Kashmir Halcyon:

For the Valley-centric PDP, it has become a question of survival Daanish Bin Nabi The politics in Kashmir has come full circle, within the span of less than a year. January 2015 was marked by the same confusion we have today. People's Democratic Party (PDP), with Mufti Mohammed Sayeed as the CM candidate, won elections in December 2014. PDP's score was 28 seats in the 87-member legislative assembly. The next two months were marked by intense suspense over government formation. The question before PDP was whether to form government with the Congress and some Independents, or the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  Come 2016, the story is the same. The difference is that the captain steering the PDP ship has changed. With the death of PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the state has come under governor's rule for the seventh time in its tumultuous history. It is a strange coincidence that whenever governor's rule has been imposed in Jammu ...

If RSS is allowed to walk in the Jammu region, why is the Hurriyat treated differently in the Valley Daanish Bin Nabi With curbs on the Hurriyat leaders, arrest of hundreds of youth and activists and pulling down Facebook and Twitter pages to foil the proposed Million March called by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Prime Minster Narendra Modi is all set to address the so-called "Kashmiris". Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's mantra the "Battle of Ideas" is falling apart like a pack of cards.  The arrest spree that Kashmir witnessed this week is unprecedented. Frisking and checking of all passers-by has increased. From buildings to security vans, the streets of Srinagar and other districts of Kashmir have been flooded with CCTV cameras to avoid any "untoward" incident. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh had visited Kashmir several times, and this is Narendra Modi's fourth visit to the Valley. But this time, in the ...

Radicalisation among the youth here is worrisome Daanish Bin Nabi A 21-year-old is fast emerging as the new face of armed rebellion in the Kashmir Valley. The youth call him Burhan Bhai, for mothers he is Baijana, others call him Robin Hood of Tral, and many more refer to him as Burhan Sahab. Burhan Muzaffar Wani, the district commander of the largest indigenous militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, now has a cash reward of Rs 1 million on his head.  In the south Kashmir districts of Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and the volatile Tral, Burhan is seen as an unmatched hero. His newly-released video has created ripples within the government security apparatus, and has marked him as the poster boy of new militancy in Kashmir. The youth in south Kashmir hold the “failed peaceful protests” of 2008 and 2010, and the double rape-and-murder of Aasiya and Neelofar in 2009 as their reasons for taking up arms against India. At the same time, they praise the role of social med...

As an old-war horse of the party, Mir Ghulam Mohammad aka Saki is very critical of its  present day leaders Daanish Bin Nabi National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir’s largest regional political party, may never ever find a die-hard fan and loyalist like Mir Ghulam Mohammad, aka Saki, who talks, eats, drinks and sleeps National Conference. For the last five-and-a-half decades Saki’s pro-Sheikh Abdullah stance has remained unwavering, even when in the peak of anti-India armed rebellion in the early 1990s many NC stalwarts announced their resignations after being coerced by Kashmiri militants to publicise their non-affiliation in the local newspapers.  Saki, however, remained defiant as ever. Sixty-nine year old Mir Ghulam Mohammad Saki originally belongs to downtown Srinagar’s Nawab Bazar area. As a foot-soldier and a staunch sympathiser of NC, Saki is an eyewitness to many a political upheaval and paradigm in turbulent Kashmir. Not only Saki but hi...

None other than the 'Father of the Nation' himself mixed religion with the politics of Indian freedom movement Daanish Bin Nabi The growing intolerance against minorities, especially Muslims, has set India on a dangerous path. Eminent writers and academicians have expressed their displeasure against the rise of new Hindutva India. Hindustan's founding fathers Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed Azad and other like-minded visionaries had set India on a secular path by framing a secular Constitution. The Constitution provided the minorities with some leverages. The same visionaries banned the vicious Jan Sangh in 1952.  However, on the other hand, most among the Indians believe that Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a religious bigot, and the man responsible for the splitting up their motherland. But research on the history of the subcontinent widens the debate on who was actually responsible for the divide and rifts between Hindus and Muslims. ...

After seven months of the government, the situation in the state is perhaps worse than what has been seen in Punjab Daanish Bin Nabi The alliance government of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jammu and Kashmir had been aptly termed by chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as a meeting of "North Pole and South Pole." The thrashing of an Independent MLA Engineer Rashid by another MLA Ravinder Raina of Nowshera, Jammu is yet another example that the two poles cannot meet. The thrashing of a legislator in Jammu and Kashmir is the first of its kind in the history of the state - thanks to the BJP.  In the past, we have seen incidents like MLAs hurling abuses, marshalling out, snatching of microphones, and a maverick MLA even brandishing a revolver. But the thrashing of a legislator has put the entire state to shame. Such "Gunda Raj" is new to the state known for its hospitality and genteel way of life. The BJP is no...

Despite the internet blockade and high grid security in place, the state saw everything else happening Daanish Bin Nabi When millions of Indians were watching their new “tech guru” Narendra Modi in Silicon Valley unveiling his Digital India initiative, millions of people in another part of the world were reeling under an e-curfew. From Silicon Valley, the pulpit of the tech world, the Modi government in New Delhi and the BJP - the coalition partner in Jammu and Kashmir - imposed e-curfew in the state.  While introducing Digital India, Modi said, “The status that now matters is not whether you are awake or asleep, but whether you are online or offline. The most fundamental debate for our youth is the choice between Android, iOS and Windows.” At the same dinner, Modi did not inform his hosts how his security apparatus back home has kept the entire population of Jammu and Kashmir offline. To add insult to injury, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed his profil...

The boy, whose childhood was trampled by guns and grenades, still lives somewhere within me Daanish Bin Nabi If one looks into one's most cherished world of worlds, the mother and the hometown can be ranked together. One is attached equally to both, and the pain of separation never gets assuaged.Today, I am away from both - my mother and my hometown Sopore, where she lives. I visit my family occasionally, but I have never really gone back to Sopore. I left it when I was 15. The separation pains me, but I dread going back to the streets and the house which I once loved so much. I was born when the buds of militancy had just started springing in Kashmir - in 1988. My childhood passed through the thunder of bullets and grenades. While the fire was to grip all of Kashmir soon, the rebellious Sopore had always been at the forefront for demanding right to self determination from India. The town is a strong citadel of Syed Ali Geelani and Jamaat-e-Islami. Once known as Chh...

That three-year-old Burhan Bashir Bhat's death is not even national news in India is extremely unfortunate Daanish Bin Nabi  The smallest coffins are the heaviest. Kashmir has felt this pain over and over again for 30 years. Burhan Bashir Bhat is our Alan Kurdi (initially reported as Aylan Kurdi). Both aged three. Both died innocent, blameless, at the hands of a cruel world, not knowing why they were killed. The only difference: one was mourned with outrage globally. The latter is not known even within India. Killings like that of Burhan is this nation's big tragedy.But are we Kashmiris also to be blamed for our miseries and tragedies? I think we are. If we kept our quest for independence alive in our streets and cities, we have completely failed to keep this flame bright at the diplomatic and at international levels.  While Palestinians are active on the streets, they have continued to push with strength at global diplomatic levels, as well like at the Un...