Umer Beigh in conversation with Asiya Andrabi’s youngest son Ahmed Bin Qasim On July 10, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) attached the house of incarcerated 56-year-old Asiya Andrabi, a senior pro-freedom leader heading Dukhtaraan-e-Millat under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Though “no searches were conducted” but investigators maintained … Read more →
Asiya Andrabi: A Lifetime of Fighting for Freedom
Rahiba R Parveen From the archives [ First published here in 2014] – Asiya Andrabi is currently jailed You may agree or disagree with her ideology but the founder of the first women’s organization of Kashmir, Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughter of the nation) Asiya Andrabi remains one of the most important women … Read more →
A Kashmiri Woman’s Lifetime Struggle for Azadi
Conversation with Anjum Zamarud Habib Faizaan Bhat Anjum Zamarud Habib is a social and political activist, senior executive member of Hurriyat [Geelani] and author of two books, including Nigha-E-Anjum, her autobiography, published by Kitaab Mehal and Qaidi number 100 published by Pharos Books, which is a journal of her days … Read more →
Kashmir – The Invisible and the Damned
Aijaz Zaka Syed You can look away now The Vale of tears has dried up And a deathly silence stalks the Dal Deserted towns, burnt orchards and shadows everywhere. Paradise will ne’er be the same again Nothing will ever be the same again We, the invisible and the … Read more →
Ghazalnama: Poems from Delhi, Belfast, and Urdu
A selection from a book of poems by Maaz bin Bilal. Maaz lived in Old Delhi for most of his life before leaving for a doctorate in literary studies at the Queen’s University of Belfast. He now teaches at Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities in Sonipat where he … Read more →
Response Poetry
We called poets to write us “Response Poems” We asked them to recall any favorite poem that spoke to them or inspired them or was a companion to them when no one else is. Then we asked if they ever have written a response to it in the form of … Read more →
Abandonment
Daaniyal Hassan At Srinagar Airport The waiting furniture has grown roots in the frosted floor. The carpenter’s chisel runs smooth blade in my palms. Grape leaves are carved on walnut wood. This is the anatomy of deficient hands without you. From door to door of … Read more →
Resisting the Language of Occupation
Anonymous Author A & Anonymous Author B “We cannot allow the occupier to dictate what to speak and when to speak. Being free is our religion and its consciousness is our survival” – Manan Wani, former doctoral student, militant (Hizb-ul-Mujahideen); martyred on 11th October 2018 When you are under occupation, the … Read more →
The number “four”
Yogesh Mishra On the way to school Zuni counts One barricade, two barricades, three barricades Green is Pakistan Saffron is India And blood is red It is little Zuni’s new charade The way she learns counting and recalls a color’s name I do not know whom to blame … Read more →
A poem for Aasif Sultan
Omer Sultan I wrote this poem to address the illegal imprisonment of Aasif Sultan, the Assistant Editor of Kashmir Narrator, a monthly magazine. Aasif, my brother was arrested on the intervening night of 27th and 28th of August 2018. He dropped me to the airport a day before his arrest. … Read more →
Wayfaring by Tikuli Dogra
Reviewer: Shabir Ahmed Mir “Wayfaring” published by The Leaky Boot press (2017, 136 pages) is the second collection of poems by Tikuli Dogra. The collection is divided into seven asymmetric sections. Despite the thematic difference between the sections as well as within the sections, Tikuli Dogra emerges as a poet … Read more →
Won’t the soil suffocate you, my son?
Benish Meraj Searching amidst the best of attire, she found the warmest pheran (woollen robe). She piled his every belonging and took one, just one. The mothers living under oppression knows how to bury the pain deep in their chests, they know how to bury their beloved, they know how to … Read more →
Words Matter! Mannan Wani writes a second letter
Mannan Wani یہ فیضانِ نظر تھا یا کے مکتب کی کرامت سکھاے کس نے اسمعیل کو آدابِ فرزندی …. To the digital audience, mostly educated, I had written a piece in CNS Kashmir, calling for contemplation and the revision of views. But within a span of 6 hours, the … Read more →
Words Matter! Mannan Wani writes an open letter
Mannan Wani Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you send him to the cemetery. – Malcolm X Occupation is not easy to understand, it’s a very complex and multifaceted phenomenon. The decade’s long bloody conflict has turned Kashmir into one … Read more →
The truth behind “Khokh”
M J Aslam Kashmiri Dictionary defines the word “Khokh” as “an effigy used to scare away birds from fields of the crop”. Its English equivalent is “scarecrow” which is used by peasants during harvest season in their farmlands to keep away the pesky birds from damaging the crop. That … Read more →
They are my martyrs and I am their custodian
Obituary Arif Nazir Habibullah Khan, the gravedigger and custodian of Mazar-e-Shohada at Eid Gah Srinagar has passed away. He left for his heavenly abode on July 19 2018. Khan Sahab leaves behind two daughters and a son and a touching legacy of his service to the Kashmiri nation. In the … Read more →
Dirty sands of time, a review of ‘The Night of Broken Glass’ by Feroz Rather
Adil Bhat Underneath the violence, the festering heart of Kashmiri society Fiction has the power to transform our perceptions of peoples and places. Feroz Rather’s The Night of Broken Glass is such a book; it hits you right in the gut. The author peeks into the dark, festering heart of Kashmiri … Read more →
Downtown, my Beloved
Benish Meraj My love for old city evolved similarly the way my love for my beloved did! I crossed these alleys every day, like every girl in high school, I would walk lazily through these decorated lanes, not necessarily of laziness but lingering through every shop to watch endlessly to-be … Read more →
Love in the Time of Camera
Kashmir Lit News Desk We introduce a new poetry book written by Kashmiri poet Mubashir Karim. “Love in the Time of Camera has a strong appetite for love that transforms the modern Kashmiri life – from Mehjoor Nagar to 90 Feet, Heavy Traffic to Mobile Phones, Unmarked Graves to Surveillance – … Read more →
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