Last August, the blood in my land did not shed; it froze. In people’s eyelids, there were marks on their faces. The authorities say they have employed forces to bring peace.
Sofie cannot walk from one room to another without the support of the walls. She doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘handicapped.’ She is young, and her self-esteem is yet to be injured.
The young army man’s heart is broken as he finds himself amidst a turbulent mob. The Kashmir he imagined and the Kashmir he has seen are vastly different. He will not be able to bring his family here and show them the snowfall on the hills of Gulmarg.
And those two brothers, whose coach thought they would become cricket’s next big stars, are now saddened every time they read the newspaper or hear the noise of a cricket match.
Their grandfather writes letters to the government regularly, saying, “Dear Prime Minister, why do you take the sins of so much destruction upon yourself?”
“It is just a piece of land that distresses you, troubles the army, and brings suffering upon us. Let’s split it up into two and gift half a heaven to Karachi and half a heaven to Delhi, leaving the people to see good days with their ears.”
Last August, in my land, another page was torn from the book of hope. A page in which we could have written promises, given assurances that our children would not be raised under the shadow of weapons. The leaves that fall from trees will not be drenched in blood.
Last August, the blood that shed in my land was ours…
#6,221 pellet gun injuries reported in unrest after Burhan’s killing.
#India revises Kashmir death toll to 47,000.
#8-month-old killed, 6 injured as Pak troops fire at border posts and villages in Jammu.
#167% increase in civilian deaths in Kashmir.
#185 soldiers killed in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 3 years.
THIS YEAR, WE CELEBRATE 72 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE,
WHILE JAMMU AND KASHMIR IS STAINED WITH BLOOD.
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