‘Who suffered the most?’: Fear and fatigue in Kashmir after ceasefire

The region, which faced the brunt of the India-Pakistan military escalation, limps back to life. But questions remain.

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir — On Saturday morning at Fateh Kadal, a densely packed neighbourhood on the sloping embankment of the Jhelum river in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir’s largest city, 62-year-old Hajira wrapped a cotton scarf with a brown paisley design around her shoulders.

With her face muscles tense and sweat beading across her upper lip, she sat on the cement floor of a government-run grains store.

“Can you make it quick?” she called to the person manning the store.

Hajira comes to the store every month to submit her biometric details, as required by the government to secure the release of her monthly quota of subsidised grains, which her family of four depends on.

But this time was different. The past few days have been unprecedented for residents of Indian-administered Kashmir. Drones hovered overhead, airports were shut down, explosions rang out, people were killed in cross-border fire and the region prepared for the possibility of an all-out war.