Facebook and WhatsApp ban, Can the digital embargo ever help?

Mehboob Makhdoomi Right at its outset, the possible ban on the Facebook and WhatsApp in Kashmir valley, as is being reported by the media these days, will not only prove the government failure, but it can boomerang. I don’t say this only from the perspective of a netizen who won’t like the decision if implemented But even from the strategic point of view of the authorities, such a measure is a plain non-starter. To begin with, the premise of such an understanding that the protests have their genesis in social…

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Internet Ban in Kashmir

Government in a worst form of crackdown which defies logic and says more about autocratic means has banned the internet and the mobile networks across Kashmir. The ban was imposed after the killing of HM militant commander, Burhan Wani. The blockade is the worst and has come when New Delhi has been championing the cause of digital democracy and the digital outreach. The internet blockade has ensured many things for the state: young men have not been able to give vent to the rage on the social networking sites and…

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The resistance revolution in Kashmir

The situation in Kashmir is spiralling out of control as the youth take to the streets with a devil-may-care recklessness. Without fear, they confront security forces that to them are a symbol of the coercive power of the state. This mindset poses new dangers of disintegration to the state. – Arun Joshi The Kashmir situation is going from bad to worse. In the current situation, almost every household has become a grooming centre for the would-be “warriors”, where children sing the songs calling for “martyrdom” to boost their morale These are…

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No Jamhuriyat, Insaniyat in Kashmir

Aaqib Javaid In this contemporary periodicity, killings in Kashmir are supported by the sportsperson and other celebs of this democratic country. Since one week, 10 persons have been killed in the valley and during this chaos only one video became the main point of attraction for the populace of India. In that video CRPF were teased but not harmed severely like they killed the students and children of teenage at a point range. And there is no doubt for calling them ‘ target killings. Rightly said by Sumantra Bose in…

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For God’s sake please start talking: Yashwant Sinha

Modi’s offer to Kashmir youth fell very short I write with immense sadness about the prevailing situation in the valley of Kashmir. I have no doubt in my mind that the situation has been allowed to go from bad to worse while the rest of India remains in denial. Our indifference to the continued violence in the Valley and the loss of precious human lives there is a matter of great concern. When the Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Jammu to inaugurate the new Chenani-Nashri tunnel, I had hoped…

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Universal Development Agenda & Our Priorities

Dr. Ghulam-Nabi Fai March 25, 2017 The issue of ‘universal development agenda’ is the issue of the twenty-first century. Never before have so many suffered amidst liberty and luxury for the few. The wealth of single individuals exceeds the wealth of many nations. In highly developed countries, the number of persons living past 80 years is soaring. In deprived and convulsed countries, the average longevity is but half that age. While citizens of some African and Asian countries are starving, the rich countries are beset with obesity. Discrepancies of these…

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Geelani’s kin gets Govt job, other youth bullets!

By K B Jandial While the BJP is upbeat over “congress mukt” results in four of the five states that went to the poll, Kashmir, unmindful of these political upheavals, is having a counter narrative even though major political parties (& also the separatists) are preparing for electoral battle in Srinagar and Anantnag Lok Sabha by-poll. The dangerous narrative in Kashmir has nothing to do with the just concluded electoral semi-final or the current by-poll. Killing of a 15-year old Aamir Nazir Wani on 9th March this year in police…

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Musharraf’s Four-point Formula: The Devil in the Details

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai “Four-point Formula does not want to resolve the Kashmir dispute but to dissolve it.” Ambassador Yusuf Buch Abba Eban, an international diplomat is reported to have once said, “History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they exhaust all other alternatives.” That wisdom was apparent when, in 1995, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan reportedly told India’s then Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral at Male: “we cannot take Kashmir by force, and you cannot give it peacefully; we have to find a way…

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Farooq’s statements are politically motivated: Hashim Qureshi

‘Man who had made allegiance at hands of Maqbool Bhat turned out to be power-hunger’ Hashim Qureshi, Chairman JKDLP has expressed regret on the recent statements of National Conference and Farooq Abdullah. He invited the attention of the people of Kashmir to the fact that it was Sheikh Abdullah who had got Maqbool Bhat, the martyr, shifted to the Tihar jail in 1976 and it was his son Farooq Abdullah who had signed the death warrant of Maqbool Bhat in 1984. Had he declined to sign, Delhi government would not…

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Tough question, but needs to be asked

A persistent effort is being made to turn Kashmir from a political problem to that of an ideological conflict Firdous Syed First of all, a bit of explanation is required here. There is very little that divides a so-called traitor here, from that of a perceived patriot—loyal with the cause. Therefore, finally we should come to realize that everyone of us in Kashmir is, only, the worst victim of a most appalling situation. Yet in case we still need to hold responsible, something or someone, for our miseries; it has…

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