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Pakistan On The Brink And Kashmir
Sometimes you do not like an author for his predilections but still you read him. One such author for me has been Ahmed Rashid of Pakistan. Statements by some top Kashmir leaders both combatants and political criticizing Islamabad for distancing itself from Kashmir or putting it on backburner reminded me about his recent book with a provocative title, ‘Pakistan on the Brink: The future of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the West. The book is relevant to the ongoing debate in Kashmir about lukewarm attitude of Pakistan, towards what it described as “the core issue”. This is his third book on his favourite subject war in Afghanistan and security situation in South Asia, the earlier too being Taliban that covers the Afghanistan of 1980s and 1990s and rise of Taliban and Al Qaeda … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Interlocutors’ report is silent about some grave issues
Eye wash Interlocutors’ report is silent about some grave issues By ABDUL MAJID ZARGAR With the publication of New Delhi’s nominated interlocutors report on Jammu Kashmir, the genie is finally out of the bottle- Barely a few months ago, in response to an application under RIT, the Home Ministry had denied its publication on the ground of “National security”. Whether during this short interregnum, the parameters of National security have changed or the hearts & minds of My- Lords in New-Delhi, remains to be seen. Interestingly the report has been made public when a senior official of the Home Ministry was in Pakistan to negotiate the Siachen issue. The timing appears to have been arranged to get a first hand reaction from Pakistani establishment. The interlocutors have ruled out return of the Delhi-Srinagar relations to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Srinagar My City My Dreamland
Srinagar : My City my Dreamland: By Altaf Bashir The book contains 277 pages, and costs 695 INR. There is a choice for students who can purchase the book with a discount offered at the bookstore in Srinagar. The author is well known columnist in daily Greater Kashmir who has written those scripts on Sunday column ‘Nostalgia’ and has assembled them to present before the public in book form, with new things added to it which one … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Satire and Resistence
Satire and Resistance Presentation By Zahid G Muhammad on Zareef Ahmed Zareef’s book Taran Garee on 28-5- 2012 in Kashmir University Mr. Chairman, Justice B. A. Kiramani and fellow panelist and friends in the hall. Very good afternoon to all. I thank Zareef Ahmed Zareef and Riyaz Rufai Librarian of Allama Iqbal Library for providing me an opportunity to share my views on Zareef Sahib poetical collection Tarangaree. I am not an authority on Kashmir literature. A galaxy … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Rasul Saab Kashmir’s Own Sir Syed
It was the day. The day, I and my peers waited for months together. It was a loveable wait, as loveable as lover’s legendry longing for beloved in classical love stories. The wait for the day started, as I remember from the day the school opened after long winter vacations. I very vividly remember the preparation for the founder’s day —- the Rasul Sahib’s day as it was popularly known started immediately after the annual examinations would be finished. Those days’ annual examinations would be conducted in the month of March. The sword of examinations and tests did not hang on children’s head for the complete year- tests did not make children psychological wrecks, these were biannual affair “shashmahi” and “salana” examinations. The shashmahi examinations did not get on children’s nerves. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Report Just Meant For Trashcan
For the past couple of days a strong sense of penitence has overtaken me. This sense sharpened, after the GoI publicized report prepared by its three appointees. I confess before my readers. ‘In 1972, as a student of Kashmir University with all my skepticism about the role played by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah at the crucial junctures of our history like many other boys, I was also his supporter, not an ardent one. In 1973, the Plebiscite … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Leadership Paradox: You have Right To Disagree
In eighties, I was swayed!So where hundreds of thousands on watching the documentary hosted by Orson Welles, ‘The Man Who Saw Tomorrow’ based on the predictions by sixteenth century French astrologer Michel de Nostredame, Nostradamus. The man is ‘credited with having’ predicted many major events in the world. The film projecting Nostradamus as seer and sage with immense power that enabled him to foresee and predict had a slant, as someone has said, ‘rather slanted to the projection that affect the United States and its allies directly at the time of the films inception.’ Somehow, word had travelled across the valley that the film predicts the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. People copied cassette of the film, circulated from home to home, and watched in groups and batches. The viewers identified … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take