Kashmir: Stand For Freedom Of Press
PUNCHLINE Kashmir: Freedom Of Press Imperilled By Z. G. Muhammad Author ‘The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state. Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what he pleases before the public: to forbid this is to destroy the freedom of the press.’ – ‘Free speech must be kept free even in wartime, even when passions are high because that is when the people need to hear both sides of the argument, not just what … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Point of view
Prison Tales: A Ride In Girls College Bus.
Nostalgia Examination in Barracks ZGM ‘Some slices of the past one holds close forever.’ Like a magical potion, they lift spirits in moments of despair. Saturday, December 23, 1972, is one such date that has got imprinted on my mind. In October of that year, I had got admission in the English Department of Kashmir University, thanks to Dr M.S. Want. Nonetheless, like thick dark, ominous clouds, the blues of a previous couple of years still lurked in my mind, and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Kashmir: Polls, Politics and Experimentation
PUNCHLINE Polls, Politics and Experimentation Z. G. Muhammad I am not a psephologist. Notwithstanding, in the democratic process, the role of psephology is recognized as an important one, the study of elections in Jammu and Kashmir has never been my cup of tea. I never endeavoured to analyse voting patterns, regional and sub-regional factors, the role of caste, sects and religious factors, in the elections held in the state since in 1957. The 1957 elections were held under the Jammu and Kashmir Representation of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Stanly Wolpert: A Historian We Should Read
PUNCHLINE Wolpert’s works Stanley Wolpert is a historian who makes the difference By Z. G. Muhammad In our generation, perhaps rarely any of one might have read it or heard about it. In my small collection of biographies, there is a purple coloured hardbound, with pages turned to smoke yellow biography published eighty-eight years back by George Allen and Unwin Limited, 40 Museum Street, London. It has a foreword by father of Indian Nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The biography has been authored Mahadev Desai Gandhi’s James Boswell and personal … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Prison Tales VI: 1965- Lives In Bosom Of This Generation
Nostalgia Prison Tales 1965 Dwell in Their Bosoms By ZGM They are no Malcolm X, who has a big story to tell. They are not AlexHaley, who have to share a grand saga of chastisements and confinements of Kunta Kinte and his descendants. Nonetheless, they also have their stories to share, some interesting and touching, on occasions cascading with wit and humour. I am talking of whole a generation of medicos, engineers, professionals and senior officers who were students … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
The Mirwaiz Institution – Its importance In Kashmir Story
The Mirwaiz Institution It’s Importance for Kashmir By Z. G. Muhammad Author Like Chris, a French writer and filmmaker, “What I’m passionate about is History; politics interests me only insofar as it is the cross-section of History in the present.” Looking, at the contemporary scenario at our own place, I was thinking how past three centuries have shaped our contemporary narrative, in this column I may not be able to write how this narrative is potent … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Prison Tales V: Badamwari Agony amidst Blossoms
Nostalgia Mothers with Tiffin Carriers By ZGM Having cured chilblains contracted during harsh winters by running on fresh snowfalls with deer’s and stag’s thrill; we would be geared by mid-February to be back to the school. Soothing spring breeze greeted us on the way to school, at times the lone almond tree in full bloom in the cherry orchards around the Jamia-Masjid made us detour our journey through the flowering almond gardens inside the four centuries old walled city at the foothills of iconic Srinagar hillock. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk