Dr Nyla Ali Khan

Indian nationalists are quick to claim their intractable hold on Kashmiris; Pakistani nationalists are just as quick to claim to speak for Kashmiris. Kashmir, despite having a real internal history and a place in the world, is suppressed by its positioning in the Indo-Pak conflict. Mainstream Kashmiri politicians culpably reiterate that “Kashmir is an integral […]

During the last two decades, each military crisis between India and Pakistan has been followed by attempts at diplomatic rapprochement, which have turned out to be fiascos. The two countries go through sporadic peacemaking efforts, characterised by negotiations. For instance, in January 2004, the then Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the then Pakistani […]

The discourse of nationalism affects to make sense of the absurd loss of life that occurs. Human knowledge, however, is always tentative and arbitrary. We must learn to cross the frontiers of culture, nationality, language, and citizenship in order to make humanist responses to conflict situations. There is growing awareness among the people of Jammu […]

Whatever solution South Asia analysts and policy makers may have in mind after the Pulwama terror attack, they shall have to test it with this yardstick—whether it will ensure Indo-Pak peace and harmony, and whether it can give peace to the 12 million people of Jammu and Kashmir. In the current situation, the local community […]

There are some compelling examples of Kashmiri women working through the discourse of victimhood to construct their identities as survivors. One example of powerful agential roles played by Kashmiri women is the Women’s Self-Defense Corps (WSDC) formed in 1947. This organization comprised Kashmir Muslim as well as Kashmiri Hindu women of diverse class backgrounds. This […]

Armed insurgency and counter insurgency in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Jammu and Kashmir scorched the landscape, blighting educational and economic opportunities. Despite their active role in political mobilization of 1931, the Quit Kashmir movement (anti-monarchical movement) of 1946, and the fierce nationalism of 1947, terror made women revert from the public to […]

Armed insurgency and counter insurgency in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Jammu and Kashmir scorched the landscape, blighting educational and economic opportunities. Despite their active role in political mobilization of 1931, the Quit Kashmir movement (anti-monarchical movement) of 1946, and the fierce nationalism of 1947, terror made women revert from the public to […]

The recent attempts of the vice-chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, and a professor at the University of Jadhavpur, Kolkata, to diminish women’s identities and reduce them to symbols of ‘purity’ compelled me to think about empowered women in the fourteenth century in my native state, Kashmir. Kashmiris have taken pride in inhabiting a […]

With elections in mainland India as well as Jammu and Kashmir round the corner, it is important to reiterate that the conscription of a legitimate political space, attempts to decimate institutions of governance, and the inability of political organizations in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, mainstream as well as separatist, to uphold and voice […]

There is a plethora of opinions on the political future of the conglomerate of Kashmir, my homeland. Is Kashmir a principality? An autonomous unit within the Indian Union? An integral part of India? A subversive unit with the Indian Union? A bilateral issue between the nation-states of India and Pakistan? Is the mainstream Indian understanding […]