Kashmir: Through the eyes of a Grand-daughter

Abstract

When the Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1569-1627) visited Kashmir for the first time, he proclaimed: If heaven exists anywhere, then it’s here, it’s here, it’s here. Centuries on, the beauty of the valley has confirmed his impression. Kashmir truly is ‘Paradise on earth’. But for the last seven odd decades, that Paradise has been invaded by serpents and witnessed deaths and destruction of genocidal proportions. Kashmir has been turned into a site of decades-long political and military strife and now usurped in the name of ‘integration’. Losses of lives, mass incarceration and tortures seem to have been driven by this plot to occupy and annex the valley.