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ContributorKashmir Observer |

By Aubaid Akhoon Budgam hums with political chatter these days. Every street corner, WhatsApp group, and news channel seems alive with debates. But...

By Shahid Ahmed Hakla Poonchi Indian cinema has long told the stories of a nation, carrying its triumphs, tragedies, and tensions to audiences...

By Shahid Shafi Rather Kashmiri youth are facing a new kind of danger. Pregabalin, a prescription medication meant to treat neuropathic pain,...


By Dr. Fiaz Maqbool Fazili I was sitting by the bedside of a patient in Srinagar, watching her hands tremble over the thin hospital blanket. She...


By Dr. Rizwan Rumi It begins with a knock at the orchard gate. Traders arrive from outside the valley with polite smiles and sharp eyes. Beside...


By Ahmad Ayaz Power is a gift in any democracy, meant to be wielded with care. In Jammu & Kashmir, the gift has been reshaped. Political survival...


By Mohammad Hanief The autumn harvest no longer brings the same comfort it once did in Kashmir’s saffron town. The fields that earlier bloomed...


By Hidayat Bukhari India’s education system is trapped in a syllabus-first mindset while the world demands skills-first thinkers. Unless learning...


By Syed Arsalan Abid THE latest to join the city’s long list of emotional dramas is Shelly Mahajan v. Ms. Bhanushree Bahl & Anr. — where a...


By Mir Tariq Maqbool The past week witnessed an uproar that began in South Kashmir and soon echoed across the Valley. The cause was neither a...


By Advocate Aqib-ul-Ahad THE unchecked and unnecessary use of sirens by government convoys, official vehicles, and even ambulances without patients...


By Dr. Ashraf Zainabi Once, every mohalla and village in Kashmir had its respected elders — the babs, kaks, tooths and sobs — who...


By Sally Wentworth Encryption, the simple act of scrambling data so that it cannot be read by third parties, keeps us, our loved ones, and our...


By Aamir Wani In today’s world, what was once considered a moral sin has now become a social trend. Relationships before marriage — emotional...


By Khushboo Amin Bhat As a Kashmiri girl and a law student, I feel deeply disturbed by what I see every day. Harassment of women in public transport...


THERE are moments in history when people face a choice: do we heal the scars of the past, or do we protect the hope that carries us into the future?...


By Musaib Bilal When the Pahalgam attack took place earlier this year, I was full of life. I had been attending youth conferences, leading...


By Khair Ull Nissa Shah Integrity in public service has never been about staying untouched. It is about standing up, deciding, and delivering when...


By Muzamil Farooq Ten years ago, a Kashmiri child’s ambition might’ve been to become a doctor, a poet, or an engineer. But today, many dream of...

By Er Navaid Runyal For years, the people of Ramban watched the Chenab roll past their mountains, a river that gave everything except opportunity. ...


By Sandeep Kotwal Imagine seeing Kashmir and Ladakh as a single region, a vast stretch of nearly 75,000 square kilometres. By size, it could fit...


By Mohammad Hanief Tobacco use has become one of the most alarming public health problems in Jammu and Kashmir today. Awareness campaigns run year...


By Aamir Wani For as long as I can remember, success in Kashmir has been measured in government job postings. From a young age, children are told...


By Dr. Waseem Ahmad Agriculture still drives the economy and puts food on millions of tables in India. So even small changes in taxes can affect a...


By Taseer Majeed I often hear people call it an epidemic. The news says it is spreading. The police say they are cracking down. Hospitals say they...


By Muskan Shafi Malik As Jammu and Kashmir prepares for another round of Rajya Sabha nominations, the question of representation returns. Will a...


By Mohammad Hanief A few weeks ago, inspectors from the Jammu and Kashmir Drugs and Food Control Organization (DFCO) tested random samples of...


By Dr. Waseem Ahmad The orchards of Kashmir feel emptier these days. Bees that used to hum through the blossoms are disappearing from the trees....


By Khair Ull Nissa Shah A few days ago, while travelling to Ashmuqam in South Kashmir, I came across a sight that still troubles me. Truck after...

By Hidayat Bukhari Kashmir can stop this. The solution is straightforward: control waste, manage streets, sterilise and vaccinate strays, and...

By Raqif Makhdoomi Words like depression, anxiety, stress, and panic attack have become part of everyday conversations in the valley. Teenagers,...

By Sameer Ahmad The orchard is the first place I learned to measure time. The blossoms announced spring, the green fruit carried us through summer,...

By Khalid Mustafa When India launched the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017, the promise was bold: one tax to replace the messy patchwork of...

By Syed Nissar H Gilani In 1958, a scandal in Kangan, a small town in Kashmir, shook the valley and left a mark that lasts even today. A Naib...

By Iqbal Hussain A group of farmers gathers along the Lidder River in Pahalgam to plant willow and poplar saplings. These are local residents,...

By Zayd Ibn Umar Step into a masjid on Friday and it feels like paradise has arrived. The air carries the scent of fresh perfume, neatly folded...

By Peer Mohammad Amir Qureshi There was a time when a single murder, even far away in the mainland, would shake this valley. People would whisper:...

By Iffat Aurooj The morning in Leh was colder than usual when the sound of ambulance sirens cut through the thin September air. Two elderly hunger...

By Peerzada Faizan Gul Kashmir’s food markets have been hit hard in recent weeks. Raids have revealed warehouses full of spoiled meat,...

By Arsalan Reshi Pulwama’s Naira village might seem too small to matter in politics. Its lanes and landscape rarely draw attention. Still, from...

By Ibn E Toota The Supreme Court’s recent ruling making the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) mandatory for all government school teachers has...

By Mohammad Amin Mir On a September morning, Nussu Badragund, a village in Tehsil Qazigund, was unusually lively. Men and women gathered outside the...

By Dr. Waseem Ahmad At a recent wedding in Pampore, a waiter ladled golden saffron gravy over rice and crimson meat. Guests picked up the food with...

By Dr. Imran Khan For most adults, work is the single largest part of life. It structures our days, shapes our relationships, and often becomes...

By Uzma Qadir Mir Electricity keeps a modern economy alive. It powers factories, lights up schools, runs hospitals, and touches almost every part of...

By Aamir Wani Every autumn, as the orchards of Shopian, Pulwama, and Sopore glow with red and gold apples, Kashmir prepares for its most important...

By Hidayat Bukhari Floods in Kashmir are not accidents of nature. They are the visible outcome of how rivers, lakes, and wetlands have been treated...

By Asra Altaf Koul Step into a college corridor, a coaching centre, or even a tea stall in Kashmir and the same question echoes everywhere: what...

By Amaar Mir Fewer students are choosing higher education in Kashmir today. College classrooms that once brimmed with ambition are half-empty, and...

By Sahil Manzoor Bhatti In Srinagar’s old city, the sound of hammers on copper once marked Kashmir’s tradition. Artisans shaped flower pots,...
