Author: Kashmir Newsline

At 36, Raza is in the form of his life and a role model for budding cricketers by Bilal Ahsan Dar In a world dominated by the Virat Kohlis, the Babar Azams and the Joe Roots of the game, there will always be some exceptionally talented players around who get overshadowed. More so if they represent sides that aren’t so strong. Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikander Raza is a case in point. Raza scored three centuries in his last six ODI innings, two of them unbeaten.The 95-ball 115 against India in the last ODI was the best of the lot despite coming…

It’s not easy to stay invested in the capital market, and challenges for first-time investors are very stiff.  by Sajjad Bazaz In the modern investment scenario, people are looking for more and more investment opportunities to multiply their savings for future needs. They are curious to know more about lucrative investment platforms. People mostly are lured by capital market and stock investment has become their preferred investment arena with a hope to multiply their money fast. It’s here that they overlook the huge risk which this market is carrying along. Notably, during the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, millions…

Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) is one of the most unlikely political alliances in the modern history of Kashmir. The member parties of this alliance are former archrivals who, in the past, were causal agents of each other’s downfall. The circumstances created in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir during the last three years have forced these arch-enemies to sit together and lead a joint struggle. National Conference (NC), the grand old political party of Jammu and Kashmir, which has outlived many prophecies signaling its death, remains the key anchor of this alliance and the party’s patriarch Farooq…

The houseboats moored in the Dal or Nigeen go back a long way and the tribe at the helm curiously associates itself with Prophet Noah. by Faheem Gundroo 11 November 1989. Houseboat Billoo Palace. Guest log book: “Professor Sidiq taught me a great deal. Our next visit to Kashmir will be much longer and, of course, we will want to stay at the Biloo Palace. Carolyn and I sincerely wish you all a peaceful prosperous healthy future.” While Ralph and Carolyn must have been admiring the most striking feature associated with the Dal lake – the wonderful mountain amphitheater that…

Nayyara Noor who died of cancer on August 20 was popularly known as Bulbul-e-Pakistan. by Sheharyar Rizwan My earliest memory (or at least one that I clearly remember) of Nayyara Noor and her music would have to be her performing her most popular songs ever: roothe ho tum tum ko kaise manaoon piya and tera saya jahan bhi ho sajna on PTV in the late ‘80s. I also remember my mother being a fan and introducing me to Noor’s music. At that time, this unassuming, demure, woman with simple looks, clad in a modest shalwar-qameez-dupatta combo,looking down mostly and singing…

Respect an ordinary Kashmiri as your own. by Shome Basu Kashmir remains the biggest miscarriage of the partition even though the simmering communal tension goes beyond 1947. It goes back decades when the Maharaja – who was a Dogra Rajput – along with his nobles, consisting of Kashmiri Pandits, somehow kept the Muslim population out of the statecraft. It was the Dogras and the Pandits who dominated and created hegemony in the large state of Jammu and Kashmir which was predominantly a Muslim state. The rise of Reading Room, Round Room (from the Dastagir Sahib shrine) and Jamia Masjid in…

How the beneficiaries of the war keep minting money. by Sanjay Kapoor In the famous Hollywood movie, Schindler’s List, made in the backdrop of the Second World War Germany, the  protagonist, Oskar Schindler, a struggling businessman in the best of times, suddenly finds himself in riches and asks himself a question: “Why am I making money now and never in the past.” The penny drops for him when he realizes that he was making profit due to war. If the reports from the ground are any indication then it could be an unending war where Russia may find it difficult…

Set against the backdrop of the conflict-ridden Kashmir of the nineties, Sana Altaf’s collection of short stories was released on July 24. She is a Kashmiri journalist based out of Dubai. In this interview with Kashmir Newsline, she talks about her book and what inspired her to write it. What inspired you to write Forgotten Tales: Stories from the Kashmir Valley? Forgotten Tales is a collection of short stories set in Kashmir against the backdrop of a conflict. My inspiration is my childhood and the people of Kashmir. If you could, please, elaborate. I was 5 when the armed uprising…

What is it about our culture today that makes us unable to admit that we are who we are? by Soni Razdan An actor at the BEEB (slang for BBC) was chatting with me while I was on one of my walk-on-part episodes. “If you have gotten a place at Guildhall”, he said, “on no account must you give it up. Write to all the charities you can find to get a grant. Do anything, part time jobs, anything, but do not give up that place.” A chap after my own heart! That was all the advice I ever needed.…