Rafto Laureate 2017 Parvez Imroz explains what emergency law can lead to, the tragic case of Kashmir which was born out of a state of emergency in 1948, which was tightened progressively in the late eighties. The state of Kashmir was annulled by the Indian government, and a radical lockdown with severe restrictions on movement and communication was introduced on 5 August 2019. When the first death caused by Covid 19 was diagnosed in Kashmir 18 March 2020, the Kashmiri people had suffered a radical version of the state of exception now experienced by many others, for 32 weeks.