Category: Articles

Articles

Student Unrest; The answer does not lie in closure of educational institutions

Editor

Malik Zahra Khalid Education is the first casualty of year 2017 protests as the government is caught in a fix. They are finding it hard to handle student protests across Kashmir. It all started on April 15 when the police and the security forces entered into the premises of Degree College Pulwama, thrashed students and teachers. The news of dozens of students with serious injuries in the police action spread like fire and a chain reaction followed in the colleges and schools across the valley. Had the government fixed the…

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The Danger of becoming Jammu Vs Kashmir

Editor

I spent most of last week in Kashmir with a team from the Kolkata-based Centre for Peace and Progress led by its chairman OP Shah, meeting everyone we could. That, of course, included four Hurriyat leaders – Mirwaiz Omar Farooq; Shabbir Ahmed Shah; A.M. Bandey – and the one who’s got everyone’s goat: Syed Ali Shah Geelani. But we also met Governor N.N. Vohra, who not only spent 90 minutes briefing us in detail, but also thanked us most generously for making the visit, underlining the need to reach out…

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Ikhwan Tales from Kashmir

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After suspected gunmen shot dead Rashid Billa at his Hajin residence, the Ikhwan tales were again in demand. We visited the belt to understand how the cult worked and what the costs were Kuka Parray’s Ikhwan headquarters in Hajin turned into campaign office for 1996 elections. (Pic: Agencies) On a chilly February evening in 2017, Shahid, a young boy from Hajin (Bandipora), was waving desperately at incoming vehicles hoping to get a ride home. “Hajin,” he turned around and asked the man sitting in the back seat. “Yes,” the man replied…

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Spontaneous protests wrongfoot police, loosening India’s grip on Kashmir

Editor

Images of students confronting police on campuses have come to symbolise Kashmiri protests against Indian rule as much as gun-toting militants in fatigues, in what security officials and separatist leaders say is a dangerous new phase of the conflict. The sharp rise in violence in recent weeks is more spontaneous than before, complicating the task of Indian security forces trained largely in counter-insurgency and poorly equipped to contain broader unrest. A political stalemate in India’s only Muslim-majority state is a further hurdle to resolving the long-running Kashmir dispute, as is…

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From Akbar to Modi, Kashmiris have a history of pelting stones at oppressors

Editor

Muhammad Faysal In 1586, the Mughal imperial army finally entered the valley of Kashmir, after being defeated twice by Kashmiri forces. The Kashmiri emperor, Sultan Yusuf Chak, had already been taken prisoner by Akbar and exiled to what’s now the Indian state of Bihar. As the Mughal empire consolidated itself in Srinagar, it was met with local resistance during its rule. Noted Kashmiri poet and historian, Zareef Ahmad Zareef, says that this was the first time young Kashmiris started throwing stones at foreign rulers. He notes that “the resistance was…

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Is India losing Kashmir?

Editor

Soutik Biswas – India correspondent As India’s most restive region stares down the abyss of what a commentator calls another “hot summer of violence”, the doom-laden headline has returned with a vengeance: Is India losing Kashmir? Last summer was one of the bloodiest in the Muslim-dominated valley in recent years. Following the killing of influential militant Burhan Wani by Indian forces last July, more than 100 civilians lost their lives in clashes during a four-month-long security lockdown in the valley. It’s not looking very promising this summer. This month’s parliamentary election…

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Open your Eyes, Ears and Minds on Kashmir

Editor

Otherwise the media can never portray the reality of Kashmir in a way that will help Indians understand Kashmiri aspirations. Shinzani Jain Start a conversation about Kashmir in India and a hundred familiar questions are hurled at you. What about the Pandits? What if Pakistan invades Kashmir? What about Islamic fundamentalism? What if other states also demand the right to secede? One question that I have been frequently asked in the most condescending tone is, “So, what is the solution? If you want to talk about Kashmir, you must have…

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

Editor

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

Editor

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

Editor

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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