Ground Report from Kashmir

Sunoh Station

What’s happening in Kashmir? That’s the question everybody’s asking. Murtaza Shibli, a writer and journalist, has sent us this ground report on why violence and unrest in the valley, following the encounter killing of Burhan Muzzafar Wani, a 22-year-old militant commander with Hijbul Mujahideen, has not abated. In this uncluttered narrative, he explains the wide social media reach Wani had among Kashmiri youth; the record turnout for his memorial service, something without a precedence in recent Kashmiri memory, which has stupefied everybody including security forces; the lives lost since the evening of July 8; the pellet gun injuries that have blinded hundreds of youth; the AAZADI slogans that have incessantly rented the air, and importantly, the attack on his parental home in Brijbehara, after he wrote an opinion piece criticising Chief Minister Mehabooba Mufti.