Daily Times

Due to the Indian government’s strict information control, the world has known very little about the ground situation in the held valley since the onslaught on Kashmiris in India-controlled Kashmir on August 5, 2019. However, the truth cannot be kept hidden for long. As a first step, a riveting book describes the newest, ongoing episode in the decades-long tragedy of occupied Kashmir. Anurudha Bhasin’s book “A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370” is a scathing condemnation of Indian actions in Jammu and Kashmir following its annexation and bifurcation on August 5, 2019, by abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution.

Anurudha, the author, executive editor of Kashmir Times, and a resident of Kashmir, has witnessed the instability, bloodshed, injustices, and vicissitudes of Kashmiris’ political lives before and after August 2019. The book unearths how this time that radically altered the geopolitical and economic landscape impacted the people of J&K in their day-to-day lives, naming August 5, 2019, the day of (India-held) J&K’s dismemberment and disempowerment and a fundamental break from the past. This is India’s first attempt to counteract disinformation in Kashmir’s perilous information desert.

She began attempting to make sense of what was happening on the ground over a year after Kashmir lost its special status. Anurudha, the author, executive editor of Kashmir Times, and a resident of Kashmir has witnessed the instability, bloodshed, injustices, and vicissitudes of Kashmiris’ political lives before and after August 2019. The book unearths how this time that radically altered the geopolitical and economic landscape impacted the people of J&K in their day-to-day lives, naming August 5, 2019, the day of (India-held) J&K’s dismemberment and disempowerment and a fundamental break from the past. This is India’s first attempt to counteract disinformation in Kashmir’s perilous information desert.

She began attempting to make sense of what was happening on the ground over a year after Kashmir lost its special status. Following the crackdown, thousands of people were detained and arrested during nighttime raids. Torture and the harsh Public Safety Act were made into weapons and then used more frequently. In this regard, numerous examples have been reported. The infrastructure of fear and control, which the author describes as being carried out by night raids, arbitrary arrests, detentions, torture, and allegations of sexual assault, persisted for the the day. Up to 13.65 million people were virtually imprisoned by the shutdown and under siege; the internet was turned off, and communication was blocked. *