Articles Archives | Page 19 of 51

Are Muslims to be blamed for Pandit Migration?

January 8, 2018January 8, 2018 Editor

Muslims need to stop being apologetic for a crime which we didn’t commit The Kashmiri Pandit“trump” card is often employed not only by the right wing parties but also by the mainstream media and the general masses of India to justify the wanton acts of brutality and oppression inflicted upon the hapless people of Kashmir. This card is also used to deny us our basic right the right to self-determination. In general the Kashmiri Muslims are held culpable for the “ethnic cleansing” and so called “genocide” of Pandits which later…

Shawl making in Kashmir

January 3, 2018January 3, 2018 Editor

The arts and crafts of Kashmir have enjoyed a well-earned fame for centuries. The pre-eminence of the decorative art can be attributed to historical conditions that shaped the cultural development of the Kashmiri people. The people of the Valley have thus developed their technical and artistic traditions over centuries. In fact art of a place is the heritage of many generations; it represents a series of consecutive layers, which reflect people’s culture through the ages. The small or big creations reflect the necessity of everyday life as well as the…

Spring of Kashmir

January 1, 2018 Editor

The word spring comes from the German word springer, which refers to “leaping from the ground”. Without going much in scientific definitions, in simple terms it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground. During my Ph. D work, I have surveyed almost all the areas of Kashmir valley for collection of aquatic plants. In all the districts of Kashmir valley, I have experienced that small springs were the primary source of drinking water and even in most parts small springs water channels…

The time when Hindi Journalism turned into ‘Hindu’ Journalism

December 14, 2017 Editor

The period of the VHP’s belligerent build-up to the Babri Masjid destruction saw the rise of a mainstream ‘kar sevak’ media which destroyed the very fundamentals of journalism. Twenty five years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, The Wire, through a series of articles and videos captures how the act of destruction changed India forever. I seek your indulgence for starting with a personal anecdote. It can only be described as an unhappy conjuncture of events in the ninth decade of the century gone by that, just when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad…

Radical land reforms were key to Sheikh Abdullah’s towering influence on Kashmir

December 8, 2017 Editor

Within the Valley, the reforms caused a social transformation that has few parallels. It is relatively well-known that many Kashmiris almost worshipped the ground on which Sheikh Abdullah walked. Seventeen persons were killed in stampedes at his funeral. However, the roots for his iconic popularity are rarely discussed. It is well worth recalling on his 112th birth anniversary that the most vital reason for his popularity was land reforms, which most Kashmiris identify through the slogan, ‘land to the tiller’. The land reforms in Kashmir, which were among the first…

Why Muslims are on downslide?

December 7, 2017 Editor

Evolutionary process never stops. World progresses while evolution goes on. Actions keeping pace with evolution have made great progress and reached even the moon and the Mars. People died of diseases they never knew. Modern medical science has brought and saved life from being destroyed by curable diseases. Even body parts can be replaced/ People after going cardiac surgery survive 50 and 60 years. God has gifted man with knowledge and man used this gift for the welfare of mankind. Look at marvels like electricity, aircraft, automatic instruments, astronomy and…

The untold story of how the rama idol surfaced inside Babri Masjid

December 7, 2017 Editor

An excerpt from Krishna Jha and Dhirendra K. Jha’s Ayodhya – The Dark Night that uncovers the story of how the mosque had turned into a temple overnight. Twenty five years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, The Wire, through a series of articles and videos captures how the act of destruction changed India forever. The night was almost over. Ayodhya was still numb with sleep. Piercing through the quiet, a young sadhu, drenched in sweat, came scampering from Hanumangarhi, a fortress-like Hindu religious establishment housing over five hundred sadhus in Ayodhya. He had been sent…

Food Wastage: A global problem

December 4, 2017 Editor

Food loss is defined as the decrease in quantity or quality of food products intended for human consumption that are ultimately not eaten by people or that have incurred a reduction in quality reflected in their nutritional value, economic value or food safety. Food wastage refers to any food lost by deterioration or waste, thus the term wastage encompasses both food loss and food waste. Food waste is expected to constitute a growing problem in developing countries given the changes that food systems in these countries are undergoing because of…

Why deaths no more depress Kashmir’s Gravediggers

December 2, 2017 Editor

Death can never be a cause for jubilation, but for a community living in Kashmir, death is not depressing either. In fact, death keeps them alive. They are the Malkhaish or Kabr-e-Mali’e, the professional gravediggers who earn their bread by digging graves for the dead. Showkat Ahmad Hafiz, is busy in sharpening a set of digging tools at his Srinagar home. For last one week, he hasn’t dug any grave which is his only source of sustenance. “Digging graves keeps us going,” the pale looking Showkat, who is in his…

Majid and Mugees: A tale of two rebels

November 25, 2017 Editor

Kashmir has more than a single reality and this was demonstrated by the examples set by two young men recently. Both of them made news but for different reasons. The charming footballer from South Kashmir, Majid Khan, decided to return home by cutting short his new-found love with AK-47. Young Mugees returned home dead. He was killed in a shootout in the outskirts of Srinagar. A little towards the side track, there is the account of another young man, a police sub-inspector from Udhampur, Imran Tak, who was also killed…