By Rifat Fareed Shopian, Indian-administered Kashmir – When darkness descends on the quiet villages of Shopian, everything falls silent. But Sunday evening was different. A quick rattle of gunfire echoed through Pahnoo village in Shopian, a southern Kashmir district that has witnessed increasing violence in recent months. Six men, all locals and two of them

By Anando Bhakto Srinagar, India-administered Kashmir – At around 6:30am on January 20, 1994, the Indian Army cordoned off the Barzulla Baghat locality in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. An announcement was made from the parapet of a nearby mosque, asking men to assemble at a ground behind the Saddar Police Station. “We

SRINAGAR, Kashmir — He is known as one of Kashmir’s gutsiest news photographers covering the intensifying hostility in his home region, and when violence broke out he was always among the first to the scene. But the photographer, Kamran Yousuf, 21, has been stuck in jail since September — the victim, his friends and family

By Sajjad Shaukat The 9th of February is being celebrated as the martyrdom anniversary of Muhammad Afzal Guru whom India secretly hanged and buried inside the Tihar jail complex on February 9, 2013. It triggered protests in Kashmir and widespread condemnations from various political and human rights organisations. Afzal Guru was convicted in 2001 Parliament

Reform Laws Choking Freedom of Expression, Association (New York, January 18, 2018) – The Indian government failed to stop or credibly investigate vigilante attacks against minority religious communities during 2017, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing its World Report 2018. Many senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) publicly promoted Hindu supremacy and

Every year, 26th of January is being celebrated by India as the Indian Republic Day. But, the day is being observed by the Kahmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and all over the world, including their Pakistani brethren as the Black Day in protest against Indian illegal occupation of Kashmir. By

By Haroon Malik “There were people dying everywhere getting massacred in every town and village, there were people being picked up and thrown into dark jails in unknown parts, there were dungeons in the city where hundreds of young men were kept in heavy chains and from where many never emerged alive, there were thousands

By Sajjad Shaukat Every year, January 5 is celebrated in remembrance of the pledges of the UNO; as on this very day in 1949, UNCIP (United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan) resolution was adopted in which Kashmiris right of self-determination was granted through a free and impartial plebiscite, while still living under Indian occupation.

By Jean Drèze First-hand accounts of torture in the ‘Structures of Violence’ report are extremely disturbing. Ending human rights violations in Kashmir requires not only the repeal of draconian Acts but also respect for the law. “Like all the detained youth, I was beaten, and hung upside down. I was kept naked, tied to a

Ever since the Hindu extremist party BJP took reins of power in India, it has embarked on a massive spree of defence spending. The scale is indeed unprecedented in the Indian history. For the year 2017-18, the Indian Govt allocated a staggering Rs. 3,59,854 crore (US$ 53.5 billion) for Defence. By Haroon Malik Shining and