Srinagar
In occupied Kashmir, glowing tributes were paid to human rights lawyer, Mir Shafqat Hussain, in Srinagar.
Kashmir lost one of its best human rights lawyers, Mir Shafqat Hussain, on January 13 this year. Mir Shafqat Hussian was one of the very few human rights lawyers in occupied Kashmir who offered a legal recourse to thousands of detainees booked under draconian law, Public Safety Act (PSA), particularly minors, who have borne the brunt of waves of relentless systemic dehumanization at the hands of the Indian state.
His cousin Inshah Malik on the occasion said, “His services no matter how substantial and powerful stands only as an alibi to his personality. I write of him, not for precise emboldening of his heroism, as such is the culture around crafting an obituary but as he symbolizes to me the life, struggle and death of an occupied people.
I know of him, about him, and him in more than one way. I remember him through conscious memory, as I grew up around him in my maternal home – of which he was the last and youngest son. He had a distinction to hold his views close to his heart and a very personal style to connect with people around him. He was so impressionable, people around him would often repeat in a hypnotic way his words, enact out his laughter, and his non-verbal gestures.”—KMS
