The Disheartened Shehzada

In Mughal-e-Azam, he stood against Akbar the Great and in real life, against divisive powers. Unfortunately in both cases, he lost.  In Mughal-e-Azam, he lost his love, Anarkali; in real life, a dream of secular and inclusive polity!

He made us cry, he made us dance, he made us angry, he made us laugh and he taught us to fall in love. Looking at his face, he was, as if a boy next door; and watching him act, he was a prince from some fairyland. When I started watching cinema, it was the […]

Dialogue, the only way

Humans are, by nature, programmed not to look squarely into the face of a tragedy. Gloom is unpopular and, as such, people sometimes take to ‘out of sight, out of mind’ escapism. In case of Kashmir, this intrinsic human behaviour has somehow been made into a permanent trait of politics. But there comes a time […]

Look who is talking!

Yes, I am shooting the messenger because the message is factually incorrect, and loaded with multiple agendas 

The received wisdom in Kashmir is that luxuries of life distort your perspective to the point of being disconnected from the reality. The apocalyptic story in Kashmir being that when the King was informed of a famine, he ordained that people must restrict themselves to a five course meal instead of a seven course one! […]

Aga Sahib, as I know him

I and a few of my friends were having tea with Aga Ashraf Ali (popularly known as Aga Sahib) at his Rajbagh residence way back in 1997. He offered us Qatlam (a Kashmiri bread) saying these have come as a gift from Zadibal area (Shia dominated) of Srinagar. One of my colleagues had no appetite […]

Geelani quits but questions remain

Instead of writing to the constituents of his All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Geelani owes an explanation to the people of Kashmir.

In a surprising development, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has resigned from All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which he had carved out from a similarly named ‘parent’ grouping in 2003; he later went on to become its life-long chairman. Geelani’s audio clip and a two page letter, written to the constituents of the conglomerate, announcing his resignation […]

Demonizing local media

After August 05 last year, the politics of this Himalayan region (Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh) has undergone a phenomenal transformation. From Azadi to Autonomy, the discourse has shifted to restoration of statehood and some sort of domicile rights. The Azadi camp is completely out of circulation and so are the proponents of Autonomy and Self […]

Paying tributes to Mirwaiz and Lone

May 21 is the day when two great leaders of Jammu and Kashmir fell to bullets though in different years. Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq was killed by assassins on May 21, 1990 and Abdul Gani Lone fell to their bullets on same day in 2002.  Tragically Lone was killed near the grave of Late Mirwaiz as […]

Ceasefire and surging militant attacks

Separatists can’t always shout ‘kill the umpire’ but get ready to play the game

The unprecedented surge in militant attacks in the holy month of Ramazan following a ceasefire announced by the Government of India (GoI) has generated a debate in the political circles of Jammu and Kashmir. The big question that haunts every citizen, though it may not be spelled out publicly due to known reasons, is that […]