Diaspora

Dr Aijaz Ahmad John Bhat has become the first Kashmiri to be awarded the Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award by the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), one of the highest global honours for early-career scientists in skeletal biology. The award includes participation in the prestigious ORS International Musculoskeletal Biology Workshop to be held in Midway, Utah, from July 19–24, 2025. Currently a Senior Postdoctoral Scientist at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Dr Bhat is recognised for his groundbreaking research on the role of microRNAs in skeletal development and bone diseases. His work focuses on how these molecules regulate mesenchymal stem cells, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts—key components in bone formation and resorption. His goal is ...

Professor Noor Ul Owase Jeelani, a Kashmiri-born and UK-based paediatric neurosurgeon, has been awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours List for 2025. The honour recognises his pioneering contributions to paediatric neurosurgery and global child healthcare. Currently serving as Professor at the Institute of Child Health at University College London, Jeelani is also a Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he was Head of the Department of Neurosurgery from 2012 to 2018. Under his leadership, the department became one of the world’s largest and most advanced paediatric neurosurgery units. With over twenty years of surgical experience, Jeelani performs between 200 to 300 complex craniofa...

Award-winning author Mirza Waheed is set to release his fourth novel, Maryam & Son, in 2025, as announced by Westland Books on Monday. The novel, to be published under Westland's 'Context' imprint, follows the emotional journey of a mother whose life is upended when her son goes missing and is suspected of involvement in a distant conflict in Iraq. Speaking about his new work, Waheed said, “Maryam has kept me company for the last five years. I have enjoyed writing her and thinking about her family. I hope readers will connect with them as much as I do.” https://twitter.com/WestlandBooks/status/1872562629979627720?s=19 The publisher described Maryam & Son as a gripping narrative that captures the pulse of today's world. “Through immersive storytelling, Waheed asks a c...

Parvaiz Yousuf, a resident of Pampore, has become the first Kashmiri to secure a fully funded PhD scholarship in Ecology and Evolution at Australia’s prestigious James Cook University, ranked among the top global institutions. Hailing from Chatlam Larpora, Pampore, Parvaiz completed his integrated BSc-MSc in Zoology from the Central University of Kashmir in 2022. He has been awarded the James Cook University Postgraduate Research Scholarship (JCUPRS), which covers his full tuition, provides a generous living stipend, and includes overseas health insurance. The scholarship is valued at approximately ₹1.66 crore. Parvaiz’s interest in ornithology was sparked by his upbringing near the Chatlam Wetland Reserve, where migratory birds piqued his curiosity about avian life. His passion l...

A filmmaker from Jammu Kashmir has come up with a remarkable cinematic masterpiece “Sanson Ki Mala” (Beads of Breath), which has garnered applause worldwide. Shoaib Shawl’s ‘Beads of Breath’ is a poetic odyssey with a strong theme about true nature of love. The film revolves around an eccentric man, who yearns to find the true nature of love while villagers' varied perspectives about his identity heat things up. “Beads of Breath" transcends borders, both geographical and cultural. The Himalayas, in their raw, resplendent glory, morph from mere backdrop to living characters, mirroring the emotional ebb and flow of the protagonists. At the heart lies an enigmatic man, consumed by a yearning for love's true essence. His presence ignites a web of speculation and intrigue amongst the v...

A Kashmiri scholar has received the prestigious Joukowsky Prize for his dissertation at Brown University in Rhode Island. Identified as Suvaid Yaseen, the Kashmiri scholar’s dissertation titled ‘Islamic Intersections: Religion and Politics in Kashmir in the Long Twentieth Century’ explains the lives and ideas of Kashmiri poets, teachers, Ulema (Muslim scholars), activists, rebels, and revolutionaries. His dissertation, explores the Kashmir Valley and presents a groundbreaking re-evaluation of the region, according to his nominators. This area has previously been called everything from a utopia to an area where Muslim militants are on the rise. Yaseen has published an article in the prestigious Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society titled ‘Poetry as history: Maulana Muhammad Anwar S...

Another Kashmiri scientist has brought laurels to the valley as he has been inducted into the world’s oldest interdisciplinary scientist society, Sigma Xi. The Kashmiri-origin Senior Corporate Scientist, University Professor, and Honorary Judge Dr. Syed Basharat Shah has been nominated and admitted as full-time member in Sigma Xi – The Scientist Research Honor Society, founded in 1886 at Cornell University, USA, Kashmir News Service reported. Dr. Shah, who is from Bijbehara in Anantnag in south Kashmir, works as a senior corporate scientist for an Austrian global company and is an honorary judge in the German judicial system. Shah has been awarded an honorary doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences by Ballsbridge International University, Dominica. He has been awar...

A march was staged in Vienna, Austria to express solidarity with Kashmiris and to highlight the "human rights violations" in the region. Reports reaching The Kashmiriyat said that hundreds of Kashmiris living in Vienna along with Pakistanis and several others gathered outside the Vienna International Centre on Saturday and called upon the international community to "wake up" to the pligt of Kashmiris. The event was specifically organised on the eve of the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session at the UN headquarters in New York, US, to remind the international community about UN resolutions and pledges to resolve the Kashmir issue. The protestors demanded that the UN and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) must come forward to support Kashmiris.