1. Rohin Kumar is a freelance journalist who writes for several Hindi and English news websites. He has written for a number of well-known Indian and international publications such as The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, Forbes India, Nikkei and Asia Democracy Chronicles. 2. Dharmesh Chaubey (he/they) is a queer poet, translator, facilitator and activist from Allahabad.
<p>Even as a section of the Indian population celebrated in August 2019, the</p><p>people of the Kashmir Valley seemed to have been hit by a thunderbolt at</p><p>the abrogation of Article 370. To them, it wasn’t merely a section of the</p><p>Constitution that conferred autonomy on their state, it was what defined their</p><p>relationship to India, and its removal yet another in a long chain of betrayals</p><p>by the Indian State, which they see as a ‘colonial’ power.</p><p>Based on his experience of reporting from Kashmir since 2017, Rohin Kumar</p><p>deftly unpacks contentious issues like militarization and human rights abuses</p><p>in the Valley, offering rare insight into Kashmiri perspectives often missing</p><p>in mainstream narratives. From the messy accession of Jammu and Kashmir</p><p>to India in 1947 to the rise of separatism and militancy and the exodus of</p><p>Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s, he takes us through the emergence of the</p><p>new militancy of the 2010s. But Lal Chowk is more than a narration of events</p><p>leading up to and following the abrogation of Article 370. Through intimate</p><p>conversations with Kashmiris from all walks of life—stone-pelting youth,</p><p>parents seeking justice for their dead, tortured or ‘disappeared’ children,</p><p>young women simultaneously resisting patriarchy and the Indian State,</p><p>security forces personnel who justify their excesses, and seasoned politicians</p><p>from across the spectrum—the author paints a nuanced portrait of a region</p><p>locked in perpetual conflict.</p><p>Placing Kashmiris at the centre of the narrative, this incisive book asks</p><p>difficult questions about identity, the wildly contrasting perceptions in</p><p>Kashmir and New Delhi, and the elusive quest for ‘normalcy’ in one of the</p><p>world’s most militarized zones</p>
