JRL’s “Comprehensive Joint Strategy”
After six months of protests sparked off by the death of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani in a gunfight with security forces, joint resistance leadership of the Hurriyat issued a statement in December 2016 informing the people that “Now it is time to consolidate our gains and build upon them in order to move […]
Politicising Human Tragedy
Every death is a monumental tragedy in itself but the intensity of the shock and enormity of grief that it causes increases many times over when one realises that the accident which claimed multiple lives could have been avoided. And in this week alone we witnessed two such unfortunate incidents; one on last Friday in […]
Of Pens and Swords!
Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant Manan Wani is no more. A promising scholar pursuing his PhD from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Manan shocked everyone when he decided to quit studies and become a militant in January this year. In an emotional letter his AMU colleagues implored him to reconsider his decision of giving up the pen […]
‘Tit-for-Tat’ Policies can ‘Kill’ Ideological Struggles
At a time when both Islamabad and Hurriyat are doing their best to convince the world that the ongoing militancy in Kashmir is a “legitimate struggle for the internationally acknowledged right to self-determination” and thus equating it with terrorism is wrong,” reports of militants kidnapping a dozen family members of policemen isn’t good news. And […]
Better to Plan Kashmir’s Future than Lament the Past
Like all the others pieces written by Secretary General World Kashmir Awareness Forum, Dr G N Fai, the one titled “The ostensible accession of Kashmir to India is a fiction: Ambassador Yusuf Buch” too makes a sensational claim which if true would change the entire discourse on Kashmir. Unfortunately, just like all his other claims […]
On Pakistan’s Independence Day Promise!
Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain’s Independence Day speech was both reassuring and frustrating. Reassuring because he said that “Pakistan cannot forget Kashmiris and would continue to support them to get right of self-determination in light of the UN resolution” and frustrating because this is what every President, Prime Minister and Army Chief of Pakistan has been […]
Celebrating ‘Rejuvenation’ of the ‘Armed Struggle’
In January this year a piece appeared in the media in which the author described Aligarh Muslim University research scholar Mannan Bashir Wani’s joining Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant group “a major setback to the efforts by security forces to wean away youngsters from the path of militancy.” What the author has stated reflects the collective sentiment […]
UK and the UNHRC Report on Kashmir
Discussion on the first ever UNHRC report on Kashmir in the British parliament may have given Hurriyat the hope that the UK will finally intervene on this issue. And by saying “we encourage all states, including India and Pakistan, to respond positively to the request by the UN in this case, the UN High Commissioner […]
Learning from Others
Though the habit of comparing comes naturally to all of us, it has its own drawbacks and is thus best avoided. However, there are occasions when eluding comparison becomes practically impossible even despite the best of efforts and I faced such a situation while going through the newspaper on Monday morning. While there was nothing […]
Investigating Human Rights Violations in Kashmir
For over three decades Islamabad has been complaining about the inaction of United Nations on human rights violations in Kashmir. And now that the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has released its report on human rights violations in Kashmir and called for an international investigation, it was expected that Islamabad […]
