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ContributorKashmir Observer |

By Syed Nissar H. Gilani I still keep this photograph tucked away, its edges softened by time. It was taken in August 1979, and it was never meant...


By Dr. Fiaz Maqbool Fazili Language in Kashmir carries everything we’ve lived through: loss, laughter, love, fear, and endurance. But hidden in...


By Musaib Bilal Srinagar in winter has a sharp, crisp air. Smoke curls from small tea stalls, streets glint under frost, and inside narrow...


By Uzma Qadir Mir The road to Kashmir’s high-altitude villages often begins with a single bend in a mountain. One moment you pass through a busy...


By Ikkz Ikbal Fire trucks have been racing through Kashmir almost every night this season. Sirens cut through the shivering cold, echoing off empty...


By Zahid Ahmad A strange crisis is taking hold everywhere. People stay connected through apps, reels, chats, and group messages, and many still feel...


By Aaqyb Ashraf Each year, when life certificates are due, Kashmir’s elderly get ready for a familiar routine. They walk into their bank, greet...


By Faizan Ashraf Talk of reforms often sounds cold and technical, as if people don’t exist behind the numbers. Charts are drawn, figures cited,...


By Dr. Fiaz Maqbool Fazili Kashmiris have long believed that marriages are made in heaven. But behind many doors, they are silently falling apart....


By Wani Hayat Inside Government Middle School in Budgam district, Grade VI children wait for their first class. They whisper, fidget, and look...


By Mohammad Hanief December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, asks all of us, especially here in Kashmir, to think about how we...


By Hidayat Bukhari A serious health crisis is sweeping through Kashmir, disguised in everyday treats. It hides in jars labelled “pure honey,”...


By Dr. Mushtaq Rather A mother juggles two jobs in Anantnag just to pay her daughter’s school fees. She laughs nervously as she recalls the day...


By Fazal Mujtaba I first heard about that group through the community contacts. An outreach worker mentioned them one afternoon. A neighbour...


By Suhail Gaznavi The long line outside a registration office in Kashmir often tells a full story before anyone even reaches the counter. People...


By Shazia Bhat I first met the coin kids at the Sonwar crossing. One carried a glue-stick, another a crumpled report card. They said, “Auntie,...


By Aana Shabir Gojwari I grew up hearing Kashmir called “Paradise on Earth.” Mountains rise like white crowns, glaciers melt into rivers that...


By Mohammad Hanief Every year, as Chinar leaves turn gold and drift to the ground, Kashmir braces for months of cold and stillness. Winter does...


By Fiza Masoodi Last month, I stood in the bride’s room at a Srinagar marriage hall while a young woman pressed refresh on her phone. The screen...


By Aaqyb Ashraf My cousin Aadil got married in 2022. He moved his wife into the old family house on the banks of the Jhelum: four floors, three...


By Raqif Makhdoomi Be a man. Men don’t cry. Are you even a man? Start earning, you are a man. Mard ko dard nahi hota. Kashmiri boys hear these...


By Mohammad Hanief Work in Jammu and Kashmir is going through a real shift. For years, most young people prepared only for government jobs. Now...


By Saad Parvez I often leave home early, hoping traffic will be kind. It rarely is. The roads feel like an endless test of patience. Vehicles...


By Ghazi Rahil Banday Every time I enter a public place in Kashmir, a familiar worry comes to mind: will I find a restroom I can actually use? This...

By Hidayat Bukhari Cities everywhere are rethinking how people move through their busiest streets. From Istanbul’s Sultanahmet to the walkable...

By Mohammad Hanief Kashmir mornings start with a sense of worry. Children head to school with extra care. Shopkeepers keep an eye on the lanes...

By Mehak Fayaz and Naveed Ahmad Ladakh today stands at the meeting point of India’s most complex challenges. The region faces melting...

By Bashir Ahmad Dar Low attendance in schools often looks like a simple case of missing students. A teacher marks the register, counts the empty...

By Fiza Masoodi At a recent entrepreneurship event in Srinagar, a senior government official made a comment that silenced the room for a few...

By Sheikh Umar Ahmad When Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University opened in 2002, it changed what the Pir Panjal region imagined for itself. Families...

By Khair Ull Nissa Shah It was early morning in Saudi. The city was just waking up, but my phone was already buzzing with news: one of our largest...

By Falak Aslam Looking at today’s numbers for Kashmir, it’s hard to connect them to the stories older generations tell. Families that once...

By Dr. Ashraf Zainabi Budgam has always seemed predictable in politics. For nearly fifty years, it stood as a loyal friend of the National...

By Raqif Makhdoomi I woke up at 8:30 in the morning and reached for my phone before my eyes had even adjusted to the light. My thumb opened X out...

By Inshallah Azhar Last week, I found myself in a packed hall at the University of Kashmir, attending a film festival organized by the Media...

By Tajamul Islam Salroo In the autumn air of south Kashmir, the scent of apples fills the roads leading to Lassipora. Over the last decade, the...

By Dr. Ashraf Zainabi Budgam was once the heartbeat of central Kashmir’s politics. It stood by the National Conference through every political...

By Mohammad Hanief Every winter, as cold seeps into the valley, the skies fill with wings. Bar-headed geese, pintails, teals, herons, and gulls...

By Khair Ull Nissa Shah Rejection has followed me through every stage of my life. It came long before I became a CEO or worked across continents. ...

By Sadaket Ali Malik On any street in Srinagar, voices flow in different tongues. A baker calls out in Kashmiri, a student answers in Urdu, and...

By Aamir Basharat Qureshi On an autumn morning in Srinagar, a government eBus hums past Lal Chowk. Its bright frame gleams in the sunlight. Women...

By Sahil Bilal Every morning in Kashmir, students step out with backpacks filled with books and lunch boxes. But the heaviest thing they carry...

By Dr. Fiaz Maqbool Fazili The question keeps returning to Kashmir’s public debate with the persistence of a recurring fever: should doctors in...

By Syed Duha and Saifullah Bashir The post-1945 financial order was built on the belief that global systems were apolitical: the money, markets,...

By Shafat Ahmad Khan The recent seizure of over 13,000 kilograms of contaminated meat in Jammu and Kashmir has left people shocked and worried....

By Dr Umer Ahmad Ganaie This year, Kashmir has seen doctors take to social media to voice what was once unspoken: their exhaustion, anxiety, and...

By Raqif Makhdoomi The streets of Budgam are alive again. From the narrow lanes of Charar to the open fields near Humhama, a familiar chorus rises...

By Kaisar Mir In Srinagar, it’s now common to find someone standing in the middle of a crowd, phone in hand, talking breathlessly into the...

By Aaqyb Ashraf There was a time when Kashmir was called Peer Vear, the land of saints. People believed goodness was part of the air here, flowing...

By Peerzada Mohsin Shafi For years, the Singhpora-Vailoo Tunnel has lived more in conversations than in construction. People spoke of it at tea...
