Protesting Zubin Mehta’s concert in Kashmir is not protesting against music and art. It is about highlighting the bizarreness of a concert that purports to promote peace in a strife torn state while not allowing locals to participate. The
How do men picked up by security forces and detained in custody, disappear for years without an official explanation, then magically emerge as militants? If the Jammu and Kashmir government is to be believed, that is precisely what has happened
For years now, activists of the Association of Disappeared Persons meet on the 10th of every month to stage a protest sit-in, in the heart of the city, a sprawling but neglected, Pratap Park, to continue their campaign of seeking the
Does a former militant have a way back? Is he allowed to have one? A man who entered the Indian territory via Nepal from Pakistan administered Kashmir with his wife and daughter in tow, in March 2013, stands accused
Before he was hanged, Afzal Guru was confined in a 16 ft by 12 ft cell. While he was being hanged, lakhs of Kashmiris woke up to find themselves imprisoned within a 15,000 square kilometres plus area of the Valley.
Years ago, in wake of the India-Pakistan partition, Saadat Hasan Manto penned down the story of Bishen Singh— a man from the village of Toba Tek Singh— who lived in a lunatic asylum, and was being taken to the border
In a season where everything under the sun has been politicised, Afzal Guru’s issue is once again assuming significance. Hindutva organizations are baying for his blood and the Congress led UPA government, playing an apologetic secondary role. Kasab’s secret hanging
In the mid-eighties, Subhash Ghai shot his multi-starrer blockbuster Karma in the enchanting locales of Kashmir Valley. It was one of the first Bollywood films about cross-border terrorism. Back then, there was no terrorism in Kashmir and the political issue was in
In the summer of 2010, the response to Kashmir’s anger erupting onto the streets was not just brutality but also an Indian nationalistic narrative claiming that the stone pelting mobs were sponsored by militants. In 2012, as Kashmir braces for
Kashmir is observing the third anniversary of the Shopian double rapes and murders, which have become a test case in the vast tapestry of human rights abuse in Jammu and Kashmir. The incident symbolises brutality, travesty of justice, a systemic