At the extremity of the village, amid the dim winter weather, a melancholic song coming from a nearby mudhouse made itself heard with singular distinction. The owner of the voice, 24-year-old Uzma Mukhtar, is busy aesthetically carving designs on a woolen rug.

In September, Jammu and Kashmir Catholic Social Service Society, the social service wing of the Catholic Church in the Muslim-dominated state, held an awareness camp in Uzma’s village in Pulwama district.