State Repression
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh named internal conflict the greatest threat to Indian national security. India’s many fractured ethnic groups and growing economic disparity create ripe ground for conflict. The Indian national government generally divides major conflicts into three major geographic arenas: the ongoing conflict over Jammu and Kashmir; Naxalite rebellions in the central corridor and militant movements in the Northeast. While conflict between the country’s Hindu nationalists and Muslim minority has remained relatively dormant in the last few years, tension persists. Small-scale conflicts across India—both old and new—continue and occasionally flare up in violence. Of central concern is the growing disparity between the country’s newly minted haves and the majority have nots. Many believe this increasing gap is of utmost concern for the entire nation. In this section, IndiaUnheard Community Correspondents Report on conflict.
The missing piece in rising farmer’s suicide in India
Hiralal Sahu ended his life in October in Odisha, joining several thousands of farmers across the country in a tragic and seemingly unending saga of despair and death. Sahu, a resident of a small village in Baragada district of Odisha consumed a large dose of pesticides because he was unable...
A Kashmiri mother’s tale of sorrow
Shameena, a Kashmiri mother, spends her days crying silently, longingly gazing at the picture of her smiling son Zubair Ahmed because she will never see him again. Zubair, a child of no more than 14 was killed by the Special Task Force (STF) after a chase in Sopore, Baramullah during...
No morsel of food for tea-garden workers in Bengal
As we sip our morning tea in comforts of our home, tea workers in this tea estate of North Bengal are struggling to survive, eating dried leaves as their meal because their only source of income, the tea estates, owned by Duncans Industries Ltd have shut down since last year...
Young Kashmiri blown to pieces for tearing posters of renegade
Yusuf, a young man from Kashmir was blown to pieces, tied to a mine and a boulder in a local forest by the Indian Army on 3rd February 1999 without any substaintial proof that he was part of a militant outfit. He was picked up the night before the fateful...
Farmers await compensation for damage by wild animals
As rapid urbanization cuts into India’s forests, animals and humans have come into increasing conflict. Apart from in the wild, the human-wildlife conflict is most concentrated and impactful within agricultural regions bordering the wildness. The villages of Saraipali and Gourmudi, which border the vast forests of Chhattisgarh have recently been...
Forest Ranger of Shot Dead by a Timber Smuggling Ikhwan in Kashmir
Forest Ranger Ghulam Mohammed Khan of Kangan Ganderbal, Kashmir, was picked up by Nazir Gurra, an infamous renegade from Ikhwan, a pro-government militia in Jammu and Kashmir, on June 1999. Few hours later his family heard a few gunshots nearby which claimed his life. The slain ranger’s body was found...
A Kashmiri Widow’s 20-year long wait for Justice
Munawara’s husband was picked up by the BSF along with few other youths after a crackdown in Batamaloo area of Srinagar on On 7 April 1993. He was shot to death, at point blank range inside a cow shed, along with another youth. His crime? The BSF claimed that the...
Innocent shot dead by the J&K police, family awaits justice
Farooq Ahmed Rather was killed on 25th of June 2008, when police fired indiscriminately on a peaceful protest in Mazhama village of district Budgam. He was standing near the window inside his house, some 100 yards away from the spot of the protest, when he was shot. His family immediately rushed...