Kashmiris being monitored on social media

Kashmiri mothers
In the past week, several Kashmiris have told me about their fear in posting on social media since Indian officials & nationalists are monitoring them. A few were arrested in India for FB posts & some are being harassed there by nationalists. FB continues to suspend accounts of Kashmiris & Indian supporters.

In Kashmir, youth are being arrested in large numbers under the Public Safety Act used against Khurram Parvez, That means possible torture & detention without charge up to two years. Given India’s flagrant disregard for law, the detention could be indefinite.

Kashmiri activists on social media worked tirelessly for a long time to break the news blackout that prevailed in international media about the occupation & their struggle. They created a monumental shift in awareness about their struggle & for that they are being punished.

Solidarity now requires those of us beyond the reach of India’s penal system to post, not recklessly but honestly, about what has gone on the past 84 days of a relentless military siege against unarmed protesters & what continues unabated.

(Left photo sign reads “Where is my son who you took away 12 years ago?” Right photo is mother protesting forcible disappearances of Kashmiri youth.)