Haroon Mirani In 2013 India released a stamp featuring most famous pro-freedom poet of Kashmir, Mahjoor, who strongly detested Kashmir’s accession to the country in 1947. Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad popularly known by his pen name Mahjoor was a revolutionary poet, who never favoured Kashmir becoming part of India. Indian Prime … Read more →
Political Activist Anjum Zamarud Habib’s Indian Prison Ordeal
Anjum Zamarud Habib, author of “Prisoner Number 100: The Story of My Ordeal in an Indian Prison”, speaks about life in confinement, the women’s movement in Kashmir with Manmeet Sahni The first time I met this gutsy looking woman was at a book reading session, amidst a small coterie of women … Read more →
Horizon
By Javed Ahmed Mir It is here, that Heavens plant a passionate kiss Onto the lips of earth, Imagination is fired A sun is born, that Lights but some faces Scorch many a souls It is here, that Eyes see what hearts adorn Hopes ornate what thoughts admire Real meets … Read more →
Stone Pelter
By Lubaid Khan I’m the brightest cloud in the skies of freedom I want to be the sunshine that eradicates dark In gentle autumn’s rain do not disturb my slumber Don’t cry at my demise, I’m still here. I did not die. Disperse from my grave and exhibit no empathy … Read more →
Taaran Garee (A Satirical Poem) with translation
Translated from Kashmiri by Sualeh Keen ‘Taaran garee’ is a Kashmiri word for trickery, roguery, knavery, dupery, skulduggery, jiggery-pokery, chicanery, etc. Lend ear, enjoy listening to this poetry Taaran garee, taaran garee Kashmiri is a foreign mystery Taaran garee, taaran garee City folk and villagers are out of their head … Read more →
Shehr-e-Kashmir: The Wealth of SRINAGAR (INTACH Srinagar Chapter)
By Mehmood-ur-Rashid It is not a book; an architecture of sorts. An architecture where labor undergirds love and discipline holds the weight of purpose. It’s like the tiered roof of a typical Kashmiri Ziyarat where each layer falls on the other ‘like the stanzas of a poem.’ May be it’s … Read more →
Conversation with Anjum Zamrooda Habib
Eminent Political and Social Activist and the author of Prisoner No. 100 Anjum Zamrooda Habib in conversation with Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander about her life, activism, Kashmiri women, political prisoners and present political scenario You have been active in Social work since 1980s. What is your experience regarding the … Read more →
The Kashmir Bakers!
By Shah Tavseef Mairaj Winters are known for their harshness in Kashmir. And talk about Chillai Kalan, the toughest forty days of the year, you would have to negotiate umpteen times with yourself and your wushnear to venture out of your cozy home till the sun is already halfway through … Read more →
Conversation with Parvaiz Bukhari
Parvaiz Bukhari is an independent Kashmir-based journalist whose articles appear in major South Asian newspapers, journals and magazines. David Barsamian is the founder and director of Alternative Radio, the independent weekly audio series based in Boulder, Colorado. Give a sense of what life is like in Kashmir, day-to-day interactions that … Read more →
I remember, I witness!
By Syed Zafar Mehdi When I peep into the past, I am swamped by a torrent of bitter-sweet memories. I grew up in a small-town of Himalayan valley, nestled amidst the gushing blue streams, lush-green meadows, blooming orchards and romantic houseboats. I would wake up in the morning to the … Read more →
Remembering Agha Shahid Ali
Nawaz Gul Qanungo Woh dard ki shiddat badhaatay hain, main apni yaadaasht They’ve been raising afflictions upon me I polish my memory. The subject is Kashmir’s incessant struggle for justice. And these political verses, written by Muzaffar Karim, a young Kashmiri writer, were whispered not in the corner of a … Read more →
Of Kanger and Stories
By Majid Maqbool I can see my own breath on a particularly chilly winter morning. A thick, blinding fog is covering the street. The trees are withered, desolate, robbed of late autumn leaves that lie trampled on ground. I walk towards the road to board a bus. Inside the bus, … Read more →
Parveena Ahangar rejects CNN-IBN’s nomination for ‘Indian of the Year 2011’
While rejecting the CNN-IBN award Parveena Ahangar, founder chairperson of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) released the following statement: Srinagar, December 10, 2011: On this ‘International Human Rights Day’, December 10, 2011, the APDP (Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons), Srinagar, wishes to state that there is something … Read more →
Guru: A Mere Pawn in a Sinister Game?
By S Zafar Mehdi Safvi To hang or not to hang! The debate over barbarous capital punishment still lingers on. Many civil rights activists, lawyers, and liberal intellectuals have been arguing against it on humanitarian grounds for a while now. A potent argument against capital punishment is that it has … Read more →
I: The Stars of My Sky
By Feroz Rather Along that solitary graveled path into a crimson evening, My eyes chase you and chase you until you ask them: ‘Where do these boys go after they kill them?’ ‘What happens to their hearts, the love-lakes, now mad with the tempests of freedom?’ In Kashmir, in my … Read more →
His Favorite Song
By Irtif Lone And we decided to meet again. In the orchards of almonds blooming flowers, shimmering sun the temping smell of garden I waited for long. I looked at Zabarvan, the calmness of Dal, the rowing noise. What on earth could stop him from coming? He never broke his … Read more →
Locks in the Mirror
By Dr. Shahid Iqbal If you are a pregnant door that holds all answers to my questions, I will unlock your billowing shapes and unzip your lips. But, a voice in my head warns, ‘You are the mirror image of what you see in others.’ So tell me, what doors … Read more →
For Milad
By Dr. Shahid Iqbal Mother Kangaroo Teach us the art of Pouch. For we live in the Land of Snakes. Snakes, that swallow, alive, our children. Children, born out Of eyes, not wombs. Holy Tear Drops Trickle down Mom’s Cheeks And pierce Pa’s Heart. Foretellers on seeing our Foreheads, beat … Read more →
Red
By Dr. Shahid Iqbal In the city of red on a red evening with Head on a red pillow in a red sleep I had a red dream. Far at the horizon is the red sky Where on a red planet dwells a red maid Who distributes red roses. From … Read more →
I Was Seventeen When You Were Writing of Kashmir Burning
By Meenakshi Watts (In memory of Agha Shahid) It still burns. This must be a seed planted in Raj Bagh, under the ‘One Inch Himalayas’ On a summer afternoon in your father’s house. Our parents stood around with old times laughing and lost in shared memories and sons that came … Read more →
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