Kashmir: From Paradise to Hell
Channel: VideoVolunteers
Date: 2013-12-11

Community Correspondent Sajad Rasool interviews Khurram Parvez of the J&K Coalition of Civil Society. He shares the Human Rights violations the people of Kashmir face on a daily basis by the hands of the Indian state and its armed forces.

The ongoing human rights abuses in Kashmir is the biggest tragedy in the era of so called 'ongoing democracies'.  The presence of 1 million Indian troops makes Kashmir not only the most militarized zones in the world. Living here often feels like living in a large prison with a population of 1.2 Crore. India claims that the J&K region is an integral part of the republic but the presence of a strong anti-India resentment among Kashmiris denounces this. 

Kashmir, where fathers have been tortured in front of their kids and mothers raped in broad day light, sons brutally killed in front of their parents, properties burnt to ash and people oppressed by those meant to protect them. 

Today, every home has a story of brutality to narrate. Everyone has suffered in one way or the other. The daily routine in a Kashmiri's life will involve being frisked; their houses could be searched anytime. Schools and colleges may remain shut for months on end during strikes and clashes between militants and armed forces. Generations of children suffer the consequences—emotional scars, interrupted educations.

State Terrorism if not stopped, draconian laws if not repealed, victimization and oppression if not ended, it will definitely give birth to a new spell of violence in the Valley, which will lead to its complete destruction.