Kashmir

'NATIONALIST' RAPISTS VERSUS RULE OF LAW: FOR THE TIME BEING LATTER WINS
Salute to Supreme Court of India and Jammu & Kashmir High Court that the gang of rapists and killers of 8 year old innocent girl has been convicted. If both these Courts had not intervened the sadist criminals fueled by religious hatred would have gone scot free. The whole system was working in favour of the rapists/killers. State government, local police, local association of the lawyers, doctors, RSS/BJP zealots which included MLAs and ministers, carrying Tricolour worked openly and clandestinely in favour of the criminals. The Hindutva cadres supported and continue to defend this gang of rapists and killers as if it was a 'nationalist' rape!

Le difficili relazioni tra India e Pakistan sono causate da una serie di problemi storici e politici scaturiti a partire dal 1947, come la disputa del Kashmir, la discriminazione dei musulmani indiani e i contrasti economici e geostrategici.

Mirza Ghalib once sarcastically suggested in a couplet that his poetry was meant only to placate a whim, and so must not be judged on its skill. Songs of Light, Ayaz Rasool Nazki’s debut venture into English poetry, appears to be inspired by Ghalib’s dictum. Nazki says he scarcely follows conventional wisdom and, therefore, hardly ever revises his poems. The spontaneity thus engendered is apparent in his work. That is its strength; its greatest failing, too. Some poems are charmingly fresh, others barely rise above cliché.

The Object of the Month for June 2018 is the tinted lithograph, Ancient Temple, Pundruttun, by Mrs H. Clark, which is currently on display at The South Asia Collection. It was printed by J. Needham on behalf of Day & Son as part of a set of twelve prints entitled: Summer Scenes in Kashmeer. Although we have some information about this print, the identity of the original artist, Mrs H. Clark, has been a mystery we have been trying to unravel.

Pakistan considers Kashmir as a disputed territory and an “unfinished agenda of partition”. Over last seventy years since independence, on several occasions Pakistan has remained engaged with India in negotiations over Kashmir using the UN platform in 1950s and later the bilateral negotiation platforms since 1972 Simla accord. But overall confrontationist policy towards India over Kashmir had remained the main stay of Pakistan’s foreign policy. It is argued in this paper that the confrontationist policy has served no purpose for Pakistan and has rather made the job of Kashmiri freedom fighters more difficult after 9/11. Therefore, in changed international scenario Pakistan needs a paradigm shift in its foreign policy over Kashmir with India. This research paper is basically the reappraisal of the foreign policy of Pakistan over Kashmir vis-à-vis India. It is a brief study of the main trends followed by the policy-makers in Pakistan vis-à-vis India in last seventy years. It is argued in this paper that a paradigm shift in Kashmir policy of Pakistan took place during General Musharraf’s rule when he had announced the abandonment of the confrontationist policy and had started the peace process with India in 2003-4. However, in post-Musharraf phase (2008 onwards) civil-military divergence over the foreign policy with India led to the implementation problems in policy of paradigm shift. It is argued that the policy of confrontation with India is neither in the interest of the people and the state of Pakistan nor that of Kashmir. Therefore, Pakistan must implement the policy of paradigm shift in true letter and spirit as it not only provides Pakistan a better chance for progress and prosperity but also it would help Pakistan achieving the win-win solution for the Kashmir dispute.

DG reported tour of Swat with objective to attend the inter provincial Tourism Conference and meeting with PAITHOM for arranging training program for developing skilled Human Resource for the Sector in AJK.
Report writing is one of the tasks which many government officers have to do frequently. The format adopted for report writing is usually dictated by the type of report under consideration. As part of my job being Director General of AJK Tourism & Archaeology Department, I have to write and submit monthly tours diary to the government of AJK through concern secretary routinely. I tried to be little innovative in writing my tours diaries to document the observations made in a clear and reader friendly manner for a better understanding of the matter reported. Many of these monthly tour diaries are quite interesting and give an insight of archaeology & tourism in AJK, government way of working, community attitude and at occasion evidence of rivalry of competing powers in the region. The DG Tour Diary is reproduce here with deletion of some sensitive/confidential observations but such editing is not effecting the overall information it conveys.

This study aims to highlight and understand the perceptions of Pakistan " s educated youth about the Kashmir dispute by analysing responses taken from university students in March and April 2016. The study is not only an attempt to gauge the emotional and intellectual attachment of Pakistan " s young generation to the Kashmir issue, it also tries to perceive the level of their understanding about the dispute, participation in terms of advocacy and their ideas related to its solution. The research also flags the difference in perceptions among youth from different regions of the country, and the level of satisfaction with government policies in highlighting the dispute nationally and internationally. The results show that majority of Pakistan " s educated young adults consider Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) a part of Pakistan. While there was no majority consensus on the right approach for its resolution, like their forefathers, the youth of Pakistan remain just as firmly committed to the Kashmir cause on humanitarian, legal, political and moral grounds.

The organisers are now accepting panel and paper submissions for this conference. They invite proposals for panels and papers from scholars and practitioners involved with but not limited to politics and international relations, history, culture, linguistics, economics and other aspects of South Asia. We are especially keen on having papers related to security this year. Proposals for panels should contain a title, a 300-word abstract and names of suggested panel members with their short bio, title, abstracts of their individual papers and email addresses. Each panel will have 4–5 papers pertaining to a common theme. We encourage panels to not limit themselves to the same organisation/university. Proposals for papers should include a title, abstract (300 words), author's name, email addresses, and a 150-word bio and has to be submitted to the conference organisers Arpita Chakraborty and Hari Krishnan at india.postgradconference@dcu.ie no later than 1 December 2017. When submitting a paper please indicate preferred theme(s) and/or up to 6 keywords. All authors will be contacted by the end of January.

For the time being SFs have done their bit in restoring the law and order in the State, as expected, despite tremendous odds – both at the operational and at the political leadership level. Sustaining such improvement, however, lies entirely in the hands of the political class, both at the Centre and in the State. Unfortunately, there is little evidence of the necessary political sagacity needed to bring J&K out of its orchestrated turbulence and restore it on the trajectory to the greater stabilization that was visible in before the present cycle of disturbances.

Since the earliest months of its existence, Pakistan has sought to seize Kashmir through the use of state proxies. That first dalliance with so-called ‘irregulars’ as tools of statecraft led to the first war between India and Pakistan in 1947-48. In its endless zeal to appropriate Kashmir through warfare, it again started—and lost—wars in 1965 and 1999. Since 1989 it has cultivated a proxy war, of varying intensity over time, in Kashmir. The Pakistan army’s untiring enthusiasm for backing terrorist groups that enthusiastically kill Kashmiris for the army’s aims demonstrates that Pakistan has little regard for Kashmiris themselves whose land it covets.

To read this piece you might want to place yourself in the last few days of Ramazan because that is when it was written and slated for publication. Since internet is always slow in Kashmir, it reached Raiot desk as people were gearing to say goodbye to fasting and getting goodies for Eid. Soon after, on the third day of Eid Kashmir plunged into a different kind of reality; a resurgent Summer Uprising that has since taken a heavy toll of life and limb; and continues. This piece still holds true, tracing the contours of the occupation and its symbolics pointing to why people are on the streets in Kashmir. All images by Ather Zia

The turmoil in Kashmir (2016) came up as a very major one during last many decades. While the grim situations have occurred earlier also, the one being witnessed are as serious as the one witnessed after the arrest of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953. The toll of mounting agitation has been over 75 dead, nearly 9000 injured, over hundred of them fully or partly blinded. As is well known this unrest was precipitated by the killing of Burhan Wani, the commander of Hurriyat. He was a very popular figure among the youth for his regular social media postings. The incident Half an hour after his death the Indian media erupted in celebration, announcing victory. The party began on twitter and continued on television. " …Burhan Wani elimination BIG NEWS " , tweeted Barkha Dutt of NDTV. Abhijit Majumdar, the managing editor of Mail Today wrote " With Burhan Wani's killing, Indian forces have eliminated entire gang of Facebook terror poster-boys of #Kashmir one after the other. Salute. " Entire Valley descended in gloom and it began to rain incessantly. Outside, cars, trucks, motorcycles and other automobiles began to honk mindlessly.(1) The perceptions in major parts of Kashmir were very different and well reflected by Bashrat Ali " As entire Valley shut down in mourning—protests, stone-pelting, congregational funeral prayers—people began to count the dead. The numbers kept rising. The protest demonstrations kept swelling. The campaign of killing, blinding, maiming and torturing of people continued. The Indian State and the constructed rivals within Jammu and Kashmir lost all the ground… " (2) Armed forces used pellet guns to suppress the upsurge. There are questions aplenty as to why pellet guns are used only in Kashmir? Does it not reflect the treatment meted out to Kashmiris? The casualties, deaths and injuries started mounting and this was met by more strong action from the side of state. State and Kashmir Policies The central Government is making the policies in Kashmir on the basis of its understanding that it is Pakistan which is instigating the youth to protest and throw stones. An interesting story in Outlook magazine points out that youth are totally disgusted with the treatment they have been receiving, " They laugh off suggestion that they are paid money by separatists to pelt stones and that Pakistan and its secret agency ISI is behind them. " (3) As per this report religion is not a factor in their understanding of the situation in Kashmir. After the tragedy broke out for a long time there was no conciliatory measure from the central Government. The Central Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited the valley but the dissatisfaction remained. His list of those whom he was to meet did not have the names of Hurriayt leaders. The BJP leaders including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who led the 29 member parliamentary delegation to the Valley have all spoken against any dialogue with the Hurriyat leaders. (4) Later when the all party delegation visited Kashmir, the leaders of opposition tried to meet the some of the Hurriyat leaders. Prior to this delegation coming; already Kashmir witnessed the longest ever curfew in Kashmir. The analysis of Government has been that the protesters are merely a small part of the population; five percent or so. They are being prompted and funded by the Pakistan Government as per the Government. This interpretation did not see the reality on ground. Such large surge of people cannot

The Uri attack has exposed India’s vulnerabilities once again, as it has clear evidence of negligence and complacency. After the Pathankot Air Force Base attack, the Government at the highest level had promised that there would be a comprehensive review of security at military establishments across the country. The fact that obvious vulnerabilities in as sensitive a location as Uri, have remained unaddressed indicates that this is another of the Government’s broken promises...

India has established a long tradition of transforming SF successes into political failures, and this appears to be the ongoing trend in J&K. With the utter incoherence, confusion and jingoism presently afflicting the country’s Pakistan and Kashmir policy, there appears to be little hope of any radical shift in the present and disastrous trajectory of events. Unless a measure of political sagacity is restored, things can only get worse in the near term.

Lecture presented at Saivism and the Tantric Traditions. A symposium in Honour of Alexis G.J.S. Sanderson. Toronto, 28 March 2015. 

A revised version of this lecture has been published under the title:

A Buddhist Foundation in Śārdīysa. A New Interpretation of the Schøyen Copper Scroll

in: Indo-Iranian Journal 61.1 (2018), 1--19

It may be downloaded from my Academia site (under articles).

« Les dames ne comprenaient pas que je fusse décidée à suivre mon mari. C’était folie qu’une femme s’avisât d’une telle aventure ; courir les grands chemins ! passe encore s’ils avaient été suffisamment frayés. Assurément vous n’en reviendrez pas ! – Et de fait quand j’en revins, on s’extasia de ma réapparition, comme d’une résurrection. »
Il s'agit ici de cerner les contours de cette voix au féminin qui émerge dans le Voyage d’une Parisienne en analysant dans un premier temps la posture que se construit l’auteur à travers son récit. En effet, ce regard de « Parisienne » que l’auteur porte sur les franges du British Raj of India détermine une situation d’énonciation et une prise de position idéologique originale qui met en place un différentiel en termes autant nationaux que genrés. C’est, par exemple, avec fierté que Marie de Ujfalvy peut déclarer quand elle approche des régions peu fréquentées au-delà de Srinagar : « Je suis la seule femme européenne qui ait foulé de son pied cette terre éloignée. Les Anglaises mêmes ne s’y sont pas senties attirées par cette nature sauvage et grandiose ».
Précisément, c’est dans un second temps la description des paysages qui retient notre analyse. En effet, parallèlement aux enjeux scientifiques du voyage de son époux, qu’elle relate scrupuleusement, Marie de Ujfalvy, sur les marges du monde connu, livre ses propres impressions face à ces contrées montagneuses. Le désir de la nature dont témoigne alors notre Parisienne se comprend selon un point de vue critique et prend des contours explicitement féminins, tant dans ses jugements sur la relation entre l’homme et la nature, dans ses observations sur la condition de la femme dans ces régions reculées, que dans sa manière de percevoir les paysages. Les paysages variés qu’elle découvre sur les flancs de l’Himalaya et du Karakoram, tour à tour pittoresques ou sublimes, sauvages ou grandioses, fertiles ou arides lui permettent de se donner une voix propre et distincte. À un mode majeur du récit de voyage s’oppose ici un mode qui pour être « mineur » n’en est que plus subversif. Le paysage s’offre alors comme l’occasion de dresser un répertoire d’images que l’auteur classe et réordonne selon une histoire universelle de la sensibilité féminine. Sous la plume de Marie de Ujfalvy, le voyage se fait intrinsèquement et essentiellement affaire de femme et le récit du voyage apparaît comme le lieu véritable de la « résurrection » de la voyageuse devenue auteur.

In India more than 95% of medicinal plants used in preparing medicines are harvested from wild. Medicinal plants are of great importance in healthcare of mankind in rural societies of Jammu & Kashmir and can become a leading producer of medicinal plants, provided this sector gets due attention. An ethno-medicinal survey was undertaken through frequent field visits, interviews and discussions with native nomadic tribes in Lolab Valley of Kashmir Himalaya to collect information and documentation of these medicinal plants. The present study reveals the ethno-medicinal uses and conservation status of medicinal plants in the Lolab valley of Kashmir Himalaya. During the course of study, 132 species belonging to 60 families were recorded, including 30 trees, 26 shrubs, 72 herbs, 2 climbers and 2 ferns were recorded to be used under traditional health care system, Assessment of conservation status of flora showed that among 132 species recorded 11% were endangered, 20% rare, 4% critically endangered, 18% vulnerable and 47% secure; and as per the habit-wise threatened status, the results indicate that among 26 shrubs, 4 were Vulnerable (VU), 3 Rare (R), 2 Critically Endangered (CR) and 17 Secure (S). Among 74 herbs found 16 were vulnerable, 13 endangered, 17 rare, 3 critically endangered and 25 secure. Among 30 tree species found 1 was vulnerable, 2 endangered, 4 rare and 23 secure. Only 2 ferns were found and both of them were in vulnerable category. Like other parts of the Indian Himalaya region, wild populations of medicinal plants of this region are under severe pressure of over harvesting and extensive grazing. A scientific strategy and action plan needs to be formulated for sustainable use of these resources.

The last decade has marked the purported end of several conflicts in South Asia: the 2003 ceasefire along the Indo–Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir, the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement ending the civil war between Maoist insurgents and state forces in Nepal, the 2009 LTTE defeat in Sri Lanka, and the imminent withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. This Hot Spots series explores the implications of “post-conflict” as an analytical and political category by situating recent South Asian experiences within broader anthropological debates over social, political, and economic transformation. As anthropologists, we go beyond the evaluative assessments of peace-building and human-rights reports to reveal the complexities of life and politics in the gray areas between war and peace. In so doing, these essays acknowledge the everyday effects of the post-conflict label beyond the technocratic mechanisms that seek to define it and declare resolution, yielding important insights for policymakers and development actors, as well as scholars from a range of policy-engaged disciplines. We invite you to join the conversation.

1. Nomadism and the classification of social groups In my earlier work on the Bakkarwal, a nomadic pastoral group that migrates from the Jammu region into the Kashmir Valley every summer, I examined the particular difficulties they have faced during the ongoing insurgency in Kashmir. In this article, I look at certain questions posed by other writings on nomadism in order to aid a more detailed examination of the term ‘nomadism’ itself. This term, once subjected to comparison, seems difficult to isolate in respect of any inherent features that are specific to it. In fact, writing on the socio-anthropological idea or concept of nomadism often describes the fuzziness of the term and the difficulty in coming up with a distinct category of nomadism because of the possibility that this form of classification might impede profitable analysis of the culture and peoples who practice something like nomadism. Taking up this dilemma, Dyson-Hudson proposes an analytical model that subsumes the ...

Trust-based informal credit forms an important basis for capital and commodity circulation in the bazaars of South Asia, comprising promissory payments settled according to vernacular timelines and practices. These systems are also regarded with acute suspicion outside their networks of circulation. In Indian-administered Kashmir, this suspicion acquires another layer due to associations of informal credit with putatively illegal hawala transactions, viewed by the state as channels for ‘black money’ that fund anti-state protests and militant activities. I set trust-based credit practices alongside national controversies around hawala in India to examine how and when such informal credit transgresses boundaries between licit and illicit domains. By studying legal pronouncements, national ‘scandals’, the rhetoric around demonetization and the experience of traders operating amid political violence in Kashmir, I trace how hawala becomes criminalized and how the indeterminacies of informal credit are exploited by the state to enforce spatio-political rather than financial boundaries.

In the context of intractable conflicts, women face the consequences of deaths and disappearances of their husbands at various levels. However, this may not be known or understood by each of those who share opinions about national safety and security. In the process of forming and propagating our judgments about political conflicts, it is important to reflect upon the extent of one’s knowledge about lives of people from conflict zones. This paper, through some of the narratives of women from Kashmir, urges readers to know more about the context of conflict instead of believing in assumptions that may have been promoted through popular media. This paper is based on my research that focused on resilience among women widowed due to conflict in Kashmir.

The relevance of undertaking a historiographic analysis in the context of historically disputed territory of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) cannot be denied in the wake of revocation of Article 370 and 35A by India on August 5, 2019. This arbitrary decision has opened a recurring dimension of the dispute, which needs to be addressed in a wider perspective. This paper, therefore, calls for environmental justice or eco–postcolonial ethic for IOJ&K —- a perspective, which is important by virtue of its definition only. Eco–postcolonial ethic, defined as a standpoint that brings forth the need to understand the expression of resistance against the oppression of colonizing powers in this postcolonial age, can be one possible way of determining a future course of action vis–a–vis Kashmir dispute. While the context of studying Kashmir in an Indian Pakistani conflict holds its own importance, shifting some frames of reference that incorporate the eco–postcolonial ethic of Kashmir,...

ABSTRACT This article analyzes Indian occupation of Kashmir as a legal, social, and spatial process of asserting power through borders and jurisdictional claims, produced and reproduced through constitutional processes and legal institutions that have enacted generalized notions of emergency and crisis. We argue that the distinctive socio-spatial power structures established between India and Kashmir in a provisional capacity amidst war and partition at the time of independence have been legitimized through rights regimes established through the constitutional structure and institutionalized through laws, executive orders, and the judicial system. We examine how India's legal incorporation of Kashmir was embedded in the constitutional drafting process and the extension of fundamental rights to the region through presidential orders, and how this legal incorporation became sedimented through the work of the courts across time. Building on Ranabir Samaddar's discussion of “colonial constitutionalism,” we consider “occupational constitutionalism” as a form of foreign dominance and control produced through the annexation of part of Kashmir's territory and its legal sovereignty to India in the aftermath of independence and reproduced through a series of legal mechanisms and processes across time that institute a state of emergency and permanent crisis in Kashmir.