Peace Watch » Archive
Abrogation of Article35A – Is Biggest Impending Existential Threat
Concern For All Article 35-A is the meeting point for all divergent viewpoints By Z.G. Muhammad The date 6 August 2018, has been hanging like the sword of Damocles on the heads of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir, across the religious, regional, ethnic and linguistic divide. On this date, the Supreme Court of India is to hear Public Interest Litigations on the Article 35A dealing with permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2014, immediately after … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Nostalgia: When Nehru Doctrine Failed in Kashmir
Nostalgia News And Iron Curtains ZGM Someone has said that “I’d trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday.” He has perhaps said so for the magical powers of nostalgia; enabling one to rediscover the dreams in our eyes and songs on our lips; we grew up with. Of course, it removes ‘rough edges from the good old days,’ but sometimes like a search engine, the mind makes a connection with the bitter past … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Nostalgia of Generation Born With Black-Ribbon’s Tied To Head
Nostalgia Mourning A Young Songster ZGM My efforts fail me, in spite of trying to drown myself in the rhythmic Coke Studio music to forget the chilling stories coming from the South Kashmir and to erase images of silted throats of children and pellet meshed rubicund faces of girl students like ‘summer tempest’ tears soak my withering cheeks. Many times, on seeing dumbfounded mothers sitting by the side of bodies of their slain sons I start singing with … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
A Clarion Call For Kashmiris: Wake Up To Tell Your Story
PUNCHLINE Need For Our Own ‘Brookings.’ Z. G. Muhammad My take on the book, ‘Kashmir Glimpse of History and Story of Struggle’ by Saifuddin Soz the past week in this column kick-started an important debate on the social media. Minus, some unsavoury remarks by some friends on the book and the scholarship of the author, the debate generated was important in as much as, it raised some important questions about the history writing in Kashmir and its … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
The “Others” Narrative: My Take on Soz’s Book
Punchline The “Others” Narrative Z.G. Muhammad Some twelve years back, Farooq Abdullah, senior scion of the Abdullah family told me he was writing a book that will tell many inside stories, never told before. The information as a student of contemporary Kashmir politics had come to me as good tidings. My belief has been that the stories of politicians, who are on the other side of the fence or are tethered to the ‘hegemonic politics’ in the state, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
My Days in Bombay: When Die Was Cast To Dismiss Farooq Govt
Nostalgia Toppling Game Watching It from Bombay It had become a routine with me – something instinctive. Sitting in my office chambers on the third floor of the Chicago Building, in Fort, Bombay in the morning the first thing I inquired from the office boy was if the postman had delivered the usual stuff. I was not curious to know if there was any official communication in the post that needed immediate attention but if there were … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Journey Into Europe: Akbar Ahmad’s Magnum Opus On Challenges For Muslims
Journey Into Europe Another Magnum Opus by Akbar Ahmad On Muslim Identity By Z .G. Muhammad I will join Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, authors of ‘Untold History of the United States in saying that ‘Ambassador Akbar S Ahmed is a treasure.’ ‘His insight, wisdom, and experience are desperately needed right now when so much US and European policy towards Muslim world is guided by fear, ignorance, and greed.’ Those, who have been reading him; one … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take