• Asia.The Nameless Tombs of Kashmir
  • Security: Indian army sparks panic in Kashmir over 'possible impending terrorist attacks'

The photo is heartbreaking. A three-year-old boy sitting on his grandfather's back on his back. The boy is not even looking at his face, but turns his back on him. The image is from July 1 and was taken in the city of Sopore, in Kashmir administered by India.

The photo is the portrait of a conflict with many versions. As many as the same event. First, official version: The victim, Bashir Ahmed Khan, a 65-year-old contractor, was in his vehicle when he was caught in a crossfire between the Indian police and paramilitary forces, the so-called rebels. Second version, that of the victim's family: Khan was dragged from his vehicle and gunned down by the police . Third version, the unofficial but also disseminated by the Indian police: Khan died shot by the rebels who were positioned in the attic of a mosque.

The only certainty is that his grandson, Ayaad, whose innocence has been taken from him as a witness in the case, was with him in the car.

-What did they do to grandpa? [Ask a family member in a video released this week]

-Was murdered.

-Who killed him?

-A policeman.

The photo is propaganda. After being broadcast on social networks by city officials, many have said convinced that the boy did not sit on his grandfather's body of his own free will. The non-professional photographer, whom no one has identified, is also supposed to be someone from the security forces. Many also accuse the BJP, the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of having turned the image into a propaganda tool.

"It appears that someone placed the boy on the body before the photo was taken," the victim's older brother, Nazir Ahmad Khan, told a journalist. "The multiple and contradictory narratives surrounding Bashir Ahmed Khan's death are not an aberration. Every story in Kashmir appears to have multiple truths," Indian analyst Rana Ayyub writes in the Washington Post .

The photo is pure pain. Especially that of a broken family that directly points to the security forces as responsible. Suhail Ahmed, the victim's son, claimed that Indian troops dragged his father out of his car and shot him in cold blood in front of his grandson during an operation against the rebels. "Then they put the boy on his chest and took the photos," says Suhail. "When we got to Sopore, we were told that he died in a crossfire. If so, his body should have been inside the car, but he was found on the road," said Aijaz Ahmad Qudsi, the victim's nephew.

The photo is outrage. That of Sopore's neighbors who came out to protest the murder of Khan. They are fed up with so many corpses. Since January, according to the Jammu Kashmir Civil Society Coalition (JKCCS), at least 229 people have been killed during more than 100 military operations in Kashmir, including 32 civilians, 54 government forces and 143 rebels. The latter have spent decades fighting for the independence of the region or its merger with Pakistan.

Since India imposed confinement for the pandemic in March, its security forces have stepped up operations against the rebels. From New Delhi, 500,000 soldiers have been deployed in Kashmir. They accuse Pakistan of arming and training the rebels.

The photo is one more episode of a bloody dispute. Kashmir, a mountainous valley on the Pakistan-India border, has been at the center of a conflict between the two nations since 1947, when the British - during the decolonization process - decided to divide that area between Pakistan and India. Both nations have since fought for control of Kashmir.

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