Shahnaz Bashir

Bashir is the author of award-winning novels The Half Mother and Scattered Souls. He was born and brought up in Indian-administered Kashmir and currently teaches journalism at a university in Kashmir. He is also the South Asia juror for the True Story Award, a global journalism prize in Bern, Switzerland.

An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard in front of his bunker in the deserted city square, on August 22, 2019 in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir, India. Indian authorities have deployed its thousands of government forces in Kashmir for the last eighteen days after India revoked articles 370 and 35A, and phone and internet services also remained suspended.

The Indian Government Insists All Is Well in Kashmir. But As the Communications Shutdown Continues, Its Citizens Are Struggling to Reach the Outside World

As I write this piece for TIME, I’m standing furtively amid a clump of tall...

As I write this piece for TIME, I’m standing furtively amid a clump of tall, itchy weeds behind an office in the outskirts of Jammu, a city in northern India. Dozens of mosquitoes are landing...