After receiving the dead bodies of their loved sons who had gone missing a month ago in Kulgam, mothers and other family members were wailing and demanding a probe into mysterious deaths of their loved ones two of whom were siblings. On February 13, three laborers—Showkat Ahmad Bajad, his brother Riyaz Ahmad Bajad, and Mukhtar Ahmad Awan—vanished without a trace while traveling to a relative’s home in Ashmuji for a family gathering. They set out for the occasion but never arrived and thus their fate was shrouded in uncertainty. On Sunday night, their family members blocked the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in Kulgam district, demanding a police investigation into the case. They called for swift action against those whom the victims’ families suspect to be responsible for the deaths. A report published in an Indian news portal The Wire mentioned that the bodies of the deceased bore torture marks. “It looked as if boiling water had been poured on his head which had no hair in the center. His face was unrecognizable. There were blisters on his abdomen and injury marks around his neck” Sadiq, one of the family members told The Wire.

Sadiq told the news reporter that one of the deceased Awan’s uncle was involved in some financial dispute and Awan was asked by a military informer that a senior puppet police official had summoned him on the fateful day. Now most of us, Kashmiris, know what a call from the men in uniform means. It has been a deliberate move in the long play of state-sanctioned terror that has gripped Kashmir for decades. One can easily imagine why the relatives of the deceased were protesting on the road.

And then came the ultimate act of savagery—the moment that will forever remain embedded in the collective conscience of the people. Instead of addressing the family’s plea for justice, a uniformed stooge—drunk on power, desperate to prove his loyalty to his masters—kicked the grieving mother of the deceased. In a viral video, the so-called officer is seen storming towards the mourning woman and, with sheer arrogance, kicking her in the stomach as she sat with other relatives for a protest.

What kind of monstrosity does it take to dishonor a grieving mother in this way? What level of servitude must a man descend to in order to trample on the dignity of the very people he was born among? This is an attempt to break the soul of an entire nation. They believe that by disgracing our mothers, they will crush our spirit.

These uniformed mercenaries—these traitors who wield their boots and batons against their own people—should not mistake this momentary power for permanence. They stand on borrowed time. Their masters may reward them today, but history will not absolve them. The day will surely come when they will stand before the people and indeed stripped of their impunity. Every act of treachery will be accounted for. Every crime against our sons, our daughters, our mothers—each and every drop of blood—will be avenged. Eik eik khoon k qatray ka hisaab liya jayega.

The winds of justice may seem slow, but they are coming. And when they turn, they will sweep away these stooges, these collaborators, these enemies of their own land.