Episode Five: Kashmiri Women Speak: Living and Working Under Occupation

The Kashmir Podcast with Ifat Gazia

Women in Kashmir have been portrayed as either being passive victims or lodged between the Indian state and local patriarchy. Here, four Kashmiri women move beyond these frames and speak of life under occupation, and their everyday acts of resistance and existence. Even as women have experienced the death and disappearances of their loved ones, sexual violence, and numerous other warcrimes and crimes against humanity, they are on the frontlines for the fight against occupation, dreaming ‘dreams of freedom’ and harboring hope for a better tomorrow. Their resistance knows no bounds- it is in their visible act of protest on the streets, the look of defiance as they cross a checkpoint, in their songs of freedom, and their prayers for those who have been martyred. For them, existence is resistance.
Listen to this powerful conversation, where four Kashmiri women share their perspective about living and working under occupation.