Kashmir Halcyon:

  By Daanish Bin Nabi Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid has been in the eye of a storm since the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, where, speaking for the jury he headed, he said it found The Kashmir Files, a film by Vivek Agnihotri, “vulgar propaganda” unfit for an artistic competition. The film was widely promoted by ruling party leaders in India despite concerns that it could spark discord. The film deals with the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley in the nineties, during the onset of militancy in the region. Critics in India have also called it a divisive, one-sided and politically-motivated cultural project. Independent journalist Daanish Bin Nabi recently asked Lapid about the controversy his statement sparked. Edited excerpts.   Danish Bin Nabi: Many Indian media outlets are running a story that you have apologised for your comments on The Kashmir Files at IFFI. Do you regret or stand by what you said? Nadav Lapid: I said that my ...

  By Daanish Bin Nabi The first ever football match played in Jammu and Kashmir was in the autumn of 1891 in Srinagar. The team was of schoolboys of the Tyndale-Biscoe school. The players wore long gowns called pherans, and each carried a kangri fire pot under their outfits to keep warm. The team consisted entirely of upper-class Brahmin players, who had at first refused to kick the ball because it was made from leather. It was the first time Kashmiris saw a football or a football match. The British missionary and educationist Cecil Earle Tyndale-Biscoe made Kashmir’s first-ever football match possible. In his classic book, ‘Kashmir in Sunlight and Shade’, first published in the 1880s, Tyndale-Biscoe writes, “It was in the autumn of 1891, when I returned from Bombay with Mrs Tyndale-Biscoe, that amongst our luggage we brought a football, the first that our schoolboys had seen...” Kashmir’s first football match was exciting, including when one player got injured. Tyndale-B...

  By Daanish Bin Nabi In the last seventy years, the tale of the Kashmir dispute has been told in many ways. It has been narrated in news reports, books, in posters and through poetry, film, fiction and speeches. Yet, ever since the abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, it is the photojournalists of the region who have borne the brunt of censorship. It is a necessary precondition of their work that photographers have to be present where events are unfolding, along with the early responders. Ever since 5 August, the day the Centre decided to turn the state into two Union Territories, the photographers have simply come in the line of fire, of both the State and a people who have lost faith in journalism. For most of 2019, all working journalists reporting from the region have faced a firm but unstated gag on their work. But it is the photojournalists who experience the full force of this clampdown. “We were not allowed to attend any gover...

  By Daanish Bin Nabi In the national discourse, Kargil, a remote district in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, has been projected as jubilant at the bifurcation of their state and hiving it into Union Territories. But what this narrative ignores is the growing schism between the Shias in Kargil and Dras and the Buddhist-dominated rest of Ladakh. The 2011 Census reports 77% of Kargil as Muslim. Most of them follow Shia Islam. The Census records the proportion of Buddhists and Hindus at just over 14% and 8% respectively in Kargil. In Ladakh excluding Kargil, it is the Buddhists who are in a majority, though they are just about 40% of the region’s total population. In the months after the Centre revoked the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, a number of Kargil’s Shia Muslims are aligning with their brethren in Kashmir, which is overwhelmingly Muslim in demography. Undoubtedly, the Buddhists are largely backing the Centre’s 5 August decision formal...

  By Daanish Bin Nabi New Delhi unilaterally abrogated the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. What happens next? This needs no talking, no discussion, and for a reason, which is that India and Pakistan will have to learn to live honourably and with dignity. For that, we need to address disputes, get closer to each other, promote an understanding of the dynamics of the situation across the world. And then come to grips with the heartbeats of the people in this subcontinent. The bona fide people of the sub-continent want peace. They want to live with dignity, but for that we have to remove the bottlenecks. But is New Delhi ready to provide a platform for such a dialogue? To begin with, India and Pakistan will have to rise above yesterday, above intransigence, and above hostility. They will have to put their heads together and address the issues with courage, imagination and flexibility. If they don’t do it, I am afraid we may be caught up in a situation where f...