Because of his heroic struggle and his enthralling personality, the martyr Burhan Muzaffar Wani has become a legend to every Kashmiri and face of people’s resistance against Indian occupation.
Burhan Wani was an intelligent and smart Kashmiri freedom activist with political guts. He re-energized the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle by using the modern communication facilities like internet to promote the sacred cause on social media that sent shock waves across top ranks of the Indian govern-ment, its political and military leadership, giving sleepless nights to them for more than six years.
Burhan Wani had a clear understanding regarding the hopeless future of Kashmiri youth living under the Indian military occupation right from the early age. He grew up watching brutalities of Indian troops and yearned to see his homeland gets freedom from the clutches of Indian oppressive forces.
As a young promising student, he was forced to join the freedom struggle due to unending Indian repression. He joined the Kashmiri freedom struggle on October 16, 2010 after he had to face humiliation at the hands of Indian troops when he was severely beaten and insulted by them without any reason.
After joining the freedom struggle, Burhan Wani became synonymous to Kashmiris’ resistance against the Indian occupation forces. He wielded massive popularity among the Kashmiri populace, especially youth, due to his social media outreach and his open defiance to the occupying regime.
He actively took part in the freedom struggle in IIOJK for 6 years and single-handedly reinvigorated the freedom struggle and became a beacon of resis-tance. Symbolically, he had gained a pedestal that was worrisome for the Indian occupying forces. During the period of remaining active in the freedom struggle, Burhan Wani broke more than 20 Indian army crackdowns with the help of local people who, not caring for themselves, would come to rescue him while pelting the troops with stones during siege and search operations that showed the popularity and love of the people for him in IIOJK.
Martyrdom, huge funerals and mass uprising Finally, he was martyred along with two of his associates by the Indian troops in a fake encounter in Kokernag area of Islamabad district on July 8, 2016.
Lacs of people gathered at Eidgah at Burhan’s native place in Tral and offered 40 rounds of funeral prayers for him. He was laid to rest in Tral close to the grave of his elder brother Khalid Muzafar Wani who was also martyred by Indian troops.
It is worth mentioning that tens of thousands of people in IIOJK have been deprived of their family members for taking part in the struggle for their right to self-determination. But India must know that no power on earth and no amount of its repression can defeat the struggling Kashmiri people as their freedom struggle has been nourished by the blood of martyrs. Kashmiri pro-freedom leaders and activists who strived and sacrificed their lives for the sacred cause got their names written with honor and dignity in the annals of Kashmir history.
Following the martyrdom of Burhan Wani, huge protests broke out in occupied Jammu and Kashmir despite Indian authorities imposing strict restrictions on the movement of people. Indian troops used brute force to quell the protests resulting in the killing and injuring of civilians. The mass uprising which ensued after the martyrdom of Burhan Wani lasted for almost eight months in which over 150 protesters were killed and thousands injured due to the firing of bullets and pellets by the Indian forces’ personnel. The mass uprising again demonstrated people’s affection with Burhan Wani and his cause.
Following the martyrdom of Burhan Wani, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) announced a week long commemoration programme. Also, dur-ing the mass uprising, the APHC kept giving calls for shutdowns and protests which were followed by the general populace of the occupied territory.
International media coverage Burhan Wani’s heroic legacy earned him significant traction in local and international media. A myriad of featured articles were published immediately after his martyrdom.
The New York Times published an article on 17 July 2026 under the heading ‘How killing of promi-nent separatist set of turmoil in Kashmir’. Similarly, Al Jazeera published a feature on 15 July 2016 with the heading ‘A journey into the heart of Kashmir crisis’. ‘Why the death of militant Burhan Wani has Kashmiris up in arms’ was the title of a piece put out by BBC on 11 July 2016.
Besides, a number of other articles and features have been written on Burhan Wani since his mar-tyrdom in July, 2016. Apart from media coverage, a book on Burhan Wani’s biography titled “Burhan Muzaffar Wani” by Zulkaif Riaz was published in September 2020.
