WRITE-UPS

Imran Boniyari In the middle of the Himalayas, a village in Pir Panjal ranges remains far away from mobile internet connectivity and landline service in this 21st century. Limber village of bordering town Uri in North Kashmir's Baramulla district, which is almost 81 km away from the summer capital of Jammu Kashmir has been cut off from the rest of the world due to the unavailability of network connectivity. Syed Rizwan (21), a BBA student of a private college in Jalandhar, Panjab, walks almost 3 km per day through the hilly forests and the muddy pathways to find a spot where his phone catches a signal to attend his online classes. "Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we are supposed to attend classes through the online mode but interrupted internet access has created problems for us,"...

Ifra Parvaiz “I hope you have reached home safely and are enjoying a lot. As soon as you receive this letter send a reply expressing your joyfulness and also mention when you are coming back to Bangalore. You might have been waiting for your good result. I assure you the same. No more special thing to write." On 10 August 1992, Mehmood ul Hassan Farooqi received a letter from his son's college professor at his residence in Srinagar's Lal Bazar. His son Taj u Din Farooqi was an engineering student at Bangalore College. Tajuddin (18) had returned home after spending a year in Bangalore. He was excited that soon his first-year results will be out. Imtiyazudin (13) was home on that Friday, as Srinagar was shut. On the fateful day of 31 July 1992, Mehmood ul Hassan Farooqi lost his ...

Irshad Hussain/ Yasir Yousuf A Srinagar-based couple was severely injured after their car collided with an armed forces' vehicle, minutes later when their kith and kin were on the way to rescue the couple, they were allegedly assaulted by Forces in Srinagar late on Thursday evening. On Thursday, around 8:30 pm in the Humhama area of Central Kashmir's Budgam district, a vehicle of the forces clashed with the couple's car. The accident took place near the Police Headquarters, Humhama, The vehicle allegedly fled from the spot and left the injured couple on their own. The injured couple's son talked to The Kashmiriyat about the accident and said that the truck hit the car from behind. "The car overturned after the forces' vehicle hit and rolled over on the other side hitting a divi...

Imran Boniyari Mehras Mir (25), a Law graduate of the 2015-2020 batch from the University of Kashmir bagged a Gold medal for her meritorious performance in studies at the historic Kashmir University convocation held at SKICC Srinagar, on Tuesday. She received the gold medal from the President of India Ram Nath Kovind in presence of the Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Jammu Kashmir and the Chancellor of Kashmir University, Manoj Sinha and other dignitaries. Mehras, in an exclusive conversation with The Kashmiriyat, talked about her journey and future plans. "Alhamdullilah, I am very happy and proud that I received this award from the president. I want to give its credit to my parents, who are very supportive and my teachers who guided me in each and every step," she sa...

Vikram Raj/ Yasir Yousuf Terrified and shocked, tears are rolling down the cheeks of all inmates in the house of Imran Ahmed Dar, who was killed in an encounter in the Munar area of Yaripora in South Kashmir's Kulgam district. Scenes inside the house would tear apart any human heart, an Inconsolable mother, a father holding the portrait of Imran weeping loudly and repeating in a low voice, "Fathers should never have to bury their children." On Sunday, the Government Forces early morning laid a cordon and search operation in the Yaripora area of Kulgam. The Jammu Kashmir Police issued a press release, that a Militant had been killed during the exchange of gunfire. The Police also said that they had made recoveries from the Militant. In a normal army nomenclature in Kashmir, recovery i...

Manan Shah With Pegasus Spyware becoming a vocal point that violates the basic right to privacy and expression, the world is rather startled and so are the potential targets; politicians, activists, members of the judiciary or Journalists. However, Kashmiris saw this as a matter of day to day and therefore relived their concerns. Though Pegasus is news for many, the people of Kashmir are not as surprised. Certainly not because they appreciate the potential hacking and invasion of privacy rather because they have been used to the treatment for years now. People of Kashmir for decades have lived with fear and threat of the Indian government spying and hacking on their phones. They have always acted carefully while talking on their phones, fearing a breach of privacy. They hold their...

Kounsar Bashir Mohammed Yusuf has been doing rounds of the Shopian district court since December last year in regards to the hearing of the case of his son, Abrar Ahmed. "My son was unfortunately stuck here and he left for Kashmir where the Forces were waiting for him, they shot him dead," said Mohammed Yusuf, whose voice has grown weaker than the last year. On July 18 last year, the Government Forces claimed that three Militants had been killed in an encounter in the Amshipura area of Shopian in South Kashmir. Ajay Katoch, a brigadier with the Indian Army told that on 18 July, At 0530 HRS, a search party of the Government moved inside a ‘newly constructed house’, where they came under heavy fire yet again, the Army retaliated, killing three Militants. He also claimed that heavy arms...