Who was Burhan Wani and why Kashmiris mourn him?

Today, People of Kashmir and Pakistan are paying tribute to the life and legacy of Kashmiri youth Burhan Wani for his selfless contribution for Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.

A soft-spoken Burhan having European features with a dashing look became the real face of Kashmiri freedom fighters since 2011 to 2016 on social media. It was only Burhan who gathered all militants in Kashmir to fight under an umbrella against illegal Indian rule in IOK.

Burhan wani was a Kashmiri youth who gave impetus to Kashmiri struggle when it was waning. Nobody thought in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) that a 22-year-old boy would change the narrative of guerrilla warfare by mounting a challenge to the massive Indian security grid. That, too, without concealing his identity.

He didn’t hide his identity. Showed his presence in combat uniform from dense forests and lush green orchards in the south of IOK and ruled over the hearts of the young generation of Kashmir across the Line of Control (LoC).

Indian army had put one million Indian rupees bounty on his head. It was the martyrdom of Ishfaq Majeed Wani in March in the 1990s that shook the entire IOK and after 27 years Burhan’s martyrdom gave a new life to the freedom struggle.

The Indian army along with other security agencies martyred Burhan Wani in Kokernag area on July 8, 2016. He was laid to rest close to the grave of his elder brother Khalid Muzafar Wani.

Following the martyrdom of Burhan, the entire IOK was embroiled in violence beginning July 8, 2016 to February 2017. During the longest shutdown and curfew in the history of IOK to mourn the martyrdom of Burhan, clashes erupted between Indian forces and protesters in which nearly 100 people were killed, 15,000 injured and hundreds were made blind by pellet guns.

Looking from afar, it’s obvious that it was an act of Indian brutality that pushed this young Kashmiri teenager to join the armed struggle like so many before. Kashmiris’ struggle for indepedence has been going on for decades and one has to wonder how long one can wait before resorting to violence?

In October, 2010 Indian military beaten him along with his brother Khalid Muzaffer Wani, who was later killed by the occupying army in 2015, to avenge the humiliation he decided to pick arms to fight against the brutal Indian occupation.

Burhan was born in September 19, 1994 at Dadsara village of Tral area of Pulwama in an upper middle-class family of Muzaffar Wani who named him Burhan. Both his father and mother are teachers at government schools in Tral. Burhan is survived by two young brothers and a sister.

Back in the 2011, Burhan was popular on social media as a commander of the largest indigenous Kashmiri freedom fighters orgnaisaiton — Hizbul Mujahideen. And he used the power of social media to a great effect. Burhan used the latest technology and the internet to promote Kashmiri cause on social media that sent shock waves across top ranks of the Indian army in New Delhi and gave sleepless nights to the New Delhi’s security establishment for more than six years.

The pictures of their movement in forests and orchards made Burhan and his whole group famous among Kashmir’s young generation. He broke more than 20 Indian army crackdowns with the help of local people who came to rescue him while pelting security forces with stones during siege and search operations that showed the popularity and love of the people for Burhan in IOK.

Burhan was a smart Kashmiri freedom fighter with political guts and was completely following the line of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to promote Kashmiris struggle.