News Kashmir Magazine

News Kashmir Exclusive

Youth are termed season of hope but in Kashmir this youth has suffered most due to ongoing conflict and violence that continues unabated since past three decades.

The unresolved Kashmir conflict has taken a worst toll on the youth of Kashmir. In last few years a renewed trend has been witnessed among the youth of Kashmir with reference to adopting the Armed path of resistance and thus losing their precious lives.

With the resignation of Dr. Shah Faesal from the IAS, who had shot to limelight by topping the famed IAS exams few years back proved this crossroads point behind doubt. The Prime speculation is that he will join politics.

Heightened violence in the year 2018 claimed most the lives of youth .

Renowned Social activist and researcher Muzamil Maqbool stated :”The youth of Kashmir are at crossroads. There is an environment of disappointment among youth as scores of youth have lost their life in violent conflict and youth are confused among different political narratives. The debate is on whether to join the electoral politics is a good move or not and youth are thinking about it. Need of an hour is to create a platform for everyone especially for youth where they can have their say. Where they can share their thoughts and ideas with each and get heard but unfortunately time and again policy makers and leaders everywhere have failed to address the ground realities. In these  tough times all we can hope is to have a peaceful and better future for everyone. Otherwise we are leaving nothing for the generations to come.”

On the other hand the political buzz has also heated up.

Reiterating that everyone should respect the decision of IAS topper Shah Faesal AIP president Er. Rasheed has appealed Shah Faesal not to let people down and prove his words. While addressing a press conference in Srinagar , Er. Rasheed said Shah Faesal’s resignation from the services has proved that sincere people can’t serve under corrupt political dispensation and is authentication of the fact that Kashmiris are being denied their rights and are facing worst state Terrorism. Er. Rasheed said “what so ever reasons Shah Faesal has cited for his resignation, it yet again reveals and confirms that New Delhi is treating J&K as a colony and the Kashmiri officers especially hailing from majority community are facing discrimination and alienation within the system, Otherwise an IAS topper would never have been compelled to leave the job as he could have served more as a top class bureaucrats than as politician. Shah Faesal is absolute right in saying that Kashmiris get killed, tortured, humiliated and are being deprived of their fundamental rights. It is for Shah Faesal to decide how he can achieve his goal or fight for the rights of Kashmiris.” Er. Rasheed said that while taking next step is Shah Faesal’s own choice but his joining any party not with good track record will lead to confusions and the intentions of Shah Faesal will come under question mark.

The pulse of ground zero is that youth in Kashmir are definitely on crossroads and need a balm to their wounds.

News Kashmir Exclusive

In a dramatic development, a group of youngsters, carrying ISIS flags, forcibly entered the historic Jamia Masjid here and created a ruckus on the eve of Friday prayers on 28 December, 2018. The video of the incident went viral on the social media on Saturday.

This act of them resulted in evoking widespread condemnation from the mosque’s management committee and the profreedom leadership .

The incident occurred after the congregational Friday prayers when most of the people had left the mosque, officials said, adding that the youngsters were later chased away by those present there.

Pertinently, The officials said  Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who delivered the Friday sermon at the mosque, had also left before the incident took place.

“A group of youngsters, wearing masks, forced their entry into the mosque and rushed to the pulpit where the Mirwaiz delivers the sermon. One of them stood atop the pulpit and shouted slogans. They were carrying ISIS flags,” said an official.

On the otherhand , Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq strongly protest the ‘desecration’ of Jamia Masjid by masked youth supporting ISIS. Mirwaiz, who is also the head priest of the grand mosque said that such hooliganism will not be tolerated..

All the voices of sanity are aghast over the act, Sofi Mushtaq, Youth President Awami Action committee, while talking to the News Kashmir  stated : This was totally hooligan act, you go in a vulgar manner in the sacred pulpit of Jamia Mosque is unacceptable . These type of acts deserve utmost condemnation as the violate sanctity of mosque. We hope good sense prevail on these misguided youth and they do not repeat such evil acts in future. Jamia Mosque represents our emotions and is a very sacred place for faithful. All the voices of sanity in unison have condemned this bad act..”

On the otherhand of the spectrum, Asserting that the footprints of global terror outfit ISIS were not large in Kashmir valley, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh, however, said that the fact that a section of the youth were being radicalized on those lines can’t be denied.

The DGP said an illusion is being created by some elements that ISIS has a very large presence in the valley by waving their flags publically, but that is not true.

“But the fact that people are being radicalized on those lines can’t be denied,” he warned.

Without a doubt all the concerned voices are expressing deep anguish over the desecration of Jamia by goon elements.

Rameez Makhdoomi

2018 Year is ending and it has been one of the bloody years in the 30 year history of Kashmir conflict . 2018 (MMXVIII) which was  the current year, and is a common year which started   on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2018th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 18th year of the 3rd millennium, the 18th year of the 21st century, and the 9th year of the 2010s decade.

Bloodshed seemed written all over the year 2018 with kashmiris being among the majority of the casualties suffered and more than 90 percent of coffins of the conflict affecting the households of Kashmir. There were 587 incidents of violence during 2018 compared to 329 last year. Official figures say 240 militants were killed during the year against 200 last year.

Casualties among civilians and the security forces have also been comparatively higher. Thirty-seven civilians and 86 security men were killed in 2018 against 36 civilians and 74 security personnel killed last year.

People across the spectrum are dismayed over the blood soaked 2018 .

Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikandar, a prominent writer and activist of Kashmir, while talking to the News Kashmir stated :”2018 was unfortunately one of the years that witnessed most violence  in the recent turbulent history of conflict hit Kashmir. Militants, poilcemen, army men, civilians, informers, political activists, journalists were killed during this year with majority of the victims being Kashmiris themselves. The nature of this ugly bloodshed calls for a meaningful dialogue with the angry youth of Kashmir and also dialogue between India and Pakistan. We hope against hope that coming year 2019 brings some relief in our lives to end this disaster once for all  .2018 overall gave us a nostalgia of bad memories of death and destruction. ”

On the other side of the spectrum, the hope is that year 2019 would bring some good news for Kashmir eluding peace .

Bilal Bashir Bhat, editor in Chief Daily Jung, while talking to the News Kashmir stated :”2018 was the year of unprecedented death and destruction, this year was among the most violence hit years of Kashmir with large number of civilians and local militants dying in the conflict. We need to touch the cause of this which lies in the unresolved political issue of Kashmir for which meaningful dialogue should be held between India, Pakistan and Kashmir. But on important terms 2018 gave us tears and blood. We hope for better 2019 .

NEWS KASHMIR EXCLUSIVE

Education System has been positively reformed   all over the globe. The reality on ground is that our response in Kashmir in reforming  education system in right direction has been going on at snail pace thus  the education system of ours is facing several inherent problems.

Be it elementary education, high school to college and University level education system of ours in Kashmir is craving for reforms. Our education system is stated to encourage rote learning which thus kills creativity . The public education system is in doldrums since long with poor results often the case.

Rote learning which is widely used in the mastery of foundational knowledge. Examples include phonics in reading, the periodic table in chemistry, multiplication tables in mathematics, anatomy in medicine, cases or statutes in law, basic formulas in any science, etc. Rote learning, eats up  comprehension and creativity, and consequently, it is an ineffective tool in mastering any complex subject at an advanced level.

On the other  side of the spectrum, there is no fixed criterion for payment in private schools but general trend is  that the teachers  in private schools are paid very less as compared to their counterparts in government or government-aided schools. While as the students are forced to pay heavy fees and donations and the departments who are supposed to regulate our education system seem to have no control over them. In our part of the world, Private schools are working like imperialistic empires without any check and balance system.

Well known academic expert Sheikh Sameer, while talking to News Kashmir  states :

“It should be the among the top priorities of state government to reform education sector as statistical data has shown dismal position of education sector in Jammu and Kashmir . Drop out rate has gone up to 10.2% from 6.9% and has shown increasing trend over the years .Reason for this is lack of academic infrastructure, poor coordination ,failed implementation strategy, conventional teaching modus operandi ,lack of political will and bureaucratic interventions in policy making which should be the domain of academics from colleges and universities.

Initiatives have been taken to introduce various schemes even NGOs have been involved  to train teachers and to implement them but no substantial results have been yielded.

From the academic point of view, you will see there has been content crises as text books are not in consonance with  teaching skills .Content is parrot fashioned, mechanical and quasi conventional. There is no scope for affective_ cognitive approach of teaching learning process .Shared learning is not encouraged. Teachers have to prepare according to prescribed syllabus. No educational tours, no community involvement and inter school debates ,seminars symposia at intermediate level keeping in view changing academic landscape.”

Undoubtedly from all pros and cons our education system is in need of reforms

Honorable Guv should create board of academic advisors. It should have 10 member body headed by VC retired or existing, experts from relevant fields. Sec. education and director to be nominated as ex officio members. This body should be empowered to discuss academic issues only.”