The Kashmir Walla Podcasts

After abrogation of semi-autonomy of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019, the BJP government downgraded the J-K to a federally-governed territory on On 31 October 2019. Sarwat Javaid of The Kashmir Walla, speaks to Romaan Muneeb, a lawyer; Adnan Ashraf, spokesperson for People’s Conference; Sarwar Malik, Managing Director of Pro-Active Premium Water; and Fahad Shah, editor-in-chief of The Kashmir Walla about what has changed legally, politically, economically and security wise, a year after the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded to a federally-governed territory.

On 27 October 1947, while the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was under turmoil when Maharaja Hari Singh sought help from the Indian government, the troops of the Indian army landed in Kashmir. At that time, it was seen as a temporary measure to keep the peace. Even after seventy-three years, the army continues to increase its presence and New Delhi has further removed the impediments in order to consolidate its grip over Kashmir.

Later on 5 August 2019, the government of India revoked the special status granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir. The government took this step through a presidential order that superseded the 1954 proclamation.

On July 17, the Jammu and Kashmir administrative council headed by Lt. Governor G. C. Murmu cleared a proposal to amend the J&K Control of Building Operations Act, 1988 and the J&K Development Act, 1970 for notifying “strategic areas” for use by the armed forces and regulating construction through “special dispensation”.

The J-K’s regional parties, including the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), described the proposal of amending the Control of Building Operations Act, 1988 and the J&K Development Act, 1970 as “an attempt to change the demography and turn the entire region into a military establishment”.

Later, the government spokesman said the decision has nothing to do with the transfer of any land to the armed forces. “The transfer, both acquisition or requisitions, continues to be governed by the existing law and the norms on the subject. There is no decision to either transfer any new land or declare areas outside cantonments or army land as strategic.”

In our latest podcast, Sarwat Javaid of The Kashmir Walla speaks to Athar Parvaiz an award-winning journalist based in Srinagar, who has extensively written on the environment and climate change, and Raja Muzaffar, RTI Activist, and Columnist, who is an Acumen Fellow and presently undergoing Climate Action Fellowship at Anant National University about the impact of the dilution of the laws and how this will affect the civilian population.

In recent years, Kashmir has seen an alarming rise in substance use disorder among youth. At Kashmir's largest psychiatry hospital, the Institute of Medical Health and Neuroscience (IMHANS), admits about two to five patients every day -- a majority among them are fighting with heroin addiction.

One of the largest de-addiction centers in Kashmir also registered a drastic spike in the footfall at its Out Patient Department (OPD) in the last three years. From April 2016 and March 2017, 489 patients visited its OPD, while it rose to 3,622 in the next 12 months -- and then to 5,113 in the 12 months after that.

Earlier, The Kashmir Walla reported how since the COVID-19 restrictions were put in place in Kashmir in March 202 -- to curb the spread of the virus -- several rehabilitation centers shut too, giving a rise to the replaces among the addicts.

In the latest podcast, Sarwat Javaid spoke with a substance disorder patient and a resident doctor at the Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (IMHANS), Dr. Marya Zahoor, to understand the scenario as the situation unfolds.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome, or simply known as PCOS,  is a common health problem caused by an imbalance of reproductive hormones in women. Between 5 and 10 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44 have PCOS. It is also one of the most common causes of infertility.

The National Family Health Survey of 2015 states that 61 percent of married women in Kashmir report one or more reproductive health problems – 22 percent higher than India’s national average. Studies have also shown that there are higher chances of psychiatric disorders in patients with PCOS. And this in place with a prolonged conflict is even worse, compounding the risk of women developing psychiatric disorders such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

Dr. Sanjeet Kour Senior resident in the department of psychiatry, the institute of mental health and neurosciences, Dr Syed Naseer, consultant gynecologist, Sher-i-Kashmir institute of medical sciences and Khair-un-Nisa, a PCOS patient, speak to The Kashmir Walla's Sarwat Javaid about the rising cases of PCOS and infertility among Kashmir women, and if the conflict has had a role to play on women’s reproductive health.

In a statement after the killing of the three missing labourers from Rajouri in a staged gunfight, the Indian Army had admitted that its troops had exceeded the powers vested in it under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The Act has been termed draconian by rights activists, pointing to its sweeping provisions. We speak to Parvaiz Imroze of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and Muzamil Jaleel, Deputy Editor of the Indian Express, to find out what does the AFSPA mean for the troops and how is it a tool to circumvent accountability.

In the age of vibrant media, reporting on Kashmir has been frequent for many but amid this different narratives are being built too. Our host Sarwat Javaid speaks to Rashid Maqbool, media researcher and trainer, Gul Bahar Shah, a Ph.D scholar of Jamia Millia Islamia University and Faizan Bukhari, a theatre artist, about the flawed narrativization of Kashmir in media.

This week a civilian was killed when militants attacked a paramilitary forces’ personnel in north Kashmir’s Sopore area. Police accused the militants of shooting him but his family claimed he was dragged out of his vehicle and shot dead. Within a few minutes after his killing, photographs of his three-year-old grandson, sitting on his grandfather’s corpse, went viral. But no one confirmed who clicked the photograph. Another photograph of a police officer holding the child in his lap and claiming he was rescued was shared by official police handle on Twitter. As the outrage on the photograph, claimed by people as staged by the government forces, rose, questions were raised whether sharing child’s photograph was insensitive or not.

In this week’s podcast, The Kashmir Walla editor-in-chief, Fahad Shah, discusses this issue and journalism in conflict zones with two guests: Judith Matloff and Robert Nickelsberg.

Judith Matloff teaches crisis reporting at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York and has covered stories including Rwanda’s genocide, apartheid and the rise of Vladimir Putin. She is the author of How to Drag a Body and Other Safety Tips You Hope to Never Need, No Friends but the Mountains, Fragments of a Forgotten War, and Home Girl. More at www.judithmatloff.com

Robert Nickelsberg, who worked as a TIME magazine contract photographer for nearly thirty years specializing in

As several mining contracts in Kashmir Valley have been secured by non-locals in Kashmir after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A in August 2019, locals feel that it will add to the loss of jobs and also threat to demographic change. In this podcast, host Fahad Shah, discusses its impact and outcome with Athar Parvaiz, an award-winning journalist based in Srinagar and Aijaz Ashraf Wani, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Kashmir. 

Michael Kugelman, Deputy director of the Asia Program at The Wilson Center and Suhasini Haidar, National Editor and Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu, speak to The Kashmir Walla's Minaam Shah on the latest standoff between China and India in Ladakh near Line of Actual Control. Many believe that the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was a trigger behind the standoff. 

Host: Minaam Shah

For more of our coverage visit our website www.thekashmirwalla.com