Ashfaq Saraf “The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” ― Karl Marx Since its troops landed in Srinagar Indian state’s modus operandi in Kashmir has been in the likeness of a military expedition. From … Read more →
Kashmir Beyond Platitudes: The Responsibility to Protect
Dr. Gulam Nabi Fai Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream / I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been / To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen / They … Read more →
“There is no Justice for you” – Banned Talk in Kashmir
by Lina Wood Heading towards Srinagar downtown. The mobile vibrates. Come directly to the CCS office. The police have cancelled the talk. The Indian scholar Mridu Rai was supposed to speak on “Languages of Violence, Languages of Justice: the State and Insurgent Kashmir” this afternoon. A few hours before the … Read more →
Imagery Sprouts from Indefinite Memory
“I just forgot to ask my Uncle…” 92×69 cms Oil on Canvas Paintings & Text by Wajahat Hussain Rather The basic format of this composition is characterized by contrast, variety and dynamic asymmetrical balance, which strengthen the feeling generated by the individual elements. While our thoughts and feelings are often … Read more →
Meena Alexander
ON INDIAN ROAD In memory of Agha Shahid Ali, 1949-2001 I I have come drawn to water, Rooks in trees preparing for winter A glazed horseshoe dropped a century ago, Bits of arrowhead From those who lived on this land, Who thought the sun and moon beloved companions. We were … Read more →
Farah Bashir
AN EXPOSED BREAST Back to a void That fills lives To carry us over the abyss From another life Into spring ever the season Of empty streets No children No laughter No songs echo Freedom is a child A bride A child-bride A flower mutilated by a mortar A black … Read more →
Ta-Ha Mughal
I START TO TEASE MYSELF ABOUT EVERYTHING I walk barefoot on burning coals Children hoot and giggle I too hoot phyew phyooyew I too giggle khi’h khi’hh khi’hhh I look ugly naked I watch myself getting out of me I am in a labyrinth of mirrors I am in truth … Read more →
Fidioc
FROG IN A WELL The well is too shallow Water too cold Sometimes light reaches down Sometimes they keep it away Bricks and stones Are the only refuge I have Some flowers have bloomed Their color is black My croaks echo my fate— Stay forever in this well? Fidoic is … Read more →
Mushtaque Barq
AGAIN there’s a strike in Srinagar, paramilitary beating the iron, soft flesh of human hearts, using their special powers to kill. Again, clouds discover the sun and we are forced indoors, gates of isolation bolted, windows of pain flung open. Again, the breeze brings breaking news— a baby blinded in … Read more →
Aquib Hyder
I REMEMBER I remember my childhood caught in barbed wire I remember the smile of a child lost in a curfewed night I remember the echo of his mother’s wail I remember her tears waiting for her disappeared son I remember the bride’s gown stained by the blood of her … Read more →
Saba Mahjoor
OMENS a hollowness inside slowing down of everything an awareness of every heartbeat darkness of the back room a comfortable blanket drying up of lips uncontrollable tears staring into empty space bouts of confusion sudden rage feeling of loss his eyes sinking further into their hollows nervous twitch of his … Read more →
Roqayah Chamseddine
SEPARATION We’ve spent our entire lives clutching passports, airline boarding stubs, evidence enough to hush the howling wounds that try with all their might to convince us we were dreaming far from your embrace. I can taste the bitterness of loving you as if I’ve spent days chewing the last … Read more →
Ankita Anand
VICARIOUS I smear my lips with red chili pepper, Salivate between my short breaths. Biting hard, the searing taste reassures me Of iron within my dream of hot pursuit. I wake up in a sweat, Pour my head into a bucket of water. Clamp down my nose and mouth Counting … Read more →
In Conversation with Professor Rahman Rahi
Interview by Majid Maqbool Rahman Rahi’s residence in Vecharnag is on a slightly elevated ground. An air of melancholic loneliness surrounds the poet’s house. I ring the bell of the small, old style wooden door. Rahi Sahab himself comes out, and quietly greets me in. “Vaelev yaeve, taapas behvee kene … Read more →
In Conversation with Mona Bhan
An interview with Mona Bhan by Ather Zia Mona Bhan, associate professor of anthropology at DePauw University, is the author of Counterinsurgency, Democracy, and the Politics of Identity in India: From Warfare to Welfare?. The book has just been published by Routledge as part of its Contemporary South Asia Series. … Read more →
You Never Let Gods Die
Will Newman Each page is turned to enter grief’s accounts. Mother I see a hand. Tell me it’s not God’s. Let it die. I see it. It’s filling with diamonds. Please let it die. Are you somewhere, alive, somewhere alive, Mother? Do you hear what I once held back: in … Read more →
Apathetic masses in between shameless elite and uninspiring resistance
Khaufzad Kashur An unguided mass of people, stricken with unemployment, cultural delirium and dependence on supplies for survival, works as ballast for the stability of the military occupation. People of Kashmir, the atomized masses appear to be in a race among themselves for becoming good consumers of everything ranging from … Read more →
Kashmir in Three English Novels
Javaid Iqbal Bhat In this essay I analyse three novels and how they engage with the tumult and violence prevalent in Kashmir. The novels The Collaborator (2011) by Mirza Waheed and No Guns at my Son’s Funeral (2005) by Paro Anand have been published after 2000, and one of the … Read more →
Bovine Intervention: At the Gates of United Nations Office
Hilal Mir Moo! Moo! Oh ye white men in blue camouflage uniforms and caps, hearken to my bootless cries once. Unlike Kashmiris I am not a habitué of this place and never before have I come knocking at your door, seeking, what is that damned word, yes, the intervention. Kashmiris … Read more →
Trip to Lal Chowk: Memories from a childhood
Aga Syed Sameer It was a beautiful afternoon of a great summer day, but I was very restless after spending the cheerful morning sitting at home doing almost nothing except for studying. It was the starting day of the summer vacations. I wanted to break away from the shackles of … Read more →
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