The only Rose Red in Gaza

I may read the first rays of the sun
when they suffuse the rubble
behind my grandfather’s
blackened garden
where roses grew
when we last promised to meet,
or maybe I will read the final words
when the shadows mingle with
the crusty runnels
it hastily scribbles over them
(an apology, maybe?... i jest)
as the dark chooses to take its place
taking all the color away
I will be here (I think),
in the alleyway behind
where it all happens
mulling, to read or not,
lines which lose meaning in dark,
and in light
their crimson
reminds
there is no rose red in Gaza
some noise (or quiet) later
come - read the lines
illegible, over me
and you will see
the only rose red in Gaza is blood…

Kashmir and elections share a tense and confusing history. It is a history wherein some men take to opportunist politics, some are reluctant to participate, some steer clear while women, ironically, become visible through their near-absence. The polity in Kashmir is a peculiar species and what may be seen as a democratic value elsewhere does not necessarily translate the same way for the people of this conflict-ridden region. Hence, elections--universally seen as democracy in action--do not mean the same in Kashmir.
In order to understand women’s involvement--rather, non-involvement--in Kashmiri elections and campaigns, it is important to take a look at the history of Kashmir's tumult. It is important to understand that the lopsided gender engagement in Kashmiri politics is not indicative of women’s political illiteracy, but a result of a turbulent political environment borne by Kashmir's disputed alliance with India and the armed struggle.
Ever since India and Pakistan b... [Read More]

Foreword

Naseem, an ailing Kashmiri woman in Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children, is examined by her doctor through a perforated sheet-one afflicted part at a time. She is described as a "collage of her severally-inspected parts," a description that personifies the identity of Kashmiri women. Although media portrays them as victims positioned between the separatists and the Indian armed forces, there is no one definitive motif that can reveal their true identity and status. On one hand, portraying their victimhood seems inevitable; on the other, it is incorrect to assert that all Kashmiri women have been neutral or home-front bound in the ongoing conflict.
In the past 19 years of an armed struggle against India, Kashmir has suffered massive damages of life and property. In the absence of male breadwinners, women of this conservative and patriarchal society were pushed into the public sphere. General and sexual ... [Read More]

The reaction to Benazir’s death is one that evokes an initial sympathy in most. Nevertheless it is followed by a vast spectrum of reactions ranging from grief to nonchalance.

While many join her estranged niece Fatima Bhutto in mourning her untimely and violent end as a person but continue to abhor her politics, many simply seek to revere her charismatic persona and the bold politician that she was perceived as. It was evident in the frenzy of the many “male” mourners who were seen reaching out in the mayhem surrounding her death, to simply touch her casket as it was being carried out from the hospital or the clamo... [Read More]

In the terrible predicament that Kashmir is lingeringly suffering between India and Pakistan, media has come to play a quite significant role; and why not? Media in its contemporary all encompassing role, is not only expected to report but also mediate and facilitate the narratives of conflict as has been prescribed for other conflict zones across the globe.

However, looking at the Indian media and its Kashmir coverage, such results can hardly be anticipated.

The Indian media has reduced the suffering and struggles of Kashmiri people to mere statistics and hangs on to rudiments of “he said, she said” token objectivity. With its teeming news bureaus and staff around the valley, it may well have been physically non-existent for the sheer fact of selective reporting that is done without any apparent qualms.

And not to mention the total loss of context, which is the greatest casualty.
The images of victim-hood and disparate repr... [Read More]

Chief Minister of Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad, announced that a women police battalion would be exclusively raised in the state as it would “help the state to tackle women protesters.”  In the recent protests staged by Kashmiri women, on issues as varied as unemployment, wages, water scarcity, and human rights abuses; it was witnessed that male cops (even the handful of female ones) misbehaved and manhandled the female protestors.

Critics can’t help poking fun at the irony of scurrying to raise a female police contingent rather than focusing on the demands of the women and assuage what ails them and brings them on the streets, in the first place.

But anyways, this move will not produce much harm in a society where palliative cures by the government are a norm and anything rational is less expected. But yes, a female cadre of well-trained and well-behaved female cops can be a civic asset, anyday.
[Read More]

Contrary Missions: Quest for Fragments of Peace

The spate of contrary narratives emerging from the moderate Hurriyet faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the extreme faction, Tehreek E Hurriyet, headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, indicate changing perceptions of the solution for Kashmir, within the valley. In January 2006, this dissonance was showcased for international audience, as the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq expressed support for Pakistan’s Kashmir policy and arrived in Islamabad for consultations. This visit was opposed in a rally organized by Millat-e-Islamia Kashmir, an outfit that supports Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s breakaway Hurriyet faction. Geelani’s faction dismisses the peace process as a sham meant to divert people from the UN promised plebiscite. It perceives the moderate Hurriyet’s stand as a surrender and opposes reopening the bus route between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar fearing dilution of the Kashmir pro... [Read More]