When she saw her son’s face she fell unconscious, unable to bear looking at him. With her son’s face etched into the memory, she now wants him to visit her once, in her dream. “I want to sleep just to see him,” she said. “Just once!” The Kashmir Walla's senior reporter, Gafira Qadir, reads the story of Dilshada Gulzar, who lost her son to a gunfight.

A sonorous chorus of male devotees fills the air at dawn in many parts of Kashmir. After the conclusion of the fajr prayers at dawn, devotees have been chanting the Awradh-e-Fateh in Kashmir’s mosques since the fourteenth century. The Awradh is an anthology of Quranic verses and the centrality of monotheism in Islam. A large part of the Awradh also consists of the prophets sayings, the names of Allah, and expressions of gratitude and praise for Allah. It was introduced by the traveler...

On 26 December 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir opened a new chapter in the region’s politics. He said that it was a "moment of pride" for India. Contrary to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s claims of having established its acceptability across Jammu and Kashmir, the party’s performance in the DDC elections paints a different picture. The BJP won just 75 of the 280 DDC seats, just three of them in the Kashmir...

A fresh crisis is brewing in Jammu and Kashmir. After New Delhi imposed a series of laws redefining permanent residents of and allowing non-locals to own lands in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has given way to fresh fears after it focussed its attention on beneficiaries of the now infamous Rohsni Act. On 28 November 2018, the Roshni Act was repealed by Satya pal Malik, the then Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. On 9 October this year, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court declared the Rohsni Act...

Recently, Mudasir Ali, a senior editor at Greater Kashmir died of a heart attack. His family alleged that the on-duty doctor at the hospital was not available immediately and when he did attend the patient, he delayed treatment. The unfortunate death brought back to focus the poor response to health emergencies in Kashmir. An inquiry was ordered into Mudasir’s death and as per Greater Kashmir, the investigation has admitted to multiple lapses in handling Mudasir. The committee has also...

While campaigning for candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Jammu Division's Rajouri district, former minister Priya Sethi of the BJP asserted that the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A had ensured the political empowerment of the Gujjar, Bakarwal, and other Scheduled Tribes in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Ironically, this statement was made just weeks after the J-K administration demolished temporary shelters of the tribal community in south Kashmir's Pahalgam area,...

While campaigning for candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Jammu Division's Rajouri district, former minister Priya Sethi of the BJP asserted that the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A had ensured the political empowerment of the Gujjar, Bakarwal, and other Scheduled Tribes in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Ironically, this statement was made just weeks after the J-K administration demolished temporary shelters of the tribal community in south Kashmir's Pahalgam area,...

In our latest podcast, host Sarwat Javaid speaks to Zeeshaan Nabi,a singer-songwriter, a music producer, co-founder of the band Ramooz, and a founder of Meeraki studios about contemporary music in Kashmir, the current situation of Kashmir's music industry and what it lacks.

On 26 October 2020, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) imposed another order upon Jammu and Kashmir. This time annulling the region’s hard-won land laws that had ended decades of tyranny and slavery of the powerful landlords under the rule of the autocratic Dogra Hindus. The day that the BJP chose to impose this law is also symbolic. On 27 October in 1947, the last Dogra ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh, had signed a conditional accession to the Indian Union and Indian troops had landed in...

Graphic journalism is a recent format in Kashmir’s press. The Kashmir Walla is the first and the only organisation in Kashmir that produces Graphic reports. We publish two graphic reports every month. Kashmir has prominent political cartoonists like Bashir Ahmad Bashir, who is also the first cartoonist.  His cartoons have attained cultural significance as a witness to and chronicler of Kashmir’s tumultuous history. In recent years, Kashmir’s first graphic novel, Munnu, A Boy From Kashmir, a...

After abrogation of semi-autonomy of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019, the BJP government downgraded the J-K to a federally-governed territory on On 31 October 2019. Sarwat Javaid of The Kashmir Walla, speaks to Romaan Muneeb, a lawyer; Adnan Ashraf, spokesperson for People’s Conference; Sarwar Malik, Managing Director of Pro-Active Premium Water; and Fahad Shah, editor-in-chief of The Kashmir Walla about what has changed legally, politically, economically and security...

On 27 October 1947, while the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was under turmoil when Maharaja Hari Singh sought help from the Indian government, the troops of the Indian army landed in Kashmir. At that time, it was seen as a temporary measure to keep the peace. Even after seventy-three years, the army continues to increase its presence and New Delhi has further removed the impediments in order to consolidate its grip over Kashmir. Later on 5 August 2019, the government of India revoked...

In recent years, Kashmir has seen an alarming rise in substance use disorder among youth. At Kashmir's largest psychiatry hospital, the Institute of Medical Health and Neuroscience (IMHANS), admits about two to five patients every day -- a majority among them are fighting with heroin addiction. One of the largest de-addiction centers in Kashmir also registered a drastic spike in the footfall at its Out Patient Department (OPD) in the last three years. From April 2016 and March 2017, 489...

Polycystic ovarian syndrome, or simply known as PCOS,  is a common health problem caused by an imbalance of reproductive hormones in women. Between 5 and 10 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44 have PCOS. It is also one of the most common causes of infertility. The National Family Health Survey of 2015 states that 61 percent of married women in Kashmir report one or more reproductive health problems – 22 percent higher than India’s national average. Studies have also shown that...

In a statement after the killing of the three missing labourers from Rajouri in a staged gunfight, the Indian Army had admitted that its troops had exceeded the powers vested in it under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The Act has been termed draconian by rights activists, pointing to its sweeping provisions. We speak to Parvaiz Imroze of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and Muzamil Jaleel, Deputy Editor of the Indian Express, to find out what does the AFSPA mean...

In the age of vibrant media, reporting on Kashmir has been frequent for many but amid this different narratives are being built too. Our host Sarwat Javaid speaks to Rashid Maqbool, media researcher and trainer, Gul Bahar Shah, a Ph.D scholar of Jamia Millia Islamia University and Faizan Bukhari, a theatre artist, about the flawed narrativization of Kashmir in media.

This week a civilian was killed when militants attacked a paramilitary forces’ personnel in north Kashmir’s Sopore area. Police accused the militants of shooting him but his family claimed he was dragged out of his vehicle and shot dead. Within a few minutes after his killing, photographs of his three-year-old grandson, sitting on his grandfather’s corpse, went viral. But no one confirmed who clicked the photograph. Another photograph of a police officer holding the child in his lap and...

As several mining contracts in Kashmir Valley have been secured by non-locals in Kashmir after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A in August 2019, locals feel that it will add to the loss of jobs and also threat to demographic change. In this podcast, host Fahad Shah, discusses its impact and outcome with Athar Parvaiz, an award-winning journalist based in Srinagar and Aijaz Ashraf Wani, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Kashmir. 

Michael Kugelman, Deputy director of the Asia Program at The Wilson Center and Suhasini Haidar, National Editor and Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu, speak to The Kashmir Walla's Minaam Shah on the latest standoff between China and India in Ladakh near Line of Actual Control. Many believe that the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was a trigger behind the standoff.  Host: Minaam Shah For more of our coverage visit our website www.thekashmirwalla.com