Khawar Khan Achakzai, Author at INVERSE JOURNAL

Khawar Khan Achakzai

Khawar Khan Achakzai is a doctor and researcher by profession with a specialisation in Internal Medicine. He is a student of Kashmir history, philosophy and post–colonialism, with works published in various local and international magazines. He is the founder of Aagosh; a forum that is active against child sexual abuse in Kashmir.

From My Memory to Her Heart – A Poem by Khawar Khan Achakzai

On August 5, 2019, Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution were revoked to enforce the status of Union Territory on the state of Jammu and Kashmir without democratic consent from the Kashmiri people. As a measure to quell expected upheaval, the internet, TV channels, mobile telephony, landlines, press, public transport and air travel were taken out of circulation by government order while more Indian troops were moved into the Himalayan territory. In the pitch drop silence of indefinite siege, a poet wrote from his memory to “her heart” not knowing when his message would get across, while even houses from adjacent neighborhoods were left without communication with one another. This poem by Khawar Khan Achakzai is a reminder-in-verse of that time still fresh in the collective memory of Kashmir and its peoples, and a testament to the fact that no lockdown, siege or territory-wide curfew can keep a longing Kashmiri heart from beating.