Peace Watch

Punchline The “Map” Battle By Z. G. Muhammad G. Muhammad In the 1990s firebrand, Hurriyat Conference leader Late Abdul Gani Lone was a nationalist to the core. In the mid-nineties, when ‘armed struggle’ was at its peak, he wanted to reach out to Indian masses with his idea of Kashmiri nationalism. And garner support for an independent state of Jammu and Kashmir which he believed could be an oasis- a buffer of peace bridging three nuclear powers. His belief was that the left in India was not suffering ‘ultra-nationalism’, and there were some important leftist leaning intellectuals and ideologues who were supporters to self-determination for people of the state. For this belief, he wanted to start his campaign for winning friends for his cause from Kolkata- once a bastion of the left … Read entire article »

  The UN in the Dock Z. G. Muhammad Two years back the National Geographic identified world’s six “worrisome disputes”-   potentially dangerous to the global peace.  These included Crimea, the East China Sea, Jammu and Kashmir, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and West Bank, Western Sahara and Transdniestria.  The report recognized Jammu and Kashmir as disputed, ‘since the British relinquished control of the subcontinent in the 1940s.’ For the state being ‘highly militarized, and troops of two nuclear powers of South Asia pitted against each other along the 724-kilometre long Line of Control, the National Geographic looking at Jammu and Kashmir as most ‘simmering’ dispute had very candidly pointed out dangers inherent in the ‘lingering’ of this dispute. Since the birth of the dispute thousands of people have fallen to the bullets and bombs. … Read entire article »

Punchline Our Pain, Their Pleasure   Z. G. Muhammad   I am in mourning. So is our whole nation. On Saturday morning when I started writing my weekly column, my hands trembled and my frozen fingers refused to push on the keyboard. The blood-soaked pictures of our martyred children, Nayeem, Iqbal, Jahangir, Arif, along with those martyred in 2008, 2009 and 2010 hovered around in the sullen environs of my study. They popped up from the corners of every book about Kashmir on the bookshelves with big question marks writ on their faces- bullets having drained every drop of blood from them. How long will, they enjoy the impunity to shoot us down for a sport like coots in the lakes?   How many more teenagers have we to sacrifice at the altar of the … Read entire article »

Why Kashmiris refuse to believe the official version about a schoolgirl’s molestation Every Kashmiri knows what it’s like to be as scared as that child. To many, the reaction to the violence in the Kashmiri town of Handwara last week that followed allegations that a schoolgirl had been molested by a solider is a conspiracy against the army. But for many ordinary Kashmiris, the incident is a reminder that no place is safe for anyone, not even children. For the rest of India, the schoolgirl, whose identity was revealed to the world in a video released by the authorities as a clarification, will become just another footnote in the sad history of Kashmir. The names of the five people killed in firing during the protests will disappear from the news columns. But if … Read entire article »