Category: Articles

Articles

When a vacation in Kashmir turned into confinement

Editor

Gulam Jeelani On a rainy Saturday evening, as I switched on my cell phones after landing at Delhi airport, hundreds of unread messages and e-mails screamed for attention. The messages and e-mails had accumulated while I was holed up in ‘curfewed’ Srinagar for a week without access to phones, internet and newspapers. My holiday had turned into confinement at my home in Bemina, a suburb in Srinagar. I had reached home on July 7 to celebrate Eid. A day later, in the evening, when I was meeting friends at a…

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Kashmiri Americans Protest Against Indian Atrocities

Editor

New York.  July 17, 2016. Hundreds of Kashmiri Americans and friends of Kashmir staged a peaceful protest in front of the Indian Mission to the United Nations to express their anguish over the killing of 50 innocent civilians in Kashmir and wounding more than 1500. Dr. Ghulam Nabi Mir (Ohio) said, “Once again Indian occupation forces are exacting a heavy price from Kashmiri people for demanding their right to ‘AAzadi, freedom, justice and self-determination. And once again the United Nations and its exclusive club, the Security Council is watching as…

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Kashmir UNREST: Whirlpool of Violence

Editor

  There is very little understanding of the trauma of people living in conflict zone Kashmir.   Rohit Gandhi Hundreds gather to protest against the killing of a 22-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani. As they agitate they pelt stones to show their anger and injure the police. In return, the police resort to firing pellet guns instead of firing guns with bullets. This has resulted in many of the rioters being injured and some even being blinded. There are people of all ages protesting. Some of the injured standing…

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Silencing phones to stifle protests: A recipe for disaster

Editor

Shafaq Shah The government decision to block mobile services in Kashmir has added to the miseries of people with the families of injured persons, undergoing treatment in hospitals, being the worst hit. Cellphone services, barring the postpaid network of government-owned BSNL, remained suspended for second consecutive day Saturday, much to the inconvenience of the people. Khateeja Bano was one of the many such frantic people who were left stranded in the wake of the communication blockade. A woman in her early 50s, Khateeja had come from Kupwara in a load…

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Streetside Plebiscite – A young militant is killed, In death, he becomes an icon, And the streets speak freedom

Editor

Kashmir is back to its ominous normal. The Valley is on the boil after the killing of young and charismatic militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani by police on July 8. The spontaneous, leaderless outbursts of anger and grief have caught everyone by surprise and, not confined to Burhan’s native Tral town in the south, have spread far and wide across the Valley. It’s a dramatic replay of the 2008 and 2010 agitations: people defying curfew, braving bullets, taking to the streets in overwhelming numbers. Their demand: azadi, or freedom from…

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What exactly does azadi mean to Kashmiris? Why can’t it be discussed? Since when have maps been sacrosanct?

Editor

Azadi What exactly does azadi mean to Kashmiris? Why can’t it be discussed? Since when have maps been sacrosanct? Arundhati Roy The people of Kashmir have made it clear once again, as they have done year upon year, decade upon decade, grave upon grave, that what they want is azadi. (The “people”, by the way, does not mean those who win elections conducted in the rifle sights of the army. It does not mean leaders who have to hide in their homes and not venture out in times like these.)…

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Kashmiri’s voice muzzled – Both Offline and Online

Editor

As it cracks down on dissent in Kashmir, India has gone far beyond its previous record of gagging voices in the valley. Internet and cellular services have been suspended as hundreds of thousands of Indian soldiers patrol Kashmiri streets, shelling protesters with tear gas and pellets. Some 40 people have been killed and over 1,600 wounded in the unrest that began six days ago in response to the killing of 21-year-old rebel leader Burhan Wani. Due to its reputation for skewed and slanted reporting, suspicion against Indian media runs deep…

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Ghar Wapsi vs Zakir Naik

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Paying for the blunders of their leaders under the shadow of a leaderless community. M. J. Aslam Under the colour of free secular democracy, the private Indian satellite TV channels are nowadays airing their true hidden colours of Hindu zealots. Following Kautilya’s Arthasastras on governance, they are “spreading disinformation & sowing the seeds of disharmony” among the people and doing great disservice to their professional duties of telling the truth &, in the long run, it will prove fatal for India & its image as secular democracy in the world.…

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Kashmir: Trouble in Paradise

Editor

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai July 13, 2016 So much for Ban Ki-moon’s heart and possibly even more so his soul. One can only recall the quote in Matthew and the betrayal of Jesus, “When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” The United Nations has walked away from the slaughter in Kashmir and washed its hands of it, and…

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Kashmir to Dhaka to Istanbul: The world is burning and we don’t have answers

Editor

The world needs leadership. And hashtags are no substitute for the real hard work of leadership across the world. Istanbul, Dhaka, Baghdad, Medina have been prominent in the litany of recent terror around the world and noticeably the world didn’t respond in large numbers to any of these or other gruesome episodes of terror with the #jesuisistanbul #jesuisdhaka #jesuisbaghdad #jesuismedina or #jesuisanyplaceelse. Before the birth of #jesuis, with the attack on Charlie Hebdo, no other massacres had invited such an outpouring of social media oneness in the world. #jesuischarliehebdo spawned…

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