The Palmyra Zine Project Volume I:
Kashmir
Edited by Simi Kadirgamar Illustrations by Mir Suhail
Introduction For over 70 years communities in the Himalayan region of Kashmir have resisted occupation by neighboring India and Pakistan. The call for Kashmiri self determination is actually older than these two states. India occupies Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir, which has been called the “world’s most militarized zone.” Some estimates say there are around 500,000 troops in Jammu and Kashmir. Others count 700,000. Indian soldiers stationed in region enjoy impunity when they murder, sexually abuse, torture or maim Kashmiris. New Delhi deployed more troops when it took direct control of the region in August 2019. Many from the region fear that India is pursuing a settler-colonial strategy. Its execution would entail an ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Muslims.
Many Kashmiris object to international media’s prioritizing Indo-Pak geopolitics in coverage of the region. This sidelines Kashmiri voices and narratives that center the call for self determination. “The Kashmiri narrative doesn’t exist at all because [India and Pakistan] have held it hostage.” - Kashmiri novelist Feroz Rather to the Columbia Journalism Review In Fall 2019, India locked down internet and cell phone service in Jammu and Kashmir, furthering policies that disrupt reporting on the region. “The denial of passports to human rights defenders and journalists continues to sustain disconnection and isolation.” - The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society
The Palmyra Zine Project aims to address moments in which media fails to focus on the narratives of communities in South Asia that face state violence or marginalization.
Its content is primarily, though not exclusively, directed towards journalists interested in covering South Asia.
The best way to ensure marginalized people don’t fall through reporting gaps is to start our stories with them at the center.
This first volume is dedicated to Mir Suhail from Jammu and Kashmir. He shares his experience as an artist surviving the trauma of India’s military occupation.
My name is Mir Suhail. I’m a political cartoonist.
I am from Jammu and Kashmir. I grew up in Srinagar. I learned to draw under India’s occupation of my home.
Death threats and surveillance have followed me my whole career.
Threats followed me when I worked in New Delhi. As a Kashmiri, I drew unwanted attention.
“Listen, you’re here,” my boss told me. “Whatever you do, you’re being watched.”
India calls Kashmiris “terrorists� when they resist the occupation. Illustration based on a Pulitzer Prize winning photo by Dar Yasin
A man with a beard in New Delhi gets to be called a “hipster.” In Kashmir, the army says bearded men are “terrorists.”
Things in New York have been better. They’re still watching me, though. I don’t want my drawings to endanger my family.
“If you come back,” they write, “we’ll cut you up and eat you.”
Additional Information Amnesty International reported in 2018 that over 6,200 Kashmiris suffered eye injuries from Indian armed forces with pellet shotguns. These weapons have been used to disperse Kashmiri’s protesting against the occupation. In 2016 the New York Times and others reported that pellet shotguns caused an “epidemic of blindness” in Jammu and Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society reported uncovering 7,000 unmarked and mass graves that same year. The organization also noted that neither the government of Jammu and Kashmir nor the Indian state would provide DNA tests that would allow families to identify the bodies. At time of reporting, 8,000 families had reported missing members over the course of 25 years to JKCCS.
“It’s a very powerful thing when you criticize fear, when you criticize death … . I found this criticism in Kashmir very common.” - Mir Suhail
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Simi writes under the name “Skanda Kadirgamar” with bylines at Truthout, The Nation and Waging Nonviolence. She’s also a fact-checker, researcher and is taking her first steps into the world of documentary making. Reach her @skaitama on Twitter, kadis0228@gmail or simik0228@protonmail.com Mir Suhail is now based in New York. He has drawn for numerous Kashmiri publications, the School of Oriental and African Studies, Caravan and The Baffler among many other organizations. Follow him on Instagram @mirsuhail. Contact him via his webpage mirsuhailportfolio.wordpress.com/contact/
Acknowledgements Stand With Kashmir The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society Hafsa Kanjwal Azad Essa