I’m a person who can talk

I can dance, I can sing I only do my thing I can run, I can hide I take myself with pride Because I only have one life Sometimes I’m organised, sometimes I’m just a mess, and I know I will always try my very best Shout out your opinions to me Cuz...

Reconciliation for divided Jammu & Kashmir; working towards peace

video
At some point in the not too distant future, Commander Farooq of Mong and Dr Karan Singh, son of the last Dogra Jamwal Rajput ruler of Jammu & Kashmir, could (and should) meet in Mong, auspices of the people of “Azad” Jammu & Kashmir. This...

The Pahari Language of Azad Jammu Kashmir

Aside from popular conventions in how we would transliterate words from one language into another, no corresponding practise exists for the Pahari language spoken throughout the so-called 'Azad' or the 'Free' Territory of Pakistan Controlled Jammu & Kashmir. Usually Pahari expressions, phrases, and words...

Are Azad Kashmiris the same people as Valley Kashmiris?

Competing ‘State Identities’ & Ethnic Ambiguities In the absence of a genuine Pakistani state or nation-state identity what are Azad Kashmiris? It is at this point that we enter the quagmire of the Kashmiri identity dialectic which in the UK some pro-independence actors from Azad Kashmir...

The Importance of Cultural History; Kashmir – a Fragmented Land

The immediate thoughts which sprung to mind when faced with the word ‘history’ were recollections of sitting in a high school classroom making notes on British monarchs. However, it is only after following the dictation of the National Curriculum, I found myself with a...

The same tired mantras, the same bandwagons

Apparently, if you read the Guardian, Britain is a racist society. White writers aren’t saying this, BME writers are, because the leftwing Guardian doesn't do divisive politics, it just does identity politics, which needs the right identities to express the ubiquitous grievances. Where there are...

Remembering the victims of political oppression in ‘Azad’ Jammu Kashmir

video
Muhammad Ali Murtaza, an innocent young man was brutally tortured to death by Pakistan's army without any explanation and worse, they tried to cover it up. Quotes of the Day "The people who make wars, the people who reduce their fellows to slavery, the people who...

India, Pakistan, and “Kashmir” – the Economist explains…!

This is how the Economist explains the "Kashmir" conflict using the colonial label of 'Hindus' and 'Muslims' - these are 'constructed labels' however common-sense they seem to us today! There is a huge scholarly body of knowledge that demonstrates that before the emergence of...

The curious case of the anecdote becoming narrative

Internalising the negative perceptions of out-group members is not proof that there’s something inherently wrong with your in-group identity. This has happened to lots of people who have been ‘othered’ through a combination of factors that include inaccurate media portrayals, native informants and unjust social...

Oh Kashmir, who did you offend!?

Oh Jammu & Kashmir, what was your crime? Who did you offend that they long to punish you? Are you not a people, old as the nations of the world, older than the straight borders of colonial maps? Nay, nay, you are not a nation!...