Kanger: Traditional pride of Kashmir
Kangri or Kangdhi , or Kanger in common Kashmiri parlance, is an indispensable part of socio-cultural milieu of Kashmir. All Kashmiris, cutting across gender, creed & age use & “consider…
Kashmir
Two Memoirs That Tell Kashmir Story
Two sons did an excellent job! Both merit credit for doing a job that many other children placed in similar situations have chosen to ignore. Fathers of the two from…
The Prosperity of Trigger
With the trigger prospering unabatedly without any let off, the autumn in Kashmir is characteristically more auburn, crimsoned and of course paler and tawny russet than before, both the perspiration…
Chidambaram Has A Point
On Saturday, Oct27, 2018, there was a graveyard silence outside, and everything is in mourning over spurt of killings during the autumn- fifty youth killed in a month. In this…
Governor’s revelation over favouritism in J&K Bank appointments
Newly appointed governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik on his interview with Times Now revelled many things including the Major Scam in Jammu and Kashmir Bank. Governor Malik…
Remembering autumns when there would be no bloodbaths
The Sun that like grand artist excited us when we would be still in our bed now stopped to be a painter for us. In wee hours, rising from behind…
Harps of Kashmir Bleed!
O Mother, do not cry For I have died but the battle stays My death is not the full stop It's just a question which you must ask!
Between black and white, more than 50 shades of gray
It just takes a humane heart to condemn, raise voice or feel empathetic with regard to the pain and suffering experienced by the people of Kashmir since ages, more specifically…
My Tryst with Kashmir and What it Means to Me
News of violence and unrest coming from any part of the country – nay, the world - is disturbing. All the more so if it lasts and continues over long…
Kashmir: The Perennial Power Problem!
(The PDD has been chasing the PPP for a longtime but the current year’s winter may see the climax of the problem!) No doubt because of our run of…
Understanding Kashmir imbroglio through historical narratives
History is replete with chronicles of conflicts since the dawn of the human civilization.Although, the scale and intensity of these conflicts can be variable,yet going through the narratives and…
Srinagrites Are Not ‘Ghetto People’
Honestly, they ‘have been more sinned against than sinning.’ Distraught at the plight of a million people with bright minds and deft hands this Shakespearean quote knocked my mind while…
Myth of Kashyap Rishi: Origin of valley of Kashmir
Mythical or folklore tales have been a part of all ancient societies & communities. Such stories are still told verbally & even otherwise in writings, songs, paintings, etc, in many…
The other side of 35-A!
(Repealing of Article 35-A creates an apprehension among Kashmiris of being swept away by the rich from the mainland. On the contrary, Kashmir may turn into something which no one…
Kashmir: Shuffling the Administration
(For past some time the officers in the state administration are being shuffled like a pack of cards which renders them ineffective) Apart from various political and security issues, the…
Kashmiri Started Writing Their Story
Like many other bibliophiles, the iconic bookstore, ‘The Kashmir Bookshop’ on the Residency Road had also become my haunt. Similar to some morning visitors to the India Coffee House, I…
Sonawar: The Story Of An Uptown Quarter
Shortly before the termination of his rule in 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir, was known to have toyed with the idea of converting Sonawar, a…
Kashmir’s flags: A historical overview
Flag is not a mere piece of fabric that flutters about in the breeze. It represents the feelings & ideals of the people for that for which it has been…
Gandhiji’s Only Kashmir Yatra That Set The Stage For India In Kashmir
Acting on the recommendation of Mountbatten, the British Government on 3rd June, 1947, announced its plan of partition of India into two Dominions of India & Pakistan. The Indian Independence…
Kashmir’s Tryst with Ballot
Some days, back on social media network Facebook, someone posted a black and white photograph of a handsome turbaned man draped in an up-button black coat. The picture looked…
Kashmir, the “Final” solution!
(Reportedly, Prime Minister Modi is going to announce the “Final” solution of the Kashmir problem before 2019 elections!) Recently there was a news report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is…
‘Mahatma Gandhi’ In Kashmir Narrative
Few days back another voluminous biography was added to grand list of biographies on Mahatma Gandhi.Seventy years after the British sailed across the Indian Ocean the stories of the…
Reality & falsity of proverbial accusations against Kashmiris
There is a Persian distich “agar kahat ul rijal uftad, azehan uns kamgiri yake afghan , doyum kamboh, soyam badzaat kashmiri”: (translation: although there is no dearth of men to be there in…
Wedlocks in Kashmir’s landscape
Marriage is a sacred institution in the human societies.Down the passing phases of time,the human beings have tied knots of man and woman in pairs to continue the order of…
Kashmir: Flood Prevention Not Preparedness!
(Instead of wasting time in mock drills to test the flood preparedness, the government should get down earnestly to implement urgent measures for flood prevention) Recently there was a high…
Who Are The Stone Pelters Of Kashmir?
For over 70 years, unarmed Kashmiris, including men, women, school-going boys and girls and aged people have continued to witness mental, psychological as well as physical humiliation and torture. Every…
Kashmir: Political Uncertainty, the main problem!
(Lack of accountability, lopsided governance, dishonesty and corruption in every field stem from the basic malaise which is the perennial political uncertainty) During last 70 years or so Kashmir has…
The scourge of internet gagging in Kashmir
The world of today is altogether in contradiction to the times of the previous ages. Technology has taken the global order by a major revolutionary storm and made the world…
Kashmir’s Celluloid Years
The beginning and the end of cinema halls in Kashmir is linked with the turmoil it has witnessed for about nine decades now. During the early 1930s, when Kashmir was…
Article 35-A: Not a Ripe Time to Breach an Article of Faith and Trust
The “Carte Blanche” of Jammu and Kashmir legislative Assembly-Article 35-A was incorporated in the Constitution of India by presidents order in 1954. The president's order provision is under the Article…
UN And Battle Over Kashmir
For the past seventy years the war of words, on the floor of the United Nation’s Security Council on the Kashmir Dispute, has been a routine with India and Pakistan.…
Article 35(A): The Evolution of A Protection
Any argument against Article 35-A of the Constitution of India in isolation from the political and social conditions in which partition of India, accession of JK with India took place…
Is There No Solution For Kashmir Problem?
Is there really no solution to Kashmir problem? Are we all going to face this Democratic Hitlerism for generations? Every morning I wake up I get to know someone has…
Of Article 35-A and looming crisis in Kashmir
India is the confluence of 29 states and 7 Union territories, with a distinct demography, language, culture, lifestyle, etc. Jammu and Kashmir forms the part of the northern portion of…
Kashmir: Deceitful Nehru V/S Pragmatic Vajpayee
In all literature; history, memoirs, and travelogues, Kashmir is described as a country.Notwithstanding, being ruled by Moguls, Durranis, and Sikhs through their governors for exacting taxes to the extent of…
The Cup of “Poison”!
(The cup of poison called “Hemlock” which Socrates was forced to drink has always turned out to be the cup of the “Water of Life” for the mainstream politicians of…
What led to removal of SMA on 9th August, 1953?
A lot has been written about 9/8/1953 removal of Sheikh M. Abdullah (for brevity, SMA) from chair of State PM. In spite of that, more curiosity stills fills many minds…
The ‘Violence of Interpretations’ And Kashmir Problem
We have a story, with a beginning, middle and end- but it is the end that is confounded by “the others,” who have their ‘meal tickets in the pursuit.’For confusing…
From ceasefire to political crisis-All is not well in Kashmir
Kashmir is a vexed issue of the Asian sub-continent that assumes dynamic dimensions and increases its momentum with the currents of time with a sort of deep permeated growing alienation…
The Threat to Kashmiri Existence!
Unprecedented shutdown against Supreme Court hearing on Article 35-A shows Kashmiris’ concern not only to protect their unique identity but their very existence! Before one delves on the threat to…
Kashmir: No-go Zone For Foreign Journalists?
The storyof contemporary Kashmir would have remained under wraps, marked as “classified,” “top secret” never to be toldto the world.But,for some journalist living true to their professional ethics, it…
Christians in Kashmir
Co-Written by Ashish Kumar Singh & Dr. Wakar Amin Being ranked as the fourth-worst country for religious intolerance out of 198 nations in April 2017, it is high time that…
Adulterated Food and Fake Medicine
The worst calamities for Kashmir apart from natural disasters are the adulteration in food products and the sale of fake medicine! Kashmiris have now become used to both natural and…
Article 35-A cannot be abrogated
Today after seven decades, JK Muslims, are struggling hard to protect “semblance” of their Unique Culture and Identity that was “guaranteed” to them under Articles 370 and 35-A by the…
Agonized Stories of Parents of Martyred Children of Kashmir
On a couple of times, I noticed a man wearing grief on his face as withering leaves on hackberries on graveyards strolling on dusty lawns of the Srinagar court.…
Kashmir Heritage: Tale of a Mammoth Loss
During a study tour on 31 August 2000, when some teachers and students of Degree College Sopore discovered a fossil of a mammoth at Pampore, 15 kms south of Srinagar,…
Kashmir To Ka’ba: The Journey of Faith in Yesteryears
The first batch of 820 (Haj-1439) pilgrims left Srinagar by air on 14 July 2018. In all, about 10,196 pilgrims from Jammu & Kashmir will perform Haj this year through…
The Environmental Suicide!
(The way we have been deliberately and knowingly destroying various components of Nature in Kashmir makes it look like an Environmental “Suicide”!) Recently there has been news about some dredging…
Historical Decisions Have Historical Consequences: A Leaf With A Lesson From History
The rising anger against age old State atrocities & injustices, augmented by the news of sacrilegious acts by non-Muslims pouring in from some Jammu areas, caused outright outrage among the…
Article 35-A is the meeting point for all divergent viewpoints
The date 6 August 2018, has been hanging like the sword of Damocles on the heads of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir, across the religious, regional, ethnic and…
Kashmir: Tourism gets low priority
(In spite of the fact that one and all claim Tourism to be back bone of Kashmir’s economy, yet the government does not seem to accord it the priority it…
Of government’s demise and political crisis in Kashmir
India is a land of diversity where people from different regions merge in a single Union. Jammu and Kashmir is the only northern state of India dogged with an overridden…
Kounsar Nag: Between legends & reality
Nature has indeed endowed the valley of Kashmir & the neighbouring mountains with an abundance of fine springs including the one named “Kounsar Nag”. (The ancient geography of ancient Kashmir…
Kashmir Story: Not Known To The World?
My take on the book, ‘Kashmir Glimpse of History and Story of Struggle’ by Saifuddin Soz the past week in this column kick-started an important debate on the social media.…
Modi’s Kashmir Policy has brought India to Disrepute
The cynical break-up of the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir by BJP without prior notice in Jammu and Kashmir is a clear evidence of its plans to continue…
Nepotism, Kashmir’s worst enemy!
(The most destructive element in every sphere of Kashmir Society is the widespread nepotism! For any real progress it has not only to be opposed but eradicated) Most of the…
Three Civilians Including A Teenage Girl Killed In Kashmir
Three civilians including a teenage girl were killed allegedly in government forces action during clashes in Redwani area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Saturday. A senior police officer told…
Living with nightmares!
(The trauma caused by the disastrous flood of 2014 makes living in Srinagar’s low lying colonies virtually a continuous nightmare, especially during the rainy days!) The recent flood caused…
Kashmir: Corruption in blood stream!
(The Kashmir Society has become so corrupt that one feels the corruption has gone into the blood stream of the people!) There was a time when word “corruption” would give…
UN Human Rights Report Gives New Sinews To Kashmir
Historically, Kashmiris since 1819 have always greeted the voices raised from outside the state against their oppression and in support of their cause. In 1934, when Mahatma Gandhi in response…
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