Kashmir: Betrayal, Uncertainty and Fear make a Potent Brew

The drive from Srinagar to Shopian in South Kashmir on the sixth Friday since the nullification of Article 370 is eerily calm. On one stretch of the road near Kakpora, just before Pulwama, stones and the odd, felled tree trunk appear as makeshift roadblocks- laid by local youth to prevent any vehicular movement- military or…

When Professional Is Personal (lessons from the field)

No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main… Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind… And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls It tolls for thee. —John Donne Nothing breaks a heart more than…

Untitled. Or A Reporter’s Diary. (Written, 2017)

They arrive in darkness from the depths of memory of faraway lands and blood soaked streets. Shadows move noisily in the night. Fingers point accusingly Wails a cacophony of regret. Dismembered, limbless, sightless sometimes lifeless faces, bodies, voices questioning. Asking when I will return. If I will return. I am the itinerant, welcomed into hollow…

Silent River (Or Whose Side are you On? Written November, 2016)

A mother sings a lullaby. In the moonlight stars sparkle over the Jhelum. A father walks outside to lock the gate. And looks across the bund on to the silent river, black as night. Footsteps in the dark Stomp, crush Tar and leaves Dry as paper. Where are they headed? He wonders and hurries back…

After Balakot, time for a diplomatic offensive

War is politics by other means, said Karl Von Clausewitz, the Prussian military strategist in the eighteenth century. As societies change, and politics changes, so does the nature of war, and the battlefields wars are fought on. The two weeks since the Pulwama attack has shown us that the battlefield is now also on television…

UNHCR, OCHCR Urge India not to Deport Rohingya

New Delhi. October 3, 2018 Officials from UN High Commissioner for Refugees based in India have said that seven Rohingya men being deported from the Silchar central jail in Assam to their home village in  Central Rakhine in Myanmar should be given a chance to make an “informed decision”  about their return in the current…

Digital Hatred, Real Violence

This paper  was triggered by a study of social media commentary I had released earlier this year, that had shown a spike of 11 percent in religion based hate speech between 2016 and 2017. Here I try to delve into the causes and spread of such speech on social media and the intersections between free…

Israel’s Nationality Bill Is Challenging the Core of Jewish Identity

As the sun sets over the Mediterranean off the coast of Tel Aviv on Sabbath evening, Israelis, young and old, head down to the many bars along Ben Yehuda Street, or to the beach to cool off in the July heat. Ideally, Jewry across the world is meant to be indoors on this day, focused…

CVE: Lessons for India

Have spent the last few months learning about, understanding and critiquing policies that focus on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE in policy jargon)- in order to look at what India can do. This report- a result of all the studying- emphasises the need to go beyond law enforcement-based approaches to terror and extremist violence, and recommends…

Cracks in a Faustian Pact in Kashmir

Last week, it was video of the army using a local boy as a human shield as they tried to evacuate a group of polling officers under attack by stone pelters. This week, it is the chilling video of gau-rakshaks attacking Gujjars, traditional cattle herders, including women and a 9-year-old child taking shelter inside a…