{"id":22,"date":"2016-07-28T06:54:25","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T06:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=22"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:26:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:26:18","slug":"these-scars-dont-fade-kashmir-burhan-wani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=22","title":{"rendered":"These Scars Don’t Fade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span>here was once a five-year-old boy who would wander through the streets of downtown Srinagar, marvelling at the beautiful green valley where he lived. When the child would eventually find his way home, he\u2019d go straight to his crayons and begin putting those various shades of green on paper.\n\nAs Mir Suhail grew up and started school, the drawings of his emerald purlieus gave way to doodles and caricatures of his classmates and teachers, hemmed into the margins of his notebook. Alphabets were alien to him. His ammi would often be called to school to make him stop sketching and focus on studies. But it was water off a duck\u2019s back.\n\nIn this carefree, doodle-filled childhood, Mir Suhail had made a special friend, a strapping twenty-something boy in the body of a man. Ismail, who lived next door, was deaf and mute; his mind hadn\u2019t developed beyond the age of 10. Mir adored Ismail for two reasons: He smiled a lot, and he was a great climber. Mir and his army of tiny seven-year-olds would climb on Ismail\u2019s capable shoulders to scale the walls of the locked garden near their house. Ismail was also his companion on long, meandering walks. When they were not out climbing walls or wandering the streets of Srinagar, Mir would draw and Ismail would sit next to him, clapping joyously every now and then, whenever Mir made something he liked.\n\nThen one day, Ismail disappeared.\n\n<\/p>\"kashmir1\n

\n

Courtesy: Mir Suhail<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\nThis was the turbulent 1990s, when insurgency was at its peak. Change had come to the Valley, and wandering was no longer allowed. Especially for boys who looked a lot like men, even if they were just kids.\n\nThat day, ammi warned Mir about a curfew in the city. He didn\u2019t understand the word \u2013 all it meant to him was that it was a \u201cno-play day\u201d. Grumbling, he went back to his sketchbook, when suddenly, two loud gunshots reverberated through the neighbourhood.\n\nMir ran towards the door, but ammi stopped him. He paced the house restlessly for hours. From a hole in the compound wall of his house, he could see a uniformed crowd of mostly cops and the military. Even though he was just seven, he knew something had gone terribly wrong.\n\n\"kashmir2\"\n

\n

Courtesy: Mir Suhail<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\nLater, ammi told Mir that Ismail had wandered onto the streets. The police had called out to him, but he hadn\u2019t responded. They called again, but Ismail continued walking. The police had no idea that the boy they were yelling at, couldn\u2019t hear them. After several warnings, they shot him.\n\nThe next day, Mir walked down that lane swarming with gun-toting cops. The silence was eerie. Ahead of him was a dark, bloody stain on the asphalt, now dried to a crusty black in the morning sun.\n\nIt was all that was left of his smiling friend.\n

***<\/p>\nThe 26-year-old young man I meet at the newly opened caf\u00e9 on the banks of Jhelum in Srinagar\u2019s Polo View Street is serious-faced. He rarely smiles. We sit in the restaurant decorated with the creations of local artists. Behind us, the sun hits the wall adorned by intricately carved, latticed wooden windows, the architectural hallmark of Kashmir.\n\nIsmail\u2019s story hangs over us like a tragic cloud. When he reaches the end of his story, we\u2019re both transported back on that street, staring at the patch of blood and wondering at the senselessness of the boy\u2019s death. Ismail\u2019s face may have faded from his memory, but Mir\u2019s anger has endured. The stories of youth, who\u2019ve lost their lives without reason, have continued through Mir\u2019s growing-up years \u2013 their blood stains linger in Srinagar\u2019s streets.\n\nThe happy pictures of Mir\u2019s beloved Kashmir and doodles of his friends have given way to darker material. His sketches are fierce strikes against the people and politics that have assailed this once-pristine Valley \u2013 military forces, bunkers, and army camps. The past, for this young cartoonist, is never really the past. It bleeds through his cartoons.\n\n\"kashmir3\n

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Courtesy: Mir Suhail<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\nAs I glance through the drawings on Mir\u2019s laptop, I\u2019m struck by how the disappearance of the Valley\u2019s innocent boys continues to reappear in his work. \u201cEvery day, a young Kashmiri was killed. And with each death the memories of my friend would rush back,\u201d says Mir, who became a recluse by the time he reached college. \u201cThere were two Mirs living inside me,\u201d he says, hauntingly. \u201cOne pushed me to kill myself, the other urged me to hold on.\u201d\n\nThe only reason he has been able to hold on, is because of his work. His cathartic drawings and cartoons work as balm on his unhealed wounds. Mir is a political cartoonist for a local publication, but his pain is being witnessed across India. This youth from Kashmir has more than 39,000 followers on his Facebook page; his artwork is shared by hundreds every day. He puts up cartoons that scream out against the injustice meted out to his land, but dabbling with humour and sarcasm in a strife-torn zone comes at a price. Hate mails are common, as are death threats, most of them from those living far away from the stark reality of the Valley.\n\n\"kashmir4\"\n

\n

Courtesy: Mir Suhail<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\nIn February, when Mir put up a cartoon in remembrance of Afzal Guru\u2019s death anniversary, it was pulled down by Facebook and his account was temporarily blocked. Mir took to Twitter and Facebook\u2019s censorship drew sharp reactions from netizens. According to the media watch website the Hoot, it was the first episode on the social networking website that furthered evidence that free speech was being muffled by soft censorship.\n\nBut it hasn\u2019t fazed Mir. He continues to upload voraciously, each cartoon more acerbic than the other.\n\nAround us, the cold afternoon quickly descends into much colder and darker hours, and Mir gets up to leave. \u201cThrough my art, I try to understand and play with my pain,\u201d he tells me as I bid him goodbye. I can\u2019t help wondering whether this young man\u2019s voice will one day be silenced by the politics that claim his land, but I know Mir will go on doing what he does. The memory of Ismail\u2019s blood on the road won\u2019t let him stop.\n\n* The name of Mir Suhail\u2019s friend has been changed.<\/em>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kashmir\u2019s longest ever curfew has ended. The pellet guns are silent, but the wounds are not easy to heal. Mir Suhail\u2019s cartoons bear testimony to the scars of his homeland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people"],"yoast_head":"\nThese Scars Don't Fade<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kashmir\u2019s longest ever curfew has ended. The pellet guns are silent, but the wounds are not easy to heal. 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