Nadeem Under this Chinar, where I lay dying—is dead my whole nation. My family and friends and all my dear ones. There, under this Chinar is the unmarked grave of my Shaheed Moul. Under this Chinar, deep there—is sleeping my half widow Mouj. There, buried are the tortured limbs of … Read more →
Post-Traumatic Hurriyet Disorder
More heads usually means better decisions. When the Hurriyat leaders put theirs together after decades of separation, one thought this basic rule would apply. But as always the Hurriyat leaders proved themselves what they are: a massive disappointment. And these are no ordinary times we are talking about. At one … Read more →
Kashmir Reader and the Journalism of Courage
Rouf Dar, Umar Lateef Misgar & Harun Lone Modern age is defined by media. Every epoch has a certain peculiarity, a marked distinction. The present epoch is characterized by a dominating incision of media and it’s round the clock surveillance of our political and social community. As a matter of … Read more →
Is Independent Kashmir Possible?
Bilal Hussain Over the decades, the people of Kashmir have expressed their desire to have an identity, a homeland, and a separate nation, in many forms at multiple times. However, the Indian state has so far successfully been able to convince the global community about the non-viability of an Independent … Read more →
To beloved Kashmir
Manisha Manhas My love is betrothed to cloudshe sings of blooming shroudsI see withering vapours in his eyeshe sings of sorrows in snow lit dazzling ice his eyes speak up achings of disfigured blueswatching the nights and their darkest hueshe witnesses burning tulips in the flames of fireand takes me … Read more →
THREE POEMS ON PELLET VICTIMS OF KASHMIR
Muhammad Nadeem VULTURES AND DOVES ALL OVER AGAIN it’s apple seasonDoves are under curfew, againa filthy scenario all aroundfrom all quarters—(leftists, rightists,secularists, nationalists, cynics, critics andcrazed, nihilistic zealots)catch and killin the most highly militarized zone in the worldVultures and Doves all over againbullets, bombs, and bands of cowards hunt in … Read more →
What you need to know about the current crisis in Kashmir
The Daily Vox The situation in Indian-administered Kashmir has worsened in recent weeks. Eighty-two people have people killed in clashes with Indian security forces, while thousands of civilians have been injured. Why the unrest though?Kashmir’s summer of discontent was stirred by the killing of a popular militant, Burhan Wani on 8 July. … Read more →
‘Hum Kya Chahte? AZADI’ – The Slogan which always reverberates in Kashmir.
Abdul Azeem* “Freedom is an idea that no tyrant will ever crush.” ~ Laurence Overmire Sloganeering means to raise slogans. It is a way of protest or appreciation in some ways. It is raising slogans to form a protest in order to get attention or to bring change in any … Read more →
Three Generations of Kashmir’s Azaadi: A Short History of Discontent
Farrukh Faheem How the Right to Self-determination Got Euphemised into Merely Ending Human Rights Violations When did the question of Kashmir’s right to self-determination get euphemised into Kashmiris’ “grievances” against the Indian state, centred merely on ending human rights violations and better economic support? When did the people of Kashmir, who … Read more →
Counterpoint: Is it really so difficult to hear what Kashmiris are saying?
Mohammad Junaid Among a series of articles that have been written on the Kashmir uprising of 2016, Chitralekha Zutshi’s piece, “The new wave of anger in Kashmir is not just about poor governance but about preserving an identity“, published recently in Scroll.in, took me by surprise. The author makes two broad … Read more →
Azadi Resurrected: A Referendum In Blood
Ather Zia As I write this, it is the 51st day of protests in Kashmir. The number of those killed by the Indian forces is 69+; the injured are more than 8500; more than 570 have had their eyes ruptured by pellet shotguns. Not all of those killed and maimed were active protesters. The internet and pre-paid … Read more →
The Summer of Our Discontent
Poems inspired by 2016 Summer Uprising in Kashmir Defiance This summer too They came Trampling my dreams Under their heavy boots This summer too They came Tearing my body With their sharp pellets This summer too They came Drowning my voice Under their shrill rhetoric This summer too They … Read more →
Three poems on Kashmir by an Indian tourist
Shrenik Mutha India’s Occupations (tr. from भारतीय कब्ज़ा) maps lie by drawing boundaries maps lie by messing up names maps lie by closing places so that the color would not leak out so that the people will be shut in and stifled like in a prison to finally enter the … Read more →
Thinking of the Indian panhandler and Indian guns in Kashmir
To read this piece you might want to place yourself in the last few days of Ramazan because that is when it was written and slated for publication. Since internet is always slow in Kashmir, it reached Raiot desk as people were gearing to say goodbye to fasting and getting … Read more →
A Shriek about Kashmir—A Ghazal
To Abir Bazaz, Javaid Iqbal Bhat, Hamzah, and all my Kashmiri brothers How do I see, think, dream, or speak about Kashmir? One more ghazal shall I tweak about Kashmir? Another bloody summer looms over the Dal, Wani’s died and been deified this week, about Kashmir. Vani … Read more →
When people picked soil from Burhan’s grave as ‘tabarruk’
A Aalim Ahmad The Martyrs’ Graveyard at Tral, where Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was buried, is the most visited place these days. The graveyard was carved out of a portion of the expansive Eidgah 27 years ago when the body of a Pulwama militant arrived from the Line of … Read more →
Kashmir: Dispatches from Behind a Siege
Yasir Altaf Zargar People were returning from their regular chores, when the news that the famous Kashmiri local rebel who had turned to militancy at the age of 15, had been killed in an encounter near Kokernag, 15 kms away from district Anantnag. People in long chains came out from … Read more →