WRITE-UPS

On 13th January 1989, The Sikhs of Jammu arranged a procession Nagar Kirtan to commemorate Gurupurab. As the procession was passing through the streets of Jammu, a violent mob suddenly attacked the processions with deadly weapons. The attackers were affiliates of Hindu right-wing organization Shiv Sena. Fourteen Sikhs were murdered and hundreds injured, some of them seriously. After the attack, Several Gurdwaras were looted and many more were set on fire that day. The violent mob set ablaze Sikh-owned properties worth crores. Around 140 vehicles and hundreds of shops were also burnt down on the day. Relatives of several victims of the January 13, 1989, riots stated that the victims were mob lynched, with sticks, iron rods, and hockey sticks. Surinder Singh's mother, who was ...

Bhat Yasir A Kashmiri journalist - Sajad Gul, who has freelanced for a various media outlets, has been booked under the charges of 'Criminal Conspiracy' and arrested by Jammu Kashmir Police. "On Wednesday, the Army came to the house several times to search him, but he was not at his home," his brother said. The Army sought Sajad's phone number and at around 10 PM the Army returned and called Sajad, he said. Sajad asked his family to not worry and went out where the Army was waiting for him. "We kept calling him constantly for several hours and finally someone around 1 picked up the phone and said Sajad had been handed over to the police," his brother told The Kashmiriyat. For the initial two days after his detention, the family met the Police officials who told them to keep sil...

Insha Mushtaq Dar Sumo drivers in Lal chowk area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag town staged a protest over long-term seizure of their taxi stands which has rendered them jobless. The stand (oldest stand in the town) was shifted from Mehandi Kadal to Wazir Bagh by the authorities, a year ago, citing traffic congestion reasons. The sumo drivers gathered near the sumo stand on Tuesday protesting against the allocation of their stands for the parking purpose of employees of the District Commissioner (DC) office. The agitated sumo divers alleged that “the authorities, a year ago, seized our sumo stands promising us that they will relocate us at different places but it has been more than a year now and we still don’t have any permanent place.” President of the Transport Association, Sha...

Bhat Yasir Pictures of hundreds of Muslim women were collected from their social media accounts and then uploaded on an application and then encourage users to participate in the auction of these women. Among these women was Qurat ul Ain Rehbar of Kashmir. It was through a journalist friend that Kashmir-based journalist Qurat-ul-Ain Rehbar got to know that her name and picture had featured among other Muslim women's names for 'auctioning' on the app 'Bulli Bai.' "She called and informed me that my name had featured in a list that she had come across," Qurat told The Kashmiriyat. Qurat says that she had previously reported on the 'Sulli Deals' auction in the month of July last year. She said that she was shocked to see her photograph on the app and that she had never expected such ...

Insha Mushtaq Dar It has been one whole year since Mushtaq Ahmed Wani's son Athar Ahmed Wani (16) was killed along with two others at Lawaypora, Srinagar. Since then, Mushtaq Ahmed has been awaiting his son Athar's dead body. He has dug a grave at the family's ancestral graveyard, which awaits Athar's dead body. Athar Mushtaq Wani was killed by security forces along with two others. The forces alleged that Athar was an ’OGW’ (Overground Worker) for militants. Mushtaq Ahmed denied the forces' claim and said that Athar was only an 11th grader, who had to sit in his exam the next day. The three deceased were buried by the forces in the Sonamarg area of Ganderbal. Mushtaq Ahmed on the death anniversary of Athar Mushtaq Wani told The Kashmiriyat, “It has been a year now but justice is ...

Kounsar Bashir Cricket bat raw material suppliers in Sethar, Halmulla of south Kashmir's Anantnag district have alleged that some armed forces personnel burnt their raw material and beat them for possessing Pakistani cricket bat brands' stickers. A raw material supplier, wishing anonymity, told The Kashmiriyat that on Tuesday, at around 11 a.m., the army entered the shops, beat them, and burnt all the raw material. "We have scars all over our body. And this happened merely for possessing Pakistani cricket bat brand stickers including CA, BOOM, MB Malik, etc.," he said. "We faced a loss of about 4-5 lakhs," he told The Kashmiriyat. The supplier told The Kashmiriyat that the security force personnel also took their phones and transferred some phone numbers of some of the sticker ...

Sheikh Nadeem Mantasha, who lives in Gaziabad Green Valley Sunjwa of Jammu District is a student of class 10th has made hundreds of artworks and won recognition from critics and customers. “I have been enthusiastic about painting and sketching since my childhood. I didn’t visit any art school for learning how to make artworks but have had been learning the skill on YouTube,” Mantasha told The Kashmiriyat. “Whatever I see and feel, I try to portray it in my paintings, and above all, making art makes me happy, and gives me peace of mind and a sense of satisfaction,” she adds. Mantasha says that she sells her artwork on Instagram and other social media platforms. “I post the photos of my artwork on social media and that is where most of my customers contact me. I want to learn and...

Bhat Yasir On Tuesday, Jammu and Kashmir police addressed a press conference, sharing the details of enquiry report, conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Hyderpora Encounter. The SIT incharge, DIG central Kashmir Sujit Kumar Singh, while giving a detailed presentation about the investigations carried out into the Hydeprora encounter said that the local youth from Jammu Amir Magray was a militant and he had lied about presence of foreign militant in the building while the building owner was made a “human shield by a foreign militant who got killed in a cross-fire.” He said that prima-facie evidence shows that Dr. Mudasir Gul was shot dead by the foreign militant on the directions “possibly from across.” However, Lateef Magrey, the father of Amir Magray told The K...

Kounsar Bashir Orchardists across Kashmir await the compensation promised by the administration for the damaged apple crop due to untimely snowfall in October, which left the orchardists in a financial crisis. The season’s early snowfall has caused damage to both apple trees and fruits in the Kashmir valley, especially in Shopian district of south Kashmir. More than 90 percent of the population of Shopian, which is also called the 'Apple Town' of Kashmir, is directly dependent on horticulture sector. While, a large number of population from Kulgam and Pulwama is directly or indirectly dependent on horticulture sector, particularly apple. Earlier, the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had said that the farmers who suffered immense losses due to the untimely snowfall will get all p...

On December 25, 1994, when the world was celebrating Christmas, a village in north Kashmir was preparing for the funeral of their dead killed at the hands of government forces. Nine civilians fell to the bullets of Border Security Forces in the frontier town after being made to stand in a line in the village during a cordon and search operation. Recounting the horrors of the day, locals said that on December 21, 1994, the forces laid a cordon and search operation in the village, which was lifted after a few hours. "They frisked the entire locality and during the freezing cold of the night, the locals were made to stand in a ground and searched, but the forces could find nothing," a newspaper reported. After the cordon was lifted, the forces came back on the morning of Decem...