(1) In the mirror the hangman looks so like my silence that I wish I was born as a million tongued word meaning freedom there are no flowers like that of moon (eclipsing over old mountains) no resurrection other than its absurd cycles but then the way some people longingly … Read more →
Kashmir, A Ghazal by Shabir Ahmed
Where to, shall we now row in Kashmir? No more does the Vyeth flow in Kashmir. See how we are smiling in sepia tones Ah! It is just an old photo in Kashmir. Lest it bring the memories of peace They no longer allow snow in Kashmir. Saffron does not … Read more →
Kashmir in Comparative Perspective
Book Name: Kashmir in Comparative Perspective: Democracy and Violent Separatism in India Author: Sten Widmalm, Publisher: Routledge Curzon, Date of Publication: 2002, Pages: 226 Reviewer: Touseef Mir The outbreak of armed insurgency against the Indian State from 1989 in Kashmir and its implications for the security of the South … Read more →
Hear me O Scribe!
Yogesh Mishra Following is a poem titled: ‘Hear me O scribe!’ that emerges out of my interactions with some young Kashmiris. It was a collective feeling amongst them that there was too much focus on the conflict, and as residents of the contested terrain, they became mere subjects for researchers. … Read more →
Azadpur’s Children
Saima Rashid Kashmir, 2030… “We will get it, today or tomorrow. Azadi is our birthright and we shall have it.” These lines are engraved on a wall of Sariya’s school. She remembers her mother talking about the graffiti on the walls of her school, which would read: “Enter to learn, … Read more →
Under this Chinar
Nadeem Under this Chinar, where I lay dying—is dead my whole nation. My family and friends and all my dear ones. There, under this Chinar is the unmarked grave of my Shaheed Moul. Under this Chinar, deep there—is sleeping my half widow Mouj. There, buried are the tortured limbs of … Read more →
Post-Traumatic Hurriyet Disorder
More heads usually means better decisions. When the Hurriyat leaders put theirs together after decades of separation, one thought this basic rule would apply. But as always the Hurriyat leaders proved themselves what they are: a massive disappointment. And these are no ordinary times we are talking about. At one … Read more →
End of Journalism
Sheeba Lone Note: This article is the extract of one of the research papers on ‘End of Journalism’recently presented by the author at her University. Journalism entered the twenty – first century caught into a paradox of its own making. We have more news and influential journalism, across an unprecedented range … Read more →
Kashmir Reader and the Journalism of Courage
Rouf Dar, Umar Lateef Misgar & Harun Lone Modern age is defined by media. Every epoch has a certain peculiarity, a marked distinction. The present epoch is characterized by a dominating incision of media and it’s round the clock surveillance of our political and social community. As a matter of … Read more →
Is Independent Kashmir Possible?
Bilal Hussain Over the decades, the people of Kashmir have expressed their desire to have an identity, a homeland, and a separate nation, in many forms at multiple times. However, the Indian state has so far successfully been able to convince the global community about the non-viability of an Independent … Read more →
Counterpoint: Is it really so difficult to hear what Kashmiris are saying?
Mohammad Junaid Among a series of articles that have been written on the Kashmir uprising of 2016, Chitralekha Zutshi’s piece, “The new wave of anger in Kashmir is not just about poor governance but about preserving an identity“, published recently in Scroll.in, took me by surprise. The author makes two broad … Read more →
Untitled
Inder Salim I said to them, spontaneously Take away your Kashmir, Just take away, It is all yours. They laughed, then looked At each others faces with disbelief, But grabbed quickly: The Azadi Freedom in their hands was water As pure as one drinks At the beginning of a river. … Read more →
Letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
*The post first appeared here Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais Wilson 52 rue des Pâquis CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland. Re: Urgent action needed to end state violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir We are writing to … Read more →
From Exile with Love
Poems by Amjad Majid In memory of going to an “Indian passport office” to get a passport: 1. Pehchaan Patr (“Permanent Residential Address:”) They drafted it out From ink and paper Printed and laminated Stamped, notarized, authorized From bureau to bureau From a filing cabinet To stained yellow decrepit bureaucratic … Read more →
The Summer of Our Discontent
Poems inspired by 2016 Summer Uprising in Kashmir Defiance This summer too They came Trampling my dreams Under their heavy boots This summer too They came Tearing my body With their sharp pellets This summer too They came Drowning my voice Under their shrill rhetoric This summer too They … Read more →
Three poems on Kashmir by an Indian tourist
Shrenik Mutha India’s Occupations (tr. from भारतीय कब्ज़ा) maps lie by drawing boundaries maps lie by messing up names maps lie by closing places so that the color would not leak out so that the people will be shut in and stifled like in a prison to finally enter the … Read more →
Poems for those lost in Kashmir Uprising 2016
Inshah Malik I’m Antsy These beautiful roads, In the golden sunrise While trees in rows, Stand guard, To our desires These army jeeps Meander in the roads of our woes, While, a young motorist Feels breeze in his hair riding in the line of fire A peep-hole carved on his … Read more →
A Shriek about Kashmir—A Ghazal
To Abir Bazaz, Javaid Iqbal Bhat, Hamzah, and all my Kashmiri brothers How do I see, think, dream, or speak about Kashmir? One more ghazal shall I tweak about Kashmir? Another bloody summer looms over the Dal, Wani’s died and been deified this week, about Kashmir. Vani … Read more →
Three Poems for Kashmir
By Amit Kumar 1.1 For a Murderer Its Friday, All faithful are running for the Namaz-e-Juma Somewhere a Brahmin is reciting the sacred mantras Every devotee is hand-folded, sitting in reverie I could never understand the ‘Arabic verse’ la illah ila allah mohammed rasoul allah Grandmother’s fairy-tales appealed more than … Read more →
A reminder to Shah Faesal- the ‘poster boy’ of Indian bureaucracy
Media in the besieged Valley of Kashmir is going gaga over a ‘Facebook post’ shared by the poster boy of Indian bureaucracy in Kashmir Shah Faesal. The way Kashmir press is giving it hype is both surprising as well as saddening. The Facebook post in itself isn’t something that deserves … Read more →