The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones:

The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones:

J. Joubert Book buying is a passion. Academicians and students love to buy books. They have a natural propensity towards book buying. Whether we read them or not, we do buy them. In English there are specific words to define specific kinds of book lovers. Bibliophile is a person who loves books. Bibliobibuli is a […]

An Open Letter to the Grand Mufti of Jammu & Kashmir

An Open Letter to the Grand Mufti of Jammu & Kashmir

Esteemed Sir Asalamu Alykum Hope my words find you in the best of health. I feel it my utmost duty to write to you that our religious scholars and preachers are not coming up to the expectations of the masses, especially of our youth. The entire world is in grip of certain social and cultural […]

The feminism in Islam

The feminism in Islam

Zubair Rashid Women in Islam are thought to be subjugated, degraded, oppressed – but are they really? Are millions of Muslims simply that oppressive or are these misconceptions fabricated by a biased media? “And for women are rights over men, similar to those of men over women.”Qur’an 2:228 More than fourteen-hundred years ago, Islam gave […]

The kind of professor we need in Kashmir

The kind of professor we need in Kashmir

Muzamil Rashid I had no guidance related to studies here in Kashmir after I passed 10+2 with PCB subjects, and then did a Bachelors from Kashmir University. Like any other student in Kashmir, I also was required to fulfil the wishes of my parents or the people around, to be a doctor or an engineer […]

Re-Emerging India-China Border Tensions

Bhat Mukhtar & Mubashir Shah In International relations there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies. Peace is a pre-requisite for development of any county/region. The current border row between India and China can be traced back to border tensions that began in 1914, when representatives from Britain, China and Tibet gathered at Shimla to […]

Still in thrall to those storytellers

Still in thrall to those storytellers

Mushtaq Hurra Storytelling has been an age-old way of transmitting knowledge from one person to another and from one generation to another. It is still one of our pedagogical methods of imparting education to our children. Tales of Alif Laila, Vikram Baital, Sindbad still reverberate in our ears. And who can forget the horrors of […]

The night of the encounter

The night of the encounter

Ummar Jamal On the afternoon of 11th July, my father asked me to carry my nephew back to his home. He had come to our home a fortnight ago. I agreed to do so promptly, as it had been very tedious to stay inside home all the time. I set out on the journey on […]

Why does no one care for Khumani Chowk Bemina ?

Why does no one care for Khumani Chowk Bemina ?

SHAMIM HUSSAINI On behalf of the people of Khumani Chowk Bemina, I would like to ask the district administration Budgam what they have done – and if nothing, why? – for our area? Why is there such poor infrastructure in terms of roads and electricity and healthcare? Why is there no good school? Why is […]

Dialogue between an Islamist and a Post-Islamist

Dialogue between an Islamist and a Post-Islamist

The resonance that one discovers, though with much intellectual labour, between Dr Israr Ahmad’s advocacy of the Islamic state and Javed Ahmad Ghamidi’s blunt negation of the entire Islamist discourse, is the primacy and the centrality of the Quran Aijaz Manzoor Few of us would venture to proceed with a project which by all standards […]

Kashmiri youth must move from violence to peace

Kashmiri youth must move from violence to peace

Sajad Farooq Rather If we believe that not all is lost in Kashmir, then it is important to find ways of bringing some peace and normalcy in the valley. The Kashmir situation is one of the most confounding in politics and has impacted society at all levels, but youth in particular have been caught in […]