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Kashmir the Valley of Dreams

June 24, 2022 Editor

By: Bazila Farooq The valley is an emerald set in pearls, where men are strong, and women vie with the soil in fruitfulness Every sunrise in Kashmir is a ‘Good Morning,’ and the same can be said about the pleasant nights here,” recalls a friend from Punjab who was enchanted after visiting the Kashmir Valley. I’ve have not seen anything more gorgeous than Kashmir. And it’s true that the people are very stunning. Fast-flowing streams of pure water, tweeting birds, majestic hills, and a pleasant, soft wind pouring down from…

Kashmir needs unconventional solution; Centre must not go back to old, discredited Valley politicians

June 5, 2022 Editor

One of the accusations against the Narendra Modi regime is that it is slowly falling back on the old corrupt ecosystem that ruled Kashmir by proxy all these years. For that, if Delhi has to press the ‘pause’ button — so be it By: Sandip Ghose The situation in Kashmir is grave and the BJP is facing its “we told you so” moment from both its critics and supporters. So far, the Union government has neither said nor done anything to inspire confidence. Meanwhile, we see heart-wrenching photographs flashed online…

Recent verdicts show ‘Veneer of Calm’ in Kashmir serves New Delhi best

June 4, 2022June 4, 2022 Editor

The recent verdicts in the case of Yasin Malik and Waheed Parra once again confirm that prosecution in the case of Kashmiris is based on the message that the ruler in Delhi wants to convey. By: Ghazala Wahab Two recent judgments by lower courts, which usually take maximalist positions on the side of caution, suggest that the government of India may want to dial down provocation in the Kashmir Valley. At least for now. One, a Delhi court recently awarded Kashmiri separatist and former militant Yasin Malik multiple life sentences…

The resurgent Pandits of Kashmir

June 2, 2022June 2, 2022 Editor

By: Lalit Anjum Kher The Kashmiri Pandits shun being guinea-pigs, and has to realize the underlying schema controlling the govermentality of the establishment. To fight an existential battle for life and honor, the time is ripe to invoke Parashurama within. Background In the wake of recent gruesome cold blooded murder of Rahul Bhat, a J&K state government employee working in Kashmir valley has sent shock waves around the nation and the world. He was singled out and subsequently murdered by terrorists in broad daylight inside the Revenue Office, Budgam in…

Will there be an end to targeted killings in Kashmir?

May 16, 2022 Editor

By Majeed Ahmad Killing of Rahul Bhat, a government employee at Chadoora Tehsil Office in Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists on Thursday, has once again brought to the fore a chilling reminder of the incidents of 1989 and 1990 when Kashmiri Pandits were selectively targeted and forced to leave the Valley. According to highly placed sources much like its perfidious acts of late 1989 and early 1990, Pakistani spy agency ISI has started preparing ‘hit-lists’ of members of minority community who would be murdered to create tension in…

Power woes of J&K; The story that we don’t want to hear

May 10, 2022 Editor

By: Arun Joshi Unending power woes in Jammu and Kashmir is not the same story which is told and retold in the rest of the country. It is a manifestation of policy failure and unlimited incompetence in comprehending the problems and laying a vision for future. In simple words, the power crisis that the people in the Union Territory experienced in March-April was not unprecedented, its feel was. There hangs a trail of questions – why a water rich territory like J&K is suffering from such crisis. Why it lacked…

Arrest, Bail, Rearrest: Kashmir journalists face forbidding pattern

April 17, 2022April 17, 2022 Editor

By: Suhasini Raj After being held in jail for close to four years awaiting trial on charges of aiding militants, Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan was granted bail by the courts last week, and he thought he could finally return home to his wife and his daughter, who was just 6 months old when he was arrested. But Indian authorities did not let him go, levying similar charges under a different law, and have since moved him to a different jail. Sultan’s case is the latest instance, rights activists say, in…

Eye Lie: Hindi films from Zanjeer to Mission Kashmir to The Kashmir Files have routinely used kohl to mark out the villainous ‘Muslim’ Man

April 17, 2022April 17, 2022 Editor

By: Chandrima S. Bhattacharya The best way to identify a “terrorist” in a Bollywood film is by his kohl-lined eyes. The latest example is The Kashmir Files and we will not delve into the viciousness of the rest of the film here. But a man’s kohl eyes are by themselves a phenomenon worth looking at. They are backed by a long line of tradition in popular Indian cinema which has been reinforced recently. Strictly speaking, a man wearing kohl, or surma, may be more than a “terrorist”. On-screen, a man’s kohl-lined eyes…

When Kashmir was all about Love in Bollywood!

April 1, 2022 Editor

Kashmir remained a veritable paradise for Bollywood for a long time. For an average filmy Joe, Hindi cinema was incomplete without its quota of breathtaking visuals of snowfall in Gulmarg, lush-green meadows by the Lidder at Pahalgam or a song-and-dance routine on a shikara on the placid Dal Lake. By: Giridhar Jha Is zameen se, aasman se/Phoolon ke is gulsitan se/Jaana mushkil hai yahaan se/Tauba yeh hawa hai ya zanjeer hai/Kitni khoobsurat yeh tasveer hai/Yeh Kashmir hai, yeh Kashmir hai. (Oh, this land and the skies/And the garden of flowers/It’s…

The Kashmir Files: Art, Propaganda and the Dilemma of ‘What Sells’

March 25, 2022 Editor

From ‘Uri’ to ‘The Kashmir Files’, India is living in an era of ‘approved’ art. Harshita Mishra “Art is something subversive,” Picasso had said once. “If art is ever given the keys to the city, it will be because it’s been so watered down, rendered so impotent, that it’s not worth fighting for.” Picasso couldn’t have foreseen what would happen to India decades later. But clearly, he did know what happens to an artist if he chooses to become one with the state: “Of course, the state has the right…