Author: Fida Iqbal

The new look and the old problems! In 1973 in my sixth standard I had the chance to learn a Persian lesson—‘Dar rah yak na-bina aast, Dar dasti oee chiraag aast——’. The moral of the lesson was that a blind man walking on the street carrying a light in his hand would otherwise appear surprising,…

This blame game is not good for Kashmir and Kashmiris! In distant Washington, away from the hawkish gaze of coalition creatures like Mamta and Karuna Nidhi Congress leader Pranab Mukharjee made public the real face of coalition politics in India, by saying “It cannot be denied that some reforms have slowed down in India due…

That will restore beauty to this place! Ever since, state government contemplated revival of historical Jhelum water transport, a mixed atmosphere of curiosity and nostalgia is visible amongst the young and elderly. Kashmir valley with its impressive water bodies and active waterways has always been lively and full of energy. River Jhelum in particular has…

We need to do something to get rid of this mess! Next to civic disorder of garbage mismanagement and dog menace, the whole of Kashmir valley has surrendered to traffic mess. This situation of deadlock in traffic is not only because of rising number of vehicles or due to narrow, encroached and dilapidated roads but…

Machinating re-employments and extensions! With the advent of coalition politics in Jammu and Kashmir, administration and organizational structure got rather disarrayed. Political leadership reluctantly compromised with situation of fading territory just to safeguard their political constituencies and distinctiveness. Causatively, within the administration many influential lobbies having vested interests, flourished within the shady coalitionist System. Beyond…

TO RETIRE OR NOT TO RETIRE, DECISION IS NOT THAT EASY ! For last several years, government employees’ retirement issue has snowballed into a full-size controversy. The dilemma has on one hand created confusion among the ranks of government employees and on the other hand put dignified existence of thousands of young and qualified people…

Zaina Kadal is the new target. God save us! Politically patronized vandals are again on prowl and this time their target is historical heritage landmark—Zaina Kadal, a bridge over river Jhelum dedicated to one of the great kings of Kashmir—Zain-Ul-Abideen (BadShah). A nation is known by its language, culture and heritage. Linguistically we have turned…

Till your lands and achieve self-dependence. In these columns, umpteenth times we might have written about significance of land and agriculture for self-sufficiency and fundamental source of survival for mankind with a hope that people of Kashmir will not shy away from noble occupation of tilling their lands. Still, our agriculture sector is far behind…

Are we back to square one? Recently, in reply to one of the question to GK correspondent, Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone gave an interesting answer with far reaching political implications. He said “I would tell youngsters, with great honesty, we have tried the gun and we have tried the stones. The reply so…

….and these four legged creatures have a message for all! A healthy black dog with prominent white streak, arrogantly wagging his furry tail moves out to address a select audience. This extraordinary meeting of dog council was scheduled to be held at Achen garbage dumping ground on the outskirts of Srinagar but the elite ‘sixth…