(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive)
Ever heard of snakes or stones snowing from the sky?No fairy tale, no folklore spun by firesides—this is a story buried deep in official archives, stamped, signed and preserved as part of Kashmir’s recent past.
More than a century ago, during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh, Kashmir witnessed two extraordinary and deeply unsettling phenomena: stones and snakes reportedly descending from the heavens...
What adds to the weight of these photographs is their provenance.
They were originally carried by the most widely read and trusted local newspaper of the time—a paper regarded as the voice of the people, read passionately by common Kashmiris and the intelligentsia alike. The photographer and reporter behind these images were darlings of Kashmiri society, not outsiders, not propagandists.
This was Kashmir documenting itself.
Tight controls on freedom of expression have been a hallmark of the Pakistani government’s policy in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). While militant organizations are...
