Humanity First: Why Daily Kashmir Online and Kashmir24 Stand for Peace, Dialogue and Human Rights

By: Ijaz Chaudhry, CEO, Daily Kashmir Online and Kashmir24
30 September 2026 · Also published in Urdu on Daily Kashmir Online

Journalism can deepen wounds or help heal them. Daily Kashmir Online and Kashmir24 were founded on one conviction: humanity comes first. Before any flag, any border and any political argument, there is a human being with a right to life, dignity, safety and a voice. Everything we publish starts from that belief.

We work for four things: peace, humanity, dialogue and human rights. We respect every nation and every religion. We do not believe that defending the rights of Kashmiris, or of India's Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalits, means hating anyone else. Human rights are not a weapon to be used against one people. They are a promise owed to all people.

What we stand for

Peace: We believe the Kashmir dispute, like every conflict, can only be resolved through peaceful means, not by force.
Humanity: A civilian's life has equal value whatever their faith, ethnicity or nationality. We condemn every attack on innocent people, including militant attacks on civilians such as the killing of tourists at Pahalgam in April 2025, just as we condemn abuses by the state.
Dialogue: Lasting solutions come from talking, not silencing. We give space to different voices, including those we disagree with.
Human rights: We report violations wherever they happen, with evidence and named sources, so that victims are not forgotten and those responsible can be held to account.
Respect for all faiths and nations: Our pages will never be used to spread hatred against any religion, caste or nation.

Our editorial promise

Because our subject is so painful and so contested, accuracy is a moral duty for us. Every claim in our reports is attributed to its source. We never invent facts, numbers or quotes. We skip unverified social-media claims, and we clearly separate reporting from opinion. When we get something wrong, we correct it.

That is why this article relies on one of the world's most respected independent human rights organisations: Amnesty International. Amnesty takes no side in the dispute between India and Pakistan. Its only side is the victim's. Its findings over the past two decades speak for themselves.

File photo: Dal Lake, Srinagar. Photo: Amit Jain / Unsplash

Two decades of evidence: Amnesty International on Jammu and Kashmir

Below is a timeline of Amnesty International's major research and statements on Jammu and Kashmir. Each entry links to the original document so readers can check the findings themselves.

2008: Unmarked graves

In April 2008, Amnesty urged the Government of India to launch urgent, independent and impartial investigations after reports that at least 940 unmarked graves had been found in 18 villages in Uri, with hundreds more unidentified graves discovered across Jammu and Kashmir since 2006. Amnesty linked the graves to long-standing allegations of enforced disappearances. (Amnesty, ASA 20/005/2008)

2011–2012: A "lawless law"

In March 2011, Amnesty published A 'Lawless Law': Detentions under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. It found that hundreds of people are locked up on spurious grounds under the PSA every year, without charge or trial, and documented allegations of ill-treatment and the detention of children. Amnesty called for the law to be repealed. It repeated the call in its 2012 follow-up, Still a 'Lawless Law'. (ASA 20/001/2011; ASA 20/035/2012)

2015: "Denied": 25 years of impunity

Marking 25 years of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir, Amnesty's report "Denied" found that not a single member of the security forces had been tried for human rights violations in a civilian court. Permission to prosecute under Section 7 of AFSPA had been denied or indefinitely delayed in every case sent to the central government, and families were never told why. (ASA 20/1874/2015; press release)

2016: Speaking about Kashmir becomes "sedition"

In August 2016, after Amnesty India held an event in Bengaluru about human rights violations in Kashmir, a sedition case was registered against the organisation. A court closed the case in January 2019. (LiveLaw)

2017: Losing sight in Kashmir

Amnesty's report Losing Sight in Kashmir: The Impact of Pellet-Firing Shotguns documented 88 people whose eyesight was damaged by pellets between 2014 and 2017, and at least 14 people killed by pellets since July 2016. Victims included schoolchildren and breadwinners who could no longer study or work. Amnesty called for a ban on these inherently inaccurate weapons. (Amnesty India)

2019: The tyranny of a lawless law

In June 2019, Amnesty analysed the cases of 210 people detained under the PSA. It found a pattern of abuse, including detaining children, passing detention orders on vague grounds, and "revolving door" re-detentions. Authorities refused permission for Amnesty's launch event in Srinagar. (Amnesty India; Al Jazeera)

2019: "Let Kashmir Speak"

After the revocation of Article 370 on 5 August 2019, Amnesty India launched the #LetKashmirSpeak campaign. It described the communications blackout affecting about 8 million people as "an outrageous protracted assault on the civil liberties of the people of Kashmir". (Dawn)

2020: A human rights watchdog forced to stop

In September 2020, Amnesty International India halted its work after its bank accounts were frozen. Amnesty called it a reprisal for its human rights work, including its reporting on Jammu and Kashmir. (CNN)

2022: "We are being punished by the law"

Three years after the abrogation of Article 370, Amnesty documented more than 60 instances of crackdowns on journalists and human rights defenders and 27 journalists arrested since August 2019. It also recorded a 32% rise in habeas corpus petitions, the forced closure of the Kashmir Press Club, and people barred from travelling abroad without any court order. (ASA 20/5959/2022; press release)

2023–2026: Journalists and defenders behind bars

Amnesty has repeatedly called for the release of Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj, arrested in March 2023, and human rights defender Khurram Parvez, both held under anti-terror law. In March 2026, 36 international organisations including Amnesty marked three years of Irfan Mehraj's pre-trial detention. (Amnesty, 2023; Amnesty, 2026)

2024–2025: Continuing repression

In its June 2024 human rights charter for the new Indian government, Amnesty again called for the repeal of the Public Safety Act and the release of those arbitrarily detained in Jammu and Kashmir. Its 2025 India report documents book bans, a raid on the Kashmir Times office, and continued punitive demolitions of family homes carried out without warrants. (ASA 20/8154/2024; Amnesty India report 2025)

File photo: Jama Masjid, Delhi. Photo: Mayur Sable / Unsplash

Minorities in India: a deteriorating picture

Amnesty's research shows that the pressure on minorities is not limited to Kashmir. Muslims, Christians, Dalits and other marginalised communities across India face rising hostility.

Hate crimes (2015–2018): Amnesty India's "Halt the Hate" tracker recorded 603 alleged hate crimes between September 2015 and mid-2018. In the first half of 2018 alone there were 100 incidents, 67 against Dalits and 22 against Muslims. (Amnesty USA)
Delhi violence (2020): In February 2020, more than 50 people were killed, most of them Muslims, and over 500 injured in North-East Delhi. Amnesty documented police beating protesters, torturing people in custody and failing to intervene, and found that no investigation had been opened into police abuses six months later. (Amnesty USA)
Bulldozer injustice (2024): Amnesty documented 128 demolitions of mostly Muslim homes, shops and places of worship across five states, leaving at least 617 people homeless or without livelihoods, while similar Hindu-owned structures nearby were left standing. In November 2024, India's Supreme Court condemned such "bulldozer justice". (ASA 20/7613/2024; Amnesty, Nov 2024)
Citizenship law (2024): When the rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act were notified in March 2024, Amnesty India called it "a discriminatory law that goes against the constitutional values of equality and international human rights law". (Business Standard)
Manipur (2023–2024): Ethnic violence that began in May 2023 killed at least 200 people and displaced more than 60,000, many of them from the mostly Christian Kuki-Zo community. Amnesty said the authorities were "missing-in-action". (Amnesty, July 2024)
2025: Amnesty's latest India report describes mass forced evictions in Assam, laws targeting interfaith relationships, at least 300 Muslims deported to Bangladesh, and 113 recorded caste atrocities against Dalits in the first half of the year. (Amnesty India report 2025)

Why humanity must come first

These reports are not about scoring political points. They are about people: a mother still searching for her son, a teenager blinded by pellets, a journalist held for years without trial, a family watching a bulldozer destroy their home. When their stories go unheard, injustice becomes normal, and anger replaces hope.

We believe that the path forward is the one human rights organisations have long pointed to:

Repeal laws that allow detention without trial and shield abusers from prosecution.
Carry out independent and impartial investigations into killings, disappearances and unmarked graves.
Release journalists and human rights defenders who are detained for their work.
Protect every religious and caste minority equally under the law.
Resolve the Kashmir dispute through peaceful dialogue that respects the wishes and dignity of the Kashmiri people.

Our invitation to you

Daily Kashmir Online (in Urdu) and Kashmir24 (in English) are open to every voice that believes in peace and human dignity, whatever their nation or faith. If you are a reporter, writer, researcher or student who shares these values, join us. Together we can make sure that the truth is told carefully, responsibly and without hatred.

Humanity first. Always.

Ijaz Chaudhry is the CEO of Daily Kashmir Online and Kashmir24.

Amnesty International documents cited

Header photo: Mike Labrum / Unsplash. Photos are file images from Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. They do not show the events described.