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State gone with Article 370: Hashim Qureshi

August 4, 2020August 4, 2020 Editor

The State of Jammu and Kashmir existed for 173 years. The valley was purchased by Gulab Singh from the British and Jammu had already come under his suzerainty. Maharaja Gulab Singh incorporated lesser principalities into his kingdom and gave it the name of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The borders of his State extended from Damchok on the border line with China to Lakhanpur – the border of Punjab and from Gilgit to Bhimbhar. The state was under the autocratic rule of the Dogras from 1846 to 1947. Hari…

One year ago, India killed mainstream politics in Kashmir, and nothing else

July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 Editor

And Article 370 was actually reborn—as another “betrayal”, a collective humiliation that kindles separatism further. Only uncertainty has domicile in Kashmir now Haseeb A. Drabu Circa 2014. Halfway through election campaigning, it occurred to me that the issues of azaadi, autonomy, and Article 370 were never raised in any of the meetings, anywhere. Not once was it asked of me where I stood on these. Even in private conversations with people—farmers, shopkeepers, traders, and agricultural labourers—the National Conference’s demand for ‘autonomy’ or the PDP’s concept of ‘self-rule’ was never mentioned,…

An indefinite article, A year of silence: Was a Historical Blunder corrected in Kashmir…Or Another Committed?

July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 Editor

New Delhi is rolling out the ‘three Ds’ to change J&K’s political/social map internally. It may even restore J&K’s statehood as a sop. But all amid a lockdown of opinions. Bhavna Vij-Aurora Jammu and Kashmir. These days, the words rarely evoke the torn edges of majestic mountains that garland it, beauteous gardens that recall imperial grandeur, swiftly-flowing streams that keep time for eternity or the spirit of Kashmiriyat immersed in Sufi spiritualism—all things that once marked India’s northernmost region. Though it has never had an ordinary trajectory since 1947, the…

For Kashmir Solution China is a party now

July 25, 2020July 25, 2020 Editor

China has demonstrated a remarkable ability to resolve border disputes peacefully Naeem Sarfraz Six years I wrote an article “Kashmir solution lies in Beijing”. It highlighted that China is a party to the Kashmir dispute. As such it has to be part of any solution of the dispute. Nothing happened for years. But recent events have brought matters to a head. India occupies Jammu, Ladakh and the Kashmir Valley, which China and Pakistan refuse to accept; China occupies Aksai Chin and parts of Ladakh, which India refuses to accept; Pakistan…

Kashmir battling lockdown for a year now

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020 Editor

One of the most beautiful places on earth is faced with political upheaval and pandemic Tariq A. Al Maeena While the rest of the world has experienced some form of lockdown in recent months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the people of Kashmir in India have faced a double whammy. They have had to deal with both the coronavirus and an erosion of their political freedoms. Kashmiris have been living under a government-imposed lockdown since last August — for almost a year now — and it has nothing…

India is weaponizing its Spiritual Tourists

July 9, 2020July 9, 2020 Editor

Pilgrims headed to the divided region of Kashmir get armed guards and national encouragement — if they’re Hindu. By – Raksha Kumar Every July, thousands of buses, trucks, cars, mules, and palanquin bearers crawl up 12, 768 treacherous feet of mountainous terrain to reach the Amarnath cave, where a smooth ice stalagmite dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva reaches up from the cave floor. The devotees heading for this linga (a Hindu term for venerated, somewhat phallic objects) are making one of the most dangerous pilgrimages in India — not…

A photo of a dead Kashmiri and the making of a macabre narrative

July 8, 2020July 8, 2020 Editor

An officially staged photo-op involving a dead Kashmiri and a toddler demonstrates another level of depravity in India. By Mirza Waheed Perhaps it does not require a moral compass to feel outrage and fury over the image of a three-year-old Kashmiri child sitting on his slain grandfather’s chest in the middle of a street. You probably need only one of the two to feel something: A pair of eyes or a heart. The 65-year-old man, Bashir Ahmed Khan, was killed after a shootout between militants and Indian paramilitaries in the…

Istanbul declaration on Kashmir

July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 Editor

KASHMIR: REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONALDIMENSIONS CONFERENCE Declaration Two-days International Kashmir Webinar was organized by Faculty of Letters, Department of Urdu, Istanbul University on June 29 – 30, 2020. The participants unanimously adopted the following declaration at the end of the conference: 1. That there must be an early, just and durable resolution to the Jammu & Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. 2. The United Nations Security Council had clearly enunciated that on the basis of the agreement concluded between India and Pakistan, “the final disposition…

Out of box ‘Cure’ for coronavirus, Patanjali continues to do ‘Science’ by Press Release

June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 Editor

By – Vasudevan Mukunth Patanjali Ayurved, the FMCG company owned by yoga guru Baba Ramdev that has made a windfall selling food and consumer goods rooted in supposed Ayurvedic precepts and by capitalising on protectionist sentiments, claimed on Tuesday that it had developed an Ayurvedic product that could ‘cure’ COVID-19. At a launch event earlier this week, Ramdev said their Patanjali Research Institute had produced an “evidence-based ayurvedic cure” for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has thus far claimed 4.4 lakh lives around the world. The…

Bringing the Israeli model to Kashmir

June 21, 2020June 21, 2020 Editor

The gradual encroachment on Kashmiri’s rights and the growing prospect of colonisation could set the region on fire. By Anuradha Bhasin For more than 70 years, Kashmiris have lived with the dread of the Indian government changing the demography and special status of Indian-administered Kashmir, which was till recently Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state. Deemed preposterous and exaggerated at one time, these anxieties have now become completely justified and have even deepened. On August 5, 2019, Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which gave the state its special status and…