Tajamul Islam & Mudasir Ali Lone “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 first … Read more →
Green is the Colour of Memory, Poetry Collection
A new book on poetry titled, “Green is the Colour of Memory” by Huzaifa Pandit is out. Kashmir Lit is happy to share an excerpt from the foreword by Nabina Das. She mentions: “This poet is from the mountains, valleys, springs, and rivers that have seen prolonged dark nights and not the dazzle … Read more →
Two Poems by Insha Muzaffar
(1) In the mirror the hangman looks so like my silence that I wish I was born as a million tongued word meaning freedom there are no flowers like that of moon (eclipsing over old mountains) no resurrection other than its absurd cycles but then the way some people longingly … Read more →
A Bloody Night in Pampore by Muhammad Tahir
Don’t tell me Papa Kishtwari looked ferocious, And his eyes had all the fire of terror; That his hairs were dyed dark ginger And he walked with intimidating airs. Tell me about that January night in 1996, Which was the Night of Salvation, When his armed pack of savage men, … Read more →
Pashmina, Tombstones have names & Witness by Sayen Aich
There have been evenings When my grandmother would weave stories, from the pashmina threads of memory. That still kept her going. With such delicate threads one had to be careful. A little lie here, a little too much effort And a castle of stories would crumble down. She would … Read more →
The Calendar of Death by Zeeshan Ali
1 With the onset of Spring, Death comes seeking: in twos and threes in gold-plated pyramids in ogives, traced by thirsty hands (wounded by salt) by instinct. It slithers away with the smell of impunity. 2 In the midst of Summer, death comes seeking, again: in hundreds and thousands of … Read more →
To a half disappearance & If wishes were horses by Zabirah Fazili
Back home we laughed merry laughs, tears streaming down our eyes, a defiant smile on the face offsets familiar aches felt by us. we lost him in our strength and frailty yet we hugged and held each other back home to shelve our shrieks we smiled at our helplessness. we … Read more →
Occupation by Tasim Zahid
Misery filled our lungs long before you, But then you came guns blazing and tear gas popping Shooting us, shouting, we come in peace, we come in love Fuck you and fuck your guns, I will be ready to die before you can even count to ten But how will … Read more →
The Exodus of a City by Ifsha Zehra and Samia Mehraj
Please note that the words in italics belong to Samia Mehraj & and the non-italicised ones to Ifsha Zehra It is 1990, I am not born. Someone peeks through the window of my mother’s house. In the vicinity, suitcases are being quietly packed with the essentials of olden days. Secrets of … Read more →
‘When Kashmir wept, I wrote a poem’ by Premjish
To the Kashmir I’ve never visited, not even in my dreams. I know you will understand, my fear for the uniforms, the masculine parades, the gun holding men who look like Indian gods with elongated genitals, who look like my father with their moustaches, you know I despise my father, … Read more →
Ghazal for February by Ananya Pandey
There is a dog on the road looking up at the city every day With eyes of a poem’s tireless wonder – I too try, every day On Rani Jhansi road, the houses have been half demolished for years Here, construction and livelihoods carry on every day At the chowk … Read more →
2018 Annual Kashmiri Women’s Resistance Day
By: Kashmir Lit Editorial Desk, 23 February 2018, 12 am Every year since 2014, 23rd February is observed as Kashmiri Women’s Resistance Day. This day commemorates the survivors of the mass rape and torture in the two villages of Kunan and Poshpora in the part of Kashmir which is administered … Read more →
Kashmir in Comparative Perspective
Book Name: Kashmir in Comparative Perspective: Democracy and Violent Separatism in India Author: Sten Widmalm, Publisher: Routledge Curzon, Date of Publication: 2002, Pages: 226 Reviewer: Touseef Mir The outbreak of armed insurgency against the Indian State from 1989 in Kashmir and its implications for the security of the South … Read more →
Afzal Guru’s Last Days
Indian journalist Sunetra Choudhury’s book on prison tales of India’s 13 famous persons offers the first credible account of Afzal Guru’s last three years in Tihar and his walk to the gallows. This excerpt is from Kobad Ghandy’s account, who Afzal became friends with in jail. When the Jawaharlal Nehru University … Read more →
For a Child of Kashmir and other poem
Saima Afreen Poem No. 1 | For a Child of Kashmir Child, Look A little paper-boat sways On violet waters Of butchered lullabies On which your mother once put A tiny tear of your dreams And a firefly from her face. Bullets pierce mouth of the molten … Read more →
This Is How Kashmiri Women Are Risking Their Lives
April 6, 2017, 4:30 PM ET Republished transcript of an Interview with Arooja (name changed) a Kashmiri woman on NPR’s All Things Considered JULIE MCCARTHY Some residents of the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley are using more aggressive tactics to thwart Indian security forces: Women are placing themselves, literally, between militants and soldiers. KELLY … Read more →
When the army men hanged my panties, bras on the wall hooks, littered my sanitary pads…
Sara Ahmad In the year 2006, I would always wake up early in the morning to prepare for my competitive exams. I would leave the bed every day at 6 am. Before opening the books, I would lazily stand near the window of my room to see the happenings outside. … Read more →
Enforced Disappearance of a young Kashmiri woman
Raqib Hameed Naik Doda (Jammu and Kashmir): Inside the dilapidated single story mud house with wood and polyethene sheets covering the roof, Ghulam Mohammad Butt, 88 opens his steel trunk and brings out an old, torn newspaper. Flipping all the pages, he stops at the last and keeps gazing at the … Read more →
How riots changed J&K politics
The article first appeared on Kashmir Life Journalist Ved Bhasin has completed six decades in active journalism, but the editor of Kashmir Times has had an equal proximity to politics. Politics, in fact, was his first love, that eventually gave way to journalism. He has been close to players that mattered … Read more →
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