2019

The arrest of the 83-year-old and ailing former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and a sitting Member of Parliament Farooq Abdullah under the Public Safety Act—a law which was enacted to deal with smugglers and terrorists—shows what happens when people with a very myopic vision (or no vision at all) and a narrow compass of mind are catapulted into positions of power. Abdullah’s arrest will only further alienate the Kashmiri people. The process of alienation has been on for a very very (…)

by Sardar Amjad Ali
A law is enacted by the legislature with definite objects and good reasons. This cardinal principle of legislature is universally followed. A government elected by the people is not supposed to hoodwink the nation about the objects which it wants to achieve and the reasons for which the law is slated.
Jammu Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 was added to the statute books of the nation on August 5, 2019 with twin objectives and reasons. The statement of objects and (…)

by Ram Puniyani
The abolition of Article 370 and Article 35 A has been accompanied by the propaganda to justify these drastic steps taken by the BJP Government. As such this abolition of Article 370 has been on the agenda of RSS all through and is part of the triad of the Hindutva agenda, along with Ram Temple and Uniform Civil Code. The argument being put forward is that due to this special provision for the State, Kashmir has remained undeveloped, as the outside industrialists could not (…)

At daybreak when life stirs out of night’s slumber,
early mists evaporate in the slanting sun beams,
joggers come out on the street in steady numbers,
an old man leaning on a ‘walker’ brings up the rear.
Slowly he limps forward, an old woman by his side,
her hand on his arm, helping to keep the balance.
And they trudge on, as if they’re outside the world.
Long ago they set out together, crossing the portal,
pledging to share joy and grief in equal measure;
they performed (…)

When the saffron Sun is safely
Away in the distant firmament,
It brings warmth to seed, leaf, creatures;
But when it rises to the high noon,
It turns belligerent. And then seed, leaf,
Creature are in peril of being
Incinerated corpses of Nature.
This must be why the Apollonian god
Cocooned the various blue Earth
In a dense Atmosphere of pluralist
Particles, forming a preservative skein
That keeps seed, leaf, creature
From being too fatally near
The Dionysian rage of (…)

The world was startled on September 7 when US President Donald Trump announced, out of the blue as it were, that the Afghan peace negotiations were off and that he had called off a meeting to finalise a peace deal. The surprise was supreme because, even on the eve of the sudden cancellation of the talks, there was little hint of any such eventuality. On the contrary, the world was waiting to see the Taliban and Afghan Government representatives arrive at Camp David, the presidential retreat, (…)

by Arup Maharatna
It was about twenty years ago that I got deeply struck by happening to see a printed portrait of Mahatma Gandhi just next to the picture of an India-born Miss Universe in the same page of a sixth standard school textbook. When I casually queried with my neighbours about what appeared to me to be utterly unprecedented and disproportionate, they readily provided me with its simple rationali-sation, namely, since Gandhi and Miss Universe are both ‘celebrities’ (in terms of (…)

MEDIA
The following is the press release of the report of a two-member team from the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) and Free Speech Collective (FSC) after a five-day trip to the Kashmir Valley. The detailed report is carried thereafter.
A month after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, on August 5, 2019, the continuing shutdown of communication in the Kashmir Valley has resulted in the throttling of (…)

DOCUMENT
“When life is at stake, credibility takes a back seat.”
Concertina wires encircle a deserted Lal Chowk, 3 p.m., August 30, 2019.
Key findings: Curbs on the media and its implications Surveillance, informal ‘investigations’ and harassment of journalists who publish reports considered adverse to the government or security force. Blockade of verifiable information from the ground. Restrictions on mobility in select areas including hospitals. Controls on facilities available for (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Last month was observed the thirtyfirst 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. Despite the repeated anti-US demonstrations in Pakistan today, the fact is that General Zia happened to be “an indispensable factor in the Pentagon’s scheme of things”, as noted in this incisive editorial N.C. had written on August 17, 1988 (it was published in the August 20, 1988 issue of (…)