Kashmir: Silver linings in Dark Clouds
Punchline Kashmir Returns To International Discourse By Z. G. Muhammad On Tuesday 26 February 2019, twenty years after the Kargil war alarm bells once again started ringing in the capitals across the globe from Moscow to Beijing to Washington to Riyadh. On this day at around 3:30 am, the Indian air force conducted airstrikes at Jaba hilltop in Balakot, in Mansehra District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Several Mirage 2000, dropped “1000 Kg bombs” on the hills. The attack was carried out in ‘reprisal’ of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Prison Tales IV: Jails The Cauldron of Ideologies
Nostalgia By ZGM On a shelf in my small study, I have a beautiful book printed on glossy paper ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’, translated from Persian into our mother tongue by Ghulam Nabi Khayal. It was my second introduction to Khayyam, after having read translation of Rubaiyat by Edward FitzGerald as a student of literature and parroted verses like: “Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup Before Life’s Liquor in its Cup be dry.” Many a critic of Kashmiri literature considers Khayal’s translation of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as one of the best in our native language. Long before, as a young student passing my leisure time inside a bookshop in our Mohalla, owned by one of the then famed calligraphist Mahajan Sahib, I had seen the first edition of the translation and heard the story that poet had rendered 15o quatrains from … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Dissent and Democracy: Banning The Jama’at-e-Isamia
Punchline Dissent and Democracy : Banning The Jama’at-e-Islamia Jammu and Kashmir By Z. G. Muhammad For four million people living in an area of 85,805.8 square miles in the bosom of mighty Himalayas, Saturday ‘12 March 1932’ was a momentous day. On this day after years of struggle and sacrifices, ‘Maharaja Hari Singh, the autocratic ruler of Kashmir on the recommendations of the Glancy Commission Report announced the grant of the rights to freedom of press and platform to the people of the State.’ … Read entire article »
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Nostalgia : Prison Tales III
Nostalgia Prison Stories III In A Different School ZGM In the din of war cries, with eyes glued to the television screen couple of lines from the book ‘Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sundance’ started echoing in my ears: “I don’t know how to save the world. I don’t have the answers or The Answer. I hold no secret knowledge as to how to fix the mistakes of generations past and present. I only know that without compassion and respect for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
War Cannot Dissolve or Resolve Kashmir
PUNCHLINE War Cannot Dissolve The Kashmir Dispute Z .G. Muhammad Saturday morning, I woke up to many a disturbing news on the grapevine. From the Masjid door to long waiting at the bakers’ shop for hot loaves of traditional bread, lots of news about frightening rattling of aeroplanes and helicopters from 2 A.M in Srinagar, deployment of hundreds of additional companies’ of paramilitary troops in Kashmir to the mid-night crackdown on the cadres of the Jamat-e-Islamia and other organization was making … Read entire article »
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Prison Tales: Watching Them From Hillock
Some old black and white photographs are evocative as scent, years after having been clicked they fill the air with fresh fragrance and bring a blush even on cheeks crumpled as withered leaves. Of late, posting pictures of Kashmir clicked long ago by European travellers and photojournalists on social media and microblogs is a new hobby that is catching up with some friends as an expression of their love for the land. Many of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Kashmir Scholars: Revisit The Past And Tell The Untold Story
PUNCHLINE Scholars Must Revisit By Z.G. Muhammad Some friends, are opposed to the idea of relating the history of the land, old or of the recent past to the current ‘dominant discourse’ or the contemporary ‘people’s narrative’. They have the right to do so; everyone has the right to hold an opinion. Nonetheless, to quote Frederick Douglass, a nineteenth-century American social reformer and leader to end slavery in America. ‘It is essential to keep a record of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk, Point of view