A bunch of articles read by few migrant scholars in Delhi in a seminar edited by Dr. Shashi Toshkhani jolted the belief I had inherited and developed from childhood in the Lady Icon of Kashmir, Lal. In the morning assembly in our school we would recite eulogy in praise of Shiekh Noor-ud-Din Wali (RA) in which a special mention of Lal as his foster mother had imbibed equal emotional commitment  with that great lady.

The study of Toshkhani in that compilation (PP: 39-66) under caption...

The book “Kashmir Under The Shadow Of Gun” depicts the possibility of the furtive warfare launched by various Kashmiris, especially youth for the liberation of their motherland. One such operation was the covert efforts of  the people under the aegis of Al-Fatah like struggle, which was in vogue— the time when resistance  struggle against the Israel was going on carried under able comradeship of nom de guerre, ‘Yasser Arafat’.

Ghulam Rasool Zagheer’s (G.R.Z’s)...

The contemporary roots of Kashmir tangle are a result of partition. The history of resistance politics in Kashmir go back to the year 1947. Since then the resistance has witnessed many phases and a number of people played their role in the same. The resistance in Kashmir witnessed new and unique dimensions, since the inception of armed insurgency in Kashmir. But it is an apathy that only a few resistance leaders and players have penned down the history and various dimensions of the resistance...

Book Review: Non-fiction/In search of a new Afghanistan by Sujeet Sarkar, Niyogi Books, 273 pp; Rs395 (Paperback): Though not for the good reasons, but Afghanistan can be counted today as the most special non-NATO ally for U.S.A-even more important than both India and Pakistan weighing together on this. This closeness is not romantic; rather it’s based out of USA’s ‘usual diversion’ from a balanced global strategic vision. After spending more than a decade with the expense in...

An accidental academics turned ‘desktop terrorist’ and finally as an ‘incidental journalist’, Azad Essa exudes many flavours of multitasking. An irreverent, witty and unusually focussed writer on the wide range of inner contradictions, this India centric updated version of his mildly classic book ‘Zuma’s bastards’ holds much promises than his own anticipation in an interview given to Sarah Khan for New York Times, where he could classify his target readers among the toddlers...

The emperor had heard the prediction that this year’s ‘unusually extended spring’ season was already over; summer had crossed the Borijal passes south of the kingdom. The white elephant army had recently moved the Terra throne from the winter palaces of Jamarkand to the summer gardens of his kingdom. But no sooner had the emperor come to the summer gardens city, that he was disturbed and annoyed by the babble of this place; packs of wolves masquerading as dogs running amok in a major...

Title: The Meadow: Kashmir 1995—Where the terror began, Authors: Andrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark Publisher: HarperPress Pages: 510

In Kashmir nothing takes place accidentally. Accidental deaths are probably pre planned murders. Often the State machinery in Kashmir gets away with the murder and blames people of its disliking for such killings. The present Book under the review titled ‘The Meadow: Kashmir 1995-where the terror began’ written by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark is...

Non-fiction/The Punjab by Ishtiaq Ahmed, Rupa/2011, 754 pp; Rs995 (Hardback)
Now another work on the partition history tries to unravel multiple narratives of partition survivors and refugees on the both sides of Punjab. So far, plights of Punjab has been confined in the textual debates as the contentiousness involved with intra feuds kept India conscious yet timid participant on the whole issue. Kashmir was the other factor that cornered any potential wayout of better cultural/civil exchange...