Lives snatched at gunpoint, stories of Kashmiri victims
Story: Farhan Tariq
A public movement of unarmed citizens has been going on in Pakistan-administered Kashmir for the past two and a half months, protesting for their basic human and economic rights. In response to this demand for rights, a complete blockade has been imposed across the state. Despite the shutdown of the internet, severe shortage of food and medicines, crackdowns and shutter-downs, central sit-ins are being held in various areas including Rawalakot.
During this public movement, hundreds of citizens have been killed, hundreds injured due to direct firing by Pakistani forces, and countless people have been forcibly disappeared or arrested and imprisoned in various jails, where their families are not even allowed to meet them.
Kashgil News is presenting the true stories of these unarmed civilians and their grieving families who were victims of violent acts, in the form of a video and written series. Kashgil News
………………………………………………………………….
Hussam Banaras, 26, from Dhok Darek in Rawalakot, was killed by a sniper bullet on July 27, while his family members said his body reached home on July 28. Hussam worked as a security guard in Rawalpindi and was home on Eid-ul-Adha holidays.
Hussam’s mother Khadija Bibi says that after the protests started, his family kept asking him to go back to Rawalpindi, but Hussam said, “This is a movement of all of us, the people who come here need food and water, how can we leave them alone?”
On July 27, Hussam left home to participate in the sit-in, but his body returned home the next day.
Hussam’s father Banaras Khan asks: “He used to give water to the protesters, which terrorist was he? Every human being has the right to live, there are no terrorists in Kashmir.”
***
Share this content:
