The stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful land of Kash­mir, nes­tled in the Himalayas, has seen much blood­shed and suf­fer­ing. Over the decades the Indi­an state in attempts to sti­fle resis­tance to its rule in Kash­mir has deployed hun­dreds of thou­sands of troops, imposed cur­fews, clam­p­downs and crack­downs. But noth­ing approach­es the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion. On August 5 the Hin­du-nation­al­ist gov­ern­ment of Prime Min­is­ter Naren­dra Modi took unprece­dent­ed steps. Key pro­vi­sions of the Indi­an Con­sti­tu­tion deal­ing with Kash­mir, arti­cles 370 and 35A, have been revoked. The lit­tle auton­o­my Kash­mir had is now evap­o­rat­ed. It is bro­ken as a state and is under direct rule from New Del­hi. No Kash­miri was con­sult­ed. It’s hard to imag­ine that the actions of the Modi gov­ern­ment will quell the ongo­ing demands of Kash­miris for azaa­di, freedom.