Kashmir: How Kashmiris Endure Demolition in Endless War

Living between Shells and Silence: How Kashmiris Endure a War without End

For decades, Kashmiris have lived between two fires—India and Pakistan’s border conflict and the silent violence of state impunity.

In 2025, renewed hostilities erupted after a deadly attack in South Kashmir. What followed was intense shelling along the Line of Control, with civilians in villages like Uri, Salamabad, and Poonch paying the highest price.

Families fled into forests, homes were reduced to rubble, and dreams were buried in dust and silence.

But this story goes deeper than border clashes. It traces how war enters bedrooms, classrooms, and courtrooms—through demolitions, surveillance, detentions, and laws like India’s Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

The haunting story of Mohammad Ashraf Mattoo, a father who’s been fighting for justice since 2010, when his son Tufail was killed by Indian forces, fifteen years later, no one has been held accountable.

This isn’t just a story about conflict. It’s about a people forced to survive in a system that erases their voices, punishes their grief, and denies their right to exist.

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See also on HLRN:

India Suspends Indus Waters Treaty, 29 April 2025

Kashmir: Occupation Begets Violence and Protests, 24 April 2025

Commemorating World Habitat Day, 07 October 2024

New report: "India’s land rights violations in Kashmir," 03 October 2024

New Report on Kashmir Land Misrule, 27 November 2023

Global Letter to UN & World Bank: Set Serious Goals to Combat Inequality, 17 July 2023

Kashmir: Indian Land Law Dispossesses Locals, 16 December 2022

Pakistan: Mixed Mitigation Governance Record, 27 August 2022

Anti-Muslim India Gov’t. Razes Homes, 13 June 2022

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