Since midnight on August 4, Kashmir has been under lockdown. Phone lines, internet connectivity and cable channels have been suspended. A government order imposed Section 144, prohibited public meetings and restricted the movement of people. Schools and colleges continue to remain shut. Over the week before that, at least 35,000 paramilitary troops had been rushed into the Valley, one of the most militarised places on the planet. 

Amidst the shutdown, the state of Jammu and Kashmir had its special status revoked and bifurcated into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. 

Ali Saifuddin is a Kashmiri folk singer who was born and raised in Kashmir. In 2016, Saifuddin rendition of Chol Homa Roshay, a poem composed by Habba Khatoon, a 16th century Kashmiri poet was used for the film No Fathers in Kashmir, which was released in April this year. Ali came to Delhi on Friday afternoon from Srinagar to buy medicines for his grandmother & to inform his family living abroad that he was alright. In this podcast episode of The Suno India Show, he describes how the curfew and complete communication blackout was taking its toll on Kashmiris.

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