Inside Indian-occupied Kashmir’s deadliest year in a decade
A young man in his 20s broke the news to his friends while they were eating in a park in Srinagar. “Burhan is dead,” he whispered.
It was July 7, 2016. Over the preceding five years, 22-year-old Burhan Wani had become the face of militant opposition to the Indian occupation of the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Burhan was the commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a pro-Pakistan Kashmiri separatist organization. He’d left home and taken up arms against Indian rule in 2010, at the age of 15.
“This must be fake news. He’s not dead,” his friends replied, shocked. But their denial receded quickly. “If Burhan is dead, how many more will be killed?”
In the next six months of protest, their question would be answered: around 100 people would die, and close to 15,000 would be injured.
THE DEATH OF A MILITANT
Burhan was shot by Indian security forces in the village of Bumdoora in a counterinsurgency military operation, along with two other militants. His rise to fame marked a new type of militant leader in Kashmir: the social media recruiter. He posted photos of himself surrounded by other militants, clad in camo and toting an assault rifle, his face boldly unmasked. His viral videos called for “freedom from Indian rule,” and openly condemned the police brutality and military occupation that mark life in Kashmir, encouraging other young people to take up arms against the Indian occupiers. Like much of the young generation of separatist militants, he came from a well-educated family – his father is a school principal.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March/April 2019 من Briarpatch.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March/April 2019 من Briarpatch.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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