“Vajpayee Syndrome” and Kashmir Leaders?
The ‘Vajpayee Syndrome’ Will India’s new PM follow Atalji’s model on Kashmir Z. G. MUHAMMAD The enthusiasm in the Ilahaqi political parties in the state for the sixteenth Lok Sabha elections is on the expected lines. For these parties it is an opportunity for testing their strength for the 2014 Assembly elections. Nevertheless, very high expectations in a section of the “pro-freedom” leadership that ‘Narendra Modi led NDA government if elected will move an extra mile for resolving … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
K. H. Khurshid: Student Private Secretary of Jinnah Khurshid
Remembering K. H. Khurshid Z.G. MUHAMMAD It is unimaginable. It sounds like a fairy tale. Nevertheless, it is a true story; history had cast role for a young student leader from Srinagar in contributing his mite in ‘altering the course of history, modifying the map of the world and creating a nation state.’ The twenty-year-old student leader who earned distinction of joining the team of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a man of ‘sartorial elegance’ and ‘indomitable will’ – … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Nodding-Goat Leadership is Dangerous
PUNCHLINE Z. G. MUHAMMAD Seventy days after there will be new government in office in New Delhi. Few days back the Shankh for one of the most thrilling electoral battles in India was blown. The elections to be held in nine phases spread over thirty-six days will be one of the long drawn battles for the Raisina Hill in the Lutyens Delhi. Although a bit early, yet it is a big question, who will inherit throne of New … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Of A Dream Merchant And His Goals
Of Dreams and Goals By Z. G. Muhammad It is not a political enemy’s dig at his arch-enemy. It is not an opponent’s last-ditch attempt to challenge political ideology of a leader. Calling a leader as ‘dream merchant’ is in fact an acknowledgment of his greatness- all great people dream high. I have no idea, what might have crossed the mind of the scion of the Abdullah family when he used this phrase for Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Nevertheless, he deserves kudos for naming the octogenarian leader, who has been on the political scene of Jammu and Kashmir for over fifty-five years as ‘dream merchant.’—it is the highest honor that could be bestowed on a leader. When, I read phrase ‘dream merchant’ in the screaming headlines, the famous speech of Martin Luther … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
The Story of ‘Climb-downs’
The present leadership has some lessons to learn Punchline Z.G. MUHAMMAD Our “leaders” are in a habit of sparking debates- mostly hackneyed ones parsed and analyzed in these columns umpteen times – rather overdriven. Even adding spice to these stale debates does not make them palatable but still they fuel doubts in the public minds. A similar debate has engaged attention of our political commentators but I have a different take on it. On Sunday, 10 November 2o13, Kashmir leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Molvi Muhammad Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi along with their party men and aids had separate meetings with Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs and National Security. Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir aided him during these meetings. He is … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
2014 Worries Me
Z. G. MUHAMMAD I am a good sleeper. A paragraph in a new book “The Thistle and The Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam” by Prof. Akbar Ahmed gave me a couple of sleepless nights. Moreover, set me thinking about 2014. Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington D.C. He is an internationally acclaimed anthropologist, an administrator and diplomat by training. He has been Pakistan’s Ambassador in the United Kingdom and has spent long years as administrator in Waziristan and Balochistan and as a student in Mohand tribal areas. This book is third in the series of books that he has written about ‘troubled relations’ between the Muslim World and the United States after 9/11. In this … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Nailing Lies About Kashmir Struggle
Z.G. MUHAMMAD It is tomfoolery- share naiveté. You cannot beat us by contorting and distorting hard historical realities. You cannot delegitimize a movement- a Spartan movement as old as two hundred years marked with bravery and soaked in blood by spreading lies about it and its Spartacus. Of late, some fringe elements of a particular community, owing their allegiance to a particular mindset have launched a vicious campaign of distorting history of the struggle of people of Jammu and Kashmir for their rights through internet and their websites. To spread canard about a struggle for freedom and rights that is older than the Chicago uprising, they shoot as many malicious mails as they can – their most favourite target readership has been journalists, writers and members of the civil society. This malicious campaign, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk