A short foreword from Kritikpunkt

Every few years, the media reports new clashes between Pakistan and India, attacks, and protests in Kashmir. Many refer to the situation in Kashmir as an “Indian Palestine,” speak of genocide, and report severe human rights violations – yet we, like many of you, actually had no real idea of what is happening in this 220,000 km² stretch of land in the Himalayas. So, over the course of several weeks, we dedicated ourselves entirely to the topic of Kashmir: we read numerous sources and spoke with people on the ground to bring ourselves – and you – to a more conscious understanding of a situation we believe is incredibly important for anyone with a progressive mindset to grasp. Our series consists of six parts, each dealing with historically significant phases of the ongoing Kashmir conflict. They can be read independently – but for a comprehensive overview, we recommend reading them all. As with many complex topics, it’s often easier to offer a simplified summary than to present the full picture. Since we aimed for a golden mean with this series, we couldn’t cover every single human rights violation or incident – the topics we focused on were chosen very deliberately. While writing this series, we worked with a wide range of sources and source types. You’ll find these listed at the end of each article. Since many of the insights are based on a combination of sources, we have not always marked them directly in the text, but instead listed them afterward..

We explicitly thank the kind, helpful, and courageous Kashmiris who supported us in writing this series.