1947: First Blood
Within 24 hours after Kashmir acceded to India in 1947, the Srinagar airport was not only the epicentre of the first war that India...
The Cow Divide
For nearly 200 years, beef was a whisper and not the talk. Then, hearths would go up in flames with homes and the human...
Batamaloo Blaze
In 1965 summer, when army was flushing out Pakistani infiltrators in the city suburb, Batamaloo went up in flames. Half a century later, the...
Op Gibraltar
Half a century eclipsed since Pakistani dictator Ayub Khan pushed regulars disguised as Mujahedeen behind enemy lines into Kashmir thinking it would fetch him...
Khalnayak’s Narrative
By boycotting the official Martyrs Day function, the ruling BJP created a historic precedence that shocked everybody. But Bilal Handoo says the rightwing party...
Forgotten Hakeems
Nestled in old lanes of Srinagar, Hakeems are struggling to survive in face of modernity. Syed Asma talks to some of the surviving practitioners...
Tonga Tourism
Now, Kashmir’s hospitality sector is modern, sophisticated and fast. But imagine how tourism was conducted in Kashmir in the 1880s, in absence of proper...
The Man Who Purchased Kashmir
It was extraordinary for an illiterate man to evolve into a crafty warlord who worked for others to create his own empire. Promoted by...
Crucial Evidence
John B Ireland, an American citizen, set out sailing Asia, Africa and Europe for six years between 1861 and 1866. He used to write...
Red Shift
Last fortnight, NC headquarter survived a conflagration. Bilal Handoo revisits the party’s history revolving round its headquarters that shifted from one bank of the...
Those 4 Days
After Pandit Nehru withdrew the Kashmir Conspiracy Case against him on April 8, 1964, Sheikh Abdullah was his personal guest in Delhi’s Teen Murti...
Modi-Mufti Accord?
Kashmir history is replete with treaties and accords. Certain agreements between Delhi and Srinagar involve the people of Kashmir directly, unlike all others. In...
Hari Singh’s ‘Rasputin’
Faith-healers, astrologers, Pirs, Fakirs and Gurus have traditionally remained unofficial advisers and courtiers of rulers in Indian subcontinent before and after partition. Kashmir’s last...
circa 1947: A Long Story
After heading Information, Libraries and Archives Departments of J&K Government and retiring as Secretary of the Cultural Academy, Khalid Bashir Ahmad started probing the...
Kashmir Floods: A Chronology
Er. Mohammad Ashraf Fazili
Kashmiris have faced floods since the very beginning of life in the valley. Over the years, many measures were adopted to...