Enters Mufti
A law graduate’s journey from small south Kashmir town to the highest power corridors in Delhi is scripted with twists and turns. Shams Irfan...
Forgotten Dispatches
France’s ‘botanical romantic’ Victor Vincelas Jacquemont (1801-1832) spent 1831 summer in Kashmir at the peak of exploitative Sikh misrule. Letters, he sent home from...
First Hostage Taking
During the amorphous years of militancy that coincided with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s ascend to first Muslim Home Minister of India, JKLF kidnapped his daughter,...
Dogra Grace
The derelict walls of Mubarak Mandi Complex in Jammu’s old city are witness to centuries of politics, power and intrigue. But with its restoration...
Finding Kundalwan
Throughout last century, Kashmiri researchers had been trying to pinpoint the spot where the fourth Buddhist conference took place almost two millennia ago. But...
Jammu 1947
As a student leader, peace activist and a staunch supporter of democracy, journalist Ved Bhasin (May 1, 1929 – November 5, 2015) faced his...
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...
