Kashmir’s Bleeding Snowmen: Another Haunting Chant For Azadi

Using snow as a means of protest, people in Kashmir are writing snow tributes to slain Hizbul commander Burhan Wani.

Snowfall in the Valley has brought both joy and opportunity for Kashmiris to express their protest against the government's crushing of the summer uprising. People wrote on snow tributes to slain Hizbul commander Burhan Wani and their wish for Azadi from India.

One of the slogans that was seen inscribed on snow across the Valley on Saturday was “Burhan our hero we miss you". In Srinagar downtown, pro-freedom and pro-Burhan slogans were seen inscribed on the snow. In a unique way of protest, snowmen were made with just one eye, highlighting the plight of Kashmiris who became blind due to pellets.

A group of young men, who were using snow as a means of protest, said that they found the snow a perfect space to highlight the suffering Kashmiris in the summer of 2016.

“More than 90 people were killed and hundreds blinded in the summer, how can we forget them? So, instead of enjoying the snowfall, we thought of using it as a means to highlight our sufferings,” said Sajid Mohammad, who, according to the group, had floated the idea of using snow as a means of protest.

He said that the idea struck him after he saw that the news media was giving a lot of coverage to the snowfall in Kashmir.

I noticed that both national and international media were talking about the snow. And I saw everyone on social media going gaga. It was generating a lot of traffic as well, every news item and popular page was sharing photos of the snowfall. So I thought why not post pictures of our demands and our wishes.

Sajid Mohammad

He said that the feedback he received on social media was unprecedented, “Almost everyone was sharing our graffiti and pictures. Once I posted a picture which read on the snow – ‘We want freedom’ – almost every Kashmiri picked up the idea and started posting and sharing similar pictures on social media.

Many users posted pictures of snowmen with blood smeared on their bodies, while others posted pictures of Azadi inscribed on the snow.

A social media user who had posted “Anti-India” pictures on his Facebook wall said,

There is no point sharing your pictures on Facebook in the snow if you don’t feel the pain of your fellow Kashmiris. I felt I should share the pain with the world, hence I posted a picture of a bullet-ridden snowman on Facebook. It got the intended attention and I am sure many people got to know about our plight.

In yet another incident of show of solidarity, many Kashmiris  were seen attending the funeral of a local militant, despite a blizzard .

(While the blogger asserts that this was a broad campaign with large numbers using snow as a medium of protest and then sharing ‘snow protest’ images on social media, The Quint has not been able to confirm that. So, ‘reader discretion’ is advised while going through this blog.)