Kashmir HopeA living recordPEOPLE & POLITICAL LIVES
Explore the lives of political leaders, writers, human rights defenders and participants in armed conflict, including the choices they made and the communities affected.
Militancy and the 2016 unrest
Wani was a Hizbul Mujahideen commander whose social-media visibility attracted attention among young Kashmiris. His killing in July 2016 became a turning point in that summer’s unrest.
Read profile ↗Separatist politics
Geelani was a prominent opponent of Indian rule and an advocate of Kashmir joining Pakistan. He died in Srinagar on 1 September 2021. His public standing extended beyond supporters of his particular political position.
Read profile ↗Government and political autonomy
Sheikh Abdullah’s dismissal and arrest in August 1953 form a central episode in Kashmir’s political history. The contemporary diplomatic record documents international attention to his removal.
Read profile ↗Poetry and spiritual life
The fourteenth-century mystic poet Lal Ded is also remembered as Lalla and Lalleshwari. Her place in Kashmiri literature connects this library to the region’s cultural history beyond modern conflict.
Read profile ↗Human rights documentation
Parvez is a Kashmiri human rights defender associated with the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. OMCT/FIDH reported his release, alongside journalist and defender Irfan Mehraj, on conditional bail on 22 July 2026.
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