2016

COMMUNICATION
We are rightly proud of the fact that our country is the largest parliamentary democracy of the world, and it is our duty to strengthen and preserve it which is possible only when all countrymen swear by it and follow its norms. Accountability is its soul. How strange and shocking is that in the temples of highest learning and knowledge, that is, the Indian Universities, there is no tinge of democracy. Its heads, that is, Vice-Chancellors of the Indian Universities are acting (…)

EDITORIAL
An all-party parliamentary delegation has lately visited Kashmir. It held a meeting in the Capital today. Thereafter the following statement was issued on its behalf:
“The members of the All-Party Parliamentary Delegation have expressed concern over the prevailing situation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The members of the delegation are of the opinion that there is no place for violence in a civilised society. There can be no compromises on the issue of national (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Last month was observed the twentyeighth death anniversary of General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s third military dictator, who was killed in an air crash in that country in August 1988. To mark the occasion and because Pakistan is now in the focus of attention due to the latest events in Kashmir, we are reproducing the following incisive editorial N.C. had written on August 17, 1988 (it was published in the August 20,1988 issue of Mainstream) after Zia’s demise.
With the (…)

MUSINGS
After reading my recent comments in the context of those hitting photographs of the four- year-old Syrian child, Omran Daqneesh, injured during the latest round of bombardments in Syria’s Aleppo, my Kashmiri friends said: ”Today there are hundreds of Omran Daqneeshs in our midst. Our Kashmiri children have been physically and emotionally wounded in this ongoing violence in the Valley, yet the govern-ment is only doing politics. No solutions, no end to this crisis. All that seems to (…)

Even after a lot of criticism, the government continues to use pellet guns in J&K against protestors. The recent victims include an eight- year-old Junaid, whose lung has been ruptured, and Adil, who has been blinded. Thirty patients in a day, victims of pellet guns, clearly shows that the government is in no mood to relent.
This reflects the tenor of the statement by Arun Jaitley made in Samba of the Jammu region where he said that militancy and stone- pelting need to be dealt with (…)

This is an abridged version of the letter written by late Jayaprakash Narayan to the then Prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi, on June 23, 1966. The letter has great relevance for students of Kashmir’s politics and those concerned with peace in Jammu and Kashmir. It was sent to us by Prof Gull Wani, who teaches at the University of Kashmir.
When I was in Delhi recently for a day, I learnt that you had asked Mr Sadiq and some of his colleagues to meet you on the 26th for a review of (…)

Home Minister Rajnath Singh has met around 300 people at Srinagar. Pakistan, too, has offered to have talks on Kashmir. Both steps, however laudable, are late by two to three years. The Kashmiris then wanted a settlement through a dialogue. Leaders like Yasin Malik and Shabbir Shah did take part in the conclaves held at Srinagar and New Delhi.
The topic at that time was to make New Delhi realise that the State had acceded to the Union of India only three subjects: Defence, Foreign Affairs (…)

by Praveen Davar
Sixtynine years after the State of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India questions are still asked as to why India accepted a ceasefire and why its Army was not allowed to evict the Pakistani raiders from the other side of the LoC which since became PoK and the Gilgit-Baltistan area. This brief article attempts to trace the origin of the dispute and answer these oft-raised questions. Before doing so it is important to know that both the Indian and Pakistan armies during the (…)

by Apratim Mukarji
Can India get beyond firefighting as a foreign policy goal in South Asia, asks a scintillating analysis of India’s neighbourhood policy.1 Despite occasional prime ministerial announce-ments of henceforth paying special attention to nurture neighbourly relations, New Delhi lapses—almost as if involuntarily—into prolonged periods of neglecting South Asian capitals until some “firefighting” becomes absolutely necessary.
This ad hocism is of course most pronounced in the (…)

A study of history of various communities and their relationships can be very helpful for building further on their friendship as well as for removing any suspicions that may exist. Unfortunately a different approach based on revenge has been taken up in some parts of the world. In South Asia this approach has found several followers in narrow-minded religious bigots who promote their own brand of ‘scholar-ship’ to spread hatred between communities.
When historical incidents (or mythical (…)