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…
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Articles
2016 Worse than 2008 and 2010
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…
Read MoreAs the death toll grows, so does defiance in Kashmir
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…
Read MoreWhy a grieving Kashmir hurts India’s sovereignty
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…
Read MoreLet’s stop lying to ourselves about Kashmir
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…
Read MoreTV news aggression pushes Kashmir a mile westward from India
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…
Read MoreBurhan Era of Kashmir Resistance
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…
Read MoreWhen a vacation in Kashmir turned into confinement
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…
Read MoreKashmiri Americans Protest Against Indian Atrocities
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…
Read MoreKashmir UNREST: Whirlpool of Violence
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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