Author: Kashmir Newsline

Web Desk Russian Ambassador to India, Denis Alipov, had a legion of trolls going after him after his comments on Pakistan went viral. Addressing a conference ‘Next Steps in India-Russia Strategic Partnership; Old Friends New Horizons’ organised by the India Writes Network and the Centre for Global India Insights on Monday, Alipov said that Moscow wanted to expand its economic engagement with Islamabad as a weak Pakistan wasn’t good for the entire region including India. All hell broke loose after Alipov’s comments were shared by a New Delhi-based TV journalist on Twitter. It didn’t help either when the ambassador referred…

Karakuli fur has a soft, curly texture, velvety feel and sheen – qualities that make the cap a prized possession. Jaspreet Kaur Men have been sporting headgear – hats, caps, turbans – since ages as a status symbol. In many cultures around the world, leaving your home without wearing a headgear was considered improper. The karakul holds a very special place among caps and hats as far as its history and significance as a symbol of power, position or affluence is concerned. History The karakul cap is typically worn by men in Central and South Asia. It was worn by…

The spymaster is widely seen as an authority on Kashmir and someone not in favour of a muscular policy while dealing with Kashmiris. Shome Basu On a chilly January evening, over cups of Kashmiri kehwa, Amarjeet Singh Dulat, the former IB and R&AW chief, is engrossingly speaking about Kashmir – a dystopian but stunningly beautiful Himalayan valley which has shaped his life.We’re sitting in a neatly arranged study in the basement of his New Delhi home. A collection of spy fiction by John le Carre and Ian Fleming and other hardcovers on geopolitics, history and cricket are stacked on the…

Impact-based projections, information sharing with those at risk, information on the efficacy of early warning systems and regional action plans are needed on a war footing. Akshay Kaul The devastating floods that swept the Kashmir valley in September 2014 appeared to be unprecedented, but a quick research and field investigation revealed that they were not. Even if we only consider the past 125 years of history, floods of various intensities have often struck Kashmir. The critical lessons we’ve gained during and after the floods could have helped us create a resilient blueprint for the future, even if it makes sense…

Multiple news agencies claimed Pakistani flag was unfurled by a Muslim family on the Republic Day. Web Desk On the night of India’s 74th Republic Day, several media outlets, including news networks and organizations—one of them South Asia’s largest multimedia news agency—carried a fake news and then tweeted it alleging that a Muslim family in Purnea, Bihar, had flown a Pakistani flag atop their home. Among those who ran and tweeted the claim were ANI, CNN News, Times Now Navbharat, Zee Bihar News, India TV News, Mid Day, The New Indian, Times of India, OTV, Times of India Patna, New…

Percy Brown O! For the wind in the pine-wood trees O! For the flowery, scented breeze In far Gulmarg! In far Gulmarg!   O! For the wealth of flowers so blue O! For the sound of the ring-dove’s coo,   O! For that earth’s soft covered breast The turf my love’s foot-steps have pressed,   And all the thousand scents which rise To subtly haunt our memories,   Scents which spring from the very grass As o’er its velvet growth we pass In far Gulmarg! In far Gulmarg!   O! For the babbling brook’s clear flow Dancing from Killan’s heights…

He was the first Indian to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, referred to as the Nobel Prize of Architecture. Jaspreet Kaur India’s most celebrated architect and founder of Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), B.V. Doshi, exemplified a life well lived and shall always be remembered as one of the great souls of India. Rest in peace! Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, died in Ahmedabad today. He was 95. Fondly called BV Doshi or just Doshi, he will be remembered by all whose lives he touched. We, as students of CEPT, are eternally indebted to him. We will miss his infectious…

The ball is in Russia’s court. Saurabh Kumar Shahi The word ‘Russia’ doesn’t normally evoke a spirited response from a common Iranian. Far from it, in fact! There is a civilizational memory driving this. Iran and Russia have been competitors in the Caspian Sea and the Caucasian region for a very, very long time now. Common Iranians have historically seen Russia as an imperial force. Not much changed with the 1917 Russian Revolution. USSR was keen to see Iran come under its influence. The Khomeini Era   When the ruling Shah was toppled in the 1979 revolution, Moscow had its…

IANS Stressing that it is the job of the historian to take note of new research, historian and author William Dalrymple says there is nothing wrong with re-examining history in light of new evidence. “It is a good thing that history must be reexamined by every successive generation: relooked at and rethought and discussed over again. I personally believe that it is not at all a bad thing for history to be looked at from the ever-changing perspectives of the present. Such discussion and debate is entirely legitimate, but it has to be firmly anchored in the facts found in the primary…

Rehman Rahi’s struggle to salvage the Kashmiri language is unparalleled.    Jaspreet Kaur Language is the people. We cannot even conceive of a people without a language, or a language without a people. The two are one and the same. To know one is to know the other. ~ Sabine Ulibarrí Language is the code we have to express the experiences of a people. The nuances of the mother tongue remain just as smells of food that we have grown up eating. Julie Sedivy, author of ‘Language in Mind: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics’, writes: “When a childhood language decays, so…