Every decade, Srinagar gets a new masterplan. New alignments for ring roads, new zones for housing, new dreams of a “smart city.” But drive just ten kilometers out – to...

For decades, Kashmir has been painted as a postcard paradise. The shikaras on Dal Lake, snow-capped Gulmarg, tulips in spring, saffron in autumn. This is the imagery packaged for brochures,...

Floods are not new to Kashmir. The Jhelum has been both our lifeline and our destroyer, carrying silt and stories with equal force. More than a century ago, our forefathers...

Two Himalayan states. Nearly the same terrain, demography, and area. One chose classrooms, roads, orchards, and hydropower. The other chose hartals, curfews, and endless symbolism. The result today: Himachal Pradesh,...

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was restored after six years of suspended democracy. For NC legislators, that return was meant to be a vindication – proof that their mandate mattered....

It is ironic that in a Union Territory gasping for revival, Omar Abdullah and his ilk find their loudest voice not in matters of development, governance, or performance – but...

10 steps that must be taken Srinagar lived under the shadow of floods again last week. Each heavy downpour revives the memories of September 2014, when the city was submerged,...

Step into a government office in Kashmir on a Friday afternoon and you will witness a scene that has become depressingly predictable. Before noon, files are stacked, visitors line up,...

Omar Abdullah has finally found something he can do without sweating – collecting signatures. The former Chief Minister, once in command of the state’s fate, is now reduced to the...

Kashmir reeks – literally. The stench isn’t just from 3,000–3,500 kg of rotten meat seized in a single week; it’s from a Food Safety bureaucracy that has turned vigilance into...