Articles Archives | Page 6 of 51

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…

‘The Kashmir Files’ is a manipulative propaganda vehicle to rouse emotions against Muslims

March 19, 2022 Editor

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is emerging as the favorite filmmaker of the BJP and has received the party’s full support. By – Sidharth Bhatia Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will (1935), on the Nazi Party congress attended by 700,000 supporters in Nuremberg, is said to be one of the greatest documentaries ever made. It is a masterclass not just in cinema, but also in propaganda, as it shows the idealised version of German manhood – blonde, blue-eyed, fit – and the impeccable organisational skills of Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and…

Understanding Teenage

March 16, 2022 Editor

We may not able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future. (President Franklin D. Roosevelt) Sahil Sharifdin Bhat Teenage — It is short-lived but it leaves long-lasting marks on one’s personality. It is the happiest phase of one’s life. It is the worst phase of one’s being. It is experimenting on one’s own self in the biggest lab called ‘ the world; It is comparing and contrasting one’s physique and abilities with others and then feeling elated or dejected.…

Guf Kral -The endangered legacy of Kashmiri potters as they struggle to keep the art alive

January 15, 2022 Editor

Gufkral is a site inhabited by potters who utilise the caves. Among the oldest caves in Kashmir, some estimates trace their origin to around 3000 BCE By : Mudasir Rawloo Guf Kral is a Neolithic site located at Banmir village in Hurdumir area of Tral which is 40 kilometers from the summer capital of Srinagar. Gufkral is a combination of two Kashmiri words ‘Guf’ (means cave ) and ‘Kral’ (means potter). Gufkral is one of the oldest caves in Kashmir and its origin has been traced to 2000-3000 BCE. These…

Why has fruit from Iran become ‘Apple of Discord’ in Kashmir?

January 11, 2022 Editor

By: Auqib Javeed Decrying the fact how a bad apple spoils the whole barrel, the Kashmiri growers have upped their ante against what they call the free flow of the “tax-free” Iranian apples “eating” their market share. Kashmir valley’s apple traders and growers have expressed their resentment over this “illegal trade” via Afghanistan—resulting in huge losses. Asia’s second-largest fruit Mandi in North Kashmir’s Sopore has already witnessed some protests over the “permitted passage of Iranian apples”. The disgruntled apple-growers argue that the Iranian apples in large quantity have flooded Indian…

Kashmir the epicenter of Depression

January 5, 2022 Editor

By: Azhar U Din Among every five people in Kashmir, one shows symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (IMHANS). Kashmir has been entitled as “the saddest place in the world” by psychiatrist Dr. Arshad Hussain. It is not easy to live in Kashmir, for in Kashmir everyone is vulnerable to disasters at every time. Ages-long political turmoil, sky-high unemployment rate, earthquakes, floods, avalanches make this beautiful place a living hell for the local residents. “When elephants fight, it is the grass…

How the Article 370 Move, India-China Tensions and Erasure Politics altered Kashmir Forever

December 27, 2021 Editor

Sumantra Bose’s ‘Kashmir at the Crossroads’ is an insightful and fascinating narrative that has succeeded in keeping the focus on the people of Jammu and Kashmir, notably those in the Valley. Kapil Kak In his preface to the 1997 book, The Challenge in Kashmir: Democracy, Self Determination, and a Just Peace, Sumantra Bose, the well-known academic and expert on the Kashmir conflict, raises the question: “Why another book on the conflict in and over Kashmir? Hasn’t the vexed topic been flogged to death already?” And then, unsurprisingly, given his deep…