Articles Archives | Page 17 of 51

Colors of Autumn

September 27, 2018 Editor

Fall is not only the best time of year, out of all four seasons but it’s also the most scenic and beautiful if you love being outdoors. It is a transition period between summer and winter when all the leaves from the trees and plants change into multi-colored works of art and fall away. It creates bare, and vulnerable branches, revealing the true scenery underneath and the weather can be warm and cool at the same time. It is the most comfortable weather for me. The winds are just right…

Trifurcating Jammu Kashmir

September 15, 2018 Editor

Neither the Prime Minister, nor the Parliament of India can unilaterally redraw the borders of the state Post Article 35A debate, a new story is doing rounds in the local newspapers and social networking spheres. The story headlines “PM Modi may trifurcate J&K in next one or two months”. The news item claims that a report based on credible sources in the PM office said: “That Prime Minister NarendraModi wants to resolve the Jammu & Kashmir problem and could be gauged from the fact that he wants to resolve the…

Shadows of Article 35A, Will people’s vote have an effect?

September 10, 2018 Editor

‘Listen as the crowd would sing: Now the old king is dead, Long live the King, ( King Louis XV1) Alone before he was executed) Dear God , guide us and protect us, ‘we are too young to reign , people of Kashmir are voting again.’ If only as an experiment India held a referendum to ascertain and decide if they want to retain A-35 or scrap it, a political solution to a political problem was in sight. This would be the route taken by all democratic countries of the…

‘It’s safer to be a cow than a woman or Muslim in India’: Arundhati Roy

September 6, 2018 Editor

Writer Arundhati Roy is in South Africa to promote her latest novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. But in her homeland of India, fact sometimes outstrips fiction when it comes to stretching credulity – and addressing an audience in Cape Town on Monday night, the famously outspoken Roy slammed the current Indian government as nationalists with blood on their hands. At the mere sight of Arundhati Roy’s presence, an audience in Cape Town on Monday night erupted into wild applause before Roy had said a single word. If other writers…

A militant’s promise, a Pandit’s trust

July 24, 2018 Editor

In Hall village of Pulwama, an aged Kashmiri Pandit tells how love of a newly purchased house made him resist migration years ago when members of his community fled and left him alone to witness an otherwise prosperous village disintegrating into mounds of rubble. In 1989, Omkar Nath Bhat had retired from the Horticulture department as field assistant and purchased a new house. He had put his life’s savings in buying it but before he could settle in the new house, Kashmir witnessed into a wave of militancy. The rumour…

We Find A Voice: Kashmir Once again shot into international headlines

June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 Editor

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 to a missive by a Kashmiri Pandit leader, Prem Nath Bazaz wrote to him in a letter dated May 15, 1934, “Seeing that Kashmir is predominantly Mussalman it is bound to become one day a Mussalman state. A Hindu prince can therefore only rule by not ruling, i.e., by allowing the Mussalmans to do as they like by abdicating when…

A hard outlook will have pitfalls in Kashmir

June 22, 2018 Editor

KASHMIR is happy, somewhat. The PDP-BJP split was much awaited; by people who were unable to reconcile to the rule of the saffron party by proxy. Fear was deeply entrenched in the minds of the locals that right-wing Hindutva forces, with the high pitch for the abrogation of Article 370, may succeed in undermining Kashmir’s special status. Naturally, Kashmiri Muslims were insecure after the alliance came about. And so, it became easier to support the forces of violence, as for them, the PDP had committed an unpardonable sin by shaking…

Infinite quest for permanent solution in J&K: An unconventional roadmap towards a permanent solution

June 5, 2018 Editor

Well, as a fiction author, I often am in a position to take liberties which policy makers and people in decision making positions can’t. This ‘wishful thinking” it the audacity of hope and optimism. My latest book, “When The Chief Fell in Love” has a maverick futuristic chapter set in the Kashmir of 2030. It imagines a Kashmir where all is well and working backwards, spells out a broad roadmap towards achieving that utopian solution to the Kashmir dispute. Peeling off some of the surreal elements of the roadmap and…

Poplar: The devil of Kashmir

June 4, 2018 Editor

Poplars locally called cottonwood tree are fast-growing, weak-wooded trees that lack ornamental flowers and fruits. Many species are native to the U.S. and prefer moist soils. Some poplars grow more than 70 feet tall and the deciduous leaves are alternate, simple and usually have coarse toothed margins. The trees have a yellow fall color. Wind-pollinated flowers usually appear in the spring before leaves unfold during March to May. Trees have either male (staminate) or female (pistillate) flowers that are located in drooping catkins. When fruits mature, the capsules split open…

Kashmir – An issue of Humanity versus Brutality

May 15, 2018May 15, 2018 Editor

Kashmir is simply not an issue of dispute between India and Pakistan but today it is an issue of humanity versus brutality. Kashmir, the largest militarised zone in the world with more than 700,000 Indian boots carrying and using lethal weapons with impunity under the legal protection known as AFSPA, Armed Forces Special Powers Act. This gives Indian forces a free hand to do what they will without any accountability. AFSPA enables the military to carry out gross human rights abuses that include enforced disappearances, torture, rape, sexual abuse and…