"Every day I wake up in the morning, I think he might be at the door. In the evening while I lay the table for dinner, my eyes are fixed at the door in the hope that he may just come in," says Zainab, whose husband went missing 10 years ago.Zainab's husband was allegedly arrested by soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir.Zainab is someone that people in Kashmir refer to as a "half-widow".
Estimates range between 2000 and 6000 women do not know the whereabouts of their husbands. They are Kashmir’s Half Widows, women whose spouses have disappeared during the conflict. Some have been killed by security forces , , and some have been jailed. Regardless the cause of their disappearance, they’ve left behind children, and their wives. Without proof of their husbands death, the women are unable to re-marry, receive government funding, and are often cast out of society as a great stigma is attached the now single women. Most of their in-laws disown the women and their children. 

Dear child ~
That child I met on the street of Srinagar,
His eyes followed me to this page,
His pain followed me as I walked towards a place,
Where my voice was respected, a place where I could speak,
Would you have the heart to say, “he is not me”?
I tell you he is me, I feel his pain as I breathe,
I feel the loss of his father was a pain that I grieved.
He does not know his mother, they told him she was dead,
They told him he must not fear, better things are ahead,
Then a soldier came and beat him so that he was close to his death,
His crime? He asked where his mothers buried body lies,
Instead of taking pity because of the pain in his eyes,
They killed their guilt and beat him till he could not move,
Tried to take his life as they knew it was all he had to lose.

That little girl I met in the streets of Gaza,
Her eyes followed me to this page,
Her pain followed me as I reached for my soul,
Unlocked my passion from within so that I could not control,
The way that I felt and I was obliged to act,
That moment changed my life and I would never look back.
She was born to a mother who has nothing but love to give,
Haunted by images of the day that her father was killed,
She saw him face a tank with a stone in his hand,
She proudly speaks of her pride in her fathers stance,
She fights hard to hide the pain that I can see in her eyes,
I tell her she must no longer fear she has no reason to hide,
Her struggle is mine and I devote my life to end her pain,
I saw in her eyes that it was driving her insane.
But I want to hold that little boy close to my heart and tell him he is safe,
I pray that he may just find a way to believe me,
I want to cover his ears to shelter his ears from the destruction,
I pray that he may begin to respect me,
I want to save that little girl from the tear gas that haunts her mind,
If I tell her to take shelter behind me,
she may begin to trust me,
I want to hand her the stones she needs to resist the torture,
She may remember my love and escape her nightmare,
I want to replace their pain with love,innocence and laughter,
I want to tell them that they are the change that we need in this world,
I want them to know that now it is their turn,
I want them to look at me and see I will forever be their .

Srinagar, Nov 24: Two separate laws in vogue in Kashmir, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Municipal Corporation Act 2000 regarding Regulation of Animal Birth (Dogs), throw up a disturbing fact about rights of humans and dogs in the conflict zone.
Ironically, in conflict-ridden Kashmir the right of a dog to life is safeguarded legally more than a human being.
For example, according to the AFSPA, any commissioned officer, warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or any other person of equivalent rank in the armed forces to maintain public order can fire upon and use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law, including prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons.
On the contrary, the Municipal Act regarding Regulation of Animal Birth prohibits any of the Corporations employee or officer from killing a dog, even if it is wreaking havoc against civilian population, unless a high-power committee sanctions its death after a thorough probe. The committee of the Municipal Corporation to decide upon the fate of an ‘outlaw’ dog in Kashmir comprises its Commissioner, Health Officer, a representative of the Animal Welfare Department, Municipal Veterinary Doctor, a representative of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and representatives from the J&K Public Health Department.
It is this high powered committee that can decide on catching, transportation, sheltering, sterilization and vaccination of dogs.

‎"Ratti Gali Lake" Neelam Valley (Urdu: وادیِ نیلم) is located in Pakistan administrated Kashmir Region. Neelam valley is a 144 km long bow-shaped deeply forested region in Kashmir. Neelum Valley is situated at the North & North-East of Muzaffarabad (Pakistan administrated Kashmir) running parallel to Kaghan Valley. The two valleys are only separated by snow-covered peaks, some over 4000m above sea level. Excellent scenic beauty, panoramic views, towering hills on both sides of the noisy Neelum river, lush green forests, enchanting streams and attractive surroundings make the valley a dream come true....

Srinagar  is the summer capital of the Jammu and Kashmir. It lies in the Kashmir Valley, on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. The city is famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats. It is also known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts and dried fruits. Kalhana notes in Rajatarangini that Maurya Emperor Ashoka built the city of Srinagari in the 3rd century BC and also built many stupas in Kashmir.

The culture and traditions of Kashmir, a region in northern India (India-administered Kashmir consisting of Jammu and Kashmir), northeast Pakistan (Pakistan-administered Kashmir consisting of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan) and the Chinese territory of Aksai Chin.


The culture of Kashmiri is a diverse blend and highly influenced by northern South Asian as well as Central Asian culture. Along with its scenic beauty, Kashmir is famous for its cultural heritage; it amalgamates Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist philosophies and has involved composite culture based on the values of humanism and tolerance.


The major languages are Shina, Burshuski, Balti, Laddakhi and Tibetan in the North and Kashmiri, Dogri, Pahari, Pothwari Hindko and Gojri in rest of the state.

Ramkot mirpur Pakistan administrated kashmir , Ramkot Fort was constructed around 16-17th century AD to protect the area around old Mirpur. The fort is situated on the confluance of rivers Jhelum and Poonch which now forms part of Mangla Dam. The fort can be reached from Mirpur by boat taking approx. 40 mins. Alternatively, driving to Dadyal and then Bathher Baeli provides a dry route, although there is a short walk involved. The fort is open to visitors and efforts are in place to provide better facilities.

Aijaz’s mindset reflects the way orphans grow in a residential care. His recurrent misbehaviour in the school frightened other children which forced the school authorities to expel him despite a couple of therapies which the school management arranged to redeem him. Aijaz was orphaned four years back and is one of the victims of low intensity conflict in Kashmir whose number hovers between 20,000 to 1,00000. Thousands of single parent orphans of Kashmir strive in their own way to survive. Majority of them struggle for fending themselves and their dependents. Those who are lucky manage to gain entry in orphanages and secure their ‘physical’ survival. However, beyond the four walls of orphanages, they end up misfits like Aijaz in a normal Public School. In absence of the State coming forward to create a safety net for them, the sense of assisting them inflates in civil society which has led to mushrooming of orphanages in Kashmir. That the children in orphanages grow up as non-resilient adult is not only evidenced by a counselor from an international non Governmental Organization working in Kashmir in the area of mental health, but also through other researches. The counselor was requested by a private school to counsel Aijaz and suggest correctional measures to discipline him in the school. “He was rude and undisciplined. He quarreled and misbehaved with everybody in the school. In the art therapy session, he showed extremely negative and mixed feelings. When asked to draw the picture he sketched what he called “gin” a dangerous demon who was his favourite because it frightened other children. In another session, he sketched a house partly painted red and green. The red for him was the blood and the green was peace. There were two flags atop the house one of India and one of Pakistan”, the counselor told Greater Kashmir wishing not to be named. Recurrent indiscipline which the orphan frequently showed in the school led to his expulsion from the rolls. In an independent unpublished study conducted by a Freelance Researcher in association with Department of Social Work, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and Awaan Society (J&K), it was revealed that the institutional rehabilitation of orphans fails to bring the desired results. Based on the random sampling of the orphans who passed out from different orphanages, the study followed a sample of orphanage pass-outs from various such institutions, chosen randomly and revealed that 90 percent of them fail to clear 12th class examination and three percent of the representatives complete graduation, three percent of them are in government services and 90 percent of the those who are in government services are in Police services. The study also refers to the economics of the orphanages and cites the research conducted by Chris Desmond (2002) where the institutional care of orphans in the west is estimated up to 12 times the per capita cost of community based care options. The idea of looking for the alternatives to the orphanages is even influencing the trustees of J&K Yateem Trust (JKYT), a local Non-Governmental Organization which started the first orphanage in Kashmir in 1972 and runs six out of 34 orphanages in Kashmir. A R Hanjoora who is the General Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Yateem Trust, believes that residential care is not the answer to the problems of the orphans. “In the last annual meet of the trust, I emphasized the need to move ahead with the time and find out the way to rehabilitate the orphans in their own villages,” Hanjoora told Greater Kashmir. However, he found no takers of his point. “The organization needs to be manned with young development practitioners rather than leaving it in the hands of people who do not have specific expertise. We need to study the worldwide trends in the area of children with inadequate parental care and contextualize that with the orphans of Kashmir,” he added. Hanjoora does not believe in restructuring the orphanages. He advocates for non-institutional means of rehabilitation via the village based mechanisms for which he has even filed a Public Interest Litigation in J&K High Court against the Ministry of Social Justice, with Jammu and Kashmir Government as one of the respondents. “I’m not in favour of orphanages, but as far as rehabilitation is concerned we must use all these techniques to involve the community,” he added. Clinical psychologists like Dr Muzaffar Khan, have their own reasons to advocate for radical changes for mainstreaming the orphans. “It is a proven fact that abused children are likely to end up abusers and abuse their own children. In the orphanages these things are not taken care of there is no system in place which would address such issues of orphans,” Dr Khan said. . Most of the orphans in Kashmir are the direct victims of violence and the orphanages do not offer specialized service of care and protection so as to help them to come out of such tendency. Invariably the Kashmir orphanages employ local people to take care of the orphans. They are neither trained in child care nor in management of the residential houses which is a major reason for lack of standards of care in orphanages. Recently in an art competition most of them sketched the guns and the destruction Kashmir is witnessing over the past 20 years. “Rehabilitation at the mental level is more important than offering them a room to live in, delicious food to relish and a colour television to watch,” says Dr Muzafar. Iqbal Lone, a Srinagar based development practitioner offers an alternative to residential care and the village based rehabilitation. The social worker proposes a midway to the existing conditions in orphanages and the global trend of having a village based rehabilitation system in place. “We need to regulate the orphanages at first place. I believe that orphanages could do better if there are minimum standards of care applicable to all of them. It is the responsibility of Government to collaborate with the organizations which have experience in the field and come up with a regulatory mechanism which should bring minimum standards of care as guidelines for running orphanages. Every orphanage should comply with these standards failing which their license to run the orphanage might be reconsidered and even cancelled in some cases,” Lone said. “There are four important guidelines given in United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child, endorsed by India in 1992 which need to be linked with orphanages for ensuring special care to them. Child participation, best interest of the child, non-discrimination and survival and development, most of them are absent in our slipshod orphanages,” he added. A bottom-line to the plight of orphans in Jammu and Kashmir is highlighted in a report by Seeta Sharma, who conducted a study last winter on orphans of Kashmir laments “where is the government?” “When it comes of dealing with the issue of orphans the state is largely silent whether in terms of policy or program. The condition of the state run houses is extremely bad. There are no significant packages for orphans. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has actually never listed it as a problem which is the worst part of it,” the research states. Kashmir orphans continue to think about the dual loyalties. Like Aijaz most of them will sketch a house with the flags of India and Pakistan atop reflecting a misdemeanor of their nurturing. Only a radical welfare policy will bail the hapless orphan out from the deep misgivings they encounter whether they are in an orphanage or begging in their villages.