It is not customary among Kashmiris to raise monuments to remember loved ones. Yet as the clamor for justice and remembrance of disappeared family members grew, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons initiated the move to put up a monument in memory of those who have disappeared under the abusive governance of India. They first laid the foundation stone in June 2001 at the martyrs’ graveyard in Eidgaah, Srinagar. But an hour later, military officers disrespected the ceremony by taking down the stone. They argued that the monument was placed on government property. Contrarily, however, the Muslim Endowment Trust refuted the military claiming ownership on the said property and permitted members of the APDP to use the land for the monument.

Nevertheless, APDP solicited donations from the public and bought a piece of land in the outskirts of Srinagar City. Determined to establish a place in memory of the disappeared, five years of hard work resulted in the relaying of the foundation stone on 21 August 2005, a day which coincided with the first death anniversary of Kashmiri human rights activist, Aasia Jeelani. Inscribed upon the stone were these words: "We shall never allow the past to be forgotten and we shall never allow it to happen again for future generations. The justice we seek lies not in the forgetting of the past but in remembering those who should never be forgotten."

Simply and concretely put, the monument now stands as a timeless reminder to the people not only of Kashmir but of the world of the atrocities done to humankind. It serves as a place to remember the thousands of lives disappeared in the valley of Kashmir.

Blood tainted Ratchadamneon Avenue, Thailand in May 1992 when forces of General Suchinda Kraprayoon brutally tried to quell a public protest against the oppressive military government. The Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes described it as the bloodiest event in the history of the country. Thousands of civilians died and disappeared with only the dark traces of their blood left to remember them by.

But then time passes, and these traces soon fade. Families then demand remembrance of their loved ones for in their hearts and mind, their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters continue to live. They demand the government to recognize the lives perished or disappeared, to never forget what it has done.

In May 1993, the government allowed the relatives to establish a memorial place for the lives lost in the May 1992 event. Families then put up a monument situated in the area where the uprising took place. It is built within a park. A few meters away is a museum dedicated as well to the victims. The monument now commemorates all the democratic struggles in the history of Thailand.

A decade later, a small replica of the monument was built at the heart of Khao San Road, a premier center visited by tourists. It conveys to them the story of the victims and the families, and the solidarity and hope that binds them all.

In the face of repression, courageous souls struggled for freedom. Despite threats, brave men and women dared voice out the cries of the Filipino people against the dictatorial regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. They risked their lives for the sake of the country’s return to democracy. And families of those who disappeared vowed not to put the memory of their loved ones in vain.

Moreover, another place was dedicated to the Philippine heroes and freedom fighters who became prominent during the Martial Law period. The Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Monument of Heroes) and the Wall of Remembrance where names of Filipino heroes are engraved, can be visited at Quezon Avenue, Quezon City.

Famous author George Elliot once said, "desire no future that will break the ties of the past." True, indeed. History is the memory of a person, the memory of a nation. To forget the lessons of the past is to traverse the trails of the future blindly and waywardly. These monuments scattered across vast Asia hopes to hold the memories of history, tie it with the present, and bring it to the future. Every story shall then continue to echo the cries for truth and justice, and every monument shall stand as landmark guides for the future not to repeat the evils of the past.