Kashmir Halcyon:

Daanish Bin Nabi Cricket wasn’t colorful and vibrant in 1980s, it was plain white clothed men do their bit on our Black & White 12 inches TV screens. So much were people addicted to cricket and team Pakistan that clumsy aluminum TV antennas supported on huge iron poles were put on roof tops to be able to catch a signal from Pakistan. It was snowy and grainy due to poor reception, still people used to tune in. On April 18, 1986, it was the last match with Pakistan chasing India to lift the cup. Javed Miandad was batting, a very eccentric and what would be called a Pakistani hard-line player. The entire play reached its climax to the final ball of the match. It became a symbol, the victory of Pakistan, after Miandad put the ball away for a six. The ball disappeared but the victory bugle sounded for years and even decades, enthusiastically celebrated in Kashmir. Then Jammu was just a small one district town and Kashmir was much bigger than it is today. From then till now the celeb...

Daanish Bin Nabi Almost every attribute has been used to describe Kashmiris, except one. There is one attribute that has either been deliberately omitted or suppressed – the attribute of hypocrisy.   On one hand Kashmiris shout themselves hoarse over Army’s presence in the state and subjection of the people an issue that surfaces in the wake of killings. On the other hand Kashmiris give a darn while associating with the same Army for benefits.  In elections we join the massive election campaigns and vote the politicians to power. In sport, which is cricket, we support team Pakistan, we cheer for Parvez Rasool and his performance in Indian Premier League, but we want India to lose every match, whosoever the opponent be.  Remember what we used to say in the 1990s? “ Azaharuddin gasi century karun magar India gasi harun ” (Azaharuddin should make a century but India should lose). Almost three decades down the line not much has changed, at least not with us – inst...

Daanish Bin Nabi Mehbooba Mufti has made history by becoming the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Born on 22 May 1959 at Akhran, Nowpora in district Anantnag, Mehbooba did her schooling from Presentation Convent Srinagar, graduated from Government College for Women, Parade in Jammu with English literature and then studied law at University of Kashmir. She was married to Javid Ahmed and is mother to two daughters – Irtiqa and Iltija. But her marriage later ran into problems. She shifted to New Delhi in October 1989 and worked with Bombay Mercantile Bank for nearly five years. She also worked with East West Airlines for sometime before moving back to J&K to help her father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in his political work.  Mehbooba took a plunge into politics in 1996 as a Congress candidate when Government of India decided to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The unassuming, soft-spoken Mehbooba was an unknown face till she filed her nomination...

Daanish Bin Nabi Like the other political dynasties in South Asia, the Muftis have made their mark on the political landscape of Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmir knows two Muftis. The first was the patriarch, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The other is his daughter and political heir, Mehbooba Mufti.  Mufti Sayeed will be remembered by the people as “Delhi’s Man in Kashmir” and the “Healing Touch” leader. His daughter, the dauntless foot soldier of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has come of age to become J&K’s first woman chief minister. This is the story of the woman who donned the green pheran to reach out to soothe the bleeding hearts in Kashmir – from militant-associated families to conflict victims, brutalised by the use of force. Early Life Born (May 22, 1959) at Akhran Nowpora, she went to Srinagar’s Presentation Convent, graduated from state-run Women’s College in Jammu in English literature, and then law, from the University of Kashmir. When Mufti was th...

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...