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Reviews
The State in Medieval Kashmir
By R L Hangloo (Manohar, New Delhi 2000)
Murtaza Shibli
Rattan Lal Hangloo examines the region’s social and religious life interacted with the political formations of that produced peculiar power structures and various socio-religious groups that dominated the landscape.
Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane
Murtaza Shibli
kashmir.affairs[-at-]yahoo.com Editor: Murtaza Shibli
KashmirAffairs
Kashmiri Music Naad - The Call
Riyaz Anznoo launches music CD that celebrates love, pain and sufferings of Kashmiris and becokens Pandits to come back to their homeland.
Wattan Waliyoo wapas tarakh na
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Log9eOsSMBE
Myon dil wadanouthan gatch dil panun wada navinai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n67A7rLe9k4
gachun chea choi chi gatch magar
machai na zaanh chai ya khabar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n67A7rLe9k4
asi mali ti gayi asi jani ti gayi
zinda rozanakis baparas maanz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayGzrah_OTI
Chokh mani paeth lalanaavan cha
Housh travaan cha patchtawan cha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLI41HSl1U
They are back in Islamabad
Dr. Shabir Choudhry
23 June 2008
Since the new government has taken power in Pakistan role of secret agencies has reduced considerably. Pakistan is reviewing its policy on Kashmir and has said good bye to the policy of General Musharaf. New policy requires a new strategy; and new strategy has a considerable political input as well. Militancy in Jammu and Kashmir will increase and to support and justify this, political activities will be organised inside and outside Kashmir.
Riding the lingum: New unity moves in Hurriyat
Murtaza Shibli
21 June 2008
The annual pilgrimage of the lingum that usually starts in August every year has already penetrated into the separatist political discourse this year, raising huge controversy and thus giving the fledgling resistance political movement a cause to celebrate. Ironically, the recent meeting between the two Hurriyat Conferences - headed by Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was necessitated by this controversy rather than the cause of Azadi.
Falsehood of Military dictatorship on Kashmir
Samuel Baid
It will be much better for the cause of democracy in Pakistan if a bigger Commission, consisting of politicians, judges, civil rights activists, educationists, industrialists and media persons, is set up to probe how Kashmir has been exploited by vested interests to banish democracy and to keep the Pakistani society divided, poor and backward.
Kashmir: A Call for New Realism?
Murtaza Shibli
(01 June 2008)
It is high time that the Hurriyat Conference and other Kashmiri leaders learn from their previous blunders that have contributed and perpetuated the sufferings of Kashmiris.
End of Pervez Musharraf:
How soon, How Bad?
Murtaza Shibli
It seems his career may be extinguished soon and he may never reach the Presidential Palace."
Politicizing the Gods
Dr. Mirza Ashraf Beg
Born and brought up in a Muslim secular atmosphere I was taught to worship one God and respect people of other faiths as a good human.
Kashmir : Beyond the Numbers Game
Examining the Zardari Proposal
Wajahat Qazi
India may need or want to develop a kind of benign hegemony that allows it to not to be humiliated or spited in the nose by a small irritant like Kashmir.
The Value Of Official Kashmir Stance?
Muhammad Farooq Rehmani
Solving Amarnath: A New Hope in Kashmir
Murtaza Shibli
02 July 2008
The bold decision of the Congress government led by Ghulam Nabi Azad in Srinagar must be commended. By revoking the land order to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) that was illegal at the first place, Azad has not only shown great courage and decision making skills to deal with a crisis that was spiralling out of control, a la 1990, but also taken both the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the fledgling separatist movement of the Hurriyat Conference off the guard, who were using the land issue to manipulate public mind.
Politics of Pilgrimage
Sonia Jabbar
(01 July 2008)
For once the Government of India cannot blame Pakistan. The credit for the chaos that recalls the vitiated atmosphere of the 1990s must firmly be placed at the feet of a few key players in the state, some of who have tried to gain dubious advantage in an election year.
Book Review
A Journey Interrupted: Being Indian in Pakistan by Farzana Versey
Harper Collins India; Rupees 295, Pages 299
Murtaza Shibli
21 June 2008
Although not a ‘conventional’ travelogue, ‘A Journey Interrupted’ could not escape the trap of Kashmir - the place that defines the ‘convention’ between India and Pakistan. ‘Kashmir was like a shadow tailing me’, the author said to me.
Interview: Farzana Versey
by Murtaza Shibli
Kashmir was like a shadow tailing me. The Pakistani interest in India is centred on Kashmir. Not the Kashmiri people, mind you, but Kashmir as real estate, as a brownie point.
India-Pakistan ‘Peace Process’ and Kashmir
Murtaza Shibli
Although Kashmir is central to the India-Pakistan relationship, but as the new linkages are formed and historical and cultural roots of the past revived and strengthened, the core Kashmir problem is slowly moving towards periphery.
‘Real Democracy’: Pakistan’s Post-Musharraf Kashmir Policy
Murtaza Shibli
Pakistan cannot afford to cease the ‘peace process’, but it might gradually retreat to its traditional position; increase its diplomatic efforts and seek international mediation and offer limited but symbolic support for the Kashmiri resistance.
Pakistan’s Changing outlook on Kashmir
Syed Rifaat Hussain
The Pakistani position on Kashmir has undergone a fundamental shift under President General Pervez Musharraf who, has been, in his own words, “pondering outside the box” solutions to resolve the dispute.
India-Pakistan Peace Process: Roadblocks & Way Ahead
Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal
Not much progress has actually been made on any of the issues pertaining to the peace process. Despite several meetings, the typical hawkishness mars the prospects of issues like Siachen.
Prospects of Peace in Kashmir
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra
The bitter past experiences have made the parties to Kashmir conflict realise that in peace, not war, lies the future of the Indian subcontinent.
Glimpses of Hindu-Muslim Relations in Kashmir
Rattan Lal Hangloo
Last two decades (1988-2008) signify a very dark period in the entire history of Kashmir. But even when the crises were at its peak in 1990, and the Pandits were left with nothing after migrating to Jammu and other Indian cities, their Muslim villagers opened thier hearts for them.
Elements of Shaivism in Kashmiri Sufi Poetry
M.H.Zaffar
The spiritual and aesthetic values that have come down to by the word of mouth from Lal-Ded and Nund Rishi, have been a great source of inspiration for all our Sufi poets even to this day. The characteristic feature of this tradition has been the spiritual approach to the problems of life and the concept of religion is more comprehensive and cosmopolitan.
Kashmir Affairs
Last updated: 02 July 2008
Kashmir Affairs
January-March 2008