Kashmir

Hello my name is Savar, I am a small farmer in the troubled land of Kashmir.

The Indus river flooded and has destroyed my crops once again, its been nine
months and our government has only given us 400 rupees and that it. That is my
entire live stalk and my way of money for the year and they give a lousy bit of
money. Also during the war before the cease-fire, both sides were determined to
destroyed each other, and they left land mines littered upon the land they took for
us including my farm. So, it is too dangerous to even try to restart my farm for I fear
for my life every time I step through my tall grass and ruined fields.
Therefore, me and so many other farmers have joined the rebellion. India
and Pakistan and even China say we are a part of them but none of that is true.
They celebrate their Independence Day today and only makes us feel like a
conquered people. They think we are part of them but WE ARE NOT! They rule over
us with their soldiers and police and have given us a curfew but if we dare to
disobey it; our punishment is not light. If we even move to say goodnight to a
neighbor, they will detain us and thats NOT independence this is a prison. Our
streets have been blocked off with barbed wire, theyve taken away the privilege to
use phones to call our family along with taking the internet away from us so we are
in the dark. Does this feel like freedom to you?
I have just recently joined the rebellion which started in the 1980s and its
mostly us in the southern part of Kashmir fighting all who want to rule us. The
rebels have had fights here and there but one our leaders is Burhan Muzaffar
himself. He was just a boy when he swore revenge on the people beat up his
brother. He ran into the woods and became young rebel fighting Kashmir. One day
they killed his brother for meeting him and they tortured him to death, Khalid. He
has been recruiting ever since. The militias I am apart of are strong but there are
few of us. The battles Ive seen in the past usually civilians, us militias, and Indian
soldiers end up dying. We stand to fight the government and get away from India
even if we have to support Pakistan to do it. We will always stand against India from
the battle on the streets to small cricket games played between countries. Indian
soldiers come in to our villages and farms raiding the place and arresting us for
false crimes and we are sick of it. We fight for Allah and our Muslim religion because
it is all we have left and they threaten to take it from us. That is why we have more
and more people joining us and our cause.
There are more reasons for me joining this fight and my main one is for my
wife, Eshani, who I loved so much. She was a womans right activist which I was
happy for her but I was so scared and pleaded for her stop. She protested and said
speeches but one day on her way back her taxi exploded from a land mine. She was
a widow before she met me and I swore to protect her and stand by her. She wanted
to stop sexual violence and stop the creation of half-widows, women whose
husbands disappeared in Indian police arrests. My daughter, Jala, and mourned her
for days and then I joined to avenge her and protect my daughter and stand up for
the rights as my wife did. I want to help all those half-widows find the truth of their
husbands and I want to stop the Indian government once and for from harassing
with us.