Articles Archives | Page 28 of 51

On Kashmir highway, an unfinished journey at dead of night

July 30, 2016 Editor

Sarwar Kashani It was not a secret journey to be made in the dead of the night. It was rather a compulsion because chances of getting caught in Kashmir’s continuing violence are lesser at night than during the day. In view of the danger of travelling on the Srinagar-Jammu highway that runs through south Kashmir, where most of the deadly street protests have occurred, I was advised to wait a while before I drive from the restive Kashmir Valley for Delhi with my family. But I could not postpone it…

The caged Kashmiris!

July 28, 2016 Editor

For three weeks now the entire Kashmir Valley has been turned into a huge prison The intention of the authorities in Delhi appears to cow down Kashmiris to the extent that they bite the dust and give up! This shows the utter lack of knowledge about the Kashmiris and their 5,000 year old history. Kashmir from the ancient times was known to be a very beautiful country somewhere in the Himalaya. One finds mention of Kashmir in almost all ancient chronicles of the Greeks, the Arabs and even the Chinese.…

What Kashmiris want?

July 26, 2016 Editor

When Indians ask this question, they answer it themselves and on their own terms. Honestly speaking, I had never heard of Burhan Wani until reading about the formidable crowds that formed his funeral procession. I am learning, after his death, that he was a Kashmiri who, like many others, experienced first-hand the peremptory brutishness of the armed forces representing the Indian occupation of Kashmir. Deployed through many different gestures – from unnecessary beatings, to needlessly humiliating demands for identity proofs, to lewdness towards women — the coarse affronts (leave alone…

Amid communication curbs, desperate people revert to hand-written letters

July 25, 2016 Editor

Shafaq Shah The suspension of phone and internet services in Kashmir has prompted many people to take recourse to hand-written letters for communication. Shazia, a mother of two, wrote a letter to her aunt Rafiqa who lives in Aaribagh (Kanipora) to send her some milk for her one-and-a-half-year-old son. The milkman has not been able to come to Shazia’s place for the last fortnight and the milk her grandmother had sent lasted for just about a week. Shazia, who lives in the curfew-bound area of Naik Bagh (Natipora) sent the…

2016 Worse than 2008 and 2010

July 25, 2016 Editor

With no food and shortage of essential commodities, the anger is brewing among the already distressed people Syed Maajid Rashid Andrabi It is really a sorry state of affairs for the state machinery of Jammu Kashmir that the present turmoil has acquired such a grave form that it has become difficult to address the alienation that runs deep in the hearts of every Kashmiris. As a matter of fact, one doesn’t witness any legitimate communication from the government over this unrest and ironically there arises a doubt as to whether…

As the death toll grows, so does defiance in Kashmir

July 25, 2016 Editor

At least 49 people have allegedly been killed by security forces and over 3000 have been injured since Burhan Wani’s death. Adnan Bhat “Even if they lift the curfew, this uprising will not stop. We are ready to starve ourselves. Nobody should interfere in these protests, not even separatist leaders. We have lost our brother, and all we want now is Azaadi. We are still seven brothers left. We are all ready to die, if that is what it takes.” This is the message Javed Ahmed Dar from Takia Bhoramshah…

Why a grieving Kashmir hurts India’s sovereignty

July 23, 2016 Editor

The Valley’s mourning cements its moral position in challenging New Delhi. Inshah Malik When I first heard about the death of 22-year-old Kashmiri rebel Burhan Wani, I was on my way to a friend’s place. Unexpectedly, his death brought a feeling of extreme doom and a sharp pain in my ribcage. I went on to finish my day, all the while scrolling through news updates on my mobile phone. As a Kashmiri, feeling sorrow over death is a natural response, as killings are not dehumanised in popular Kashmiri culture. There…

Let’s stop lying to ourselves about Kashmir

July 21, 2016 Editor

Would we accept it if the government shut down the media in Mumbai, Delhi or Bengaluru? Yes, but only if soldiers regularly opened fire to kill and maim protesters in those cities Aakar Patel Who is in control in Kashmir? The answer seems to be nobody. As the violence has continued and the list of those killed has increased, we read stories of legislators too terrified to visit their people and a chief minister stunned into inaction. What are we to make of it? The Union home minister’s analysis of…

TV news aggression pushes Kashmir a mile westward from India

July 20, 2016 Editor

There is an urgent need for India to reclaim “national interest” from its national media Shah Faesal On the afternoon of July 13, my one-year-old child was finding it difficult to sleep because the adjacent curfewed street had been rattling with a sinister medley of azadi slogans and tear-gas explosions since daybreak. In a conflict zone, introduction to violence is a part of a child’s baptism. So here I was witnessing the exact moment when my child was getting marked as a Kashmiri — the tabula rasa of his mind…

Burhan Era of Kashmir Resistance

July 19, 2016 Editor

The news of the killing of Burhan Wani, commander of militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, had an electrifying effect on the entire Kashmir. Within no time, streets were transformed into battlefields between angry protesters and state forces. Mosque loudspeakers were blaring out Pro-Burhan slogans and songs. Social Media users made his images as their profile and display pictures. In his early twenties, with six years into the life of gun, Burhan was already a household name in Kashmir. A sea of people converged outside his residence in Tral to have a last…