OPINIONS

Nayeema Ahmed Mehjoor Ever since Pakistan has signalled its wish to make Gilgit-Baltistan fifth province, not only have Pakistan's own political outfits been in a state of disarray, but it has reportedly become a major 'issue of concern' in India's military and political leadership. Various aspects of adopting a new military strategy are being deliberated upon. In the border region of Ladakh, where India and China have been seen amassing their latest combat technology after recent engagements of hot pursuit policy, the intensity of international diplomatic activities and people's movements to stop the recent border confrontation has considerably increased. The people of Jammu and Kashmir are silently mourning the loss and fragmentation of their land that once used to be called the '...

It has been over one year since Jammu Kashmir lost its special status, but politically all the three regions continue to be a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces do not seem to fall in place sometime soon. Having ruled the state for over 70 years harping on the special status protected by Articles 370 and 35A, both of which were abrogated on August 5, 2019, regional political parties and even the mainstream political parties, are still undecided about the way forward. The largest regional political party, the National Conference (NC), headed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, wants the Pre-August 5, 2019 status restored before a genuine political process can be restated in Jammu Kashmir. Joining chorus with the NC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headed by Mehbooba Mufti, Peoples Conference (PC) hea...

On 17th September, early in the morning, I received two emails from my professor, one a link to our Google class meeting, and the second was an article in The Print composed by Yogendra Yadav, “Umar Khalid’s arrest shuts a democratic option for a generation of Indian Muslims”. This piece brings a varied form of Islamophobia prevalent in India right now. On the one hand, there is a government that does not even bother to hide its anti-Muslim stance. In 1939, even before the formation of  Pakistan—the very presence of which is utilized to target Indian Muslims—Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, one of the unmistakable ideologues of Hindutva, commented, “If we Hindus in India grow stronger, in time these Muslim friends of the League type will have to play the part of German-Jews instead”....

Vallala Sravya The idea of home has got complicated time and again during this lockdown. It has been longed for by the migrant population who have walked thousands of kilo meters in hopes of getting a home. On the other hand a huge spike in domestic violence has exposed those who desperately needed escape from home. For many who lost jobs and hostel spaces the only option has been to return to familial homes. The situation has been extremely trying on women and queer youth who have been removed from their spaces and have been forced to move in with non-supportive families. Although physical violence within marital homes receives insufficient but existent recognition, other forms of violence such as excessive control, restriction of movement, absolute domestic burden, and constrai...

Advocate Syed Mujeeb Safoora zargar,27 years old, on rolls of a Prestigious university, booked under FIR 59 of 2020 dated 6th day of March 2020 and her case entrusted to Delhi police special cell has lead to a different 3D outlook on being connected to stringent penal law i.e. sections 13,16,17,18 of UAPA and whereby, apparently scope of seeking Bail gets subdued to a larger extent and the twist reached to its zenith when learned judge held : “when you choose to play with amber's, you cannot blame the wind to have a carried the spark a bit too far and spread the fire. The acts and inflammatory speeches of the co conspirators are admissible under..... “, Upon dismissing her Application for Bail. Story director with a beautiful labour work got virtual standing ovation from the studio p...

Facebook, which owns both platforms, tells WIRED that it has expanded its content review team in India, and has made progress in pulling down content that violates its standards on its eponymous blue app. But WhatsApp, the far more popular platform, essentially has no community standards. Because all of its communication is encrypted, the content that flows through it is entirely in the hands of its users. After about 10 minutes, I handed Premi’s phone back to him. His mood seemed worse. I asked what he and the Bajrang Dal were focusing on these days. “Illegal immigrants,” he said. Millions of Bangladeshis, he told me, had infiltrated India and spread out across the country, and the Bajrang Dal was on high alert about it. “Have you noticed the illegal settlements of Muslims on the ou...