‘It was all pre-planned’ – Swami Agnivesh
The government’s interlocutor escaped an attempt on his life while on a relief mission to Dantewada. An account of his experiences SWAMI AGNIVESH Social Activist HEARING a gun-toting man say he wanted to kill me was a very frightening moment in Dantewada on 26 March. Equally traumatic was the attack by SPOs and members of the Salwa Judum, despite the […]
Mines of Kashmir war maim innocents
April 30, 2011, Issue 17 Volume 8 The landmines planted by India along the LoC were supposed to keep Pakistanis at bay. But Kashmiris end up losing their limbs and lives, reports Baba Umar SHAHEEN AKHTER, 29, vividly remembers the field rigged with thousands of landmines laid on 8 March 2002 in Karmara, the last mountainous village […]
‘No harm in talking about Kashmir’s trifurcation’ – Abdul Ghani Bhat
June 18, 2011, Issue 24 Volume 8 Hurriyat (M) member Abdul Ghani Bhat tells Baba Umar that Kashmiris should take the initiative for restarting peace parleys Why do you think that trifurcation is a natural solution? We have been seeking settlement in the larger interests of the subcontinent. India and Pakistan have gone nuclear and Kashmir can constitute a flashpoint. I know it’s also an RSS plan, […]
Fake Terrorists: Grounded for 5 years, will he ever fly again?
Baba Umar July 2, 2011, Issue 26 Volume 8 FAKE TERRORISTS 1, A series on Kashmiri youth Imran Ahmad Kirmani, 29 Nelipora hamlet, Handwara Jammu & Kashmir WHY: Arrested on the purported charges of being a Lashkar-e- Toiba operative planning to carry out 9/11-style terror attacks in the country. He was sent to Tihar Jail. WHEN: 15 November […]
Fake Terrorists: ‘Life in jail was hell, it is no better outside’
July 9, 2011, Issue 27 Volume 8 FAKE TERRORISTS 2, A series on Kashmiri youth Syed Maqbool Shah, 32 Lal Bazaar, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir BABA UMAR WHY: Arrested for alleged involvement in the Lajpat Nagar bombings of 21 May 1996, on the basis of a car tyre found in his room that allegedly belonged to the car used […]
Fake Terrorists: ‘Came for work, got sentenced instead’
July 16, 2011, Issue 28 Volume 9 FAKE TERRORISTS 3, A series on Kashmiri youth Shakeel Ahmad Khan, 50 Hazratbal, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir WHY: Arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate top politicians like Murli Manohar Joshi and former J&K governor Jagmohan. Served four years and three months at Tihar Jail WHEN: 24 April 1992. WHERE: Lajpat Nagar II, New DelhiSHAKEEL AHMAD […]
Fake Terrorists: ‘I don’t feel any purpose in life now’
July 23, 2011, Issue 29 Volume 8 FAKE TERRORISTS 4, A series on Kashmiri youth Mirza Iftikhar Hussain, 40 Namchebal, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir WHY: Arrested for alleged involvement in the 21 May 1996 Lajpat Nagar blasts in Delhi. He was at that time in a rented room in Bhogal but police said they caught him at […]
Water Conflicts: Let’s Go Down To The Waterline
Political pressure has restarted work on the Maheshwar Hydel Project Dam. Baba Umar examines the mess beneath WHY IS the PMO intervening? Do Madhya Pradesh chief ministers, past and present, have personal interests in the project? After Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh decided to revoke the stop-work order on the Maheshwar Hydel Project Dam on the Narmada under pressure, uncomfortable questions are being raised. […]
Koyna Was To Be A Sanctuary. So Why The Windmills?
BABA UMAR September 17, 2011, Issue 37 Volume 8 THE MONSOON-MANGLED road from Patan tehsil to Ghanbi village in Maharashtra’s the Western Ghats is not heavily used. From here, 15 km of a muddy stretch leads to Gojegaon, bordering what was supposed to be Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary. But unexpectedly, amid lush vistas of shrubbery and grass, […]
India Water Wars: ‘Politics is fuelling animosity on the ground
Q&A Himanshu Thakkar, Water Activist ‘Politics is fuelling animosity on the ground’ Himanshu Thakkar is coordinator of the South Asia Network on dams, Rivers & People, edits a magazine dams, Rivers & People and has been working on waterrelated issues for more than two decades. In a candid chat with Baba Umar, Thakkar explains why Kerala has every right to built […]