Author: Kashmir Newsline

Sheikh Hasina’s continued presence in India remains a particularly sensitive issue. Shome Basu Bangladesh National Security Intelligence (NSI) Director General Major General Abu Mohammad Sarwar Farid has travelled to New Delhi to attend the eighth South Asian Counter Terrorism Conference, held from October 26 to 28. Hosted by India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the conference brought together representatives from 13 countries to discuss cybersecurity, shell companies, counterfeit currency, border management, extradition, human trafficking and other security challenges. Intelligence-sharing, particularly in the maritime domain, was also on the agenda. Sources said Farid’s visit was confined to…

Shome Basu New Delhi, October 27: India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), is hosting a 13-nation intelligence conference in New Delhi to strengthen cooperation in intelligence gathering, handling and sharing, with a focus on safeguarding participating countries’ security during both peace and conflict. The meeting is being convened by R&AW Secretary, Parag Jain. Human trafficking, cybersecurity, narcotics and arms trafficking were among the key concerns discussed at the conference. While official records indicate incremental annual increases in reported human trafficking cases, including a 2.8% rise recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), advocacy groups and the…

Opposition party reports attacks, torn nomination papers and arrests across 10 locations; alleges police inaction and intimidation by ruling TDP-led coalition VIJAYAWADA, October 21, 2026 — The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has alleged widespread violence and intimidation against its candidates during nominations for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) across Andhra Pradesh, reporting attacks on party leaders, the destruction of nomination papers and the detention of senior functionaries. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the opposition party accused cadres of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its coalition partners of obstructing candidates from filing…

Government offices must make room for dissent, dialogue and accountability, not abuse and threats. Khadija Khan  When authority is used to belittle a colleague rather than facilitate public service, it raises a fundamental question: is power a responsibility to lead or a privilege to command? The recent row in Jammu and Kashmir involving IAS officer Kumar Rajeev Ranjan and JKAS officer Beenish Wani has once again brought this issue to light. Media reports from October 15 and 16, 2026, state that a review meeting on Mission YUVA, a government programme designed to empower young people, came to a standstill…

The sport has a billion fans in the country, yet the heartbreak is endless and the system in a perpetual crisis.  Naume Basu If you ask almost any teenager in India who watches football, they will tell you the same thing. We spend our late nights watching the English Premier League or Champions League, supporting clubs like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester City, but deep down, all we want is to see our national team in the blue jersey at the FIFA World Cup. With a population of over 1.4 billion, India cannot possibly lack talent or passion for…

In a democracy, it’s the people who have to have the final say. No government has a right to thrust its whims and fancies on them.  Shome Basu As a child growing up in Calcutta, I would watch the vernacular film telecast on Doordarshan every Saturday. One film, Biyallish, left a lasting impression. It portrayed Major Trivedi, an Indian officer played by Bikash Ray, serving the British government in Midnapore and responsible for ordering the police to fire on Matangini Hazra during the Quit India Movement of 1942. In the final scene, Trivedi orders the police to fire at a…

A greeting is, after all, meant to convey goodwill. It should not become a reason to question someone’s integrity, identity or right to belong. By Khadijah Khan Assalamu Alaikum, Namaste, Sat Sri Akal, Vanakkam! These are among the greetings with which a typical Indian conversation—or simply an exchange of pleasantries—begins. Greetings are, after all, expressions of goodwill, until one of them becomes anathema to certain people simply because it is associated with a particular community. The latest imbroglio around IPS officer Bushra Bano, following the viral video in which she greets people with “Assalamu Alaikum”, is a case in point.…

Chennai, Oct 6: Tamil Nadu Muslim political leaders Prof. M. H. Jawahirullah, MLA and president of Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK), and M. Thamimun Ansari, president of Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi (MJK), have expressed solidarity with Aligarh Muslim University students demanding the restoration of Students’ Union elections. Their support comes as postgraduate student Yasir Fahad, who has been on hunger strike since September 21, seeks restoration of the Students’ Union, appointment of an election authority and announcement of an election date. The last AMU Students’ Union elections were held in 2018-19. Jawahirullah termed the restoration of the elected union a “legitimate democratic…

Until structural questions and international boundary disputes are conclusively resolved, Ladakh remains a fragile, breathtaking, and deeply contested frontier. Shome Basu Seven years after the abrogation of Articles370 and 35–A, which dismantled the semi-autonomous architecture of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two distinct Union Territories, the geopolitical fault lines across the northern frontier remain raw. What New Delhi envisioned as a definitive masterstroke for integration has instead settled into a complex, tense equilibrium. From the high-altitude, windswept plateaus of Ladakh to the densely militarized alleys of the Kashmir Valley and the political corridors of…

As the Mizo people look toward a modern future, their message to Delhi remains clear: integration cannot merely be military or administrative—it must be rooted in deep, empathetic listening. Shome Basu From the window of a propeller aircraft descending through low-hanging clouds into Aizawl, Mizoram presents itself as an endless ocean of mist-shrouded green hills. Yet beneath the serene beauty of India’s eastern frontier lies a complex tapestry of historical trauma, geopolitical fragility, and an unyielding quest for dignity. For outsiders arriving via the mandatory Inner Line Permit (ILP)—a regulatory safeguard tracing its roots back over a century—the transition into…