By Amit Kumar 1.1 For a Murderer Its Friday, All faithful are running for the Namaz-e-Juma Somewhere a Brahmin is reciting the sacred mantras Every devotee is hand-folded, sitting in reverie I could never understand the ‘Arabic verse’ la illah ila allah mohammed rasoul allah Grandmother’s fairy-tales appealed more than … 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 →
A reminder to Shah Faesal- the ‘poster boy’ of Indian bureaucracy
Media in the besieged Valley of Kashmir is going gaga over a ‘Facebook post’ shared by the poster boy of Indian bureaucracy in Kashmir Shah Faesal. The way Kashmir press is giving it hype is both surprising as well as saddening. The Facebook post in itself isn’t something that deserves … 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 →
Mehbooba Mufti invites journalists to dinner, but…
Parvaiz Bukhari On Wednesday, two days after the Jammu and Kashmir government moved to the state’s summer capital of Srinagar, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti invited select members of the press for dinner at a guest house in the sylvan Zabarwan foothills. Since she took charge in early April she has … Read more →
That Language Of The Gun
Tariq Mehmood I came to Srinagar, Kashmir, for the wedding of my friend’s daughter. After the wedding, along with a couple who had come from Malaysia, we decided to visit Pahalgam. We started our journey from the Dal lake. It was a bright warm summer’s day. The reflection of the snow … Read more →
A tribute to Atta Mohammad
Angana Chatterji Atta Mohammad (1940-2016) was a gravedigger and caretaker of the unknown, unmarked and some mass graves at Chehal Bimyar located in the Northern Kashmir district of Baramulla. For those seeking to locate persons missing and disappeared and to access local knowledge and the events of history, Atta Mohammad’s … Read more →
An Open (Love) Letter to Kashmir from a Koshur Gobur
Dear Kashmir, It seems to be the season of open letters, so I too will hop on and instead of wasting my breath on writing open letters to people who do not deserve my attention and much less my words, I am writing you this long due (love) letter. I … Read more →
In Kashmir, ‘fearless mobs’ help militants escape
Parvaiz Bukhari. In a graveyard at his school in Indian Kashmir, principal Ghulam Ahmed Bhat stares sadly at a mound of freshly dug earth after another former pupil was killed in the region’s conflict. University student Shaista Hameed was caught in crossfire during a gun battle between soldiers and militants … Read more →
Tea with Chilai Kalaan
Dr. Shabir Mir For generations winter has been a season of indolence and gossip for us. As the mercury dips down not only does the water freeze but so does the time as well. There is no more work to be done in apple orchards or in paddy fields. The … Read more →
Concerned Faculty on the JNU crisis
In the wake of events around the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the crackdown on students, a group of female faculty in various disciplines who work in/on Kashmir remind us why the focus on the Kashmiri right to self-determination should not be negated. We are scholars of Kashmir from different … Read more →
Kashmir – Of Occupation and Casbah-ization
Umar Lateef Misgar Kashmir has been subject to a state of untold persecution for the last 500 years. Lately, India, Pakistan and China have all annexed and occupied some part of the historic Kashmiri nation. The country, as we live in it now, feels no better than Occupied Palestine or … Read more →
Political Activist Anjum Zamarud Habib’s Indian Prison Ordeal
Anjum Zamarud Habib, author of “Prisoner Number 100: The Story of My Ordeal in an Indian Prison”, speaks about life in confinement, the women’s movement in Kashmir with Manmeet Sahni The first time I met this gutsy looking woman was at a book reading session, amidst a small coterie of women … Read more →