Preserving heritage
In the year 2008 Srinagar and Leh (old) towns were included on the New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF) watch-list of the 100 most endangered sites across the globe. That a foreign organization showed interest in preserving Srinagar’s cultural heritage should have come as a clarion call for all the people of the state that […]
Beyond speeches
Any serious commentary on the politics of Kashmir tends to be disdainful of the political elite; and more than their ‘person’, of their politicizing the mundane for selfish ends. And there are reasons for it. At a place where even the bare essentials of life are packaged and passed on as favours to the common […]
Stop this bullying
With each passing day the situation in Kashmir seems going from bad to worse. While the BJP government at the Centre is busy with electioneering, its extension here – the Governor’s administration – too has confined itself to meeting the challenge of conducting elections in Kashmir. No wonder other and indeed more pressing problems and […]
Blocking the highway
Government’s decision of not allowing any sort of civilian movement on national highway, two days a week, and keeping it exclusively for convoy movement has angered all sections of the society. No one from politicians to civil society; from business to other fields of life has been amused by this decision which is undoubtedly going […]
Stop state squeeze
Journalists have been under threat for long. Getting hauled up by the police is routine. Getting beaten up by the security forces is usual. Getting caught in the crossfire is a drill. Facing wrath of protestors is expected. This is the life and work of a journalist reporting in and covering Kashmir. We have survived […]
Running away from reality
Humans are, by nature, programmed not to look squarely into the face of a tragedy. Gloom is unpopular and, as such, people have perfected the art of “out of sight, out of mind” escapism. In case of Kashmir, successive governments in New Delhi have adopted this intrinsic human behaviour into a state policy. But there […]
Hegemony doesn’t work
Living in today’s ‘mediatized’ societies, the physical and political boundaries have lost their significance, at least in the sense that within no time information travels from one part of the world to other places all over. When information moves, with it also move the influences and waves of its impact as well as the repercussions […]
Unplanned constructions!
Of the many developments that have become a fad thing here is the mushroom growth of residential colonies, shopping malls and other such business centres. As has always been the case with most of things, this sector too is growing in the most unplanned manner. And this is indeed where the biggest worry lies. The […]
Polarization
When East India Company started consolidating British imperial domain over India by the mid-eighteenth century, it was directly pitted against the Muslims who had been ruling India since the eleventh century. Understandably then, for Muslims the loss of power and position of privilege was much more profound than what was felt by any other religious […]
Security hassles
With elections round the corner, the security noose around the Srinagar city and all the major towns has tightened further. Particularly after the Pulwama (Lethpora) suicide attack on a CRPF convoy, travel on the highways has become especially problematic because it is the movement of the forces’ convoys which is prioritized while nobody seems to […]
