The mountains of Kashmir have always stood as a symbol of beauty, resilience, and pain.
Today, those valleys echo with a different sound — not the songs of rivers or the laughter of children, but the thunder of missiles, the rattle of gunfire, and the cries of the innocent.
In the early hours of May 7, 2025, under the cover of darkness, India launched an aggressive military operation — Operation Sindoor — striking deep into Pakistani-administered Kashmir, hitting regions like Kotli, Muzaffarabad, and Bagh.
The ground shook with every explosion, and the night sky — once a canvas of stars — turned blood-red with fire and smoke.
The Night Everything Changed
Imagine:
It’s just past midnight.
In a small village near Muzaffarabad, families are asleep, bundled together under thin blankets against the cool mountain air.
Then, without warning, the ground trembles. A deafening roar shatters the silence.
Walls crumble. Glass shatters.
Children scream in terror as their homes are torn apart by the missiles. Animals run wild with shock and dispair.
You can smell the thick, metallic scent of smoke and blood in the air.
You can feel the dust clogging your lungs, making every breath a battle.
Parents clutch their children, blindly running into the darkness, searching for safety that doesn’t exist.
Among them was Amira, a 12-year-old girl from Kotli.
Amira had always dreamed of becoming a teacher. She loved to line up her little brothers and sisters, pretending to teach them lessons under the fruit tree outside their home.
That night, as the missiles rained down, Amira’s dreams shattered with the walls of her home.
A piece of shrapnel tore through her leg as she tried to shield her younger brother.
Now she lies in a crowded emergency ward, her future uncertain, her spirit scarred.
“I only asked Allah to protect my family,” she whispered through tears.
“I did not know I would have to pray to survive my own home.”
A Wound That Bleeds Across Borders
And while the world’s media painted the attacks as “surgical strikes or precision,” the truth on the ground was far from clean or precise. Mosques and homes were targetted. Innocent people who have nothing to do with the situation were caught up. Places of worship, Markets, schools, and homes — places where no soldiers were stationed — became targets.
Adding insult to injury, the recent Pahalgam attacks — carried out in Indian-occupied Kashmir — were also weaponised against the Kashmiri people themselves. Rather than protecting the Kashmiri populace, policies and narratives have criminalised and further oppressed them, painting innocent civilians with the same brush as combatants.
The Kashmiri people find themselves trapped — punished, suffering for political agendas they never chose. Their identity, their dreams, and their right to live peacefully are being trampled upon.
Our Plea: End the Violence
At Kashmir Welfare Foundation, we bear witness to this suffering. We see the tears of mothers who have lost everything. We hear the silent screams of children who no longer dare to dream.
We call upon the world: Enough is enough.
The people of Kashmir are not the battlefield for Indian airstrikes. They are not the collateral damage of regional ambitions of India’s expansion. They are human beings, deserving of dignity, peace, and protection.
We urge India to stop these destructive practices, and the request global community, to act with humanity and urgency. To stop the bombs. To allow healing to start.
Because for every day this conflict continues, it is the innocent — the Amira’s of Kashmir — who pay the heaviest price.
Stand with Kashmir in Their Darkest Hour
Right now, Kashmir is trembling under the weight of violence, fear, and suffering. Shelling rains down on villages. Families are displaced overnight. Innocent lives — especially children and the elderly — hang in the balance.
At Kashmir Welfare Foundation, we refuse to stand by in silence.
We have activated our Emergency Response Budget — a vital lifeline that allows us to act immediately when disaster strikes. Through this emergency fund, we are preparing to:
- Set up field hospitals to treat the wounded and save lives.
- Distribute hot meals to families who have lost everything.
- Deliver food packs to the most vulnerable, ensuring no family goes hungry tonight.
We don’t believe in exploiting crises.
We don’t chase headlines.
We act because it’s the right thing to do.
Because when Kashmir bleeds, our hearts bleed too.
This Emergency Budget wasn’t built for fundraising campaigns — it was built for moments like this.
Moments when hesitation costs lives.
Today, we ask you: be the difference.
Help us reach those who are cold, hungry, injured, and terrified.
May Allah protect the people of Kashmir.
May He bring justice to the oppressed and peace to our lands.
Ameen.
