Maintaining discipline
Now it is getting ugly, really ugly. The way some people here are using Kathua rape and murder case as a pretext for their unruly behavior has become a cause of huge fear and hearty-ache. Needless to say this behavior is also turning away people, and with it their sympathies for the “collective cause” – […]
Challenge of 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 […]
Give what they deserve
Sigmund Freud has long back talked about people’s urge and need for looking for familiarity, and how easy it is for them to expect only the familiar outcomes even in case of entirely different situations and circumstance. Human cognitive behavior is such that it is, as if, resistant to looking beyond the relational schemas for […]
Assertion of self
Past nearly two and half decades of political turmoil in Kashmir have produced a whole new breed of political leadership – both in the separatist and the mainstream camps — who could be aptly described as the ‘revolutionaries of rhetoric’. The reason being that they are suffering a massive disconnect with the common masses as […]
Some hope, finally
Indo-Pak Army Chiefs Talk Sense
Hearing the Army Chiefs of Indian and Pakistan talking about peace has come as a fine note of music to the sub-continental ears which, of late, were deafened by bombs and bullets. While talking about violence, Indian Army Chief, Gen Bipin Rawat has said that gun was no solution to the problems of Kashmir as […]
What changed so quickly?
For now the ruling PDP may have climbed down on its rhetoric which threatened to bring down its coalition government with the BJP. But the issues that were flagged other day by its Tourism Minister and Chief Minister’s brother, and seconded by other party seniors, are far from being addressed. In fact the party’s appreciation […]
Political hypocrisy
It very rarely happens that the people of Kashmir and those in the mainland India are on the same page. Indeed it is tragedy of sorts that both sides have for most part of their history looked at each-other as the ‘political other’. But this time around it is different. The brutal rape and murder […]
Look inwards
In an overly politicized atmosphere here ordinary Kashmiris have been given to believe that ‘they are the best’ in terms of talent, competence, and almost everything else. Without going into the specifics, the statement itself is finding increasing resonance both in public as well as private discourse. Beginning from the natural beauty of the place […]
Dead-end!
As has always been the case in the past, this time too shutting down businesses and remaining away from offices would yield nothing worthwhile. In fact history of past nearly three decades of Kashmir’s recent history are replete with the evidence that this tactic of calling and observing shutdowns and strikes has done precious little […]
Reorientation needed
It is really unfortunate that nothing really is being done to change the ugly situation in Kashmir. While external scape-goating may help the State and the Central governments to shift blame on Pakistan, but fact of the matter is that not everything could be blamed on the external machinations. Internally there is a lot that […]
