SRINAGAR, July 18 -- July 17: An uncanny silence fills the air as Zoona Begum wipes the picture of her slain husband. A flashback of 24 years of trauma and suffering plays in her mind. Eyes well up with tears, and sobs rent the air. For Zoona, the brutal killing of her husband, Hakim Habibullah Beigh, is a festering wound that has not been healed.

It was in 2001 when Habibullah, a pharmacist by profession, was abducted by three armed terrorists from his medical shop at Kakroosa, Vilgam in Kupwara district. He was taken to the nearby jungle and was pumped with 80 bullets.

Zoona was left to nurse four children. With no income, she started begging to support her kids. "Only God knows how much I suffered. Nobody came to our rescue. I had no...