Kashmir Newz Specials

Forgotten roadside memorials in Kashmir

Small roadside martyr memorials erected in the memory of loved ones killed during the violence in Kashmir are slowly losing their sheen. With taps running dry, memorials are withering out. Peerzada Arshad Hamid reports.

Srinagar, July 02, 2007:

Barren memorials / Javed Dar

Small roadside martyr memorials erected in the memory of killed ones became a common sight in Indian administered Kashmir after armed insurgency against Indian rule broke out in 1989.

These memorials are structures in concrete with one or more tap connections meant to provide drinking water to passers by.

The memorials also carry an epitaph detailing the name of the 'martyr(s)' in whose memory it has been erected along with the date of killing, a couplet and a holy verse.

These small memorials are mostly revered by people and were maintained and looked after for quite sometime.

Among the prominent ones is the memorial in front of Islamia College of Science and Technology in Hawal erected in memory of people killed in police firing on funeral procession of Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq on July 21, 1991.

Mirwaiz Farooq was killed on the same day by unidentified gunmen at his residence. The memorial is among the bigger ones with the names of all the killed persons inscribed on it.

However, small memorials are scattered all across the valley. At times they were erected by people of the locality where the person was killed, or where he lived. In some cases the family members of the slain erected the memorial.

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