2018

It was 22 years ago on August 14, 1996 when I accompanied Nikhil Chakravartty in a delegation of Citizens for Democracy led by Kuldip Nayar to the Indo-Pakistan border post to light candles to commemorate the Pakistan-India People-to People Mission. It was also the 50th year of independence. Some elders among us recalled August 15, 1947, the day of freedom. With palpable sadness they remembered the killings unleashed on both sides. In the article Nikhil wrote when he returned, he spoke of (…)

When a great personage, far above the average run of men with their narrow compass of mind, passes away, it creates a temporary or transient sense of void. It is only with the passage of time that the immmensity of the void starts sinking in our consciousness. The absence of Nikhil Chakravartty, or N.C., as he was known and called in his wide circle of friends, is one such. The more time takes us away from the day of his demise, the more acutely we miss him, the more acutely do we feel his (…)

EDITORIAL
As we go to press, the political scenario in J&K has undergone a radical change thanks to the acrobatics of the ruling party at the Centre, the BJP, which was sharing power in the country’s northernmost State with the PDP since March 1, 2015, that is, for almost three years and four months. What really happened? As The Times of India eloquently explained,
Wary of the rising unease in its support base in Jammu and other parts of the country, the BJP sought to refurbish its (…)

by Mahendra Ved
That the sun rises in the East has never been fully appreciated in a world where the West has dominated for long. The much-trumpeted—and much-doubted—Asian Century may have actually begun now with the Singapore Summit and the historic handshake between leaders of the two nations, the US and North Korea, who have begun a process that hopefully marks the beginning of a process that pulls them—and the world—from the nuclear precipice.
Although the Kim and Trump tango is more (…)

Yasui Masakazu, Secretary-General, Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo), has issued the following statement welcoming the US-North Korea Agreement on Denuclearisation of and Building a Peace Regime on the Korean Peninsula.
1. On June 12 in Singapore, President Donald Trump of the USA and Chairman Kim Jon Un of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK (North Korea) held the first US-DPRK Summit in history, and signed the Joint Statement.
The Joint Statement (…)

The following is the interview of Shujaat Bukhari, Editor-in-Chief of Rising Kashmir, Buland Kashmir (Urdu daily) and Sangarmal (Kashmiri daily) based in Srinagar, on the situation in the Valley and the difficulties and hardships faced by the media in its functioning there. This was published in the August 13, 2016 (Independence Day Special) issue of Mainstream. He replied to a set of questions (including one on what should be done now to improve the situation) from Mainstream. This is being reproduced as a tribute to the abiding memory of Shujaat Bukhari now that he is no more having been assassinated in downtown Srinagar on June 14, 2018.

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the dastardly assassination of Shujaat Bukhari, Editor-in-Chief of Rising Kashmir on Thursday, June 14, 2018 evening by armed gunmen just as he was getting into his vehicle after leaving office. Two of his personal security officers also died as a result of the shooting.
A very experienced journalist, Shujaat was a strong voice for peace in Kashmir and he very clearly articulated that peace can come to (…)

The Editors Guild of India unequivocally condemns the assassination of Shujaat Bukhari.
Mr Bukhari was a voice of moderation and a courageous, big-hearted editor who mentored a large cadre of young journalists from Kashmir. The Guild calls upon the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to take urgent steps to bring to book the culprits and ensure safety and security for the media in the State. An attack on a journalist challenges the very foundations of a free press and vibrant democracy and (…)

A meeting of journalists was organised at the Press Club of India, New Delhi on June 18 to pay homage to the Kashmiri journalist, Shujaat Bukhari, who was assassinated in the heart of Srinagar on June 14, 2018. A joint statement-cum-resolution was adopted by the journalist organisations that organised the meeting—Press Club of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Press Association, Editors Guild of India, SAFMA, South Asian Women in Media, IJU, NUJ, FCC and Working News Camerapersons (…)

by S.N. Sahu
The killing of a journalist, Shujaat Bukhari, in Kashmir speaks volumes of the safety, security and independence of the press in India and that too in regions which are subjected to conflict and terrorist violence.
The attack on journalists and journalism is an attack on not only press freedom but also on our very independence. Before the ‘Quit India’ Movement was started by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942 he began individual Satyagraha to protest against censorship imposed on the (…)