FREEPRESS www.freepresskashmir.news REGISTERED: JKENG/2011/36414 CHORUS CAPTIVE

VOL 10 ISSUE 20 20 ISSUE SRINAGAR SRINAGAR MAY 17, 2021 PAGES 16

15.00 WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021 WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

MEMORY CONFLICT COUPLE PANDEMIC By Talib Zaffer

EDUCATION CAMPUS CRISIS By Qurrat ul Ein

/Coverstory CAPTIVE CHORUS By Marila Latif

PHOTOSTORY CURBED CELEBRATION

By Zainab

Owned, Printed and Published by: Qazi Zaid | Published from: Second Floor, Aqsa Mall, Jehangir Chowk, Srinagar | Printed at: Khidmat Offset Printing Press, The Bund, Srinagar Registered: JKENG/2011/36414 | Features Editor: Bilal Handoo | Layout & Graphics: Suhail Sultan | Contact at: +0194-2475633 | E-Mails: [email protected] | [email protected] WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021 WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

Conflict Couple

In Nund Reshi’s totem town turned cindering community on May 12, 1995, a young couple was fighting their own loving hearts amidst the larger confrontation. 26 years later, the ‘better half’ recounts her lost love in this deeply-intimate first- person account.

/Memory

By Talib Zaffer

lease, don’t do it! He’s a dissident, you never know what could happen to him tomorrow,’ my elder sister pleaded before me with folded hands in a bid to con- vince me against marrying the man I loved. I don’t know if it was the cecity of love or the na- ivety of my youth but I could never imagine him Pdead. I was well aware of the unpredictability of the life he had chosen for himself and yet, whenever I looked at him, something assured me of his safety – of the future I had dreamt of with him – off the long walks in the evening and warm mornings. Perhaps, that’s the reason why, when I sat beside him for the last time his face looked so full of life to me. Like he was suddenly going to call me by my name, as usual, and I was going look at him sheep- ishly and answer. I caressed his plush hair. It was a little wet. WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

I remembered how much he hated done with his evening prayers. It was He told us that he would go and have thing I remember- we were slinking his hair. He often said that he wanted the 8th of May 1995, two days before a look and instructed us to lock the through the alleys of Charar-i-Sharif. it to be a bit curly. I thought the blood Eid-Ul-Adha. door from inside. From a distance, we could see the on his hair would soak in after a while ‘These are desperate times; you should For the next hour or so, I held on to flames. The fire had escalated inex- and make his hair a little rough and have left with your siblings too. It is his arm like a child-a terrified child. plicably. It had burnt a few houses and curly, the way he liked it. not safe here anymore,’ he replied a I had that dreaded sensation in my gut shops already. We could also hear His bullet-ridden body was covered little pensively. My siblings along with telling me something terrible was gunshots, one after the other, though in a white sheet; I didn’t want to look my mother (like most of the people going to happen but his presence always we didn’t understand where exactly at the rest of it. I just kept my gaze on from the town) had fled. They were at gave me that slight sense of calm. That they were coming from or who ex- his beautiful face. I wanted to memo- my maternal home in Srinagar. Father little tinge of faith and hope. actly they were being fired at. rize the minute details: the mole on and I stayed back. At around midnight I heard some- The armed forces had cordoned off his right cheek, the bridge between ‘If I leave, you will have to come too. thing again. This time though, both the area for a couple of months leading his nose and forehead, the single strand Otherwise, I am going nowhere,’ I of us did. up to that day. The presence of a few of grey hair in his beard. reiterated. He didn’t reply. We had had ‘They have opened fire on us,’ he foreign militants had brought the spot- It had been just a little over a couple this conversation before as well, and said looking for his combative gears. light on the town otherwise known of months to our wedding. We were by then I had figured out how to stop I remember feeling my limbs lifeless for its shrine and spirituality. No mat- staying at my parents’ place. It was it. and a strange numbness in my body. ter how much I was hoping against safer for him there for it was right in Just when I was about to doze off I I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. All the hope, a confrontation had seemed the middle of the main residential heard an explosion. My heart skipped I could do was tighten my grasp on inevitable lately. space of our town. a beat. I got up and lit a candle. The him and thinking I would never let He took me to one of his cousins’. Besides, the architecture around electricity had been cut off for more him leave. She lived on the outskirt of the town was very compact. Some houses even than a week. By then he had also wok- With every passing second, the fir- so he thought I would be safer there. had common walls. From our roof, en up. He asked me what was wrong. ing was only getting louder and more ‘They won’t allow fire tenders to one could just canter over the houses Before I could answer my father knocked frequent. The whispers were true. The come in, so we need to help people get and reach some other end of the vicin- on the door. I quickly put my scarf on army was going in for the kill, or con- their stuff out before it is all burnt,’ ity. and opened the door. sidering geography and my relationship he told Shameema’s husband. Before ‘This would be our first Eid togeth- ‘Fire has broken out in a nearby with the equation, ‘coming in for a leaving, he held my hand, told me to er, I wish everybody was here,’ I said mosque. It is probably because of a gas kill’ should be more apt. take care of myself, and promised that making the bed while he was just about cylinder or something,’ said father. He asked me to get dressed. The next he would be back in the morning. I WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

was reluctant at first but then he man- aged to convince me, as he always did. I didn’t sleep that night. Through a windowpane, I could only see the flames burning the place I grew up in and hear the screams of panic and despair. By then I had known that our home would burn too and along with it my jewelry, my clothes, and, my childhood memories-basically all that I had ever owned. It didn’t matter much though, as long as he was safe, as long as he came back to me. He did come back in the morning. And even in that time of unforeseen travesty, there was a smile on his face. We spent that whole day together. I clinched on to him all the time. Wher- ever he went I followed. The next day, the 10th of May was the first day of Eid. Needless to say that nobody celebrated. You don’t cel- ebrate when everything around you is burning, you mourn for yourself and everyone around you. In a way, we all did celebrate actually. What better way is there to celebrate the festival of sacrifice than sacrificing your home? Sacrificing your loved one maybe! But I was going to do that too, in a few hours. ‘The army is closing in. We need to regroup and plan our defense,’ I heard someone telling him on his wireless set. ‘I won’t let you go,’ I said crying, and snatched his radio. ‘We will shave your beard and colour your hair and leave in the evening. They won’t rec- ognize you. We will stay in Srinagar for a few days and come back when this ends or we will never come back, we don’t need to.’ He looked at me, squinted at me, and shook his head in agreement. ‘How could he leave without telling Father sat down and asked for water. time. I ran through the alleys I had Around noon he came up to me with me,’ I shouted at them like they were I went to the kitchen and with my grown up playing in. I saw the shop a glass of pomegranate juice he had responsible. They understood my frus- hands shaking poured a glass of water. where I used to take my younger broth- prepared himself. tration and tried to calm me down. When I was coming back I heard my er to buy cotton candies, the school I ‘You are pregnant and you have But I knew why he left like that because father saying that some of the rebels went to as a child, the tailor’s shop barely eaten or slept these days. Take I wouldn’t have let him if I was awake. were dead, some had fled and others where we met for the first time, the this, and get some rest. We are leaving When you die, you just die; just a were trapped in the shrine and mau- shrine my mother thought was there in the evening,’ he said. flash, and you are gone. But, the next soleum. My heart sank; I felt something for our protection, the mausoleum my I remember feeling dizzy right after day on the 11th of May that bloody inside my body churning my chest father used to pray in while I waited I drank the juice. I don’t know how year, I died a million deaths. I died and my head. I couldn’t stand on my for him on the stairs-I saw my whole and when I slept. I woke up in the mid- with every shot that was fired. I died feet anymore. My vision blurred out world reduced to a rubble of ashes. dle of the night in a pitch dark small with every grenade that burst. I died and I fainted. But, most of all I saw the man I was room. At first, I thought I was dead after every footstep I heard that wasn’t I don’t have any memories of that supposed to live my whole life with and buried. Then I heard the gunshots, his. day after that. What I do remember wrapped in white sheet – dead. which were way louder than they were If I had known where to look for him though, and what will always be fresh At that moment in time, I thought the day before. They assured me I was I would have run to him. All I did that in my memory is a huge explosion an of killing myself. There was nothing alive unless there are conflicts in the day was looking through the window. hour or so before the dawn. Everything in me left to fight anymore. It is iron- afterlife too. And long for a single sight of his. went silent after that. There were no ic how he was a fighter and it was me I immediately checked for him. He Just before dusk, I heard someone bullets after that, no grenades either, who had to always fight: fight with my wasn’t there. It took me a few minutes knocking on the door. I ran towards only wails and silence. family to marry him, fight with him to realize where the door was and half the door. It wasn’t him. It was my father. That morning, on May 12, I heard to run away and live, and in retrospect asleep I rushed outside. Shameema I wanted to ask my father if he had his name on the radio news. The man fight for my survival after him. and her husband were sitting right seen him but I was too shy to ask my who read the news mispronounced And, like my hometown, I chose to outside. They told me he would be back father about my husband. So, I ea- his name but, it was enough for me to fight and live on for there was an- in the morning. gerly waited for him to speak. run bare feet to see him for the last other life in my womb to live for. FP K WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

CAPTIVE CHORUS Families of Kashmiri prisoners lodged in different Indian jails are pleading the government with their amplified social media appeals to either shift inmates to Kashmiri jails or release them on parole.

/Pendamic

/ C O V E R S T O R Y B Y M A R I L A L A T I F

SHOWKAT TANTRY IMTIYAZ HYDER SHEERAZ AHMAD WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

op Hurriyat leader’s death in “He was mostly kept isolated,” Rashid add- On the other side, Mohammad Maqbool’s detention is making 23-year-old ed. “We just met him once and that too some impaired life comes to a standstill whenever Shazia anxious about her incar- 6 months ago. During that meeting, we spoke his son, Huzair Maqbool, a class 10 student cerated brother’s health. over phone seeing him through a soundproof from south Kashmir’s Shopain town, calls Her 28-year-old sibling, Showkat glass partition. He looked tough but the harsh him from Agra Jail. Tantary from Deachpora area prison had hit his health.” “He called a week ago,” Maqbool said. “In Tof South Kashmir’s Kulgam, is imprisoned in After Sehrai’s sudden demise, the demand— an anxious voice, he told me that he fears vac- Agra Jail under the Public Safety Act (PSA) “bring them home”—started echoing in the cination might kill him. But I advised him to — a “lawless law” allowing detention up to valley again. get the shot whenever the prison authorities two years without charge, or trial. Like him, said Mehbooba Mufti, countless make it available for the inmates.” Showkat was rounded off in a sweeping political prisoners and other detainees from Ever since he was arrested under PSA on crackdown on August 5, 2019, when New Del- J&K continue to be jailed purely for their August 5, 2019, Huzair’s family has been fre- hi abrogated the semi-autonomous status of ideologies and thought process. quenting Agra jail to see their son’s face. Jammu and Kashmir. “In today’s India,” the former JK chief min- “Every time we meet, his tearful eyes tear “My brother tested positive for coronavirus ister urging premier Narendra Modi to release my heart out,” Maqbool said. “I crave to see during the first Covid wave,” said Shazia, all the Kashmiri detainees lodged in various my son’s face again, but this Covid has stopped struggling to speak. jails of India on humanitarian grounds said, those meetings for now.” “He recovered after 15 days, but this second Placing Kashmiri prisoners in different wave is more fatal. It’s killing young people. jails of India like Agra, Barelvi, Tihar, etc He recently called and told us that there’s no How can the authorities be so have created hassles for their families. Most testing or vaccination facility in the jail.” negligent that not a single doctor of them can’t afford long-distance travel and When the same prison call rang Rashid bear the hostile weather. Ashraf’s cellphone lately, he expected his cap- could medicate my father for Most of these prisoners would earlier remain tive father on the other side of the phone. 10 days? Only when his health confined in the J&K jails only, said law profes- But instead spoke a harsh voice, breaking sor Sheikh Showkat. the long-feared news: “Do not worry about the worsened to an extreme level, the “But things changed after August 5, 2019.” old man. For precautionary measures, we’ve jail authorities called us. However, according to the law, there’s no decided to take him to GMC, Jammu.” impediment to bring back all these prisoners The “old man” was Mohammad Ashraf to Kashmir jails, he said. Khan Sehrai — the veteran Kashmiri politi- “one pays a price with his life for dissent.” “In 2010, Syed Ali Geelani was lodged in cian gasping for days on the knolls of Ud- Earlier, as the second virulent wave in- Chashma Shahi. And the way Covid centres hampur Jail. vaded Indian prisons and infected many Kash- are being created to tackle the emergency Shortly, after his emergency hospital shift, miri prisoners, the Jammu and Kashmir High situation, the administration can create spe- the jailed Kashmiri leader and Tehreek-e- Court Bar Association (JKHCBA) urged the cial jails to shift the Kashmiri prisoners back Hurriyat chief passed away on May 5, trigger- Government of India to either shift Kashmiri in the valley.” ing emotional outbursts and tributes in the prisoners from outside to the nearest jails in But the absence of such welfare mechanism valley. Kashmir or release them on parole. is only giving hard time to the families of these Posthumously, and officially, Sehrai, 76, was “Due to Covid, nobody is allowed to review prisoners. Among them is Imtiyaz, fearing for declared Covid-19 positive. His health, accord- the situation in these jails and the most relevant his imprisoned brother’s life these days. ing to the prison officials, had started dete- example I can cite here – over the vulnerabil- Imtiyaz’s sibling, Sheraaz Ahmad, a 31-year- riorating some days ago when he developed ity of the situation – is the death of Mohammad old pharmaceutical distributor from Batamu- serious breathing problems. Ashraf Sehrai,” advocate Mudasir Dar, ex- ran area of South Kashmir’s Shopian, was “He called us 10 days ago and said that he ecutive member of JKHCBA told FPK. booked under PSA on August 8, 2019. was not able to walk properly due to weakness, “Despite urging the government repeatedly, “He recently called from Agra Jail and said and was fainting quite frequently in his cell,” we did not have any response till date. The he’s not keeping well,” Imtiyaz said. “The jail Rashid Ashraf, Sehrai’s son, told Free Press government had assured earlier that they will canteen has been closed due to the growing Kashmir. take adequate measures to jab the prisoners number of Covid cases there, but Kashmiri “He had multiple dysfunctions. The family but unfortunately that has also not happened.” prisoners are yet to be vaccinated. Even dur- had repeatedly sent essential medicines but But now, as the cases are steadily surging, ing these distressing times, there’re no pro- they never reached him.” the plight of prisoners is giving sleepless nights tocols for the family to call their inmates and Sehrai had Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) to their families back home. know their condition.” – which means kidney failure. In medical Lately, when former cop-turned-Hurriyat Sheraaz, Imtiyaz said, was lately beaten methodology, if a CKD patient misses a dose, activist, Imtiyaz Hyder, called his son Asrar along with other Kashmiri prisoners for de- the rising creatinine level increases the need Safvi from Amphalla jail, his family became manding a phone call. for dialysis. restless. “I believe they’re not letting them talk be- Without dialysis, toxins and wastes build “He told me that the authorities were shift- cause they want to put them in harm’s way,” up in the blood, causing a condition called ing him to Haryana Jail amid this Covid Imtiyaz said. Uremia. Depending on how quickly the toxins crisis,” Safvi, 21, said. “We fear for his life Meanwhile, at Deachpora Kulgam, young build up, impermanence follows. during these trying times.” Shazia is trying to put up a face and fight with “It’s a pre-planned murder,” Rashid said. Detained under PSA since March 2020, her trembling heart. “How can the authorities be so negligent 49-year-old Hyder comes from Central Kash- “There seems no hope,” Shazia said in a that not a single doctor could medicate my mir’s Budgam district and is known for his whimpering voice. father for 10 days? Only when his health ‘proximity with Hyderpora’. “Since August 5, 2019, our patience is contend- worsened to an extreme level, the jail au- “We’re repeatedly requesting Divisional ing against the time. My mother takes 3 tablets thorities called us.” commissioners, DSPs, SSPs to shift my father to remain sane. I hope they send my brother Sehrai was booked under PSA last year and to any Kashmir Jail, but no one is responding back home soon, and end our constant state of imprisoned in a Jammu jail. to our miserable pleas,” Safvi lamented. anxiety which is only killing us slowly.” FP K WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

Campus Crisis

As the perilous pandemic padlocked educational campuses of the valley afresh, Kashmiri students depict their distressing indoor life shadowed by the second viral wave.

fleeting campus outing lately ended when colleges were reopened across the valley. The for chirpy Anusha when she was sent announcement came as a breath of fresh air for the back indoors as an inmate. Fending indoor-weary students. in glum walls now, she mostly watch- After passing through a stressful stage during es ‘viral visuals’ on her mother’s back-to-back lockdowns, Arshie Zainab was one of cellphone, and perhaps making right those students feeling a sense of solace with aca- /Education Anoises. demic spring. “They suspended our schools and kept gardens Her lockdown life became a harrowing homework open,” the Class 9 student says. “Their misadventure last year when her entire family was tested Covid-19 is now creating an existential crisis for us in the form positive. of this vicious viral caseload.” The situation turned deadly after her uncle and Anusha is angry with the mismanagement, plagued aunt became Covid casualties. life and seasonal campus closure in her homeland. “Gloom and grief made the entire lockdown time Pushed to the wall, her class is currently conveying a traumatic experience for me,” Arshie says. a hostage sense. “But I was happy after college was reopened re- By Qurrat ul Ein “Our education has become a big joke,” Anusha cently. It helped me to keep my mind busy with stud- continues with a straight face. “We hardly learn ies away from the woeful walls of my home. But anything from those pestering online classes where sadly, this Covid has come as a big spoiler once again.” we act as mute spectators for the sake of completing Fearing the second virulent wave, the administra- our syllabus.” tion lately closed the campuses and sent students Before this anguish and anger, the long wait had back to indoors. Those who’ve not signed in for online ended for Kashmiri students on February 15, 2021— classes are up to more challenging days in lockdown. WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

Back home, many of them are not “I ended up missing my coaching ses- demic has blocked an outlet. Earlier cooking. able to manage time. sions and messing my concepts.” some of us would move out of our caged “When restaurants are closed, only When lockdown became frequent in Those preparing for competitive ex- homeland to pursue studies elsewhere. a good cook at home can save the crav- Kashmir, especially after New Delhi ams were more stressed during the But now when everybody is sailing in ing, the restaurant-like food,” says dramatically enforced communication previous pandemic phase powered by the same boat, we are only bearing the Muntazir, a graduate student trying embargo in the erstwhile state of Jam- 2G internet. major brunt of it.” to be chef for his family. mu and Kashmir ahead of rendering “I was mostly tense about my com- For some students, however, the “With my sibling, I’m making pizza, its semi-autonomous status null and petitive exams last year,” Aiman, a silver-lining this time around is un- samosa, momos, pani puri, and much void in August 2019, Khusboo couldn’t NEET aspirant, says. “I felt like trapped restricted connectivity. more nowadays.” maintain her schedule amid escalating in an island with no way out.” Not able to talk with their family and But those who can’t cook are resort- stress. Apart from the troubled study, the friends made earlier lockdowns a chill- ing to reading, gardening, social media But with the recent campus revival, fear of loneliness and infection has ing experience for them. consumption, online movie watching she had started planning her days in increased anxiety of students during “I was unable to stay connected with and videos games. a better way. another curbed phase. my dear ones in Kashmir during 2019 However, not everyone is making “After coming out of a captive life, “We were still recovering from the political lockdown,” says Asma, who peace with the lockdown life, not at change was there to see in the campus,” 2019 and 2020 restrictions when this pursues B.tech in Delhi. least angry Anusha. Khushboo, a Humanities student, says. lockdown came as yet another shocker,” “While 2019 was miserable, Covid Her mother’s cellphone continues to “You could meet friends, interact Arman says. lockdown only seems an extended be her window of the world these days. with teachers face to face, and feel that “Our life is sadly revolving around holiday for me.” Lately, when locals were put under educational ecosystem all over again. these lockdowns now.” If not holiday for all, the current strict lockdown, a rush of non-locals All that felt like a welcome change, Though used to constant campus captivity has at least become an op- at Srinagar Airport made her lose her before this Covid house-arrested us closures, the present paralysis is only portunity for some students to spend calm again. again.” proving to be a nerve-wracking time more time with their parents and learn “Kashmir might be hell for locals, Although many of these students for these young minds. For example, about the art of homemaking. but it has to be heaven for non-locals remain paranoid after mostly raised college-goer Mehvish often distresses “I started to observe and appreciate who could be potential carriers of in lockdowns over the years, they were herself by thinking about her elusive how my mother performs all the house- Covid,” the 9th grader says. looking forward to a ‘hassle-free’ cam- dream to study in foreign university. hold chores during the lockdown,” says “Is Covid a life threat only for Kash- pus calendar this time around. “As lockdown has become a global Soliha, a college-goer. “My hectic school miris who’re being barred from trade “When they imposed lockdown with- phenomenon, I’ve given up on that idea life earlier didn’t give me a chance to and education in these viral times? in lockdown in 2020, I didn’t step out for now,” Mehvish, a political science learn these things.” While others can come and roam free- of my home for straight 45 days,” says student, says. While some are learning home af- ly, we’re supposed to stay home. Irony Arman-ul-Haq, a 19-year-old student. “For us Kashmiri students, this pan- fairs, others are trying their hands on dies every day in my Kashmir!”FP K WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

/ P H O T O S T O R Y B Y Z A I N A B

CURBED Celebration

As the COVID cases in Kashmir continue to rise amidst the lockdown, Kashmir yet again celebrated a silent Eid on Thursday. Traffic mostly remained off the roads as tight restrictions were put in place since early morning. However there were some small community gatherings seen in some places to offer eid prayers. WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

Zehra and Zairaabi, cousins, pose for a photograph in a mosque compound Amidst tight restrictions, a woman walks past a paramilitary vehicle with near their house. children in Srinagar’s Nowhatta.

Zehra and Zairaabi, cousins, pose for a photograph in a mosque compound Shafiqa gives blessings to a fellow devotee after offering eid prayers in a local near their house. mosque. WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

A policeman lifts a concertina wire to let a funeral procession pass in old city’s Rajouri Kadal.

Paramilitary troops detain a boy after clashes were reported in Srinagar’s Rajouri Kadal. The troops alleged that the boy was “pelting stones,” an allegation that he denied saying, “he was coming back from his aunt’s house” and was unaware about the clashes in the area. WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021

Ayaan (second from right) poses for a photograph along with his friends in a prayer ground near his home.

Ayaan (second from right) poses for a photograph along with his friends in a prayer ground near his home. Irtiqa, 16, on her way to a local park near her home as she was getting bored at home. FP K WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE MAY 17 – 23, 2021