On the night of 19 January 1990, all hell broke loose in Kashmir — a place many think of as ‘Heaven on Earth’. Several mosques in Srinagar played the Azaadi slogans, asking the Indian security forces to quit: ‘aey jabiro, aey zalimo, Kashmir hamara chhor dou’ . They didn’t. Those who were in barracks and bunkers and at the borders were brought down to kitchens and bedrooms by the deafening chants. It triggered the exodus of the minority Kashmiri Pandits — who had started to move out in smaller numbers months prior. They call it ‘Holocaust Day’.

The following day, CRPF machine guns left over 50 Kashmiri Muslim demonstrators dead and scores injured in a peaceful procession at Gawkadal. Kashmiri Muslims remember 21 January as ‘the beginning of the genocide’ — ‘the first massacre’.These were turning points in Kashmir’s post-1947 political and cultural history that changed its socio-political landscape.

But the metamorphosis didn’t happen overnight. Tune in to the podcast for the full story!

Voiceover and Narration: Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

Producer: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz