notice of these despicable acts. Mary Robinson, United Nations high commissioner for human rights, during her recent visit to Pakistan, described human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir as "serious". The US State Department in its annual report on human rights for the year 2001 also expressed somewhat similar views. The report stressed that the Indian security force continued to commit human rights abuses in Kashmir including killing of civilians, excessive use of force, extra-judicial killings, torture and rape.

Most regional sources indicate that more than 81,000 Kashmiris have already sacrificed their lives in pursuit of freedom from Indian rule. Over 102,000 houses and shops have been either burnt or looted. More than 100,000 children have been orphaned and roughly 8,350 women have so far been molested. It is indeed difficult to calculate that how many Kashmiris are missing or hiding but rough estimates put the figure to over 100,000. These figures by themselves paint a horrible picture in Kashmir.

A simple look at the figures certainly lends ample support to Mary Robinson's contentions. It is indeed imperative that an immediate stop is put to such barbaric and blatant violations. It becomes even more pressing when one realises that the Indians have intensified their killing spree following the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Effectively using the cover of international coalition against terrorism, the Indians are killing their own people as they claim that the disputed state of Kashmir is an integral part of India.

To sum it up, here is a tribute which Indians have given us.

Since 1990 - Oct.1996:

* 59 750 Murdered

* 49 000 Murdered by indiscriminate firing

* 550 Burnt alive

* 3 200 Bound and drowned in the River Jhelum

* 4 500 Murdered crossing the cease-fire line

Early 1990's estimate:

* 15 873 Rape cases (reported)

* 934 Women murdered in gang rapes

* 756 Rendered disabled

* 43 390 Men and women held in prison without trial

* 11 600 Youth in torture cells

* 97 654 Burnt houses and shops

* 250 678 Refugees (successfully crossed) in Pakistan (1)

* 30 Schools destroyed

* 189 Schools and hospitals bomb blasted

* 200 Primary school children burnt alive on October 1, 1990

* 358 Hospital Clinics destroyed

* 346 Mosques destroyed

* 358 Children died without treatment

* 66 094 Houses and shops burnt

* 1 480 Cattle burnt

* 1 225 Food burnt (worth in dollars)

* 1 123 Forest burnt (worth in millions of dollars)

* 848 Hospitals and schools burnt

* + Thousands of people dismissed from jobs

And the persecution is still continuing at an ever-increasing rate. In a land where even gatherings of more than four persons is prohibited, everyday is a nightmare; every place is a holocaust. Every family has suffered in one way or another.

I leave it upto you. I don’t have any further words.

Earlier Published As A Note On: Shah Saaib Ahmed Rabbani ·