Critical Thinking With Raqim...

The Invisible Soldiers: Paharis and the Kashmir Jihad. By AbuBakar Irfan. The Kashmir conflict is often painted with a narrow brush, one that almost exclusively highlights the Valley and its struggle. Terms like "Kashmiri resistance" or "freedom fighters" usually conjure up images of Srinagar youth with stones in hand or insurgents operating in the dense forests of Kupwara. But this portrayal omits a crucial, often ignored truth: that Pahari-origin Kashmiris, particularly from Kotli, Mirpur, Poonch, Rajouri, and Bagh have made immense sacrifices in the Kashmir Jihad. Since the onset of the insurgency in 1989, the Kashmir Jihad has drawn thousands of volunteers, supporters, and sympathizers from both sides of the Line of Control (LoC). Among them, a significant number belonged not to the Valley, but to the mountainous and linguistically distinct regions of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). These Pahari-speaking populations, often mocked or marginalized as "not real ...

  Title: The Other Kashmiris: Forgotten Voices of Kotli, Rajouri & Beyond. By AbuBakar Irfan. When the world speaks of Kashmir, it often conjures the image of the snow-covered valley of Srinagar, Dal Lake shimmering beneath the sky, and people caught in decades of conflict. But beyond this romanticized and media-centralized narrative lies a deeper, more complex truth, one that involves millions of people whose stories rarely get told. These are the people of Kotli, Rajouri, Mirpur, Poonch, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, and other regions that were once part of the undivided princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite their shared history and suffering, many of these communities today face marginalization, not only politically but also in identity. The Kashmir conflict, as it is known globally, has come to mean "the Valley conflict." This has inadvertently excluded voices from Jammu, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), who continue to grapple with displacement...