Khamosh Kashmiri خاموش کشمیری

I am a Muslim and I do not approve of what some “Muslim terror groups” are doing to the world in their frenzied state of heedless revenge against an enemy which is not even there. The Islamic State group for instance, brings shame to me being a Muslim. I was shocked the day Paris was attacked for it was only innocent people who got killed and maimed. It is always the innocent who get killed in majority (or should I say all) of the attacks perpetrated and then heretically owned by Muslim terror outfits. The policy makers, the aggressors and the assumed “proponent enemies” are seated behind fortresses while our Muslim brothers kill unassuming people who are out to earn their living or by all means live a happy life. This is terrorism and there is no running away from it. If the whole Muslim population is being blamed and is placed under a restive “judgment” of mistrust, it is not the fault of the “other” but our own “private bomber” who is persistently focused on the belief that h...

1. Feb 21, 2014 : "Unidentified gunmen" shoot dead a 25-year-old PG Islamiyat student Wasim Mehraj Malla from Bagh-e-Islam Kraakshun Colony in North Kashmir's Sopore town. The Separatist Reaction: Silence 2. March 8 , 2014 : An 80 year old man Ghulam Muhammad Dar is shot dead by "unidentified persons" in his native village of Dogripora in Awantipora Town. The Separatist Reaction: Silence 3. March 14 , 2014 : A youth Farhat Ahmed Dar son of Ghulam Muhammad of Shahgund is killed in police firing at Naidkhai Sumbal shortly after Friday protests. The Separatist Reaction:  Street protests, stone pelting, calls for  hartal 4. April 19 , 2014 : PDP Sarpanch Mohammd Amin Pandit is killed in cold blood by Militants  at Gulzarpora in Awantipore in Pulwama district of South Kashmir. The Separatist Reaction: Silence 5. April 21 , 2014 : 24 year old Firdous Ahmad Mir is killed in cold blood by Militants along with his father Ghulam Nabi...

Muslim Kashmiris are often questioned about their silence on separatist terror, without understanding the all-pervading fear that still exists in the valley. Many feel that just a couple of hundred militants operating in the valley means that things have returned to normal, without understanding how terror works. Here is an explanation of the silence of the majority and why separatists still imbue us with fear, despite a reduction in militancy: THE KKK OF KASHMIR, OR HOW RARE ASSASSINATIONS KEEP THE MAJORITY PERPETUALLY SILENT The recent assassination of Maulana Showkat Ahmed Shah of Jamiat-i-Ahl-e-Hadees showed the lengths intolerant hard-line separatists go to silence those who, despite being separatists as well, differ slightly with their violent and destructive methodology. Maulana Showkat’s fault was that he had criticised stone-pelting and has espoused a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict. Such assassinations occur once in a blue moon in the valley, but...

This is for all of those who think that we never were speaking for minority rights, women's rights, child rights or LGBTQ rights. We were always speaking, looking for ways to do it since the Valley erupted. Most of the younger generation forgets that there was only STD facility till the early 90s. Cable TV was just coming and there was no Internet, which is a recent phenomenon. They do not understand that the 24/12/8/6-hour electricity that what they enjoy in winter months is nothing compared to what we faced with no power lines the entire 2-3 snow-bound months. That we were in a cocoon, cut-off from the rest of the world with rumours rife, and terror heightened, complicated by the fact of lesser means of communication - be it the BBC, or the pathetically inadequate Kashmir Times, Srinagar Times, Chattan, etc. That they too were militant-controlled. Not unlike today where the dominant azadi narrative runs the new English and Urdu dailies. But to create a belief that we ...