WRITE-UPS

Mubashir Naik When Ubaid was Digonosed with an eyesight disability/problem at the age of 4 months, His father Manzoor Ahmed pledged that he would leave no stone unturned to give his child the best treatment, but after seven eye Surgeries, Manzoor Ahmed wanted to give up in frustration, when the Doctors said, "Ubaid's eyesight will never recover to normal." That is when the quest of Manzoor to use all his resources grew to provide his child every possible treatment. Initially, Manzoor was anxious as to how Ubaid will pass his whole life sitting at home in darkness, but, he decided to take him to school to make the people around him understand that he is no less than any other child around him. In the school, Manzoor says, he told teachers lucidly not to force Ubaid to study or c...

Umar Khursheed This Story was originally published in 2017 on The Kashmiriyat Drug addiction, a chronic brain disease often leads people who are with drugs to use it more and more, despite of knowing it that it will damage their brain system and won’t let a person to work in a conscious manner. There are people who don't understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. They may mistakenly think that those who use drugs lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop their drug use simply by choosing to stop it. But In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to. Their brain is who they are. It’s wh...

Muzamil Bashir Zaheer Ahmed Lone who had been missing for and had recently joined Militancy succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in Srinagar on Thursday. He joined the Hizb ul Mujahideen outfit and was injured in an encounter with Government Forces on Wednesday and the Forces who conducted the joint operation in nearby Anantnag district carried him to the hospital in an injured condition. A resident of the Inder area in Pulwama, Zaheer had also issued an audio message wherein he was heard bidding farewell to his family while accusing the Government Forces of harassing him constantly and forcing him to pick arms. Sources told The Kashmiriyat that Zaheer was accused in various FIRs, including FIR No. 140/2018 registered at Police Station, Pulwama, for the commission of offence...

Fizala Khan While most candidates for elections and seasoned politicians pitch for better roads, it is difficult to find them advocating for a progressive approach towards health care. A cardiac arrest or a stroke, for any Dal dweller, could most certainly result in life-threatening situations, if there is a delay in medical aid. Tariq Ahmed Patloo (50), a Dal dweller and social activist, tested positive for coronavirus in early October. Following the regulated guidelines, he quarantined himself at his residence in Dal Lake. Tariq’s health condition worsened with time as he, a diabetic patient fighting Covid, had to travel and cross the lake at night in order to reach for medical aid, which became a challenge as no Shikara rower or owner, would help him cross the distance to the ...

Saif Ali A woman named Fatima Begum who is the wife of Ghulam Rasool Rather, a local resident of Wolina area in Budgam was hit by a bullet, after which she had to be shifted to the hospital for treatment, it was not the first incident of its type and it surely cannot be last, if the residential area continues to be used as a Firing range. The Firing range of the Indian Air foce at the Sheikh ul Alam International airport Srinagar is located very opposite to the village. Speaking to The Kashmiriyat the locals said that they have approached the administration and undertaken every legal procedure to stop the area from being used as a firing range. "But every time from Deputy commissioner Budgam to every other office we have received only lame promises, and excuses from all the seatin...

Qazi Shibli/ Sajad Hameed  “Collateral damage” – the destruction of houses has been one of the most noticeable change of the recent encounters between Indian government forces and armed militants. Photo : Zafar Dar   Shahnaza Banoo, fumbling, was walking towards the mud and a heap of garbage, "her dream", this one used to be her home. She stopped in front of an enormous pile of mud, darting her glance at this prodigious mound, perhaps searching for a memory, any memory.  She put her hand into the mud and shows a horse to another lady; a toy, perhaps symbolic of bravery. On the 28th of April 2020, the Indian government forces blew up the concrete house of Shahnaza, turning it into debris and dust thereby, adding her to the garden of uncounted families left homeless ...

Irshad Hussain The Special Cell of Delhi Police on Monday arrested five "suspected militants" after an "encounter" with the police in Delhi’s Shakarpur area. "The initial probe suggests that the five, two from Punjab and three from Jammu Kashmir, have links to Khalistan and Islamic terror organizations," the Delhi Police claimed. Three Kashmiri men who hailed from Central Kashmir’s Budgam district. They were identified as Reyaz Ahmed Rather and Shabir Ahmed Gojri, both residents of Nasrullah Pora and Muhammad Ayoub Pathan of Gondhipora village of Budgam. As soon as the news of the arrest of the trip reached their homes back in Kashmir, the families plunged into mourning and anger pleading the innocence of their loved ones. Neighbours in large numbers reached the houses of th...

Sheetal Banchariya The Jammu Kashmir administration has said it will implement the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The central Act was, however, not applicable or implemented in Jammu Kashmir in the last 14 years. It became applicable to the region only after October 31, 2019, hence, recognizing the rights of forest-dwelling communities for the first time in Jammu Kashmir. But, the ground reality is very different from the official version. Recently, members of the Indigenous Gujjar Bakerwal community in Lidroo area of Anantnag district's Pahalgam were allegedly harassed and their temporary housing structures were demolished as part of the eviction drive. Fear of Eviction amid Delay in Implementation of FRA Shabir Ahmad Sathi, a resident of Mammal Wudar area which is almost three k...

Danishwar Hameed The family of two Youths from Kashmir's Kulgam who have been missing for the past four days have started a massive search for their kin in Uttar Pradesh, as they have been running from pillar to post to find the duo. Loading their truck on the morning of 14th November 2020, the siblings namely Mohammed Younis Ahmad Dar aged 26 and Faisal Hassan Dar aged 18 loaded their truck bearing registration Number JK03D-7806 left for Kanpur. Their truck was loaded with hides, as per the family. "The duo had been calling us constantly, however on the 18th day of November, the family suddenly lost the track of the brothers, when their phone got switched off, the phone has been off since," the cousin of the duo told The Kashmiriyat. Residents of Mohammed Pora area in Kulga...

Muzamil Jaleel Why is the eviction of Kashmir’s Gujjar and Bakerwal community from their traditional forest lands illegal and what’s the way forward for them? The Forest Rights Act of 2006 recognises the rights of Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes, or FDST, and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers, or OTFD, to forest lands and produce except timber. The law is informed by the understanding that FDST and OTFD are “integral to the very survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem” and, therefore, the goal of forest conservation is served by letting them stay on their lands, not by evicting them. The law enshrines four main rights of the forest dwellers: Every FDST and OTFD family gets ownership rights to up to 79 kanals, or 4 hectares, of the forest land that they cultivated a...