Kashmir’s Mass Graves: The Truth Lies Six Feet Under
2,156 unidentified bodies in north Kashmir. The families want answers, but the J&K government is trying to give the issue a quiet burial. Baba Umar reports NOT TOO long ago, Kashmiris saw a ray of hope when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced that he would revoke the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act. However, he failed to walk […]
The Hunchbacks of Kashmir’s Adai
A strange, disabling affliction — undiagnosed, unnamed — has become the scourge of the people of a village in Poonch, says Baba Umar SURROUNDED BY mountains of the Pir Panjal range, Adai village in Poonch district of Jammu & Kashmir is a stranger to development. Like many other villages in the region, phrases like sick infrastructure, lack […]
Kashmir Fake Encounter: Closure Remains Elusive In Pathribal Case
The families of five men killed in the fake encounter of 2000 are not convinced that a court martial will deliver justice, reports Baba Umar JUSTICE IN the Pathribal fake encounter case, in which five villagers were gunned down by the army on 25 March 2000, is being seen as a key to unlock the mystery surrounding […]
Protests in Delhi, Kashmir against Israeli attacks on Gaza
Demonstrators outside the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi seek snapping of defence ties between India and Israel. Baba Umar reports Demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi on Monday 19 November demanding immediate halt of Israeli aggression in Gaza, pledging solidarity with blockaded Palestinians and asking the UPA government to condemn and snap all defense ties with Israel. The protesters, who numbered […]
FAKE TERRORIST: ‘My family saw a disorder in me, but that had become my order’
Syed Maqbool Shah Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir Age 33| Years In Jail 14 Arrested June 1996 | Acquitted April 2010 SYED MAQBOOL SHAH of Kashmir has a similar story of injustice and wrongful incarceration. In the by lanes of Srinagar’s Lal Bazaar, Shah’s two-storey decrepit house in Jan Mohalla has become a well known structure. Those looking for direction to this […]
Kashmir dispute will not end even if Geelani becomes CM – Sheikh Rasheed
Langate MLA Sheikh Abdul Rasheed is popularly known in Jammu & Kashmir as ‘Engineer Rasheed’, a reference to his professional qualification. Rasheed was a separatist and then became a human rights activist. In a candid chat, he tells Baba Umar what the Centre needs to do to solve the Kashmir issue. Excerpts: Rasheed wants AFSPA to be scrapped […]
No need for US citizens to leave Kashmir: Geelani
The separatist leader flays govt cleric for making ‘stupid’ demands, says ‘western guests are always welcome’. Baba Umar reports A day after a top government cleric asked visitors of United States to “immediately” leaveKashmir, senior Hurriyat (G) leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Saturday 15 September flayed the cleric saying the “guests in Kashmir need not leave and […]
Kashmir’s Hurriyat leader says Azadi not a solution
Maulana Abbas Ansari, a powerful Shia cleric, is the head of a religious group, Itehad-ul-Muslimeen (Unity of Muslims) – a constituent of the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) headed by moderate separatist leader Mirvaiz Umar Farooq. Recently, the group went to Pakistan – a visit it declared ‘successful’. In a freewheeling interview with Baba Umar, Ansari says the […]
Kashmir separatists reject Al Qaeda chief’s ‘shun-UN’ call
Despite Al Qaeda’s call to ignore the UN’s role in arbitrating conflict , separatists refuse to depart from their old stand. Baba Umar reports Just a few months ago when al QaedaSupremo Ayman al-Zawahri called for a Muslim coalition in liberating what he called are “occupied Muslim Lands” including Jammu and Kashmir, Zawahri was conditioning such an […]
How A Man-Animal Conflict Plays in War-Weary Kashmir
Faced with shrinking habitats and blocked corridors, bears and leopards are increasingly coming into conflict with villagers across the Kashmir Valley. Baba Umar reports ON 8 OCTOBER last year, when Meer Ahmad Khan, 55, a forest guard, crossed the perimeter of Nadurbagh forests in Ganderbal district (23 km east of Srinagar) along with four other guards, he […]