The controversial Faxgate mightโve thwarted his chief ministership bid in the fall of 2018, but the son of Abdul Gani Lone is only following his fatherโs footsteps in order to recreate the northern front in Kashmir politics. A whisper first came amid the communication blockade of 2019 when a certain scribe detailed Centaurโs captive life…
There was a time when many households served as vibrant workstations of the skilled women of Kashmir. After the tradition faded over the years due to the turmoil-hit market and lack of craft intervention, young and educated girls of Sonawari have now revived the old women workspaces with their collective efforts. In the shade of…
While recurring dreams may reflect an unresolved conflict in an individualโs life, a Kashmiri woman is grappling with conflict nightmaresโin the land of encounters, cordons and lockdownsโtaking a toll on her mental health. In the dead of the night, the traumatic scene unfolds like thisโฆ Silence shatters with a sudden scream, followed by sweat drips,…
When contagion plagued the previous spring, a young Kashmiri photojournalist became part of the โuntouchableโ crowd inside an isolated ward where he experienced a close death encounter and decided to document his dreadful dungeon. After covering blistering riots in Delhi, I was planning to come home when bogeyman grounded all the flights.ย As someone coming…
โMany people made it, some fell and died while battling. The Covid-19 is the biggest nightmare of any survivor. There are injuries that the past year has inflicted upon humankind and the battle is not over yet.โ Such were the times, recounts Aqib as he arrives to offer prayers for the departed soul of his…
Two books released in autumn 2020 dedicate chapters that look at foreign policy effect on Kashmir and elements that caused chaos. The fire that consumed Kashmir after the Partition rages on today. Who incensed it? There is no one answer to this question, but it is scattered among bureaucratic decisions and wars โ both internal…
A routine bureaucratic shakeup on March 16 has once again rearranged the character-chamber complex of Kashmir. But beyond the โperception managementโ exercise, red-tapism-ridden masses are recalling considerate chairpersons of yore while seeking settlement of their drawn-out matters. Since the 2018 summer split of the โunholy allianceโ, Wasim Bhat is finding himself at the crossroads. Being…
It was a pleasant day and his funeral cortege faced no inconvenience. Even the wake and bereavement continued without weather playing any spoilsport. I lost my snow-white beard-man in the winter of my homeland. On the day of his departing, the nip in the air shuddered mourners. But in the backdrop of Tangmargโs snow-draped peaks…
On the day when Kashmiris are observing the 175 years of the inhuman Treaty of Amritsar (the pact which sealed the fate and sold the valley along with its people, livestock and trees to Dogra rulers), many are recalling the treacherous regimeโs prime minister for his principled conduct with the Fourth Pillar of Democracy, now…