Kashmir: The new abnormal

Wed, 08 September 2021
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"If Kashmir has indeed become 'normal' under the ministrations of August 5, 2019 and the sustained post-operative care, here is a fine example of it.

"When a nonagenarian adversary of the State dies, rendered frail beyond measure by chronic illness, his mortal remains are shoddily confiscated in a late-night jackboot raid and consigned to a grave not of the choosing of the departed man or the family. 

"The last rites, filmed as a PR effort under as much light as cellphones can cast, recall all the antonyms to dignified as might exist. Severe restrictions on movement are imposed, communications are disabled, another flowering of concertina ordered for the streets, so Syed Ali Shah Geelani can be hustled six feet under.

"Such is the peace that has come to descend upon Kashmir, the peace of the commandeered grave."

Read Sankarshan Thakur's column here.