Kashmir

Mother of a Martyr

I had set off too early to catch her before the body of her slain son would reach the village. After killing young boys, the Indian security forces would return their bodies to their parents for burial. This favour had stopped now. They bury boys anywhere they think would not attract a sea of mourners. Her boy was killed in[Read More...]
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Winter in Kashmir: For local Kashmiris, it’s living a nightmare

The line in the subtitle above underscores a reality that not many of those coming to visit the valley from outside Kashmir would concede as a fact of life. The fact is that whereas everything is done by their local hosts and the local administration to ensure that they have a comfortable stay in the valley, with access to all[Read More...]

Saudi FM to visit Pakistan to discuss strained bilateral ties

MEMO | December 29, 2020 Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud will lead a high-level delegation, including business leaders, in a visit to Pakistan next month in an effort to discuss recently strained relations, according to the Pakistani daily the Express Tribune. The kingdom’s Energy Minister Abdulaziz Bin Salman will join the delegation […]

India arrests 75 in restive Kashmir following local polls

Press TV | December 26, 2020 Indian authorities have arrested at least 75 Kashmiri political leaders and activists in anticipation of an uprising following the triumph of an alliance of Kashmir’s regional political parties in a local election, a senior police official unveiled. Those arrested included pro-independence leaders and members of the banned Jamat-e-Islami group, […]

Indianisation aka Colonisation of Kashmir’s Forests

“Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast/ Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast!” (If there is a paradise on earth/ It is this, it is this, it is this!”) When Amir Khusrau, the famous Sufi poet of 13th century lavished his praise on Kashmir with this Farsi couplet, he would never have anticipated a day that centuries after befall the same land, when its beauty[Read More...]

How have Indians failed J&K and its people?

The discussion on what should happen with Jammu & Kashmir has always been an interesting one, with no feasible, sustainable solution that can ensure peace in the valley on the table. While as an Indian, one might think of the J&K for its strategic location benefits for the military purpose, and the utter pride to say that such beautiful heaven[Read More...]

Kashmir and the Presentist notion of the Past

In the modern day academic arena, often the two closely associated disciplines of anthropology and history inform our notion of the past. In the context of modern South Asia or to be more specific postcolonial India, Prof Thapar admits that historians in the postcolonial era did engage in writing history (or build up the past) keeping in mind the nationalist[Read More...]

Kashmir and Article 370: A Salable Product for BJP During Elections

Imagine, you are in the spiritual capital of Andhra Pradesh- Tirupati and a local guide is selling you pictures of Dal Lake Srinagar or for instance you are in Arunachal Pradesh – Ziro, a beautiful town that has been a world heritage site certified by UNESCO and is known for its tribal culture, but local guide is briefing you about[Read More...]

We will all be  gypsies now

More than one million nomads of Jammu and Kashmir, mostly from the Gujjar and Bakkarwal communities, who prefer living in temporary sheds or mud houses in the forests and mountains, are facing forcible evictions from the government.  The action has outraged all political and social circles across the region. Contrary to Kashmiri Muslims, the nomads of the Jammu and Kashmir[Read More...]