A former northern army commander has twice over recently observed that the military’s operational success in counter insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has not been taken advantage of politically. He was voicing the army’s longstanding position that talks need to proceed abreast with operations to culminate in a return of peace. In the army’s doctrinal view, counter insurgency operations[Read More...]
In 1963, an act of serious sacrilege plunged Kashmir into grief and fury never witnessed before. As people in Srinagar woke up to an icy Friday morning on 27 December corresponding to the 7th day of Chilai Kalan, the 40-day long harshest period of Kashmir winter, a shocking news spread like wildfire across the city. The Moi-e-Muqqadas (strand of holy[Read More...]
Authorities on Thursday, booked Father of 6 Daughters, of Hajin Bandipora under Stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) for 10th time in a row for his alleged involvement in Anti National Activities. Parray, resident of Hajin Bandipora, is district president of Muslim League led by Masrat Alam Bhat had been arrested in August 2015 for his alleged involvement in anti Govt[Read More...]
Kashmir and its history is replete with intimate massacres. These massacres were not witnessed after the birth of nation states who drafted the independent nation into disputed territory. These massacres were also witnessed during Mughal rule, Afghan rule, Sikh as well as in Dogra rule. In the year 1947, when one side the sub-continent of India got their independence from[Read More...]
Identity is a concept for understanding and learning about social conflicts. The issue of Muslim identity in the Kashmir conflict became a concern, thereby turning potentially negotiable issues into intractable conflicts centered on conflicting groups’ self-image and religion. A stalemate has followed because of the perception that the identity of a Kashmiri Muslim is non-negotiable. Identities are complex, historically bound[Read More...]
(Violence in any form with any motive can never solve a problem. Unless the senseless violence from all sides is ended soon, it will engulf the entire region resulting in an Armageddon!) The recent virtual massacre of the civilians in Pulwama has been likened to the massacre in Jalianwala Bagh during the British rule in India by a former judge[Read More...]
During our childhood, when elders at home talked about prices of essential commodities prevalent during their own childhood that they referred to as prone zamane (old times), our reaction would be of disbelief. Although their prone zamane was only 40 or 50 years backwards in time but the stories they told would bring it into our mind as an ancient[Read More...]
On 5th December, a daunting picture went Viral on Social Media in which 14 year old Cute Boy holding an AK-47 in one hand and and Knife in another. Mudasir a resident of Khankah Mohalla of Hajin town along with 16 year old Saqib Bilal had gone missing from home on 31 August this year after an encounter took place[Read More...]
A complete shutdown was observed across Kashmir valley on Sunday to mourn the civilian and militant killings in Sirnoo village of Pulwama district of south Kashmir on Saturday . All shops and other business establishments were closed in the Valley while public transport was off the road. Restrictions were imposed by the authorities in parts of Srinagar and Section 144[Read More...]
The Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer is a novel read of its kind. It provides an intimate account of life in the 1990’s when insurgency and counter-insurgency engulfed the valley. The author, through his personal experiences, highlights the agonies of being born and living in a conflict situation like Kashmir. Most of the narratives about Kashmir have been centered on[Read More...]
