Kashmir Halcyon:

Many believe that the high court ruling is a design of the state government to implement its 'Hindutva agenda' Daanish Bin Nabi  With Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sharing power in Jammu and Kashmir, it is for the first time that people in the state are revisiting the past - the time when the minority ruled over the majority.  On September 9, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court banned the sale of beef in the state. The decision created an uproar in the Valley. The Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley vociferously protested the ban. If reports are to be believed, on September 14, a total of 123 cows were slaughtered in defiance against the high court ruling in Srinagar city alone. This defiance was more against New Delhi than against the court's ruling. Firebrand woman separatist leader Asiya Andrabi, who advocates Kashmiris accession to Pakistan, slaughtered a cow on the same day that the court issued the order. The video was circulated within minutes on What...

MAQBOOL SAHIL has the distinction of being the only Kashmiri author to be twice on the panel of authors at the prestigious Jaipur Literature Festival. Last month, Maqbool, who works with Urdu daily ‘Buland Kashmir’ as sub-editor, was at the Lit Festival for his latest collection of short stories ‘Qadam Qadam Tazeer’, which depicts the ongoing conflict in Kashmir. Earlier in 2012, Maqbool was one of the panelists for a special session held on Kashmiri Prison Dairies for his book ‘Shabistan-e-Wajood’, which recounts the three-and-a half years he spent in prison following accusations of holding secret documents and spying for Pakistan. ‘Shabistan-e-Wajood’ was awarded the 2009 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Prize. DAANISH BIN NABI profiles the man and the experience that shaped his life and career.   Maqbool was born in 1968 in Adhal village of south Kashmir’s Kokernag area in a clan of Khokhar Rajputs. His father Mohammad Jamal-ud-Din Khokhar called him Sahil which w...

Daanish Bin Nabi Ideologue and stalwart of National Conference Sheikh Nazir Ahmad who breathed his last on 24 February was truly a Kashmiri by heart. I could feel his patriotic zeal of Kashmir while interviewing him, for 5 days from 16 July to 20 July 2014. While writing about Sheikh Abdullah I thought it will be appropriate to have a quote from his close aide Sheikh Nazir. I went to him to talk about 1975 Accord. And did not know that one quote was to change into a five day long interview.  I tried hard to get his interview, many shooed me off and said that he has never talked to media person and he will never give an interview to a journalist. Sheikh Nazir did not have a mobile phone and used his landline for conversing with workers. A colleague and a prominent member of National Conference said  bool jao is interview ko, who tumse baat nahi karega  (Forget about this interview, he will never talk to you). In a span of four to five months he repeated this sent...

Book depicts pain, shame and goof-ups Daanish Bin Nabi Introduction When a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern, Jyoti Singh, was gang-raped in Munrika, Delhi the entire India was shocked and shamed. Like any other rape incident happening every now and then in India, it gave no different impression to me. What I failed to comprehend at that point of time was how this very episode was going to come up as a catalyst for five young Kashmiris girls to compound a horrific shame we had been put through 25 years ago. Again I went amiss when a local weekly magazine poshed its cover story of these five girls as – The Bravehearts – I all over again looked as if through the frozen frame of skepticism at their work.  The result is their maiden work – a book titled “Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora?” Kunan and Poshpora are two hamlets in Kupwara district, clubbed together after their dreadful experience. The book has been written by Essar Batool, Ifrah Butt, Samreena Mushtaq...

Published in The Quint on February 9, 2016, at 2:45 pm Daanish Bin Nabi  Maqbool Bhat’s Hanging: A Catalyst for Mobilisation February 9, 2013 was a calm morning. I woke up to a loud announcement. A strict curfew across the Valley had been put in place. Shocked, I was up in a jiffy, trying to figure out why there was an unscheduled curfew. I hurriedly opened my laptop. The banner news read: “Afzal Guru hanged in Tihar jail”.  On a similar morning, thirty years ago, Mohammad Maqbool Bhat was hanged in Tihar jail on February 11, 1984. Ironically, few Kashmiris knew about Maqbool Bhat. No shutdown was observed in any part of Kashmir. But when Mohammad Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar jail, New Delhi had to put in place a 12-day long curfew throughout Kashmir, waiting for tempers to cool down. Why the silence at the time of Maqbool Bhat? Kashmir based political analysts attribute it to a vacuum in leadership at that time. When Bhat was hanged, there was no mobilisa...

Published on February 4, 2016, 12:24 pm in The Quint Daanish Bin Nabi  The political freeze in Kashmir is showing no signs of thawing. It is interesting that even the 40-day harshest period of winter in Kashmir, called  Chilai Kalan  locally, has ended. But the dilemmas of Mehbooba Mufti and her party, the People’s Democratic Party, do not seem to end.  On February 2, J&K Governor Narendra Nath Vohra summoned Mehbooba Mufti to Jammu to discuss her plans for government formation. Mehbooba has again put the ball in the BJP’s court. BJP, on its part, has sought 10 days from the Governor for government formation in the state. Mehbooba has admitted that she does not have the goodwill, experience and vision of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to handle BJP’s hot politics and keep the coalition going. She has also said that if BJP wants to form the government, they must announce some measures as assurances alone won’t keep the coalition government rolling. Mehbooba’s D...

By  Daanish Bin Nabi  for Youth Ki Awaaz: Published on 1st March 2016 Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami is a veteran Left politician from Kashmir. He has won from the Kulgam constituency in 1996, 2002, 2008 and 2014. He is presently the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Jammu and Kashmir State Committee Secretary and a member of the party’s Central Committee. In view of the JNU controversy, Youth Ki Awaaz spoke to Tarigami, to know his views. Here are excerpts: Daanish Bin Nabi (DBN): For how many years have you been associated with Communist Party of India (Marxist) Jammu and Kashmir? Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (MYT):  I have been the part of Left activities since my childhood. At an early age, I remember in 1967, I was arrested along with other friends for the first time while raising some demands for peasants in Kulgam area of south Kashmir. Since then, I have been engaged in student politics and other political activities. This has resulted in my dete...