Dear Editor,
I am writing to share something that grew directly out of your decision to publish my article, “After Budgam, Now Baramulla: Why Kashmir Keeps Failing Its Daughters.” A producer at Radio Islam International in South Africa came across the piece and reached out to invite me for an interview.
It became my first international radio appearance, and I still find myself thinking about how quickly that opportunity came once the article found readers beyond Kashmir.
During the interview, I walked through the cases at the center of my essay: the assault in Budgam, and the one that followed in Baramulla, where police allege the crime was recorded on video.
I spoke about what that recording means beyond the act itself, how a phone turns violence into something that can circulate long after the moment has passed, and how the survivor carries that possibility with her indefinitely.
I also talked about the economic toll these crimes create, the daughters kept home from school, the careers abandoned because travel feels unsafe, costs that never show up in any government report.
And I raised the question of honour, how Kashmiri families often use that word to justify restricting women rather than protecting them.
What struck me most during the conversation was how closely the host and the audience had been following developments in Kashmir. Listeners asked informed questions about the specifics of the case, about how local authorities were responding, and about whether public pressure was translating into any real change.
I did not expect that level of engagement from an audience thousands of miles away. It told me that people outside Kashmir keep a closer watch on these crimes against women than many of us assume, and that the silence sometimes surrounding these cases at home does not extend to how the rest of the world receives them.
None of this happens without a starting point, and Kashmir Observer was that starting point.
Your editorial team took a chance on a student writer with a difficult subject, and that decision opened a door I did not anticipate.
It showed me, in a very direct way, how far a single article can travel when a publication commits to giving space to issues that Kashmiri society tends to discuss silently and then set aside.
The reach of that essay, from a regional paper to an international radio audience, speaks to the platform you built and the trust you placed in my work.
I am grateful for that trust, and for the chance to keep contributing to conversations that Kashmir needs to have openly and often.
Thank you for standing behind this piece and for the role you played in getting it heard well beyond where it started.
With gratitude,
- Aksa Muzamil, MA Economics Student, Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST)
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