Indian artists perform during the Bonalu festival at the Sri Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Temple in Hyderabad on August 1, 2016. The eleven-day 'Bonalu' festival sees ritual offerings of food and dancing made to the Hindu goddess Maha Kali, who is honoured mainly by women during the event. / AFP PHOTO / NOAH SEELAMNOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images

Indian artists perform during the Bonalu festival at the Sri Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Temple in Hyderabad. The eleven-day ‘Bonalu’ festival sees ritual offerings of food and dancing made to the Hindu goddess Maha Kali: photo by Noah Seelam/AFP, 1 August 2016

Artists perform at the Bonalu festival in Hyderabad in worship of the Hindu goddess Mahankali @AFP @AFPphoto: image via Noah Seelam @noahseelam, 1 August 2016

INDIA - The Bonalu festival at the Sri Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Temple in Hyderabad. By @noahseelam #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 1 August 2016

Indian artists perform during Bonalu festival at Sri Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Temple in Hyderabad @AFP @AFPphoto: image via Noah Seelam @noahseelam, 1 August 2016

PATTAYA,THAILAND -JULY 31, 2016: Bar girls use their mobile phones outside a bar along the Walking Street where bars and sex scenes are a commonplace July 31, 2016 in Pattaya, Thailand. Thailand's first female minister of tourism would like the sex trade that is a huge business in the country to be banned. Tourists flock to Thailand for many sights including beautiful beaches but also for sex tourism. Cities like Bangkok and Pattaya are well known as hubs of the Southeast Asian sex trade, despite the fact that prostitution has been illegal in Thailand since 1960.(Photo by Paula Bronstein/ Getty Images)

Bar girls use their mobile phones outside a bar along the Walking Street in Pattaya, Thailand. Thailand’s first female minister of tourism would like the sex trade that is a huge business in the country to be banned: photo by Paula Bronstein, 1 August 2016

TOPSHOT - An Afghan farmer harvestS fresh wheat grains in a field On the outskirts of Herat on July 31, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / AREF KARIMIAREF KARIMI/AFP/Getty Images

An Afghan farmer harvests fresh wheat grains in a field on the outskirts of Herat: photo by Aref Karimiaref/AFP, 1 August 2016

Men inspect the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah

Men inspect the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, Syria: photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters, 1 August 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - JULY 31: An aerial view of the Christ the Redeemer statue amidst mist as Rio prepares for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games on July 31, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

An aerial view of the Christ the Redeemer statue amidst mist as Rio de Janeiro prepares for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games Brazil: photo by Mario Tama, 1 August 2016

TOPSHOT - A man collects recyclable materials amongst the floating garbage at Manila baywalk, washed ashore after tropical storm Nida passed through northern Philippines on August 1, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBETED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images

A man collects recyclable materials amongst the floating garbage at Manila baywalk: photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP, 1 August 2016

PHILIPPINES - A man collects recyclable materials amongst the floating garbage at Manila baywalk. By Ted Aljibe #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 31 July 2016

A man collects recyclable materials amongst the floating garbage at Manila baywalk: photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP, 1 August 2016

In this picture taken late Sunday, July 31, 2016 a lightning strikes in the sky above the town of Nagykanizsa, 208 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary. (Gyorgy Varga/MTI via AP)

Lightning strikes in the sky above the town of Nagykanizsa, Hungary: photo by Gyorgy Varga/MTI/AP, 1 August 2016

A religious officer canes an Acehnese youth onstage as punishment for dating outside of marriage, which is against sharia law, outside a mosque in Banda Aceh. The strictly Muslim province, Aceh has become increasingly conservative in recent years and is the only one in Indonesia implementing Sharia law: photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP, 1 August 2016

TOPSHOT - An Afghan labourer looks on as he works at a traditional cotton factory in Jalalabad on July 31, 2016. / AFP

An Afghan labourer looks on as he works at a traditional cotton factory in Jalalabad: photo by Noorullah Shirzada/AFP, 1 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - A labourer looks on as he works at a traditional cotton factory in Jalalabad. By @NoorullahShirz #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 31 July 2016

An Afghan labourer looks on as he works at a traditional cotton factory in Jalalabad: photo by Noorullah Shirzada/AFP, 1 August 2016

José Emilio Pacheco: Dichterliebe

La poesía tiene una sola realidad: el sufrimiento.
Baudelaire lo atestigua, Ovidio aprobaría
afirmaciones semejantes.
Y esto por otra parte garantiza
la supervivencia amenazada de un arte
que pocos leen y al parecer
muchos detestan,
como una enfermedad de la conciencia, un rezago
de tiempos anteriores a los nuestros
cuando la ciencia cree disfrutar
del monopolio eterno de la magia.

José Emilio Pacheco (1939-2014): Dichterliebe

INDIA - Kashmiri protestors shout pro-Pakistan and pro-freedom slogans during a protest in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 31 July 2016

A Kashmiri protestor stands amid teargas fired by Indian forces near the UNMOGIP office Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 31 July 2016

INDIA - A house with windows covered with sheets to prevent projectiles during clashes in Srinagar. @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 31 July 2016

Campaign Problematics: The Four Percent is asking: Who ate Harambe? Did he die for our parents' sins?

Great afternoon in Ohio and a great evening in Pennsylvania - departing now. See you tomorrow Virginia!: image via Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump, 1 August 2016

Son is eating inferior fake chicken with a fork and knife: image via Kenny @PhillyCustoms, 1 August 2016

holy shit: image via dan mentos @DanMentos, 1 August 2016

oh my god he ate Harambe: image via Brian Altano @agentbizzle, 1 August 2016

CNN/ORC poll in a four-way race: Hillary #Clinton — 45% Donald #Trump — 37% Gary Johnson — 9% Jill Stein — 5% Harambe — 4%: tweet via Wu_Tang_Financial @Wu_Tang_Finance, 1 August 2016

In presidential polls, how's #Harambe doing?: image via WCPO Verified account @WCPO, 31 July 2016

My love for the lord and savior Harambe will never burn out #Harambe: image via Andrés @Andres301, 28 July 2016

Let's go win this, together!: image via Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton, 28 July 2016

[Untitled]: image via Wu_Tang_Financial @Wu_Tang_Finance, 1 August 2016

Incredibly proud of Hillary and so happy to join her and Tim on the trail this week: image via Bill Clinton @billclinton, 30 July 2016

Never 4get. #Harambe: image via Harambe @HarambesSpirit, 1 August 2016

This ones for my boy Harambe: image via Samantha Kroschinsky @samanthak1365, 1 August 2016

The saddest people always have the most beautiful smiles #Harambe: image via skeletron @ogthagod, 30 July 2016

"Why are the greatest fighters for human rights always shot dead" - Harambe #Harambe: image via Harambe Quotes @HarambeQuotes, 26 July 2016

[Untitled]: image via Cute Emergency @Cute Emergency, 24 July 2016

Only 90's kids will remember #Harambe: image via 21jared @jpjaredphillips, 23 July 2016

[Untitled]: image via Harambe @HarambeActivity, 24 July 2016

[Untitled]: image via Harambe @HarambeActivity, 28 July 2016

What is Russia doing to influence the U.S. election?: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 1 August 2016

[Untitled]: image via Harambe @HarambeActivity, 27 July 2016

U.S. weighs dangers, benefits of naming Russia in cyber hack: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 1 August 2016

[Untitled]: image via Harambe @HarambeActivity, 24 July 2016

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stand for the pledge of allegiance during a campaign rally at Briar Woods High School, Ashburn, Virginia: photo by Evan Vucci/AP, 2 August 2016

The dark side of Duterte's deadly but popular drugs war: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 30 July 2016

Dead Sea Scrolls

August 1, 1984

Heightened in passion

The bird clears his throat

The trail through desert

is loaded with tears

The clan is alive

in the mountain walls

The bird throttles on

into a nearby grove

Joseph Ceravolo (1934-1988): Dead Sea Scrolls (August 1, 1984), from Collected Poems, 2012

Children of the quarry. @NabilaElHadad in #Burkina @AFPblogs: image via AFP Correspondent @AFPblogs, 29 July 2016

The Road To Elections - False Promises #SouthAfrica #Elections2016 #photojournalism: image via John Wessels @wesselsjohn1, 28 July 2016

#SouthAfrica Violence between two communities in Ennerdale #AFP Photo by @wesselsjohn1 @AFPAfrica: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 29 July 2016

#SouthAfrica ANC and #Zuma closing rally for the municipal elections in #Johannesburg #AFP by @GGuercia @AFPAfricaSafodienMujahid: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 31 July 2016

#SouthAfrica EFF supporters attend a closing rally for the municipal elections in #Polokwane #AFP @SafodienMujahid: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 31 July 2016

#SouthAfrica #elections Police vehicles patrol on the outskirts of Vuwani yesterday #AFP Photo by @SafodienMujahid: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 2 August 2016

#SouthAfrica An open air polling station on the eve of Municipal elections in Vuwani Photo by @SafodienMujahid: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 2 August 2016

#SouthAfrica #elections Posters outside a polling station in #Durban #AFP Photo by @mlongari: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 2 August 2016

Women carry water bottles while crossing a field near the synthetic fuel plant in Secunda @AFPphoto @SafodienMujahid: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 31 August 2015

Children are silhouetted against sunset as they run on the sand at Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: photo by Felipe Dana/AP, 2 August 2016

#Palestinian A boy jumps into a pool of water in Gaza City #AFP Photo by @m55baba: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 2 August 2016

The shadows of Palestinians are seen on a piece of gauze as they cool down at a pool in Gaza City: photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP, 2 August 2016

The trail through desert

is loaded with tears

GAZA CITY - The shadows of Palestinians are seen on a piece of gauze as they cool down at a pool. By @mohmdabed #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 2 August 2016

The shadows of Palestinians are seen on a piece of gauze as they cool down at a pool in Gaza City: photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP, 2 August 2016

UK - The West Pier is seen from The British Airways i360 Observation Tower in Brighton. By @TopshotKirk #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 August 2016

BRAZIL - A surfer walks along the shore at a beach in Barra near Rio de Janeiro ahead of #Rio. by @lewelsamad #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 August 2016

Syria gas attack after Russian helicopter shot down: image via Reuters TV @ReutersTV, 2 August 2016

Rescuers say toxic gas dropped on Syrian town where Russian helicopter shot down: Lisa Barrington, Reuters, 2 August 2016

BEIRUT - A Syrian rescue service operating in rebel-held territory said on Tuesday a helicopter dropped containers of toxic gas overnight on a town close to where a Russian military helicopter had been shot down hours earlier.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) accused President Bashar al-Assad of being behind the attack. Assad has denied previous accusations of using chemical weapons.

A spokesman for the Syria Civil Defence said 33 people, mostly women and children, were affected by the gas, which they suspect was chlorine, in Saraqeb, in rebel-held Idlib province.

The group, which describes itself as a neutral band of search and rescue volunteers, posted a video on YouTube apparently showing a number of men struggling to breathe and being given oxygen masks by people in civil defense uniforms.

"Medium-sized barrels fell containing toxic gases. The Syrian Civil Defence was not able to determine the type of the gas," said the spokesman.

The Syrian government and its Russian allies were not immediately available for comment.

Later, state news agency SANA said rebels had fired rockets armed with toxic gas on the government-held old quarter of Aleppo city, killing five people and causing eight breathing difficulties. It gave no further details. Rebels have denied previous accusations of using chemical weapons.

The SNC said of the reported use of poison gas in Saraqeb: "After shelling, besieging and killing civilians and perpetrating war crimes on them, the Assad regime has resorted once again, and in breach of UN resolutions 2118 and 2235, to using chemical substances and toxic gases.

"The daily reality confirms that all the international agreements and previous security council decisions, be they about chemical weapons or otherwise, are meaningless for the Assad regime."

The Civil Defence spokesman said it was the second time Saraqeb had been hit by toxic gas. The group was aware of around nine suspected chlorine gas incidents across Idlib province since the conflict began, he said.

The U.S. State Department said it was looking into the reported use of chemical weapons in Saraqeb.

"I’m not in a position to confirm the veracity of (the reports)," said spokesman John Kirby.

“Certainly, if it’s true, it would be extremely serious.”

Monitors at the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence on all sides in the civil war, said barrel bombs fell on Saraqeb late on Monday, wounding a large number of citizens.

Russia's defense ministry said a Russian helicopter was shot down near Saraqeb during the day on Monday, killing all five people on board, in the biggest officially acknowledged loss of life for Russian forces since they started operations in Syria.

DENIALS

The helicopter came down roughly mid-way between Aleppo and Russia's main air base at Hmeimim in the western province of Latakia, near the Mediterranean coast.

Russian air power began supporting Syrian President Bashar al Assad late last year, an intervention which tipped the balance of the war in Assad's favor, eroding gains the rebels had made that year.

No group has claimed responsibility for downing the Mi-8 military transport helicopter.

Government and opposition forces have both denied using chemical weapons during the five-year-old civil war. Western powers say the government has been responsible for chlorine and other chemical attacks. The government and Russia have accused rebels of using poison gas.

U.N. investigators established that sarin gas was used in Eastern Ghouta in 2013. The United States accused Damascus of that attack, which it estimates killed 1,429 people, including at least 426 children. Damascus denied responsibility, and blamed rebels.

Later that year the United Nations and the Syrian government agreed to destroy the state's declared stockpile of chemical weapons, a process completed in January 2016.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed in late 2015 that sulfur mustard, commonly known as mustard gas, had been used for the first time in the conflict, without saying which party in the many sided conflict it thought had used it.

Photos from #Idlib #SyriaCivilDef showing cylinders said to have contained chlorine that were dropped in #Saraqib: image via Jake Godin @JakeGodin, 2 August 2016

#Idlib #SyriaCivilDef cylinders said to have contained chlorine were dropped in #Saraqib: image via Jake Godin @JakeGodin, 2 August 2016

Le 'heros inconnu' #Syria #Nobel4SyriaWhiteHelmets: image via Laetitia Utopie @Humanityanon, 2 August 2016

Rechercher la vie, de jour comme de nuit. #Nobel4SyriaWhiteHelmets: image via Laetitia Utopie @Humanityanon, 2 August 2016

Admiration for #WhiteHelmetswho give and sacrifice their lives to save #humanity. #Nobel4SyriaWhiteHelmets#SCD: image via Laetitia Utopie @Humanityanon, 2 August 2016

Working by day and night. #NoDayOff #Nobel4SyriaWhiteHelmets: image via Laetitia Utopie @Humanityanon, 2 August 2016

#NobelPrize #Nobel4SyriaWhiteHelmets because they have a courage that nobody has. #Syria: image via Laetitia Utopie @Humanityanon, 2 August 2016

#Justimagine... #Nobel4SyriaWhiteHelmets: image via Laetitia Utopie @Humanityanon, 2 August 2016

So if you dont give them the #Nobel, who can receive it? #Nobel4SyriaWhiteHelmets #Syria #Aleppo: image via Laetitia Utopie @Humanityanon, 2 August 2016

#Aleppo: Rebels combing the streets and buildings in #Ramousseh District in search of remaining pro-Assad forces: image via WorldOnAlert @worldonalert, 2 August 2016

#Aleppo: Parts of New #Aleppo District in western #Aleppo are burning this evening. Rebels advancing.: image via WorldOnAlert @worldonalert, 2 August 2016

#Aleppo: #Ramousseh Artillery Base burning. Pro-Assad forces collapsing in different areas of #Aleppo.: image via WorldOnAlert @worldonalert, 2 August 2016

#Aleppo: #Syrian rebels advancing and parts of Ramousseh Artillery Base are burning after rebel shelling.: image via WorldOnAlert @worldonalert, 2 August 2016

US First Lady Michelle Obama touches the nose of US President Barack Obama before he welcomes Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the White House in Washington, DC: photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP, 2 August 2016

A man holds a picture of the priest Jacques Hamel outside Rouen’s cathedral on August 2, 2016 during the funeral of the priest who was killed in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on July 26 during a hostage-taking claimed by Islamic State group: photo by Joel Saget/AFP, 2 August 2016

#francechurchattack Funeral in Rouen of Father #JacquesHamel murdered by two jihadists #AFP Photo by @CTriballeau: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 2 August 2016

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 02: An armed Metropolitan Police officer poses for a photograph as he patrols in Downing Street on August 2, 2016 in London, England. Security measures continue to be high in London while the current UK threat level for international terrorism is severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

An armed Metropolitan Police officer poses for a photograph as he patrols in Downing Street, in London, England. Security measures continue to be high in London while the current UK threat level for international terrorism is severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.: photo by Carl Court, 2 August 2016

A woman arranges signs showing departments of Tokyo Metropolitan Government as she prepares an event where Tokyo’s first woman governor Yuriko Koike makes a speech at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, Japan: photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters, 2 August 2016

People walk on a sightseeing platform in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China, August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.

People walk on a sightseeing platform in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province in China: photo by Reuters, 2 August 2016

MIAMI, FL - AUGUST 01: Larry Smart, a Miami-Dade County mosquito control inspector, uses a fogger to spray pesticide to kill mosquitos in the Wynwood neighborhood as the county fights to control the Zika virus outbreak on August 1, 2016 in Miami, Florida. Today, it was announced that 10 more individuals have been infected with the Zika virus by local mosquitoes. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX ***

Larry Smart, a Miami-Dade County mosquito control inspector, uses a fogger to spray pesticide to kill mosquitos in the Wynwood neighbourhood as the county fights to control the Zika virus outbreak in Miami, Florida: photo by Joe Raedle, 2 August 2016

Fishing boats are parked in a port as Typhoon Nida approaches Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, August 1, 2016. China Daily/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. CHINA OUT. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Fishing boats are parked in a port as Typhoon Nida approaches Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China: photo by China Daily/Reuters, 2 August 2016

Free Syrian Army fighters rest inside a mechanic shop in Ramousah area southwest of Aleppo, Syria: photo by Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters, 3 August 2016

Günter Kunert: Film Put in Backwards

When I woke
I woke in the breathless black
    Of the box.
I heard: the earth
Was opening over me. Clods
Fluttered back
    To the shovel. The
Dear box, with me the dear
Departed, gently rose.
The lid flew up and I
Stood, feeling:
    Three bullets travel
Out of my chest
Into the rifles of soldiers, who
    Marched off, gasping
Out of the air a song
With calm firm steps
    Backwards.

Günter Kunert (1929-): Film Put in Backwards(from Der ungebetene Gast, 1965 / Verkündigung des Wetters ,1966), translated from the German by Christopher Middleton

INDIA - Women mourn during the funeral of a Muslim Kashmiri in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 4 August 2016

INDIA - Kashmiri muslims clash with Indian security forces after the funeral in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 4 August 2016

SAFRICA - A boy looks at a game of pool from the outside of a tin shack near Durban. By @mlongari #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 4 August 2016

South African voters wait at a polling station outside the hostels in Umlazi, Durban: photo by Marco Longari/AFP, 3 August 2016

SOUTH AFRICA- South African voters wait at polling station outside the hostels in Umlazi, Durban. By @mlongari #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 3 August 2016

South African voters wait at a polling station outside the hostels in Umlazi, Durban: photo by Marco Longari/AFP, 3 August 2016

People stand in a queue to cast their vote during the municipal elections in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, South Africa: photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA, 3 August 2016

#southafrica #elections Voters queue at a polling station in Umlazi #durban #AFP Photo by @mlongari: image via Aurelia BAILLY @Aurelia BAILLY, 3 August 2016

SAFRICA - Voters who queue outside a polling station are reflected in a window in Durban. By @mlongari #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 3 August 2016

#southafrica #elections ANC supporters hold a candidate's placard in Vuwani yesterday #AFP Photo by @SafodienMujahid: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 3 August 2016

#southafrica #elections Voters at a polling station in Alexandra Township in Johannesburg #AFP Photo by @GGuercia: image via Aurelia BAILLY @Aurelia BAILLY, 3 August 2016

Former Taliban militants surrender their weapons during a reconciliation ceremony in Herat, Afghanistan, 03 August 2016. A group of 16 former Taliban militants on 03 August laid down their arms in Herat and joined the peace process. Under an amnesty launched by the former President Hamid Karzai and backed by the US in November 2004, hundreds of anti-government militants have so far surrendered to the government.

Former Taliban militants surrender their weapons during a reconciliation ceremony in Herat, Afghanistan. A group of 16 former Taliban militants gave up their arms in Herat and joined the peace process. Under an amnesty launched by the former President Hamid Karzai and backed by the US in November 2004, hundreds of anti-government militants have so far surrendered to the government: photo by Jalil Rezayee/EPA, 3 August 2016

Armed police prepare to deploy from Hyde Park, central London, as Scotland Yard announced that the first of 600 additional armed officers were trained and operationally ready: photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire, 3 August 2016

Armed Metropolitan Police counter terrorism officers take part in an exercise on the River Thames, London: photo by Stefan Roussea/AFP, 3 August 2016

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men take part in the funeral ceremony of Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Chadash, head of the “Or Alhanan” Jewish Seminary, in Jerusalem: photo by Ronen Zvulun/Reuters, 3 August 2016

A young Bedouin lead his camel herd at sunset outside Beersheba, in southern Israel, 03 August 2016

A young Bedouin leads his camel herd at sunset outside Beersheba, in southern Israel: photo by Abir Sultan/EPA, 3 August 2016
.

A young Bedouin leads his camel herd at sunset outside Beersheba, in southern Israel: photo by Abir Sultan/EPA, 3 August 2016

A boy uses an inner tube of a tyre to help him through flood water in Amarapura Township, near Mandalay, in Myanmar: photo by Hein Htet/EPA, 3 August 2016

Indonesian residents look at the Mount Sinabung volcano as it spews volcanic ash near the Tiga Pancur village in Karo, North Sumatra: photo by Haryono YT/AFP, 3 August 2016

#Indonesia Mount Sinabung during a volcanic eruption in Karo, north Sumatra Photo by YT Haryono #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 3 August 2016

Indonesian residents look at the Mount Sinabung volcano as it spews volcanic ash near the Tiga Pancur village in Karo, North Sumatra: photo by Haryono YT/AFP, 3 August 2016

Sporting Diplomacy Murican style: Hope's Arsenal: Primera polémica de #Rio2016

Hope Solo heard from Brazilian fans Wednesday during the United States’ Olympic opener against New Zealand: photo by Eugenio Savio, 3 August 2016

Hope Solo booed by Brazilian fans at Olympics over Zika comments: Des Bieler and Rick Maese, The Washington Post, 3 August 2016

The U.S. women’s soccer team has begun play at the Rio Olympics, and let’s just say that Hope Solo is not a favorite among Brazilian fans. Because of her comments about the Zika virus, the veteran goalkeeper was booed every time she touched the ball Wednesday against New Zealand.

Solo had said that she would “begrudgingly” play in the Olympics, this after initially indicating that she might skip the trip to Brazil over her concerns about the mosquito-borne virus. In May, she said that she would do her best to leave the team hotel only in order to practice or travel to games.

Tweets Solo posted in July, showing her head covered in mosquito netting and packing huge amounts of insect repellent, also went over poorly with some in Brazil.

Women traveling to Brazil, for the Olympics or any other reason, have been warned by medical officials that Zika can cause birth defects. It’s just one of the many pieces of negative publicity Brazil has endured in the run-up to the Games, as problems with infrastructure, crime and pollution have also been widely noted.

Claiming that she spoke to “three different infectious disease doctors and specialists,” Solo said (via the Associated Press), “We prepared ourselves as best as possible, and we got to a level of being as comfortable as we possibly can be.

“I’m wearing mosquito repellent just in case. I know the odds are very small, but you can never be too safe,” she added. “I’m at a point in my life that I just want to be safe.”

Brazilian crowds showered Hope Solo with boos during USWNT win: image via For The Win @ForTheWin, 3 August 2016

Brazilianstaunt Hope Solo with chants of 'Zika' during initial match in Rio Olympics in response to her photos showcasing 'mosquito-proof' repellent arsenal: Daily Mail 3 August 2016

American goalkeeper Hope Solo was heavily booed during Team USA's opening soccer match in the Rio Olympics.

Thousands of Brazilians mocked Solo with 'Zika' chants during the game against New Zealand at Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte.

They taunted her as she walked into the field and every time she went into play.

'Olê, Olê, Olê, Olá — Zika! Zika!' they chanted.

The jeers appeared to be in response to recent photos she shared on social media showing a heavy arsenal of repellent and an anti-mosquito hat.

The accomplished goalkeeper didn't take any chances when it comes to the virus that is rife in Brazil, which is spread by a specific kind of mosquito and can cause birth defects in babies if transferred by pregnant mothers.

Solo, 34, posted a picture of a massive amount of repellent and wrote: 'If anyone in the village forgot to pack repellent, come and see me… #DeptofDefense #zikaproof.'

She also shared a selfie wearing a bandanna over he face as well as her anti-mosquito bonnet — holding a massive bottle of bug repellent too.

She captioned the picture: 'Not sharing this!!!' Get your own!'

Her pictures sparked controversy in Brazil.

The Brazilian women's soccer team coach, Vadão, said: 'Just like they come prepared, we also prepare ourselves.

'I myself put on repellent,' he said, according to Brazilian news site GloboEsporte. 'Just how she says [to protect herself], when we go to the United States we have to go with bullet-proof vests because there they shoot in the streets. To each their own.'

On social media, some Brazilians shared harsh words about Solo's post.

'Better to be stung by a mosquito than take a bullet from a psychopath,' said one follower quoted in Portuguese by O Globo, referring to the high number of mass shootings in the United States.

Others told her to stay away from Brazil because 'we don't need people like you here,' according to the newspaper.

Here we go! #Gameday #Olympics #USA #USAvNZL: image via Hope Solo @hopesolo, 3 August 2016

If anyone in the village forgets to pack repellent, come and see me... #DeptOfDefense #zikaproof: image via Hope Solo @hopesolo, 21 July 2016

Not sharing this!!! Get your own! #zikaproof #RoadToRio: image via Hope Solo @hopesolo, 21 July 2016

Primera polémica de #Rio2016 a la portera #HopeSolo le gritaban #Zika cada vez que despejaba por estos tuits: image via Saúl J. Prieto M. @JPMSaul, 3 August 2016

#HopeSolo shows off '#Zika #proof' #arsenal she's #packing 4 #Rio2016 #Olympic2016stuff #CDC: image via Bill D @zeusFanHouse, 23 July 2016

@hopesolo advantage and find an outfit for protection from snakes!!! #HopeSolo: image via Fagner Ferreira @fagnerferreira, 22 July 2016

Fagner Ferreira Retweeted Alex Morgan: image via Fagner Ferreira @fagnerferreira, 22 July 2016
Fagner Ferreira Retweeted Alex Morgan

Fagner Ferreira added,
Muito mais bela que a outra!É por isso que eu prefiro a beleza da @alexmorgan13 do que a @hopesolo - That's why I prefer the beauty of @alexmorgan13 than @hopesolo: tweet via via Fagner Ferreira @fagnerferreira, 22 July 2016
Só entrei pra ver a treta que a #HopeSolo criou: tweet via via Fagner Ferreira @fagnerferreira, 22 July 2016

Hope Solo cutucou, Meia-Hora respondeu: image via Pedro Ivo Almeida @pedroivoalmeida, 22 July 2016

Nossa, mas tão vaiando muito a Hope Solo no Mineirão. #USA #Rio2016 #Futebol: image via Uai Tevê @uaiteve, 3 August 2016

That time when they wanted to see u fail but u shut them out instead #HopeSolo #USNWT tweet via @t_nunn12: image via Julie Senesac @joolie9421, 3 August 2016

Billionaire Klarman slams Trump, vows to work for Clinton: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 3 August 2016

Icahn to close Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 3 August 2016

L'Italie prête à ouvrir ses bases aux USA pour des raids en Libye #AFP: image via Mathilde Auvillain @mathilderome, 3 August 2016

A Kashmiri masked Muslim protester jumps in the air to avoid stones thrown at him by Indian police during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir: photo by Dar Yasin/AP, 29 April 2016

Amjad Majid: From Exile with Love

In memory of going to an “Indian passport office” to get a passport

1. Pehchaan Patr (“Permanent Residential Address”)

They drafted it out
From ink and paper
Printed and laminated
Stamped, notarized, authorized
From bureau to bureau
From a filing cabinet
To stained yellow decrepit bureaucratic hands

And as exposed as I was then
I still remember now
That they drafted it out
From ink and paper
While I stood naked
Waiting in line,
in queue at the window,
holding my flesh and my blood

As my own…
…far away from my home.

2. You Can’t Draw a Map with a Gun

They put their barbed wire
around our open fields
and draw fences
out of instruments
made of thin air.
They paint our grass
a khaki green
and call our land
an integral part.
And indeed,
an integral part we are
of none but ourselves
separate from all else
refuged by a valley and mountain tops
and forest lands
that bear witness
and proclaim
as nature does
that we are of ourselves
and of none other
and we know one another
from our family names
that history calls us by
to remind us as history often does
that we are of ourselves
and of none other
than ourselves.
And there are those
who call our rivers
streams and water lanes
their jugular vein,
for them too

We are ours,
ours to keep
ours to stay
as it has been,
and as it shall be.

All of them together
are their own as well
as they have the right to be,
a right that for us
they have made a dispute
when it is
they who are disputed
they who are conflicted
uncertain of their borders,
and insecure enough
to line up uniforms and guns
like dominoes
that will topple over
one day in winter
when it becomes clear to them
that you can’t draw a map with a gun.

3. Disappeared Person

On a night like this
I could dig myself
an unmarked grave,
crawl in,
claim your face as mine
and give the name of death
to an abduction,
but I know well
that you are alive
in the hollow of a chinar

I see you there
at every corner
where my silence comes to rest
you are this land
as you are of this land
and your breath
is what pushes the wind here
you are between every Bismillah
and every Ameen
that holds me steadfast in prayer.

4. Curfew the Night

Curfew the streets,
the schools, our homes,
curfew the news,
the newspapers, radios,
the internet,
the television channels,

Curfew our speech,
our movement,
our protests,
our mourning,
our plight,

Curfew the truth
Curfew the night
Curfew freedom itself
if you will
if you dare

Curfew hope
Curfew life
and still you will find
Our one death divides you
into a frenzy of fear

You are paranoid and afraid
but fear not
someday,
one day,
we will free you from that fear.

5. From Exile with Love

You say we have time,
I say time has us,
it has grabbed us by the feet,
it has tied us to space.

There is a time before time
a thought before thinking
a feeling before feelings
a language before language,
there is such a place,
where you and I meet.

6. In Love at a Time of War

Many many days ago,
on a day before the yesterday of the day before
the world was born from an apple,
we all saw the gardens rise from soil,
flowers opened for butterflies,
roses invited dewdrops,
birds avoided language and chirped instead.

We saw snowfall after sunrise and before sunset,
at the earliest of times,
heavy rains cracked open rocks,
from which waters gushed forth into rivers
that were soon lost in fountains, springs and streams.

Salt lost its solid state
and gave a liquid taste to the seas
and emotion to the first sadness
in the tears of the first newborn.

Many many days later,
on a morrow of the day after tomorrow
I have become flesh and bone from history
and today my heart has sweetened
red sugar rushes through my veins,

I speak
and I fail to understand my own language,
What are these words?
What is this feeling?
I look at your photographs,

Their gloss reflects my new clarity.

Amjad Majid: From Exile with Love from Kashmir Lit, 2016

Masked demonstrators shout slogans next to a burning tyre during a protest in Srinagar against the recent killings in Kashmir: photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters, 26 July 2016

A masked Kashmiri participates in a torch light protest in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, on Thursday. The largest street protests in recent years in the disputed region, that left dozens of people dead and hundreds injured, erupted more than a week ago after Indian troops killed a popular young rebel leader.: photo by Mukhtar Khan / AP, 21 July 2016

Kashmiri villagers carry the body of separatist leader Burhan Wani during his funeral procession in Tral, some 38 kilometers (24 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian Kashmir Indian troops fired on protesters in Kashmir as tens of thousands of Kashmiris defied a curfew imposed in most parts of the troubled region Saturday and participated in the funeral of the top rebel commander killed by Indian government forces, officials and locals said.: photo by Dar Yasin / AP, 9 July 2016

INDIAN ADMINISTERED KASHMIR - Kashmiri Muslims walk past an Indian paramilitary trooper during a curfew in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 16 July 2016

A man who was injured by pellet gun fire in the clashes between Indian police and protesters, sits inside a hospital, in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir: photo by Danish Ismail / Reuters, 14 July 2016

epa05422636 An Indian paramilitary officer stands guard during a curfew in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 13 July 2016. The authorities imposed curfew and severe restrictions in most parts of Kashmir valley for the fifth consecutive day to contain protests following the killing of militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani. According to local news reports the death toll reached 32 and over 1,300 persons were injured across Indian Kashmir during clashes over the past six days. EPA/FAROOQ KHAN

An Indian paramilitary officer stands guard during a curfew in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir: photo by Farooq Khan/EPA, 13 July 2016

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An Indian paramilitary officer stands guard during a curfew in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir: photo by Farooq Khan/EPA, 13 July 2016

INDIA - A paramilitary officer holds stones in his hands during clash with protesters in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 July 2016

World in focus – best photos for July 13, 2016

Kashmiri people look out from windows during a ceremony marking Martyrs’ Day at Mazar-e-Shuhada (Martyr’s graveyard) in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir. Martyrs’ day is held to pay homage to 22 civilians killed in 1931 by the troopers of the then Dogra ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, in Indian Kashmir on July 13. Every year the local government in the region observes a function to remember these martyrs by visiting their graveyard and laying flower wreaths on their graves.: photo by Farooq Khan / EPA, 13 July 2016

Ather Zia: Driving Without a License (lasan) in Kashmir

The law has much blood on its talons. It’s especially ethical if you don’t have a lasan. Between background checks and grease-money, the lasan, leaking from the law’s stained teeth, is what you need, get it maybe never.

Anyways, it’s a contrivance, a measure of know-how over a vehicle to transport people in metal boxes when you already carry them in your heart, like your boy who died of a bullet that grazed your chest and entered his.

In Kashmir when you drive without a lasan you drive on the right side of life.

I sleep to dreams of being a young, irascible driver from Maisuma, the invincible artery, throwing stones at paramilitary his happiest past-time (being with a Neruda or a Said is not always the best you can dream),  fed on a staple

diet of an adoring mother’s curses. I am terribly in love and sore from heartache

-- without a lasan but that is my least worry -- probably till I have no money to bribe policemen who catch me every time I stop like a stone

unwarranted outside my beloved’s house, not that she cares.  I drive singing to

old Bollywood songs and cursing India in the same breath. Wishing every bunker melting away like I believe, without license.

Ather Zia: Driving Without a License (lasan) in Kashmir, from Kashmir Lit, 2015

Women react as they stand at the windows of a house watching Kashmiri Muslims carry a body of 20 year old Riyaz Ahmed Shah during his funeral in downtown Srinagar: photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP, 4 August 2016

300 pellets. That's vengeance. Such horrific acts come at great cost to nations #Kashmir: image via Harinder Bawaja Verified account @shammybaweja, 4 August 2016

INDIA - Women mourn during the funeral of a Muslim Kashmiri in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 4 August 2016

INDIA - Kashmiri muslims clash with Indian security forces after the funeral in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 4 August 2016

This is remarkable. Night vigils in Sopore, #Kashmir. No violence, no coverage.: image via Azad Essa Verified account @azadessa, 3 August 2016

RT @BasimSafdar Heart wrenching. No words. May Allah be with #Kashmir #KashmirKillings: image via Mehreen Sibtain @Mehreen_Sibtain, 4 August 2016

I haven't come across a more telling representation of India's relationship with #Kashmir @frontline_india: image via Mirza Waheed @MirzaWaheed, 2 August 2016

"All of them could lose their eyesight." Pellet guns cause severe eye injuries in Kashmir.: image via Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish, 13 July 2016

Mother, they're using "non-lethal" #pelletguns to lethal effect in #Kashmir. The world is turning #blind.: image via Rafiq Kathwari @brownpundit, 12 July 2016

Use of pellet guns that have blinded more than 50 children - reports on ground #UNForKashmir #KashmirSiege: image via Inshah Malik @InshahMalik, 10 July 2016

An x ray of a #Kashmir boy hit by pellets...This evil weapon meant for beasts should be banned. @hrw @UN: image via Wasim Khalid @WasemKhalid, 12 July 2016

11 year old at #Kashmir hosp. his card reads 'pellet injuries...damage eyes...liver and spleen grossly...' #KashmirSiege: image via najeeb mbarki @najeebmubarki, 12 July 2016

Beaten up by the security forces. They probably fear he may shout the word freedom #KashmirNow: image via Dr Rita Pal @dr_rita, 13 July 2016

Maaz Bin Bilal: A Shriek about Kashmir -- A Ghazal

To Abir Bazaz, Javaid Iqbal Bhat, Hamzah, and all my Kashmiri brothers

How do I see, think, dream, or speak about Kashmir?
One more ghazal shall I tweak about Kashmir?

Another bloody summer looms over the Dal,
Wani’s died and been deified this week, about Kashmir.

Vani is also voice in Hindi and Sanskrit,
There’s a roar now, not a creak, about Kashmir.

Thirty killed or martyred in only three days,
What vengeance is this that we seek about Kashmir?

Pandits were driven out, and Muslims are curfewed in,
Of raw flesh and fury -- a reek about Kashmir.

A green land of saffron, of rishis and shairs,
What is Indian, what is unique about Kashmir?

Courting bullets on streets are those sons of the soil,
Swaraj, their birthright, kindles the pique about Kashmir.

A mighty pretty valley, its people’s mighty will,
What is strong, and what is weak about Kashmir?

Relentless calls for azadi, will it ever come?
Is there debate, any critique about Kashmir?

A handsome boy died, which a nation defied,
Beauty, power, what is the mystique about Kashmir?

Here is no space for a maqta this time, Maaz,
Humiliation, pain wreak havoc about Kashmir.

This summer, snows have melted into tears of rage,
Burhan’s voice has become a shriek about Kashmir.

July 2016

Maaz Bin Bilal: *A Shriek about Kashmir -- A Ghazal***, from Kashmir Lit, 2016**

Kashmiri protesters shout anti-Indian slogans during a demonstration in Islamabad. By Aamir Qureshi #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 4 August 2016

The message is crystal clear! #GoIndiaGoBack #KashmirUnrest #FreeKashmir: image via OurBurhanOurHero @sheikh_shifa, 2 August 2016

Syed Ali Shah Geelani writing on the wall: GO INDIA GO BACK. #Kashmir GoIndiaGoBack: image via Syed Ali Geelani, 1 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for June 25, 2016

A Kashmiri Muslim protestor throws bricks at Indian policemen during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir: photo by Dar Yasin / AP, 25 June 2016

World in focus – best photos for July 3, 2016

Muslims in Kashmir offer prayers at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar: photo by Farooq Khan / EPA, 3 July 2016

World in focus — best photos for April 19, 2016

Indian policemen try to detain supporters of the Kashmiri politician, engineer Abdul Rashid Sheikh, during a protest in Srinagar: photo by Farooq Khan / EPA, 19 April 2016

World in focus – best photos for July 15, 2016

Pakistani supporters of banned organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) offer funeral prayers for Indian-occupied Kashmir Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani: photo by Aamir Qureshi / AFP, 15 July 2016

World in focus – best photos for July 25, 2016

A Kashmiri child watches an Indian paramilitary trooper standing guard during a curfew in downtown Srinagar. Large parts of Indian-administered Kashmir have been under continuous 24-hour curfew since the death on July 8 of a popular rebel leader sparked wide-scale protests and clashes with government forces who have fired and killed 46 civilians so far.: photo by Tauseef Mustafa / AFP, 25 July 2016

World in focus – best photos for July 19, 2016

A man shows his tooth to an Indian policemen as he seeks permission to see a doctor after he was stopped during a curfew in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir: photo by Danish Ismail / Reuters, 19 July 2016

Nusrat Bazaz:Thoughts of a Father

Maybe they will lift it today
I will go and find work
Fell a tree, perhaps
Mute witness to this horror
Or wash a street
Still streaked in red

Maybe I could go to the busy bazaar
And buy
A canister of oil,
And a bag of rice
As white as the valley’s snow

Maybe your Mauj will cook it
In turmeric water
Add a dash of salt
Season it with oil
And leave it to cool

Maybe I will feed you the sunshine -- rice
Your favourite tehri
One small fistful after another
And gaze with regret
At your beautiful eyes

Maybe later we will hold you close
And softly sing
The songs of azadi
And lull you to sleep
After nights of hungry wakefulness

Maybe they will lift the curfew
Maybe they will lift it today
Maybe they will
A little more patience, my child
A little more patience …

Nusrat Bazaz:Thoughts of a Father, from The Summer of Our Discontent:Poems inspired by 2016 Summer Uprising in Kashmir, in Kashmir Lit, 2016

Kashmiri Muslim women wail as they watch the funeral procession of suspected rebels, at Barhama, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday: photo by Mukhtar Khan/AP, 5 October 2015

A Kashmiri villager cries for his missing relative after a cloud burst at Kullan village in Ganderbal district, on Friday. At least four people were killed in a series of cloud bursts that were reported from several parts of Kashmir during heavy rainfall: photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters, 18 July 2015

Activists of the Awami Ittihad party get into a scuffle with Indian policemen as they are stopped during a protest to mark International Human Rights Day in Srinagar, India on Thursday: photo by Dar Yasin/AP, 10 December 2015

Muslim women at afternoon prayers during Ramadan in Srinagar, Kashmir, on Thursday: photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters, 23 June 2016

Kashmiri Muslims pray as an unseen custodian displays a holy relic, believed to be a hair from the Prophet Muhammad’s beard, during celebrations for Miraj-Ul-Alam (ascension to heaven) at Kashmir’s main Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar this morning: photo by Tauseef Mustafa, 5 May 2016

World in focus — best photos for May 5, 2016

Kashmiri Muslims pray as an unseen custodian displays a holy relic, believed to be a hair from the Prophet Mohammed’s beard, during celebrations for Israa wal Miraj at Kashmir’s main Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar: photo by Tauseef Mustafa / AFP, 5 May 2016

Kashmiri Nomadic Muslims devotees listen to the sermons of a Muslim cleric as they gather at the forest shrine of Miyan Peer, on the first day of Ramadan, in Baba Nagri, about 44 kilometers (28 miles) northeast of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, India: photo by Yawar Nazir, 7 June 2016

Daily Life in Srinagar ...epa05167710 A Kashmiri fisherman on Dal Lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 18 February 2016. The temperature in the Kashmir valley has risen and people are out enjoying the warmer weather. EPA/FAROOQ KHAN

Kashmiri fisherman on Dal Lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. The temperature in the Kashmir valley has risen and people are out enjoying the warmer weather: photo by Farooq Khan/EPA, 18 February 2016

Kashmir, India. Sand miners extract silt from the river Jhelum, to prevent overflow, in early morning fog in Baramulla town, in the divided Kashmir valley between India and Pakistan: photo by Shams Ulhaq Qari /Barcroft India via the Guardian, 13 October 2014

A Kashmiri man sleeps in a boat along the algae-covered Anchar Lake in Srinagar May 12, 2016

A Kashmiri man sleeps in a boat along the algae-covered Anchar Lake on Thursday: photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters, 12 May 2016

A Kashmiri fisherman rows his Shikara, or traditional boat, during sunset at the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Nestled in the Himalayan mountains and known for its beautiful lakes and saucer-shaped valleys, the Indian portion of Kashmir is also one of the most militarized places on earth.: photo by Dar Yasin/Associated Press, 22 April 2016

A cow on the outskirts of Srinagar chews on a copy of a newspaper showing images from the 26th day of protests against Indian occupation in Kashmir: photo by Danish Ismail / Reuters, 5 August 2016

A cow stands outside a temple at a lake in Pushkar, in the desert state of Rajasthan, India: photo by Himanshu Sharma/Reuters, 5 August 2016

Burhan's Down Town: The Making of Popular Hero In Absentia

A women walks down a deserted street in old Srinagar | Photo: Faisal Khan

A woman walks down a deserted street in old Srinagar on a day of shutdown and protests: photo by Faisal Khan via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

Burhan Wani joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in 2010, when he was just 15 years of age: image via the Indian Express/ANI, 8 July 2016

Hizbul Mujahideen ‘poster boy’ BurhanWani killed in joint encounter: Burhan Wani was cornered in Bumdoora village of Kokernag today morning by a joint team of police and Army: The Indian Express, 8 July 2016

Top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani was among the three militants killed by security forces in Anantnag, Jammu-Kashmir on Friday.

Jammu and Kashmir police chief K Rajendra confirmed that Burhan was killed in an exchange of fire between security personnel and militants. He was cornered in Bumdoora village of Kokernag today morning by a joint team of police and Army. Among those killed, one was identified as Sartaj Ahmed Sheikh and another is yet to be ascertained.

Meanwhile, Separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Asiya Andrabi gave a call for complete shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow to protest against Burhan’s killing.

Burhan joined the militant outfit in 2010, when he was just 15 years of age. He was considered as the ‘poster boy’ of the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Burhan (left) had joined Hizbul Mujahideen in 2010, and elder brother Khalid was far removed from him, says family: image via the Indian Express/ANI, 8 July 2016

Burhan was among the new wave of tech-savvy militants who used to leverage social media to recruit and influence Kashmiri youth. His family currently lives in Tral. Burhan’s elder brother Khalid was also shot dead by the Army last year. Burhan carried a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head.

Last month, the 21-year-old commander Burhan released a video warning of attacks on separate colonies for Sainiks and Kashmiri Pandits if they are set up in the Valley. The major part of the video message, however, was directed at the Jammu and Kashmir Police warning them of more attacks.

The Restored Humanity of Commander Burhan Wani

Hey Cartoon Network @narendramodi See this This is Srinagar IOK where #GoGreenIsGoingStrong and amazing: image via Bhaija Fry @Bhaija Fry, 4 August 2016

Sikh community shows full support to Kashmir freedom movement and pays regards to #Burhan #FreeKashmirAndKhalistan: image via Bhaija Fry @Bhaija Fry, 4 August 2016

The Restored Humanity of Commander Burhan Wani: Mohamad Junaid, Raiot/Kashmir Reader, 14 July 2016

On Friday evening, the news of Burhan Wani’s killing arrived in my phone with a picture of his dead body. The picture was gruesome, taken from an angle meant to amplify its gruesomeness. Given the way Kashmiri rebels have been depicted in the visual culture of the Indian military occupation, I didn’t expect Burhan’s killers to show respect for his body. For years, police and military photographers have circulated pictures of dead Kashmiri militants that show them disheveled and bloodied, with torn clothes and limbs out of joint, presenting the figure of the Kashmiri rebel as a wild, hunted felon. The intent has been clear: criminalize their thoughts and bodies, and show them as existing beyond the pale of society and humanity. It is easier to kill that way, easier than what the occupation has already made possible.

But Burhan had created his own visual counterculture. In image after image, and video after video, the young commander was seen not as a figure on the run, but one who seemed to truly enjoy his life among his comrades. In contrast to the violence depicted in the images circulated by the state, and the captions that accompanied them, Burhan’s images were tranquil and content. There was never a hint of violence in those images, despite the weapons that always remained in the background -- those weapons would appear to be arranged as proud signs of defiance rather than as crude instruments of violence. The dramatic co-existed with the mundane. In one video, he is playing cricket with grenades strapped across his body juggling clangorously. His enthusiastic comrades, with similar gear, are running after the ball. How risky, I thought when I saw it; yet I could not shake the feeling that his joie de vivre was infectious. His other pictures, where he is standing, again with weapons, against the backdrop of Kashmir’s snowy mountains and verdant hills, seem to express a sense of belonging to Kashmir as a place as it is popularly imagined. People who saw those pictures wished him safety. “Khuday karnei raechh (May Khuda protect you),” they would say. If the obscenity of the images circulated by the state repulsed people, Burhan’s images evoked a tender affection.

It was not the military logic of ‘recruitment’ that undergirded Burhan’s pictures (as the ‘poster boy’ theorists would have us believe); neither do I think he intended to create a new visual counterculture of the rebellious Kashmiri youth. The images simply reclaimed the humanity of the ‘Kashmiri militant', and reconnected the idea of the rebel with his people at the visceral level. His images also acquired a symbolic logic over time: To exist as a joyous rebel undermined the entire story the Indian state tells its citizens and Kashmiris. If the “new militancy” was anything, then, it was the emergence of the exuberant new movement driven by spontaneous solidarities, and the collective expression of popular sentiment against the forces of occupation.

Indeed, there might be truth to the claim many sober Indian writers have made that Burhan and his family suffered personal violence, which drove him to pick up weapons. Yet, such claims are often accompanied by efforts to present Burhan as an impressionable youngster. If the state had been nice, it is said, Burhan might have become something else -- preferably a bureaucrat, an aspirational slot fixed for the ‘good Kashmiri’ in the Indian nationalist fantasy. Yet, all of this denies Burhan his political maturity, and his understanding of the Kashmir situation. In his videos, there is a remarkable absence of personal resentment. Nor does he seem to express any anxiety about his imminent death (which, of course, made many in Kashmir worry about him more).

Most analysis of the post-Burhan moment, so far -- even the one that claims to counter the cruder aspects of the state propaganda -- tends to fall within the acceptable prism of the state discourse. Appeals such as “state be nice,” “talk to them,” or “exercise calm,” despite good intentions, appear too naïve compared to how ordinary Kashmiris see the nature of the Indian rule in Kashmir. The same opinion tends to patronize Kashmiri youth, asks state officials to talk to their parents, and advises youth to protest -- if they have to -- “as they do at Jantar Mantar.”

Kashmiris know the occupation is chronically violent, persistently vindictive, and is going to remain so as long as it exists. The state that denies a people their right to self-determination can be nothing but repressive. How could Burhan not have shared the same understanding of the Indian control over Kashmir? Is it misplaced to think so? And is it then an accident that Burhan became Commander Burhan Wani? Or is it immanent to a condition of injustice that rebels such as Burhan emerge or the methods they choose?

In the history of political struggles, some individuals become indices of their times. They gather the dispersed fragments of the social order and disorder in their words or being, and, as such, come to represent an event in themselves. The figure of Burhan Wani, similarly, represents a new moment in the political history of the Tehreek movement. Maqbool Bhat, it is true, was not so well known until he was executed by the Indian state in 1984. It was a time of elite political intrigue amid a general culture of desperate silence. Bhat became a lightning rod of political clarity against that silence, a shattering rupture in the dominant discourse. Ishfaq Wani, the rebel commander of the 1990 movement, concretized that rupture, embodying the mass rebellion against the order established in 1947. Even Afzal Guru became an index of the Kashmiri otherness in the Indian ethical imagination -- an impossibility of justice under the punitive occupation. Burhan Wani gathers in his being this entire political history. But, more importantly, through his images, he brought the rebellion out of the shadows to which the occupation had successfully driven it. He represents the restored humanity of the Kashmiri rebel, the decriminalization of the idea of Azadi in Kashmir, and, foremost, the idea of joyous rebellion against the repressive domination.

Open Letter by Burhan Wani to Major Arya

Burhan Wani (d. July 2016): photo via Countercurrents, 4 August 2016

Open Letter by Burhan Wani to Major Arya: Mohd Azhardin Ganayee, CounterCurrents, 4 August 2016

ToMajor Arya (Veteran)
Indian Army

Hello,

I hope you are in good spirits. I will take the liberty of addressing you as my friend. I know that you consider me as a lowly terrorist but now that I am dead, the animosity can take a backseat; at least for the course of this letter. My friend, I am told that you have written an open letter to me. I thank you for making the effort to reach out to me even though it might be a little late. Better late than never.

Indeed I knew the result of taking up the gun against the Indian state. Don’t for a moment think that I was led astray by someone or that I was stupid to think otherwise. It is no easy decision to take a path where the end is death. I understand this surprises many people. I didn’t choose this path out of hatred of your country or religion. I know a lot of your countrymen tend to think like that. It was not the case with me though.

Major Arya, my friend, I was born in a place where love, hospitality, pluralism, and communal amity have been integral to life since times immemorial. How I wish life would have allowed me to host you some day. Had you been to Tral on the day of my funeral, you would have seen Sikh brothers weeping alongside their Muslim brethren. You would have seen them serving food to the mourners and marchers. My friend I always maintained that Amarnath Yatris are welcome here. I had also assured our Pandit brothers of protection, should they decide to return back to their villages. True, my friend, I had vowed to fight the plan for separate colonies. These colonies would have turned into cause of mutual acrimony and discord instead of reconciliation.

You might be wondering what, if not hatred, prompted me to choose this path. One of the most frightening memories of my childhood is the “crackdown”. You would know why if you have served in Kashmir. Succinctly, I remember elders being humiliated, the youth being beaten, the womenfolk being jeered at and the children being threatened. This was a regular feature of my childhood days. My friend, can you imagine how you would feel if you have to prove your identity every day in your own home and neighbourhood to people from a different culture, region and language. I had friends in school whose fathers had been killed. Some in real encounters others extra judicially. This was my childhood. That is how I grew up.

My agitated mind asked questions. I started asking whoever I could for the reasons behind all this. I began reading whatever I could regarding the Kashmir issue. Then I came to know there is an escape from this misery. People call it Azadi. I understand, my friend, that you love your country. You are ready to do anything for its sovereignty and integrity. But I didn’t see my dream of Azadi as a vengeance against your country. I just saw it as a basic human right of my people to live a life of respect and dignity. If the integrity or sovereignty of any country is devoid of this I was willing to challenge it. I knew the cost of doing so but I made my decision.

As I reached higher grades in school I began reading more about the history of the Kashmir issue. I wish you would have done the same before you wrote to me. I came to know that Kashmir had acceded to India subject to ascertaining the wishes of the people. Your first PM had promised the plebiscite on the floor of your parliament. He had also promised it at the UN and also in the LalChowk of Srinagar. The promise awaits fulfilment. I read about the gang rape of an entire village at Kunanposhpora, Kupwara by the Rajputana rifles of your Army. I read about the massacres of Gawkadal, Sopore, Handwara, Bijbehara, so on and so forth. My friend the list is long. I hope you take some time to read about some of this. Do you know my friend that around ten thousand people have vanished in custody? You might not know this. You might not even want to believe this. But how can we disbelieve what we have suffered?

My friend, you might argue that I could have chosen other ways of struggle. I did try but it was not to be. In 2008 I participated in massive peaceful protests. I was there in Eidgah rally when over a million people marched peacefully. Not a glass was broken that day. But the government could not bear the open show of defiance. It responded with curfews and unprovoked firing of protesters. Boys responded with stones. You might know that in the protests of 2008 and 2010 hundreds of young boys were butchered on the streets of Kashmir for pelting stones or marching. Many of my friends lost their lives or limbs. This battle of bullets and stones left a deep imprint on my mind. For the first time I began thinking of picking up the gun. But I wasn’t sure yet.The last straw came in 2010 when I and my elder brother were beaten to pulp by the “security forces” without any reason. I could not bear seeing my elder brother being beaten in front of me. That was the day when I escaped to the forests and became a militant.

The people here called me a Mujahid i.e. a righteous warrior. You call me a terrorist. But, my friend, I have never harmed or even threatened any civilian. My struggle was not driven by hatred. How would you have responded had you been born here in my place? You could have chosen to build a career while keeping aloof from the system. Or you could have tried to change the system from within. Or you might have tried to challenge it by peaceful means. Or you could have joined my group. All these are different forms of resistance. There is another possibility. You could have become a collaborator to the system. But I am sure a conscientious and intelligent person like you wouldn’t have chosen this ignominious option.

My friend, I chose a way of resistance which I knew will lead to death. I have no regrets. Neither do I have any complaints from you or your people. All that I am asking you is to ask yourself why would 3 lac people participate in my funeral if I was a terrorist? Why would the whole valley mourn me if I was a nihilist? My friend, Major Arya, I and my people harbour no ill will towards your people and country. All that we want is basic rights of self-determination, life, security, and dignity. I wish Kashmir and India have a wonderful relationship based on love and respect instead of bloodshed and hatred. But that will not happen unless and until you see reason.

Regards,

Commander Burhan Wani,
Martyrs Graveyard,
Tral, Kashmir

#Kashmir #KashmirKillings #TweetLikeIndianMedia: image via Khan Furaat @khanfuraat, 4 August 2016

People attending funeral of terrorist. 5 to 10 close relatives attending funeral #TweetLikeIndianMedia: image via #Kashmiris @Kashmiris, 4 August 2016

#India outraged as pellet guns injure 4 cows in #Kashmir #Satire #TweetLikeIndianMedia: tweet via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 6 August 2016

INDIA - Protest against the killing of civilians in Kashmir's ongoing summer unrest in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 5 August 2016

Candle Light Protest At Safa Kadal #Kashmir via @AwaazKashmir: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 5 August 2016

Protesters run away as a policeman fires tear gas towards them during a protest against the recent killings in Kashmir, on the outskirts of Srinagar, August 5, 2016. photo by Reuters/Danish Ismail/Reuters, 5 August 2016; image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 6 August 2016

Indian forces kill three in Kashmir as fresh protests erupt: Fayaz Bukhari, Reuters, 5 August 2016

SRINAGAR - Indian security forces opened fire on curfew-defying protesters in the disputed region of Kashmir on Friday, killing three and bringing the number of people killed in a wave of unrest to 55.The recent protests erupted in July over the killing of Burhan Wani, 22, a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, a separatist group.

In Friday's shootings, two protesters were killed in the west of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir state's summer capital, and one in the north of the city after crowds began attacking police and paramilitary positions following Friday prayers, a senior police officer said.

More than 100 people were wounded including several police officers, the police officer said, speaking on the condition he was not named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

India has urged its security forces to act with restraint as they try to keep protesters off the streets and quell near-daily violence that has flared since July 9, but some have accused troops of using excessive force to control the protests.

The Muslim-majority region of Kashmir has been divided between Pakistan and India since shortly after the two countries were carved out of Britain in 1947. Both claim the territory as theirs in full and they have fought two of their three wars over the region.

The weeks-long unrest has further strained relations between the two countries and this week threatened to overshadow a regional forum meeting in Islamabad that was attended by India's interior minister.

India accuses Pakistan of smuggling fighters across its border to attack forces in the Indian-administered portion of the region, a charge Islamabad strongly denies.

Militant attacks against Indian forces have fallen substantially from a peak in the 1990s, but the Indian state has failed to tackle widespread resentment against its rule and there remains a simmering insurgency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has vowed to continue hunting militants while increasing aid and development for the region.

A masked Kashmiri Muslim boy shouts pro freedom slogans during a protest in Srinagar. image via BASIT ZARGAR @BASIIVJ, 5 August 2016

An Elderly man shows his Identity card during a curfew in Srinagar on 28th day: image via BASIT ZARGAR @BASIIVJ, 4 August 2016

Clashes between protestors and Occupation forces today after Friday prayers in #Kashmir's Prichoo, Pulwana: image via Kashmir Dispatch @Kashmir Dispatch, 5 August 2016

Post-friday-prayer protests in Doda against Indian occupation of #Kashmir: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 5 August 2016

Protest Rally @Baramulla Town: image via MOHAMMAD JAVAID @MOHAMMAD_ JAVAID9, 5 August 2016

Advisor on Foreign Affairs highlights state of medical emergency in Occupied #Kashmir: image via Radio Pakistan @Radio Pakistan, 5 August 2016

3 more have been Martyred by Indian forces today during the anti-occupation protests in Kashmir. Death toll 64.: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 5 August 2016

A 20-yr-old youth of Beerwah area of Budgam district was brought dead to SMHS hospital on Friday afternoon: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 5 August 2016

#Kashmir People Offering Nimaz jenaza of Martyred Youth Zahoor from #Beerwah Outside SMHS hospital Srinagar: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 5 August 2016

Special prayers at Alamgari Bazar via @__qureshi in Srinagar. Funeral prayer in absentia was also held. #Kashmir: image via faysal @_Faysal, 5 August 2016

Funeral procession of martyred Sopore youth Danish Kana on its way to 'Charai ground'. #KashmirKillings #Kashmir: image via Shahid Wani @CounterTweet, 5 August 2016

[in Sopore]: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 5 August 2016

[in Sopore]: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 5 August 2016

Day 27: Burhan's Down Town

Children participate in a march held at Barzulla, Srinagar | Photo: Faisal Khan

Children participate in a march held at Barzulla, Srinagar: photo by Faisal Khan via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

Legislator Engineer Rashid being detained at Srinagar | Photo: Faisal Khan

Legislator Engineer Rashid being detained at Srinagar: photo by Faisal Khan via Kashmir Reader 5 August 2016

People stage a pro-freedom rally at Anchidora, Anantnag | Photo: Muneeb Gul

People stage a pro-freedom rally at Anchidora, Anantnag | Photo: Muneeb Gul

People stage a pro-freedom rally at Anchidora, Anantnag: photo by Muneeb Gul via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

Residents of kanli Bagh, Baramulla offer prayers on the main road | Photo: Nisar Malik

Residents of Kanli Bagh, Baramulla offer prayers on the main road: photo by Nisar Malik via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

Asar prayers being offered a Prayers offered on at Sopore | Photo: Eeshan Peer

Asar prayers being offered a Prayers offered on at Sopore | Photo: Eeshan Peer

Asar prayers being offered on the street at Sopore: photo by Eeshan Peer via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

Prayers offered on a street at Rawalpora, Srinagar | Photo: Muzamil Mattoo

Prayers offered on a street at Rawalpora, Srinagar: photo by Muzamil Mattoo via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

People offer Magrib prayers at Nai Basti, Anantnag: photo via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

Youth protest at Arampora, Kupwara | Photo: Nisar Malik

Youth protest at Arampora, Kupwara: photo by Nisar Malik via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

Masked youth stage a protest in uptown Srinagar | Photo: Muzamil Mattoo

Masked youth stage a protest in uptown Srinagar | Photo: Muzamil Mattoo

Masked youth stage a protest in uptown Srinagar: photo by Muzamil Mattoo via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

People wait for their turn outside an ATM in Srinagar | Photo: Muzamil Mattoo

People wait for their turn outside an ATM in Srinagar: photo by Muzamil Mattoo via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

A Mahjoor Nagar, Srinagar, family tries to save window panes of its house with blankets | Photo: Muzamil Mattoo

A Mahjoor Nagar, Srinagar, family tries to save window panes of its house with blankets: photo by Muzamil Mattoo via Kashmir Reader, 5 August 2016

Day 28: Dargah chalo foiled

Sopore residents protest killing of a local youth by government forces

Curfew Extended in Kashmir, but 2 Die, Many Hurt in Clashes: The Associated Press, 5 August 2016

SRINAGAR, India — Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir extended a curfew to most of the disputed Himalayan region Friday in an attempt to prevent an anti-India protest march to a prominent shrine, but clashes erupted as thousands defied the restrictions.

The mostly Muslim region, where resistance to rule by predominantly Hindu India is strong, has been under a rolling curfew and strikes for nearly a month after the killing of a popular rebel commander sparked massive anti-India demonstrations. At least 54 civilians and a policeman have been killed and thousands injured.

Separatists called Kashmiris to march to Hazratbal shrine in the city of Srinagar and stage protests after Friday prayers there.

Police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled streets and laid razor wire and steel barricades to cut off neighborhoods in the city. Shops, businesses and schools remained closed for the 28th consecutive day.

Thousands of Kashmiris defied the security lockdown and demonstrated at dozens of places in the region. They chanted slogans such as "Go India, go back" and "We want freedom."

Violence erupted in at least two dozen places after government forces intercepted the protesters and fired live ammunition, tear gas and shotgun pellets, police and witnesses said.

Two men were killed and at least 100 civilians were injured, some of them critically. At least 20 police and soldiers were also reported injured.

Troops continued firing shotguns to disperse angry crowds despite warnings from India's home ministry to minimize their use, and requests for a ban from local and international rights groups. The pellets have killed at least one man and left hundreds of civilians with serious eye injuries. Dozens of people have been blinded.

Government forces barred people from praying at large mosques across the region for a fourth Friday in a row, but allowed prayers at small neighborhood mosques.

Separatist politicians, demanding an end to Indian rule, have extended the protest strikes until Aug. 12.

The troubled region is experiencing some of the largest protests against Indian rule in recent years since troops killed the rebel commander on July 8.

Tens of thousands of people have defied the curfew and participated in street protests, often leading to clashes between rock-throwing residents and government forces firing live ammunition, shotgun pellets and tear gas.

Kashmir is divided between archrivals India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars over control of the region since British colonialists left the subcontinent in 1947.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmiri rebels who have been fighting for independence or merger with Pakistan since 1989. Pakistan denies the charge, saying it only provides moral and political support to Kashmiris.

Most people in the Indian-controlled part resent the presence of hundreds of thousands of Indian troops and support the rebel cause.

More than 68,000 people have been killed in the armed uprising against Indian rule and the subsequent Indian military crackdown.

A public rally held at Khrew, Pulwama

Protesters shout azadi slogans at Bandipora

Kashmir, Day 28

Kashmir, Day 28

A deserted main road in curfew-bound Anantnag

Kashmir, Day 28

Kashmir, Day 28

A view of Dargha Hazratbal where the pro-freedom leaders were to stage a rally. The government thwarted the programme by imposing strict restrictions.

Kashmir, Day 28: Images via Kashmir Reader, 6 August 2016

Photos by Faisal Khan, Muzamil Mattoo, Nissar Malik, Muneeb Gul, Eeshan Peer, Bilal Habib, Owais Farooqi

A masked protester gestures towards the police during a protest in Srinagar: photo by Reuters, 6 August 2016

INDIA - Tear gas canister explodes as Kashmiri protestors clash with Indian officers in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 6 August 2016

kashmir, kashmir unrest, kashmir curfew, kashmir curfew news, kashmir protests, burhan wani killing, burhan wani, kashmir news, india news

kashmir, kashmir unrest, kashmir curfew, kashmir curfew news, kashmir protests, burhan wani killing, burhan wani, kashmir news, india news

Kashmiri Muslim women shout anti Indian slogans during in a protest march organized by women separatist group Dukhtaran-e-milat, or Daughters of the Nation, shortly after a day long curfew in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. The protesters shouted slogans against Indian rule and denounced the killings of Kashmiri civilians during the recent unrest.: photo by Dar Yasin/AP, 2 August 2016

#Kashmir Danish Rasool, 22, was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Wagoora #Baramulla district today: image via Syed Ai Geelani @sageelani, 6 August 2016

Clashes continue in Kashmir as government forces shot dead three civilians on August 05, 2016. @lookaround81: image via Faisal Khan @lookaround81, 5 August 2016

It can not get scarier than this. All the pellets find the same spot. #KashmirBlindSpot #Kashmir: image via Syed Ai Geelani @sageelani, 6 August 2016

‘Join the separatists’: Kashmir cop tells IAS officer after Facebook spat: image via Hindustan Times @htTweets, 6 August 2016

India charges sedition for Facebook post calling to leave Kashmir. RT to make it backfire.: image via Kenneth Roth @KenRoth, 6 August 2016

PAKISTAN - Children pose as injured Kashmiri children during an anti-Indian protest in Islamabad. By @farooqnaeem1: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 5 August 2016

INDIA - A child wraps himself with a plastic sheet to protect himself during heavy rainfall in Shimla. By @AFPphoto: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 5 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - Afghan youths enjoy a ride on swings in the city of Kabul. By @NoorullahShirz #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 5 August 2016

SYRIA - Rebel fighter reloads magazine of his weapon during clashes with regime forces in Ramussa. By Fadi Al-Halabi: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 5 August 2016

SYRIA - Rebel fighters fire towards positions of regime forces in Ramussa. By Fadi Al-Halabi #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 5 August 2016

SYRIA - Members of opposition forces sit in an armoured personnel carrier in neighbourhood of Aleppo. By @omarnajdat: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP photo, 6 August 2016

Attacks and fighting forced 25k people to flee their homes in #Aleppo, #Syria @UNICEFmena: image via UNICEF Verified account @UNICEF, 5 August 2016

#INDIA A woman walks with her child past burnt out shops following a militant attack on a market at Balajan Tinali[photo Biju Boro @AFP]: image via Catherine Moreau @CatherineMoreau8, 6 August 2016

INDIA - Blood stains the floor of a shop after a militant attack at Balajan Tinali . By @AFPphoto #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 5 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - Refugee families return to Afghanistan through Pakistan border crossing at Spin Boldak. By Jawed Tanveer: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 6 August 2016

#Brazil An Olympic torch bearer runs through Rio de Janeiro on August 3. #AFP Photo by @YasuyoshiChiba: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 August 2016

#Afghanistan An Afghan street vendor, Mohsen, 16, prepares fresh lemon juice for customers photo by @Farshadsyan: image via Catherine Moreau @CatherineMoreau8, 6 August 2016

#Rio2016 The Opening Ceremony seen from the Mangueira Favela. By @iandrej #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP photo, 5 August 2016

In this June 22, 2016 photo, butterflies congregate on the shore of the Igarape Mapi River near the community of Ceu do Mapia, in Amazonas state, Brazil. The butterflies gather attracted by the minerals that accumulate on the sandy shore. Ceu do Mapia revolves around an ancient psychedelic tea locals know as the Holy Daime. The Ayahuasca brew is sacred to Ceu do Mapia villagers, who use it in rituals that blend together Indian beliefs with Roman Catholicism.: photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo, 4 August 2016

In this June 22, 2016 photo, a boatman gets ready to cross the Purus river near the city of Boca do Acre, Amazonas state, Brazil. The Purus river provides the main access to the community of Ceu do Mapia in a trip of more than four hours deep in the Amazon jungle of western Brazil.: photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo, 4 August 2016

In this June 22, 2016 photo, girls run amidst a plantation of Chacrona (Psychotria viridis) one of the components of an ancient psychedelic tea locals know as the Holy Daime in Ceu do Mapia, Amazonas state, Brazil. In the early 1980s a rubber tapper named Sebastiao Mota de Melo, nicknamed Godfather Sebastiao, took hundreds of followers deep into the forest to create Ceu do Mapia, a new village that would live by the Ayahuasca tea doctrine.: photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo, 4 August 2016

In Brazil's Amazon, this community's culture revolves around an ancient psychedelic tea. Photo by Eraldo Peres: image via AP Images@AP_Images, 3 August 2016

In this June 22, 2016 photo, a cauldron with the mixture of Jagube (Banisteriopsis caapi) and Chacrona leaves (Psychotria viridis) is brought to a boil during the preparation process of a psychedelic tea, in Ceu do Mapia, Amazonas state, Brazil. The Cult of the Holy Daime was started in 1930 by a descendant of slaves.: photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo, 4 August 2016

In this June 22, 2016 photo, a woman wearing a white crown warms up next to a bonfire during a break in the service of the church of the doctrine of the Holy Daime, in Ceu do Mapia, Amazonas state, Brazil. During the all night service men and women line up in two separate rows to drink the psychedelic tea after making the sign of the cross. They then sing together prayers and psalms in a large circle.: photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo, 4 August 2016

In this June 23, 2016 photo, members of church of the doctrine of Holy Daime stand during a religious service, at dawn, in Ceu do Mapia, Amazonas state, Brazil. Most services last all night and into the morning.: photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo, 4 August 2016

In this June 23, 2016 photo, girls talk at sunrise after an all night religious service of the church of the doctrine of the Holy Daime in Ceu do Mapia, Amazonas state, Brazil. For the service women wear shiny white crowns on their heads, green sashes over their shoulders and green belts around their waist..: photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo, 4 August 2016

GAZA CITY - A Palestinian farmer checks greenhouses in Gaza City. By @mohnmdabed #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 4 August 2016

INDIA - Labourers are silhouetted against the clouds as they work on an upcoming highrise in Mumbai. By #thisisindia: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 4 August 2016

HAITI - A boy runs with a football while playing on a sport court in Port-au-Prince. By @hectorretamal #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 4 August 2016

Terror in Filipino slums as bodies pile up in Rodrigo Duterte's drug war: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 4 August 2016

#Philippines 1/2 - Human toll as bodies pile up in Philippine drug war @AFP #AFP Photo by @herime23: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 4 August 2016

#Philippines 2/2 - Human toll as bodies pile up in Philippine drug war @AFP #AFP Photo by @herime23: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 4 August 2016

IRAQ - Iraqis light candles at site of an explosion which killed more than 300 people in Baghdad. By Ahmad Al-Rubaye: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 4 August 2016

#IRAQ The site of an explosion which killed more than 300 people in Baghdad one month ago. #AFP by Ahmad Al-Rubaye: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for August 4, 2016

Iraqis walk past the site of an explosion which killed more than 300 people in Baghdad’s Karrada district: photo by Ahmad Al Rubaye / AFP Photo, 4 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - Shopkeepers and volunteers carry out products as a fire rages at the shopping mall in Kabul. By @kohsar: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 4 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - Shopkeepers toss rolls of fabric out of a window as a fire rages at shopping mall in Kabul. By @kohsar image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 4 August 2016

A masked man attends a demonstration called by Morocco’s February 20 protest movement in Rabat: photo by Youssef Boudlal / Reuters, 4 August 2016

Punks from around the world gather in Blackpool for the four day Rebellion Festival in Blackpool, England: photo by Christopher Furlong, 4 August 2016

A soldier from Indonesia’s Rapid Reaction Strike Force jumps out from the back of an Air Force transport plane during a parachute training exercise in Tarakan, North Kalimantan province: photo by Fadlansyah/Antara Foto/Reuters, 4 August 2016

A woman carries a sack outside a market during heavy rains in Chandigarh, India: photo by Ajay Verma/Reuters, 4 August 2016

A French soldier patrols near the Biarritz's beach, France. The challenge of protecting churches, synagogues, tourist haunts, beaches, summer festival sites, airports and train stations is among the most daunting tasks security forces have faced in recent times in France, and Europe.: photo by Bob Edme / AP, 30 July 2016

People cool off on a beach in Qingdao, Shandong province, China: photo by Reuters. 30 July 2016

[Untitled] (Billings, Montana): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 3 August 2016

[Untitled] (Butte, Montana): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 5 August 2016

{Untitled] (Great Falls, Montana): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 6 August 2016

[Untitled] (Great Falls, Montana): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 6 August 2016

[Untitled] (Billings, Montana): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 3 August 2016

[Untitled] (Rockaway Beach, Oregon): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 2 August 2016

[Untitled] (Shelby, Montana): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 17 July 2016

[Untitled] (Great Falls, Montana): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 17 July 2016

[Untitled] (Idaho): photo by Lucas DeShazer, 17 July 2016

Cemetery, Italy (Isola di San Michele, Venice): photo by Austin Granger, 25 July 2016

Melons (Santa Clara, California): photo by efo, 30 July 2016

Party dresses (San Jose Flea Market): photo by efo, 30 July 2016

@PaulManafort @realDonaldTrump One of Our Homeless MAGA Brothers Needs Help. #MAGA #Trump: image via Battle Beagle @BattleBeagle, 5 August 2016

HAPPY SATURDAY NIGHT EVERYONE! I'll leave you all with this: #Trump the builder-in-chief: image via ALWAYS TRUMP! @AlwaysTrump, 6 August 2016

Melania Trump denies violating U.S. immigration laws: image via Yahoo News @YahooNews, 4 August 2016

Jeremy Corbyn addressing Hull earlier today. Won't see this on the BBC. #WeAreHisMedia: image via Jeremy Cliffe @Jeremy Cliffe, 30 July 2016

[Untitled]: image via Jon Stall @JonStall2009, 6 August 2016

Before a campaign stop at a boutique tie manufacturer in Denver and a rally, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton raised money from a deep-pocketed donor with a potential interest in one of the most controversial issues facing voters in Colorado this November. Clinton attended an Aspen fundraiser Tuesday hosted by Charif Souki, who amassed his fortune working for natural gas companies including one he founded last year, Tellurian Investments. The debate about fracking is intensifying in Colorado. In recent months, activists in the swing state have been pushing ballot initiatives to limit the practice while the oil and gas industry has pushed back with a multimillion-dollar campaign. Above, Clinton is seen speaking during a campaign rally with democratic vice presidential nominee U.S. Sen Tim Kaine at Fort Hayes Vocational School on July 31, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio.: photo via International Business Times, 5 August 2016

Clinton "short circuits" on email answers: image via ReutersTV @ReutersTV, 6 August 2016

Getting caught #WhatMakesHillaryShortCircuit: image via Jon Stall @JonStall2009, 5 August 2016

Those damn millennials #WhatMakesHillaryShortCircuit: image via Jon Stall @JonStall2009, 5 August 2016

"Acting" Human#WhatMakesHillaryShortCircuit: image via Jon Stall @JonStall2009, 5 August 2016

Heathcote Williams: Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton: The total obscenity of the American Dream

The total obscenity of the American Dream
Comes to fruition in Donald J. Trump:
“We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ ”
He declares on his Presidential stump.

What’s wrong is that Trump’s best-selling volume,
On the virtues of property speculation,
Wasn’t written by him but by one Tony Schwarz
(Now dreading Trump as leader of his nation).

‘The Art of the Deal’ established Donald J. Trump
As the archetypally successful tycoon.
Schwarz presented him in the best possible light --
Striving to hide a poisonous buffoon.

“I put lipstick on a pig,” Schwarz later would say
When overcome with remorse,
For he’d branded Trump as a winning charmer,
One that an electorate could endorse.

Whereas in his Presidential run-up ‘the Donald’
Would soon reveal his true colours:
“It really doesn’t matter what the media write”, Trump says,
“As long as you’ve got a young piece of ass.”

Despite self-enchanted claims to be a self made man
Trump’s wealth has been largely inherited
From father Fred, a slum landlord and speculator,
Who was once notoriously prosecuted

By the US Justice Department for refusing
To rent to African-Americans --
To do so clashed with the beliefs
Fred gleanedFrom his attendance at KKK rallies.

It’s said the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
And so the son is true to Fred’s prejudice
With Trump’s plans to exclude Mexicans with a wall
And to make Mexico pay for the privilege.

Trump’s first wife, Ivana, famously claimed
That Trump was a fan of Adolf Hitler
And that he kept a copy of Hitler’s speeches,
“My New Order,” in his bedside cabinet.

“The beauty of me is that I’m very rich,” says the gilded toad.
“The point is, you can never be too greedy.”
“My IQ is one of the highest -- and you all know it!”
He then changes gear to become simply creepy:

“I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter,
“Perhaps I would be dating her.”
If he can sink to using incest as a come-on to gain the White House
What’s to stop such a perv killing her or perhaps eating her?

When the publisher Random House gave him an advance
Of half a million to write his autobiography,
They sent a mock-up to Trump Towers for his approval --
They’d not held back on the typography:

They’d featured his name, TRUMP, in gold block capitals
With him being depicted as a new Alexander the Great.
“Please make my name much bigger,” responded the man
Whose vampirish megalomania was his favourite trait.

Schwarz saw Trump as driven by an insatiable hunger
For “money, praise, and celebrity.”
He described him by saying “He’s a living black hole!”
And he viewed his mindset with hilarity.

Trump would insist that an apartment
In one of his latest developments
Has been sold to a Prince or a Sultan
To add kudos to his establishment.

“Prince Charles has bought several”, he’d insist
Although there wasn’t a shred of evidence,
But snobs and New York sheep fell for his ploy
And Trump gained his golden recompense.

This mega-vulgarian who blows his own trumpet
So hard you think he’s likely to blow a fuse --
This red-faced Aryan with his combed-over hair
Is a charlatan whose every game-plan is a ruse.

He has 3,500 outstanding lawsuits pending.
He takes rides on the ‘Lolita Express’
To a Caribbean island filled with underage girls
Thanks to Jeffrey Epstein, a slave to excess --

A convicted sex criminal, friends with Prince Andrew,
Bill Clinton, and other white trash sleazeballs.
Trump joined him as a sex-tourist and an orgy-goer
With a penchant for raping 13-year-old girls.

One alleged victim, not named in Court documents,
Claims that during one “savage sexual attack”
Trump tied her to a bed, then “proceeded to forcibly rape” her
While she “loudly pleaded” for him to stop.

The billionaire “screamed that he would do whatever he wanted”.
Trump struck her with his open hands then threatened the girl:
“Were she ever to reveal any of the details of the sexual abuse”,
She and her family “would be physically harmed if not killed”.

At the age of 22, Trump had four military deferments
To get out of fighting in Vietnam.
He claimed he’d had an “uncomfortable bone” in one his feet
Yet couldn’t remember which foot caused the ‘problem.’

That his millionaire father was instrumental in this great patriot
Avoiding Vietnam was also the truth --
Leaving Trump to say flippantly that his “personal Vietnam”
Was to have avoided sexual diseases in his youth.

Trump’s buildings are erected by conning unpaid craftsmen.
His Trump University peddles Mickey Mouse degrees.
Here’s a man who declares war on ‘political correctness’
As it stops him from abusing whomsoever he pleases.

Foul-tempered and violent he singles out hecklers
To be beaten up or pepper-sprayed by bodyguards.
“I’d like to punch him in the face,” he says of a protester --
This Neanderthal, and virulently racist blow-hard.

Now imagine Donald Trump in the White House,
Conjuring his self-serving lies out of thin air.
With his sleek little fingers fondling the nuclear codes,
The demagogue grins and mutters, ‘Do I dare?’

“It’s freezing and snowing in New York -- we need global warming!”
Is Trump’s take on an apocalyptic predicament.
“It’s impossible to keep him focused on any topic,” says Schwarz,
“Other than his own self-aggrandizement.”

“All Moslems should leave the United States now”,
Says Trump on a populist roll.
The US father of a Muslim soldier killed in action
Condemns Trump as “a black soul.”

Donald Trump’s warmongering rival is little better --
A humourless Iron Lady in hock to Wall Street:
Who crows after Gaddafi’s murder by CIA stooges:
She sadistically gloats, “We came; we saw; he died!”

Secretary Hillary Clinton’s emails show that Libya’s plan
To create a gold-backed African currency to compete
With the dollar was the real motive for NATO intervention,
And Hillary’s death squad saw the job was complete.

Hillary’s role in the bombing of Libya
As the US Secretary of State
Led to a body-count of over twelve thousand
And to ISIS’s regime of hate.

Clinton leaves a trail of more bloody coups:
Both in Honduras and in the Ukraine.
Appropriately nine out of ten US arms makers.
Are generously funding her campaign.

When the “women’s candidate” kills women
With drones and with Cruise missiles,
It’s hard not to think her feminism’s selective
And if not conflicted, then utterly specious.

Despite 400,000 civilians being killed in Syria
This neo-con Mother Kali calls for more.
Unable to mind her own business, she demands
‘Regime change’ which is code for war.

Hillary Clinton’s support for the jihadis in Syria
Would further fuel the Islamic State --
Now with powerful US weapons and equipment
With which to revive its Caliphate.

She has armed Saudis with sophisticated weapons
To carry out genocide in the Yemen.
“The nuclear option should not be off the table”
She has said in relation to Iran.

Bill and Hillary’s private slush fund,
The Clinton Global Foundation,
Gives only ten percent to charity
Despite its noble intentions.

The Clinton Foundation exists to open the door
To the third world’s valuable resources:
If corporate interests donate to its crooked coffers
Then the Clintons will pressurize world leaders.

If these are the best candidates that are on offer
In the US’s petri dish of democratic depravity,
Then maybe it’s time for the system to crumble
And to be replaced by nonviolent anarchy.

It’s sick to have billionaires or their puppets
Controlling the future of the species.
US democracy doesn’t count as democracy
But only as a notifiable disease.

Heathcote Williams: Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton:A Foaming Sleazeball from Hell versus An Iron Lady whose Hands Drip with Blood, via International Times, 4 August 2016

Technician Steven Heinz adjusts a remote camera during an off day for women's basketball at the Youth Center at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,

Technician Steven Heinz adjusts a remote camera at the Youth Center at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: photo by Carlos Osorio/AP, 5 August 2016

Mikoyan MiG-29 jet fighters of Strizhi aerobatic team fly in formation during International Army Games 2016 in Dubrovichi outside Ryazan

Mikoyan MiG-29 jet fighters of the Strizhi (Swifts) aerobatic team fly in formation during the International Army Games 2016, in Dubrovichi outside Ryazan, Russia: photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters, 5 August 2016

Syrian rebels inspect the wreckage of a Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter after it was shot down along the administrative border between Idlib province, northwestern Syria and neighboring Aleppo. Russia's defense ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers and said that all five people on board were assumed dead. The attack came as Syrian opposition fighters and their jihadist allies battled government forces outside Aleppo in a bid to ease the regime's siege of rebel-held parts of the northern city.: photo by Mohamed Al-Bakour / AFP, 1 August 2016

The sun is seen through the cloudy sky, beside the bronze sculpture of Victoria, in Berlin: photo by Clemens Bilan/AFP, 5 August 2016

A Turkish girl gestures under a huge picture of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk at a rally in Gundogdu Square in Izmir on August 4, 2016, protesting against the failed July 15 military coup attempt, with the participation of Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu (not pictured). Turkey issued an arrest warrant on August 4 for US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, accusing him of ordering the coup attempt aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. An Istanbul court issued the warrant, the first after the failed putsch for the reclusive cleric in Pennsylvania, the Anadolu news agency said. / AFP PHOTO / EMRE TAZEGULEMRE TAZEGUL/AFP/Getty Images

A Turkish girl gestures under a huge picture of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk at a rally in Gundogdu Square in Izmir: photo by Emre Tazegul/AFP, 5 August 2016

An image made available on 04 August 2016 shows a cross is pictured in front of the plain of Chablais at the summit of Croix des Chaux (2012m) above Gryon VD, western Switzerland, 03 August 2016. EPA/ANTHONY ANEX

A cross is pictured in front of the plain of Chablais at the summit of Croix des Chaux (2012m) above Gryon VD, western Switzerland: photo by Anthony Anex/EPA, 4 August 2015

#sunset in Sardegna on June 8, 2016, in Alghero #AFP Photo by @cacaciotti: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 4 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - Youth try to catch fish in the waters of the Kabul river near Jalalabad. By @NoorullahShirz #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 4 August 2016

A man takes a fishing boat on a lake in Shi'en, Hubei Province, China, August 4, 2016.

A man takes a fishing boat on a lake in Shi’en, Hubei Province, China: photo by Reuters, 4 August 2016

A man out fishing on a lake in Shien, Hubei Province, China: photo by Reuters, 4 August 2016

People comfort each other following a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan. A powerful bomb went off on the grounds of a government-run hospital Monday, killing dozens of people, police said: photo by Arshad Butt/AP Photo, 8 August 2016

Suicide bomber kills at least 45 at Pakistan hospital: Gul Yousafzai, Reuters, 8 August 2016

QUETTA, Pakistan - A suicide bomber killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens more in Pakistan on Monday, in an attack on mourners gathered at a hospital in Quetta, according to officials in the capital of the violence-plagued southwestern province of Baluchistan.

The bomber struck as more than 100 mourners, mostly lawyers and journalists, crowded into the emergency department to accompany the body of a prominent lawyer, who had been shot and killed in the city earlier in the day, Faridullah, a journalist who was among the wounded, told Reuters.

"There are many wounded, so the death toll could rise," said Rehmat Saleh Baloch, the provincial health minister.

He said at least 45 people were killed, and more than 50 wounded, as the casualty toll spiked from initial estimates.

Television footage showed scenes of chaos, with panicked people fleeing through debris as smoke filled the hospital corridors.

The motive behind the attack was unclear and no group had yet claimed responsibility, but several lawyers have been targeted during a recent spate of killings in Quetta.

The latest victim, Bilal Anwar Kasi, was shot and killed while on his way to the city's main court complex, senior police official Nadeem Shah told Reuters.

The subsequent suicide attack appeared to target his mourners, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the Baluchistan government, said.

"It seems it was a pre-planned attack," he said.

Police cordoned off the hospital following the blast.

Aside from a long-running separatist insurgency, and sectarian tensions, Baluchistan also suffers from rising crime.

Quetta has also long been regarded as a base for the Afghan Taliban, whose leadership has regularly held meetings there in the past.

In May, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed by a U.S. drone strike while traveling to Quetta from the Pakistan-Iran border.

Relatives mourn next to bodies of victims after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta, south-west Pakistan: photo by Banaras Khan/AFP: image via AFPnews agency @AFP, 8 August 2016

At least 40 killed in SW Pakistan hospital blast: minister: AFP, 8 August 2016

At least 40 people were killed and dozens wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowd of mourners on Monday at a hospital in southwest Pakistan, officials said, with fears the toll will rise.

The blast in the Balochistan provincial capital Quetta came after mourners including journalists and lawyers had gathered at the hospital following the fatal shooting of a senior local lawyer.

Video footage showed bodies strewn on the ground, some still smoking, among pools of blood and shattered glass as shocked survivors cried and comforted one another.

Many of the dead appeared to be wearing black suits and ties. A large burn mark against white brick appeared to indicate where the bomb went off.

Officials were cautious about the death toll, saying mobile phone jammers had been activated around hospitals in the area so they were unable to contact officers on the ground.

"The last information we had was 40 dead but it may increase," said Saleh Baloch, health minister for Balochistan, in a figure confirmed by an AFP reporter at the scene.

"There were around 40 people injured when we were shifting them to hospitals. But now mobile jammers have been activated and so we don't have updated information," he told AFP.

The military has also been deployed in and around the city's hospitals, he said.

The toll makes the attack the second deadliest in Pakistan this year so far, after a bombing in a crowded park in Lahore over Easter killed 75.

Several lawyers and some journalists had gathered at the hospital after the death of the president of the Balochistan Bar Association in a shooting earlier Monday, Akbar Harifal, provincial home secretary, told AFP.

The lawyer, Bilal Anwar Kasi, was targeted by two unidentified gunmen as he left his home in the morning for work.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either the blast or the shooting. Facebook activated its safety check for Quetta in the wake of the attack.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has major oil and gas resources but is afflicted by Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and a separatist insurgency.

#UPDATE At least 40 people are killed after a bomb rips through a hospital in SW Pakistan [photo Banaras Khan/AFP]: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 8 August 2016

53 dead as blast hits Quetta Civil Hospital after lawyer's killing: Syed Ali Shah, Dawn News, 8 August 2016

QUETTA: At least 53 people were killed in a suicide bombing inside the Civil Hospital on Monday, hospital officials said. Many others were injured in the attack.

There was no claim of responsibility for the blast, which occurred at the gates of the building housing the emergency ward. Bomb Disposal Squad officials confirmed the explosion was a suicide bombing.

“The blast took place after a number of lawyers and some journalists had gathered at the hospital following the death of the president of the Balochistan Bar Association in a separate shooting incident this morning," said Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Harifal.

Condemning the attack, Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri told local TV channel Geo News that Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was behind terror incidents in Quetta.

The CM shared this statement with the media before initial investigations into the blast were completed, and before the nature of the blast was confirmed.

The bomber struck as more than 100 mourners, mostly lawyers and journalists, crowded into the emergency department to accompany the body of Advocate Bilal Anwar Kasi, Faridullah, a journalist who was among the wounded, told Reuters.

Noor Ahmed, the hospital's deputy chief surgeon for victims of violent crime, said they were treating about 50 wounded in the bombing.

“I can confirm that so far, 53 people have been killed in today's bombing at our hospital,” said Ahmed.

According to senior police official Zahoor Ahmed Afridi, most of the dead were lawyers. Several lawyers including the former president of Balochistan Bar Association Baz

Mohammad Kakar were reported injured.

Journalists present at the premises also came in the line of fire and a cameraman for DawnNews, Mahmood Khan, who was severely injured in the explosion, later passed away. Shahzad Khan, a cameraman associated with Aaj TV, was killed in the blast.

An emergency was declared in hospitals across Quetta and several injured were shifted to other hospitals for treatment.

"This was a security lapse," Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said, adding that he was personally investigating the attack. He said the hospital had not received any threats in the past.

Following the blast in Quetta, Inspector General (IG) police A.D. Khawaja issued a high security alert across Sindh.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast in Quetta and expressed his “deep grief and anguish over the loss of precious human lives” in the attack.

“No one will be allowed to disturb the peace in the province that has been restored thanks to the countless sacrifices by the security forces, police and the people of Balochistan,” he said in a statement.

Lawyers have been targeted several times in the last few months in Balochistan.

A lawyer, Jahanzeb Alvi, was shot dead by unknown armed men in the Brewery road area of Quetta last week on Aug 3.
Advocate Bilal Kasi, who himself was shot dead on the morning of Monday's blast, had strongly condemned the murder of Advocate Alvi and announced two days’ boycott of courts proceedings.
The principal of University of Balochistan's law college, Barrister Amanullah Achakzai, was also shot dead by unknown assailants on Spini Road here in June.

Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade. More than 1,400 incidents targeting the minority Shia and Hazara community have taken place in the province during the past 15 years.

The largest province of the country by area, is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region.

The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

PAKISTAN - A bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta. By Banaras Khan #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

#India attacks hospitals and ambulances in #Kashmir its terror proxies attack a hospital in #Quetta #Balochistan #IndianTerrorism #Pakistan: tweet via Ahmad Quraishi @AQpk, 8 August 2016

#Baluchistan Bar Association President Advocate Bilal Anwar Kasi gunned down by unknown gunmen in #Quetta: image via PTV World @WorldPTV, 8 August 2016

The body of a Pakistani lawyer lies in a police van after a bomb explosion at a hospital in Quetta; by Banaras Khan: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 8 August 2016

60 souls 60 jems of #Balochistan #QuettaBleeds: image via #Human @ShahidQazi1, 8 August 2016

60 killed, many injured in a Civil Hospital explosion in #Quetta: image via TheQuint Verified account @The Quint, 8 August 2016

Recent image of AAJ TV journalist Shehzad Ahmed who has been killed in today's #Quetta blast. RIP.: image via The Nation @TheNation, 8 August 2016

#Balochistan has lost cameraman Shazad Ahmed, in #quettablast @cpjasia @RSF_Inter @FreedomofPress@FreedomHouseDC: image via Malik Siraj Akbar @Malik Siraj Akbar, 8 August 2016

martyred cameraman had 2 jobs to earn livelihood as Pakistani media outlets dont pay enough to #Balochistan journalists: image by Shezad Baloch @Shezadbaloch, 8 August 2016

Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri says that Indian intelligence agency RAW behind @Quetta terrorist attack: image via Nadeem Malik Verified account @nadeemmalik, 8 August 2016

55 killed, over 100 injured in blast at Pakistan hospital

55 killed, over 100 injured in blast at Pakistan hospital

Mourning the dead after Quetta blast: photo by AFP, 8 August 2016

#Quetta #Baluchistan #Pakistan #PakistanZindabad #ShukriyaPakistan #SalamPakistan #Azadi #OneNation #Islam #Peace: image via Muhammad Mudassir @mudassir98u, 8 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - A child swims in a canal on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif. By @Farshadusyan #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard during a curfew in the Batmaloo area of Srinagar, Kashmir: photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP, 8 August 2016

INDIA - A paramilitary trooper stands guard during a curfew in the Batmaloo area of Srinagar. #Srinagar by @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 8 August 2016

An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard during a curfew in the Batmaloo area of Srinagar, Kashmir: photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP, 8 August 2016

INDIA - Indian paramilitary troopers patrol near the mosque Jamia Masjid during a curfew #Srinagar by @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 8 August 2016

INDIA - A paramilitary trooper stands guard near the grand mosque Jamia Masjid in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

674 wounded in a single day as pellets, bullets, tear gas rain on #Kashmir protesters: image via Jibran Nasir @MJibranNasir, 6 August 2016

Special Azadi Train to leave Peshawar for Karachi on 14 Aug 16. Commander Burhan Wani and other #Kashmir pics featured.: image via SyedAli Geelani @sageelani, 8 August 2016

A vale of tears, torment: Abbas Nasir, Dawn, 6 August 2016

The heated exchanges over Kashmir between Pakistan and India at the Saarc ministerial conference in Islamabad this week and the abrupt departure for Delhi of the Indian home minister were indicative of the situation on the ground in India-held Kashmir.

Even then, the exchanges hardly captured the real mood in the Kashmir valley which is in the grip of seething anger. The brutality with which protests are being put down by the security forces has ensured things remain on the boil.

The statistics speak for themselves. Since the 21-year-old militant commander who was more of a social media star, Burhan Wani, was killed early last month and protests erupted across the valley after tens of thousands participated in his funeral, at least 60 people have been killed and some 4,000 injured.

One aspect of the brutal repression is the use of shotguns by both the dreaded paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force and the Jammu and Kashmir Police. Shotguns in use of police forces are also called ‘riot guns’.

Deployed in crowd control situations, these guns are supposed to use ‘non-lethal’ ammunition including rubber pellets and are normally aimed and discharged at more or less the legs or feet of the protesters. Often they are less powerful than shotguns used for hunting.

Evidence (both of their use and the impact) suggests the Indian security forces have used hunting shotguns with steel pellets and fired their weapons at the upper torso and faces of the protesters. Photographs and X-rays of dozens of young men and women have appeared on the social media showing multiple pellet wounds in their upper bodies and faces.

The worst possible consequence of such use of shotguns against the mainly young (some not even in their teens yet) demonstrators is that they have been blinded. The number of those being treated for eye injuries is said to be in excess of 300 while some 50 have lost their sight completely.

Of course I have had no access to the valley itself but on a recent visit to London, where a serious ankle injury confined me mostly to bed, I was still able to talk to many friends and acquaintances from Srinagar and other places in the valley.

Their common refrain was that Kashmiris have now travelled a long distance from the last elections where many voted in the hope for peace. This proved to be elusive and now their children, kith and kin are being brutally oppressed. All are saying one word in unison: ‘Azadi’ (freedom).

I’d rather not name my friends for the fear of their family members’ safety who are in the valley itself, but many of them seemed to have reached a pass where they don’t care and maintain a high-profile presence by writing about the atrocities in the media and raising awareness via social media on a daily basis.

Side by side with their common demand for azadi, many Kashmiris I talked to were also equally clear about saying ‘no thanks’ to Pakistan-based militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). This is simply because they believed that such groups undermine their indigenous struggle.

As one London-based Kashmiri elaborated, “Look at what happened to what was purely our own struggle in the 1980s and 1990s. It was hijacked by the Pakistan-based groups. Their jihad based on an ideology pretty alien to the valley targeted innocent civilians and even foreigners in Kashmir, which discredited our movement and isolated it internationally.”

Another factor that all these Kashmiris were keen to stress on was that when they say ‘azadi’ they mean both from India and Pakistan. They wish to govern themselves. “The best act of friendship by Pakistan would be to let us be. We have reached a stage where we’d be horrified to contemplate a day when, say, Islamabad replaces New Delhi.”

Ironically, it was the man responsible for the Kargil fiasco, Gen Pervez Musharraf, who also saw and addressed this factor, perhaps less to respect the wishes of the Kashmiris but more to provide India with an acceptable solution, when he proposed a ‘borderless’ region during the 2005 summit with the then prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Considerable progress had been made four years earlier also when Musharraf met prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the Agra summit and matters appeared close to an agreement when ostensibly loose remarks by the Pakistan president were pounced upon by hard-line BJP leaders opposed to any accord.

The hardliners were led then by Lal Krishna Advani and they found their spokesperson in Mrs Sushma Swaraj (the current foreign minister) whose characterisation of the dialogue before the assembled media was such that nobody who was part of the discussions on the Pakistan side could recognise it. This jettisoned the process that was generating considerable optimism in 2001.

But the progress made in 2005 again crawled to a halt when Musharraf became embroiled in a fight for survival at home, following his March 2007 attempted sacking of the then Supreme Court chief justice. The 2008 attack by LeT terrorists targeting unarmed civilians in Mumbai almost pushed the two nuclear powers to the very edge.

Today, regardless of the peace initiatives Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may be keen on, the GHQ seems to have drawn red lines for him not to cross, including vigorously trying the Mumbai carnage accused.

And having won the election due to his appeal among both big business and hard-line Hindu nationalists, his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi appears also lost in no-man’s land where relations with Pakistan are concerned.

While those who call the shots in the two countries are currently locked in on one-upmanship, the defence budgets on each side are ballooning, the Kashmir valley continues to bleed with no respite in sight, and the subcontinent remains teeming with millions steeped in poverty and misery. And there appears no light at the end of the tunnel.

Diyalgam youth had performed ablution before joining protests, Haseeb was shot at by the police in head - #kashmir: image via Awaaz @AwaazKashmir, 8 August 2016

SYRIA - A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces walks on a street with his weapon in Manbij. By @Dellsouleman #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

IRAQ - A woman who fled Hawijah in northern Iraq rests after arriving in the Kirkuk province. By Marwan Ibrahim #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

MACEDONIA - A woman wades in floodwaters in front of her home in Stajkovci near Skopje. By @RAtanazovski #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

Powerful photograph from the #Quetta blast site where more than 90 were killed. Blood spilled over a book. #RIP: image via Aditya Raj Kaul Verified account @Aditya RajKaul, 8 August 2016

Pakistani local journalists react over the body of a news cameraman after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta on Monday: photo by Banaras Khan/AFP, 8 August 2016

PAKISTAN-UNREST-SOUTHWEST | by alkhaleej-online

Local journalists react after the killing of a news cameraman, Civil Hospital, Quetta [photo Banaras Khan / AFP]: image via alhkaleej online, 8 August 2016

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Local journalists react over the body of a news cameraman after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta on Monday: photo by Banaras Khan/AFP, 8 August 2016

Death toll in Quetta bombing rises to 93, says provincial Health minister Rehmat Baloch: tweet via Ihsan Tipu Mehsud @IhsanTipu, 8 August 2016

Y only Pashtun have 2 live as IDP in camps, killed by Taliban, humiliated by Army and dragged by police in Islamabad? [photo @AFP]: image via Pashtoon Khan @Pashtoonkhan, 9 August 2016 Punjab, Pakistan

A splinter group of Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for Quetta bombing. #Pakistan: tweet via Salman Masood @salmanmasood, 8 August 2016

#ISIS claimed responsibility for #Quetta Attack via its official news agency, #Amaq: image via Ihsan Tipu Mehsud @IhsanTipu, 8 August 2016

#Amaq Multiple claims of Quetta bombing. After Taliban, IS claims the attack:tweet via Salman Masood @salmanmasood, 9 August 2016

IS claim could be just an extension as splinter Taliban group expressed support for it in the past: tweet via Salman Masood @salmanmasood, 8 August 2016

#Pakistani military checkout on every 500 meters, #Taliban Chief and rest in safe house. #PakistanIsIsis: image via Meerain Baloch @meerinjo, 8 August 2016

Mourners on Monday after the hospital attack in Quetta. The blast occurred shortly after the body of a prominent lawyer, killed by gunmen earlier in the day, had been transferred to the hospital.: photo by Banaras Khan/Agence France-Presse, 8 August 2016

Death toll rises after bombing at Pakistan hospital - in pictures

Pakistani relatives mourn next to bodies of victims after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta: photo by Banaras Khan / AFP, 8 August 2016

#QuettaBlast in #Balochistan is an act of disrespecting Human Dignity and basic Human Values. Condemnable.: image via HRCB @HrcBalochistan, 8 August 2016

The so called leaders of #Balochistan sitting in #Islamabad Stooges of Pakistan Army killers of Baloch and Pashtuns: image via #Human @ShahidQazi1, 8 August 2016

Where are Human Rights champions? #QuettaAttack #BalochGenocide: image via Walíd Lái Balóc @waleed_balouch, 8 August 2016

Army not allowing families to see dead bodies of their loved ones due to the protocol of Raheel Sharif. #QuettaBlast: image via Faiz Baluch @Faiz_Baluch, 8 August 2016

Real face of world class terrorist provider #Pakistan: image via Meerain Baloch @meerinjo, 8 August 2016

94 educated #Baloch and #Pakthun killed by the the #Pakistani Army jihadi wings. Army will arrest thousands innocent in #Baloch areas.: tweet via Meerain Baloch @meerinjo, 8 August 2016

Pakistani journalists carry placards during a protest against the killing of their colleagues and lawyers in a suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta, in Karachi on August 8, 2016

Pakistani journalists in Karachi carry placards during a protest against the killing of their colleagues and lawyers in a suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta: photo by Rizwan Tabassum/AFP, 8 August 2016

PAKISTAN - Rally in Lahore to pay tribute to a news cameraman killed in a suicide bombing in Quetta By Arif Ali @AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

PAKISTAN - Pakistani victims injured in a suicide bombing are treated at a hospital in Quetta. By Banaras Khan #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

The body of a Pakistani lawyer lies in a police van after a bomb explosion at a hospital in Quetta; by Banaras Khan: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 8 August 2016

Men react at the site of a bomb explosion at a government hospital in Quetta, Pakistan: photo by Banaras Khan / AFP, 8 August 2016

Pakistani lawyers and local media personnel carry a bed to move the body of a news cameraman after a bomb explosion at a government hospital in Quetta: photo by Banaras Khan / AFP, 8 August 2016

Pakistani relatives mourn next to bodies of victims after a bomb explosion at a government hospital in Quetta: photo by Banaras Khan / AFP, 8 August 2016

Pakistani lawyers carry the body of a colleague on a stretcher after a bomb explosion at a government hospital in Quetta. A powerful bomb went off on the grounds of a government-run hospital Monday, killing dozens of people, police said.: photo by Banaras Khan / AFP, 8 August 2016

A Pakistani lawyer reacts as he stands near the bodies of colleagues killed in a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta: photo by Banaras Khan / AFP, 8 August 2016

#UPDATE At least 40 people are killed after a bomb rips through a hospital in SW Pakistan: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 8 August 2016

People carry an injured lawyer to a hospital following a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan. A powerful bomb went off on the grounds of a government-run hospital Monday, killing dozens of people, police said.: photo by Arshad Butt / AP, 8 August 2016

A Pakistani paramedic carries injured lawyers to a hospital following a bomb blast in Quetta. A powerful bomb went off on the grounds of a government-run hospital Monday, killing dozens of people, police said.: photo by Arshad Butt / AP, 8 August 2016

Pakistani lawyers use a stretcher to move an injured colleague after a bomb explosion at a government hospital premises in Quetta: photo by Banaras Khan / AFP, 8 August 2016

Pakistan: dozens dead as bomb hits mourners at Quetta hospital: Explosion, reportedly killing at least 67, occurred as body of prominent lawyer, Bilal Kasi, arrived at hospital after he was shot: Taha Siddiqui in Islamabad and Saeed Kamali Dehghan for The Guardian, 8 August 2016

At least 67 people have been killed and another 100 injured after a suicide bomb packed with ball bearings tore through a crowded state-run hospital in Quetta, the capital of a region of Pakistan ravaged by insurgency and sectarian tensionsWitnesses described horrific scenes as victims cried out for help, and survivors scrambled to flee past bodies lying scattered in the smoke-filled corridors.

The blast on Monday appeared to have been a deliberate attempt to target some of Balochistan province’s most prominent lawyers, who had gathered at the hospital’s emergency department to mourn a colleague who shot dead earlier in the day in a separate incident. Bilal Kasi, the president of the Balochistan bar association, was targeted by two gunmen as he left his home for work.

Both Islamic State and Jamat-ul-Ahrar, an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Victims of the hospital bombing included relatives of Kasi and at least two journalists who had gone to the hospital to cover his death.

One lawyer, Riaz Ahmed, 74, had gone to the hospital with an assistant and his nephew to find out what had happened to Kasi when the blast occurred. “I was near a wall and I fell down,” he told the Guardian by phone.

“The wall protected me. My assistant and my nephew are injured and being treated. It was a miracle that I survived.

“There was chaos after the blast, with body parts lying everywhere. It is hard to recognise the victims. Many of the injured are quite critical.”

Another lawyer, Jameel Ahmed, 48, said he headed for the hospital as soon as he heard that Kasi, a friend, had been shot dead “I heard a loud blast, then a colleague of mine called me from hospital,” he said. “I have lost so many friends in a single attack. This is horrific. Many of those who have died were with me last night. We had dinner together and now they are all dead.

“I think the terrorists planned it so -- they knew that lawyers would gather in large numbers at the hospital after the killing of Kasi, and so they sent a bomber to attack.”

Monday’s blast was the latest in a string of vicious attacks against lawyers in Balochistan, which is located in south-western Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. It has become a breeding ground of ethnic separatist insurgency, where the minority Shia and Hazra community have been targeted in the course of the past decade. Two other lawyers, Jahanzeb Alvi and Amanullah Achakzai, were killed in August and in June respectively by unknown gunmen in the same city.

The Quetta hospital attack was the second deadliest in Pakistan this year. In March, on Easter Sunday, 75 people were killed in a bombing targeting Christians near a bustling park in Lahore.

Attackers have previously used similar tactics to those seen on Monday to kill people mourning at a hospital. In 2012, an attack outside a Karachi hospital killed 13 people who had gathered for a victim of a separate attack on the same day.

In an emailed statement to journalists, Jamat-ul-Ahrar said the the group “will continue attacks in Pakistan till the establishment of Islamic system in the country”. Jamat-ul-Ahrar, is a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and is based out of the tribal areas near Pakistan and Afghanistan border. Earlier in the day, Balochistan’s chief minister, Sanaullah Zehri, had blamed Indian intelligence for being behind the attack.

The Isis-affiliated Amaq “news agency” also issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, condemned the bombing, expressing “deep grief and anguish over the loss of precious human lives” before he arrived in Quetta to visit the hospital.

“No one will be allowed to disturb peace in the province that has been restored due to countless sacrifices of security forces, police and the people,” he said in a statement.

“This is an absolutely senseless targeting of dozens of people, including patients and mourners,” said Champa Patel, Amnesty International’s director for south Asia. “It has led to a devastating loss of life, and is an example of the string of attacks in recent years in Pakistan on schools, hospitals and other ‘soft targets’, which must cease immediately.”

She added: “A full, independent and transparent investigation must be carried out into how and why this bombing took place, and whoever is responsible should be brought to justice as soon as possible in fair trials, without recourse to the death penalty.”

According to the Express Tribune, a major English-language Pakistani newspaper, a spokesperson for the Balochistan regional government said that the attack following Kasi’s killing appeared to have been “pre-planned”.

A spokesperson for the Pakistan army said on Twitter that the attack was aimed at undermining security in Balochistan in the light of China-Pakistan economic cooperation in the region.

The Quetta bomb disposal squad has issued a statement saying at least eight kilograms of explosives were used along with ball bearings, to inflict maximum damage. The official death toll stood at 67, while more than 100 were injured. Facebook activated its safety check in the aftermath of the attack, enabling users to notify friends about their situation.

A journalist with the Pakistani television network Aaj News, Shehzad Ahmed, and Dawn’s Mehmood Khan were among the victims. Dawn said in an article published on its website that Khan had risen to become a journalist after first working as a security guard at the media organisation.

An AFP journalist who was approximately 20 metres away from the blast escaped injury. Describing the aftermath of the attack, he said: “There were pools and pools of blood around and pieces of human bodies and flesh ... people were beating their heads, crying and mourning. They were in shock and grief.”

Lawyers around Pakistan have announced a country-wide strike, and will not be attending courts on Tuesday. Pakistan’s chief of justice, Anwar Zaheer Jamali, also issued a statement condemning the attack.

Don't fool yourself @NewPakistan2020 (Baloch of occupied #Balochistan holding the Balochistan flag proudly): image via PIRDHAN BALOCH @PIRDHAN BALOCH, 31 July 2016

Canada: Baloch National Movement protests against the abduction of Wahid Baloch by the Pakistani forces: image via PIRDHAN BALOCH @PIRDHAN BALOCH, 31 July 2016

Killing humans is a biggest crime against humanity but Balochistan's humans r openly being killed by Pakiforces @hrw: image via Samreen Baloch @Samreen_Baloch1, 31 July 2016

Quetta: slide 31: image via RISHTACORNER, 8 August 2016

Relatives grieving over bodies of bombing victims, Civil Hospital, Quetta [photo Banaras Khan / AFP]: image via alkhaleej online, 8 August 2016

Relatives grieving over bodies of bombing victims, Civil Hospital, Quetta [photo Banaras Khan / AFP]: image via alhkaleeljonline, 8 August 2016

Men comfort a lawyers after the killing of his colleagues, Civil Hospital, Quetta [photo Banaras Khan / AFP]: image via alhkaleej online, 8 August 2016

A Pakistani soldier comforts a mourner, Civil Hospital, Quetta [photo Banaras Khan / AFP]: image via alhkaleej online, 8 August 2016

Pakistan: Over 53 killed, 35 injured in bomb explosion at Civil Hospital, Quetta in Balochistan | by karo4greatness

Civil Hospital, Quetta, after the bombing: image via karo4greatness, 8 August 2016

INDIA - Indian fishermen catch fish in the Yamuna River in New Delhi. By @Money_Sharma #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 August 2016

Indian workers take a nap near idols of the elephant-headed Hindu god Lord Ganesha at a roadside workshop in New Delhi on August 8, 2016.

Indian workers take a nap near idols of the elephant-headed Hindu god Lord Ganesha at a roadside workshop in New Delhi: photo by Money Sharma/APP, 8 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for August 8, 2016

A picture taken with a long shutter shows Nepalese Hindu pilgrims, also known as Bolboms, collecting holy water to worship Lord Shiva, the god of creation and destruction, at the Bagmati river in Kathmandu, Nepal: photo by Narendra Shrestha / EPA, 8 August 2016

#haveaniceday #Iran A child raises his hands at #sunset in Mahmoud Abad on June 16. #AFP Photo by Atta Kenare: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 8 August 2016

#haveaniceday #Kashmir #sunset on Dal Lake in Srinagar on March 30, 2016 #AFP Photo by @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 7 August 2016

#SrinagarVsMuzaffarabad Kashmiris bleed green, breathe Green, wear Green and paying the cost of it with their lives: image via AK47 @KhatijahFatima, 9 August 2016

Who will win??? #SrinagarVsMuzaffarabad: image via Waheed Gul @waheedgul, 9 August 2016

Kashmiris receive bullets for their love for this sabz hilali #SrinagarVsMuzaffarabad: image via Aisha Baloch @AyishaBaloch, 9 August 2016

This is Srinagar #SrinagarVsMuzaffarabad: image via Waheed Gul @waheedgul, 9 August 2016

#SrinagarVsMuzaffarabad Facing the odds, they are not afraid to raise Sabz hilali. Pic frm Srinagar: image via Aisha Baloch @AyishaBaloch, 9 August 2016

#SrinagarVsMuzaffarabadIndependence Day preparations in full swing #Kashmir: image via M H T @HanzalaOfficial, 9 August 2016

#SrinagarVsMuzaffarabad launched, join patriots: image via Aabekosar @Aabekosar, 9 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for August 9, 2016

A man rests inside a pedicab in suburban Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines: photo by Aaron Favila/AP. 9 August 2016

Indian Border Security Force soldiers pay homage to their slain colleagues during a wreath-laying ceremony in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir: photo by Mukhtar Khan/AP, 9 August 2016

A Palestinian child with family members collecting their belongings after Israeli authorities destroyed their home because they said it was built without permission in the village of Umm al-Kheir, south of the West Bank city of Hebron: photo by Hazem Bader/Agence France-Presse, 9 August 2016

INDIA - A student stays seated during sudden downpour during 75th anniversary of 'Quit India' in Mumbai. By @thisisindra: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

WEST BANK - Palestinian houses have been destroyed by Israeli authorities in Umm al-Kheir. By @hazemjbader #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

PAKISTAN - A woman looks from a broken window of the Civil Hospital after suicide bombing in Quetta. By Banaras Khan: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

MYANMAR - Slum dwellers dismantle their shanty house in Yangon. By @ye_aung_thu #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

INDIA - Men cross a road during a heavy rainfall in New Delhi. By @Chandanphoto #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

INDIA - A wreath-laying ceremony at Border Security Force headquarters in Srinagar. By @Tauseef MUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

WEST BANK - Demonstration against administrative detention of Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed. By @gharabli_ahmad: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

YEMEN - A man checks destruction at a food factory in Sanaa, after it was hit by coalition strike. By Mohammed Huwais: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

INDIA - Tea plantation workers hold umbrellas as they make their way to pick leaves in Sonitpur. By @BoroBiju #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

YEMEN - A Yemeni tribesman from the Popular Resistance Committees holds a position in Taez. By Ahmad Al Basha #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

SYRIA - Boy looks away from blood stained floor at makeshift hospital following mortar attack in Douma. By @AbdDoumany: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 9 August 2016

Northern hemisphere sky-gazers are in for a special treat on Thursday night: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 9 August 2016

Rio thieves strike faster, higher, stronger: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 9 August 2016

Putin and Erdogan meet to mend ties after jet downing rift: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 9 August 2016

[The Dragon Speaks]*

'I wille you allë swalewë withouten any bot;

But some wille I save, and some wille I not.'

*part of a medieval description, in Latin, of Fortune's wheel

bot deliverance

[The Dragon Speaks]: from the Grimestone Lyrics

Putin and Erdogan meet to mend ties after jet downing rift: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 9 August 2016

Egypt's Elghobashy (L) and Italy's Giombini prepare to jump during a #volleyball qualifier at the #Rio2016 Olympics: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 9 August 2016

CHINA - Young women take a selfie photo with a smartphone at a shopping mall complex in Beijing. By @NAsfouri #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

MYANMAR - Long-exposure photograph shows lighting from heavy rain clouds over Yangon.By @ye_aung_thu #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

#RIO2016 The women’s individual sabre bronze medal bout as part of the fencing event. Photo Kirill Kudryavtsev: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

#RIO2016 Rowers warm up at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas ahead of their race. Photo @jeffpachoud: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

#RIO2016 Clouds cover the Christ the Redeemer statue. Photo @DamienMeyerAfp: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

INDIA - lluminated buildings of Central Secretariat and President's House are seen in New Delhi. By @Chandanphoto: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

PAKISTAN - Vigil to pay tribute to victims a day after a suicide bombing at Civil Hospital in Quetta. By Banaras Khan: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

INDIA - Children of local boatmen prepare to jump into the flooded Yamuna river in Allahabad. By @sanjaykanojia07: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

Death toll in Pakistani hospital bombing rises #QuettaBlast: image via Reuters World @ReutersWorld 8 August 2016

Pakistan hanged ldrs of #Balochistan in 1960 hoping to crush r Azadi movmnt. In 2016 we're still here @BalochWorld: image via (((Tarek Fatah))) Verified account @TarekFatah, 9 August 2016 Toronto, Ontario

#India attacks hospitals and ambulances in #Kashmir, its terror proxies attack a hospital in #Quetta #Balochistan #IndianTerrorism #Pakistan: tweet via Ahmed Quraishi @AQpk, 9 August 2016

#Boxing effects during #OlympicGames in #Rio2016 #Brazil: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 August 2016

2016 Rio Olympics - Weightlifting - Final - Women's 63kg - Riocentro - Pavilion 2 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 09/08/2016. Mehtap Kurnaz (TUR) of Turkey competes. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

Mehtap Kurnaz (TUR) of Turkey competes in the final of the women’s 63kg weightlifting competion at the Rio Olympics: photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters, 9 August 2016

2016 Rio Olympics - Table Tennis - Quarterfinals - Women's Singles - Riocentro - Pavilion 3 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 09/08/2016. Yu Mengyu (SIN) of Singapore plays against Kim Song I (PRK) of North Korea.

Yu Mengyu (SIN) of Singapore plays against Kim Song I (PRK) of North Korea in the women’s table tennis quarter finals at the Rio Olympics: photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters, 9 August 2016

digging for gold #OlympicFail: image via Schlick Willy @Jordan_Andrae11, 8 August 2016

#TeamCanada after a 2-1 win over #ITA #beachvolleyball @CBCOlympics: image via Volleyball Canada Verified account @VBallCanada, 7 August 2016

#Rio2016 photo @tabascokid #AFP: image via Rob Bodman @robbodman, 7 August 2016

Hijab won’t keep me from sport, says #EGY #beachvolleyball player Doaa Elghobashy: image via HT Sports Verified account @HTSportsNews, 8 August 2016

@JamieBroder and @KristinaValjas win first #Rio2016 #beachvolleyball match #TeamCanada: image via Volleyball Canada Verified account @VBallCanada, 7 August 2016

I've had worse places to work. #lifesabeach: image via Leon Neal@tabascokid, 6 August 2016

#CAN faces #LAT in Men's #beachvolleyball LIVE now on @visaca #cbcvirtualreality: image via CBC Olympic Verified account @CBC Olympics, 8 August 2016

#USA's Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena defeat Tunisia in #beachvolleyball prelim 21-7, 21-13: image via Sports Illiustrated Verified account @SInow, 8 August 2016

Well, my fantasy football team name for 2016 just fell from the sky: image via Justin Henry@JRHWriting, 7 August 2016

Putin attends a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg, Russia, August 9, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg, Russia: photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters, 9 August 2016

A woman shelters from the sun as she walks in a outdoor shopping mall complex in Beijing

A woman shelters from the sun as she walks in an outdoor shopping mall complex in Beijing: photo by Nicolas Asfouri/AFP, 9 August 2016

An Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldier salutes near the coffins of three colleagues during a wreath-laying ceremony at BSF headquarters in Srinagar on August 9, 2016. At least three BSF soldiers and one suspected militant were killed in a gunfight close to the Line of Control in north Kashmirs Kupwara district on August 8. / AFP PHOTO / TAUSEEF MUSTAFATAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images

An Indian Border Security Force soldier salutes near the coffins of three colleagues during a wreath-laying ceremony at BSF headquarters in Srinagar: photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP, 9 August 2016

People watch an elimination round of the men’s individual archery competition at the Sambadrome venue, located in a residential area, at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: photo by Alessandra Tarantino/AP, 9 August 2016

Fiji’s Rebecca Tavo, left, scores a try as USA’s Kelly Griffin, defends during the women’s rugby sevens match at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: photo by Themba Hadebe/AP. 9 August 2016

A migrant girl sleeps under a mosquito net outside the former international airport in Athens, currently used as a temporary camp for migrants and refugees: photo by Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP, 10 August 2016

GREECE - A migrant girl sleeps under a mosquito net outside former international airport in Athens. By @atzortzinis: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

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A migrant girl sleeps under a mosquito net outside the former international airport in Athens, currently used as a temporary camp for migrants and refugees: photo by Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP, 10 August 2016

GREECE - A refugee girl sleeps on the ground outside the former international airport in Athens. By @tzortzinis #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

Kashmir: Uneasy Calm

Just landed in #Kashmir. Uneasy calm.: image via Harinder Baweja Verified account @shammybaweja, 10 August 2016

First Time In The History Of #Kashmir People Of Anantnag Organised Pro Freedom Boat Rally. #KashmirNow: image via Vavaid Shaikh @javaidShaikh, 10 August 2016

Kashmir: the right to self-determination denied since 1947. Photo (from fb) of plebiscite rally, Srinagar, 1953.: image via najeeb mubarki @najeebmubarki, 10 August 2016

INDIA - Paramilitary trooper stands holding a pellet gun stands guard during a curfew in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

Arundhati Roy: What exactly does azadi mean to Kashmiris?

For 34th day, #Kashmir remains paralysed by protests and curfew: image via Hindustan Times Verified account @HtTweets, 10 August 2016

Azadi: What exactly does azadi mean to Kashmiris? Why can’t it be discussed? Since when have maps been sacrosanct? Arundhati Roy, Outlook, 25 July 2016

The people of Kashmir have made it clear once again, as they have done year upon year, decade upon decade, grave upon grave, that what they want is azadi. (The “people”, by the way, does not mean those who win elections conducted in the rifle sights of the army. It does not mean leaders who have to hide in their homes and not venture out in times like these.)

While we denounce -- as we must -- the gunning down of unarmed protesters by the security forces, the attacks on ambulances and hospitals by policemen, and the blinding of teenagers with pellet guns, we have to keep in mind that the real debate cannot only be about the violation of human rights by Indian security forces in the Kashmir valley. Egregious though they are, those violations are the consequence -- the inevitable and unavoidable consequence -- of the militaristic suppression of a people’s struggle for freedom. Kashmiris are not fighting for the establishment of the rule of law or an end to human rights violations. They are fighting for azadi. For this, they are prepared to face down bullets with stones. For this, they are prepared to die in numbers. For this, they are prepared to exhibit acts of open defiance that may lead to their death or incarceration in the most densely militarised zone in the world. For this, they are prepared to take to arms, to fight to the death, knowing full well that they will die young. They have proved that with tragic regularity. They have been nothing if not consistent.

It’s no usepretending that what the Indian government has on its hands is a fleeting law and order problem created from time to time by a fickle, volatile people. What is happening is a dangerous, spiralling crisis of unmanageable proportions in a region that is sandwiched between two hostile nuclear powers. For that reason alone it should concern the whole world.

If we really want to address that crisis, if we really want to stop the endless cycle of killing and dying, if we really want to stem the haemorrhaging, the first step has to be a small concession to honesty. We have to have an honest conversation. However diverse the views may be, however opposed to one another -- the subject of that conversation has to be azadi: What exactly does azadi mean to Kashmiris? Why can’t it be discussed? Since when have maps been sacrosanct? Should a people’s right to self-determination be denied at any cost? Are the people of India prepared to have the blood of thousands of ordinary people on their conscience? With what moral authority can we talk about all the other horrors being visited upon us, if we are prepared to swallow this one? Is the presumed “consensus” in India on the subject of Kashmir real or manufactured? Does it matter? In truth, it shouldn’t. What matters is what Kashmiris want, and how to arrive at that consensus in the most peaceful, democratic and informed way possible.

If there is to be a solution to this terrible, seemingly endless tragedy, we have to be able to think clearly, speak freely and listen fearlessly to things we may not want to hear. We have to find a new imagination. This applies to everybody, on all sides of the dispute.

Something beautiful could come of it. Why not? Why ever not?

People participate in protest rally against indian occupation in Pulwama Today. #Kashmir: image via Syed Ai Geelani @sageelani, 10 August 2016

Kashmir women protests in Sopore's Boitangoo: image via Kashmir Dispatch @KashmirDispatch, 10 August 2016

1000s of ppl participated in protest rally in Dangerpora Pulwama Pro-freedom and anti-india slogans wr raised #Kashmir: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 10 August 2016

1000s of ppl participated in protest rally in Dangerpora Pulwama Pro-freedom and anti-india slogans wr raised #Kashmir: image via Syed Ai Geelani @sageelani, 10 August 2016

Sheikh Abdul Aziz (1952 – August 11, 2008) was killed during protest against india's economic blockade of #Kashmir: image via Syed Ai Geelani @sageelani, 10 August 2016

Syed Ali Geelani arrested by #Kashmir police while trying to visit Mazar-e-Shohada Srinagar. #KashmirKillings: image via KashmirDispatch @KashmirDispatch, 11 August 2016

INDIA - School students take a close look at defence equipment during an exhibition in Kolkata. By @Dibyangshus: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

Kashmiris believe armed resistance is the only way: Sacher Baloch, Dawn, 8 August 2016

KARACHI: Supreme militant commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin urged Pakistan on Sunday to find a peaceful solution to the ongoing violence in India-held Kashmir.

If a peaceful solution is not reached then Pakistan should consider cutting off diplomatic ties with India over the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani in Kashmir.

Speaking during a press conference at the Jamaat-i-Islami’s (JI) headquarters, Idara Noor-i-Haq, here Salahuddin, who is also the head of the Muttahida Jihad Council, said that the young commander’s killing gave “new meaning to the struggle for India-held Kashmir”.

Salahuddin spoke for the entire duration of the one-hour press conference, with members of the JI, including its Karachi emir Naeem-ur-Rahman, sitting next to him. The reporters were informed that Salahuddin had come on a short visit to Karachi from Muzaffarabad to “especially speak to the media”.

Reading from a piece of paper, Salahuddin said:“Today marks the 30th day of curfew in India-held Kashmir. The violence has claimed 65 lives so far and around 125 people are injured through the pellet guns used by the Indian troops.”

He said Pakistan was “morally bound” to help the Kashmiris at this time.

Pointing out the United Nations Security Council resolution on the accession of Kashmir, he said there were so far “18 such resolutions tabled by the UN on Kashmir which have been ignored by the international community”.

He added: “Any resistance by the Kashmiris in the face of the extreme violence perpetrated by the Indian troops will end up being the responsibility of the international community besides India.”

In light of the current discord in relations between India and Pakistan due to the wave of violence exacerbated by the killing of Wani in Kashmir, Salahuddin said that calling back ambassadors from India is the “best solution at the moment.”

The diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring countries turned bitter recently when Indian home minister Rajnath Singh left a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) meeting amid a spat with his Pakistani counterpart, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. During the meeting, the Indian home minister accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism which led Nisar to snub him during the luncheon thrown for the Saarc members.

Speaking about the recent turn of events, Salahuddin said he had “advised the government to not participate in the Saarc meeting; yet the government went ahead with it”.

However, he appreciated the protests in India and discussion on the Kashmir issue in Indian parliament. Specifically mentioning international writer Arundhati Roy, he said: “It is good to know that there are people, such as Arundhati Roy sahiba, who question the motives of their own state as well.”

Answering a question after the press conference was over, he said that Pakistan’s policy towards Kashmir “remains inconsistent” which gave strength to the Indian troops in the valley. Despite the “indecisiveness on Pakistan’s part”, he added that the Kashmiris were getting ready for “a decisive moment to take matters in their own hands. With the increasing violence, many Kashmiris believe that armed resistance is the only way to move through the chaos.”

Karachi emir of the JI Naeem-ur-Rahman said that Aug 15 would be commemorated as a ‘black day’ in which rallies would be taken out from Muzaffarabad to Chakothi, near the Wagah border crossing in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

Mourners accompany the body of fallen local hero, Burhan Wani, in Tral, south Kashmir: photo via Dawn, 25 July 2016

Balochistan

Scene of roadside IED blast in #Pakistan #Quetta Thu am. 13 injured. Police said fed Shariah Ct Judge was targeted.: image via Ayesha Tanzeem @atanzeem, 10 August 2016

14 injured as roadside bomb targets judge's police escort in Quetta: Syed Ali Shah, AP, 11 August 2016

QUETTA: Officials said a roadside bomb went off near a vehicle escorting a judge of the Federal Shariat Court, wounding 14 people.

A roadside blast targeted a vehicle belonging to the Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF) accompanying Justice Zahoor Shahwani's vehicle at Quetta's Zarghon Road on Thursday.

According to rescue officials, ten civilians and four security officials were injured, with two in critical condition, in a roadside blast targeting the vehicle belonging to the ATF near Al Khair Hospital in Balochistan's provincial capital. The blast also shattered windows of nearby buildings.

Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said the judge was unharmed.

Police spokesman Shahzada Farhat says police officers and passers-by were wounded.

The bomb was planted along the side of the road and exploded as the ATF's vehicle escorting the judge passed by.

Security forces and a bomb disposal squad reached the scene to collect evidence. Rescue teams moved the injured to Civil Hospital Quetta and CMH.

Police cordoned off the area as a search operation went underway.

"This is a busy road and the terrorists take advantage of this, planting bombs and fleeing on motorcycles," said Bugti, strongly condemning the attack while talking to media at the site of the blast.

"These blasts are aimed at sabotaging Independence Day activities in Balochistan. I believe these cowardly acts will not bring down our morale. We are in a conflict zone and we will fight with renewed resolve."

"We are reviewing our security measures and you will see changes on the ground."

The minister added that three to four kilograms of explosive material was used in the blast.

The explosion comes just days after a suicide bombing that killed over 70 people, mostly lawyers and journalists, at the emergency ward of Quetta's Civil Hospital on Monday.

A combing operation is ongoing throughout Quetta following Monday's blast.

10 injured in #Quetta roadside blast: image via Dawn.com Verified account @dawndotcom, 11 August 2016

#Pakistani judge escapes roadside bomb attack in #Quetta. 4 members of anti-terror force guarding him are among 13 wounded.: tweet via Ataz Gul @AyazGul64, 11 August 2016 Punjab, Pakistan

PAKISTAN - A relative prays beside the grave of a lawyer killed in a suicide bombing in Quetta. By Banaras Khan: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

Wall chalking in #Balochistan, stand with us, Boycott the celebration on the creation of a monster #14AugustBlackDay: image via Jahán Balóc @BalochWorld, 9 August 2016

ISIS rears its head in Balochistan: Tarek Fatah, Toronto Sun, 9 August 2016

Nearly 100 people died Monday in an attack by Islamic State (ISIS) on a hospital in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

Balochistan, the size of France, is a strategic territory at the mouth of the Straits of Hormuz that can effectively choke off all oil traffic to and from the Persian Gulf.
In March 2012, I wrote the following about the war in Balochistan for the Sun papers:

“A terrible war is unfolding in a faraway land called Balochistan. Almost daily, bodies of young men, kidnapped and tortured to death by the Pakistan occupation army, end up in ditches. Others, still alive, are thrown from helicopters into the arms of the rough mountain terrain below. Yet, not a single western journalist covers this ongoing, slow-motion genocide of the Baloch people.”

An independent country before it was occupied by Pakistan in 1948, Balochistan has witnessed a 65-year insurgency by nationalist guerrillas seeking freedom for their once independent country.

Baloch leaders say that to counter the largely secular independence struggle led by left-wing revolutionaries, the Pakistan army introduced Islamic right-wing jihadi death squads to carry out assassinations of the Baloch intelligentsia, the political leadership, journalists, lawyers and academics.

For example, most of the dead and wounded victims of ISIS in the latest attack were lawyers, who had come to the hospital after the head of the Balochistan Bar Association was shot dead a few hours earlier by gunmen.

Two weeks ago, Baloch human rights activist Wahed Baloch, who ran a private library of 10,000 books and was lovingly referred to as the “Baloch Bookman”, was abducted from a bus and has since disappeared along with tens of thousands of other Baloch who had the misfortune to obtain higher education.

The reported nexus between the Pakistan army and the Islamic radicals has come full circle. The tail is now wagging the dog.

One faction of the Pakistan-backed Taliban has split and joined ISIS. It calls itself Jamaat-ur-Ahrar.

It was this group that claimed to carry out the horrific suicide bombing in Quetta. Its spokesman said in an email, the group “takes responsibility for this attack, and pledges to continue carrying out such attacks. We will release a video report on this soon.”

The response from the Pakistan government was callous at best, seemingly more concerned about the economic impact on its investments than the people who died.

The prime minister was overshadowed by the country’s armed forces chief of staff, whose spokesman claimed the attack was aimed at wrecking the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Corridor (CPEC), being built to link a Chinese naval base on Balochistan’s coastal city of Gwadar and China’s Xinxiang region.

The Twitter post by the military’s spokesperson drew a sharp rebuke by exiled Balochistan leader Mehran Marri, who wrote: “100 people killed in #Balochistan's capital & the shameless #PakistanArmy is worried about the China-Pak CPEC deal.”

While the spectre of ISIS in Balochistan is a scary development, Baloch leaders claim the attack may have been staged by the Pakistan military to extract American funds.

Marri put it this way on Twitter: “Is it a coincidence, days after U.S. blocks $300M to Pakistan there’s a major terror attack? Who r the Pakistanis fooling? China or the USA?”
Meanwhile the latest victims of ISIS in Balochistan went largely unnoticed around in the world.

Imagine if they had died in Gaza, or Glasgow.

#BalochistanExcitedFor14AUGToday there are green flags everywhere in #Balochistan. We defeat terrorism with hope.: image via Mobeen Aslam @mobeenaslam, 10 August 2016

#Balochistan Nationalist Leader condemns #QuettaBlast and discloses Pakistan army's task of sponsoring Jihadis: image via Samir Baloch @SaamZad, 10 August 2016

Veracity of attack claims: Qasim A. Moini, Dawn, 10 August 2016

In the aftermath of Monday’s carnage in Quetta, a number of possible perpetrators have emerged, including two militant groups and a foreign intelligence agency. Yet somewhere in between the suspicions of government officials, boastful claims of terrorists and conspiracy theories lies the truth -- which only a thorough and transparent investigation can unveil.

Following the gun and bomb attacks, Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri voiced the suspicion that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) could have been behind the tragedy, claiming that the foreign intelligence agency had conducted similar operations before “in Quetta and other areas”.

While the role of hostile external actors cannot be ruled out and must be investigated, it was surprising that such a senior official made the statement so soon after the event, before even the preliminary investigations were completed. Surely state functionaries should have solid evidence before publicly making such claims.

However, what was even more confusing were the dual claims made by TTP offshoot Jamaatul Ahrar (JA) and the Islamic State militant group (IS), declaring responsibility for the atrocity. Interestingly, the IS statement was released through the terror outfit’s ‘news agency’, Amaq, claiming a “martyrdom bomber” had carried out the outrage.

There was some confusion whether JA had joined forces with IS, which would have made the dual claims contradictory. However, it appears that Jamaatul Ahrar’s alliance with IS was never formal but merely a statement of appreciation, as many within JA’s ranks share the sectarian worldview of IS. Moreover, the ‘official’ Islamic State affiliate in this region is, and remains, IS Wilayah Khorasan, a group completely different than JA.

Of course in the nebulous world of religious militancy, alliances, loyalties and goals are always fluid and subject to change. JA itself is the new avatar of TTP Mohmand. This outfit had also attacked courts previously, in Charsadda (March 2016).

Militants issuing claims and counterclaims is not a new phenomenon. Such tactics have been witnessed before. For example, in the Bacha Khan University attack in January 2016, militant Umar Mansoor claimed the attack, while Mohammad Khorasani, the TTP’s ‘official spokesman’, distanced himself from it.

In another example, both Jundallah and IS claimed the May 2015 Safoora attack, in which over 45 members of the Ismaili community were massacred in Karachi. This is of course not the same Jundallah that is active in the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan. What is more, the Pakistan-based Jundallah has claimed attacks as far afield as France, a claim that many analysts say is difficult to believe.

Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was also praised as a “soldier of the caliphate in America” by IS, though it is not clear how, when and even if IS -- based in the deserts of Syria and Iraq -- communicated its directives to the security guard-turned-militant in far-off Florida. It may simply be a case of opportunism, as militant groups seek to adopt the attacks carried out by lone wolves and freelancers to boost their own image and ‘street cred’, while the perpetrators go down in a blaze of glory by linking up to globally active terrorists.

It also appears that various militant groups make claims that are merely red herrings, to confuse investigators, or to secure bragging rights in the world of militancy.

A senior police officer based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, requesting anonymity, confirmed this to Dawn. “Militant groups do it [make conflicting claims] for two main reasons: to create confusion or to indulge in point-scoring. Unless law enforcers and intelligence agencies make arrests or analyse explosives or have a [solid] lead, we cannot say” who is actually responsible. “These claims are mostly made to create ambiguity”.

Analyst and director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies Imtiaz Gul agrees and adds: Multiple claims are made “to obfuscate the identity of the real perpetrators. It is immaterial who claims responsibility. What is important is that something has been staged to create insecurity”.

Mr Gul also observes that delayed claims -- for example the claims for the Quetta attacks came several hours after the incidents occurred -- “point to the fact that something is fishy”.

Perhaps what emerges is the fact that investigators must not rush to make a judgement. While all angles must be studied, paying too much heed to unsubstantiated claims by militant groups may derail the investigations.

Instead of pursuing overly broad claims -- some touching on the farcical -- it would perhaps be more productive to employ scientific investigation methods and reliable intelligence to uncover the hands behind the Quetta carnage, and the many other tragedies of its kind.

Baloch Demand Only Freedom For Balochistan. #BalochistanDay #Balochistan: image via SHAYZAD BALOCH @shayzad_baloch, 10 August 2016

#haveaniceday

#haveaniceday #Myanmar #sunrise Residents ride bicycles in Naypyidaw on January 30 #AFP Photo by @ye_aung_thu: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 10 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - A farmer harvests wheat in a field on the outskirts of Herat. By @Arefkarimi #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

GAZA CITY - Palestinian workers remove debris from buildings destroyed during the 50-day war. By @mohmdabed #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - Security personnel prepare for combat with Taliban in the Nad Ali district of Helmand. By Noor Mohammad: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

FRANCE - A makeshift restaurant in the so-called "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais. By Philippe Huguen #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

COLOMBIA - A municipal employee takes part in demolition works at The Bronx in Bogota. By @GuilleLegaria #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

#Beijing A man smells a rose as he waits for a table at a restaurant during the Qixi Festival by @freddufour_afp: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

#rio2016 - A fan of Argentina wears a horse mask at the Olympic Park. Photo @edwardesjones: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

#rio2016 - China's Ma Long's racket with his own picture on the end is seen on the table. Photo Juan Mabromata: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

INDIA - A tribal farmer carries paddy seedlings for planting in his agricultural field in Raha. By Buju Boro #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

HONDURAS - A lion is seen at the Rosy Walter zoo in Tegucigalpa. By Orlando Sierra #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

#Rio2016 Today's Highlights #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

#boxing actions continue during #OlympicGames #Boxeo #Rio2016 #Brasil #RioOlympics2016: image via Yuri Cortez @YuriYurisky, 10 August 2016

#boxing actions continue during #OlympicGames #Boxeo #Rio2016 #Brasil #RioOlympics2016: image via Yuri Cortez @YuriYurisky, 10 August 2016

#Rio2016 - A handball fan waits for women's preliminaries Group B handball match Russia v Sweden. Photo @franck_fife: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 10 August 2016

stickers and a picture decorate a wall in a caravan where a Christian family has been living in Irbil, Iraq. They were forced to flee their town when Islamic State militants took control of their town two years ago.

Stickers and a picture decorate a wall in a caravan where a Christian family has been living in Irbil, Iraq. They were forced to flee their home town of Mosul when Islamic State militants took control two years ago: photo by Alice Martins/AP, 10 August 2016

An Indian Muslim pilgrim whose hands are decorated with henna and garlands is phhotographed before leaving for the annual Hajj pilgrimage

An Indian Muslim pilgrim whose hands are decorated with henna and garlands is photographed before leaving for the annual Hajj pilgrimage to the Holy city of Mecca at the airport in New Delhi: photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP, 10 August 2016

TOPSHOT - Political Party agents check the voters roll at Kanyama Basic school voting station during Zambian general elections on August 11, 2016 in Lusaka. Zambians went to the polls on August 11 shaken by an election campaign of "unprecedented" violence that could threaten the country's relative stability and its democratic record

Political Party agents check the voters roll at Kanyama Basic school voting station during Zambian general elections in Lusaka: photo by Gianluigi Guercia/AFP, 11 August 2016

Labourers wait to load metal pipes inside a shop in Mumbai, India: photo by Danish Siddiqui /Reuters, 11 August 2016

A boy jumps into the sea at sunset in Gaza City on August 11, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED ABEDMOHAMMED

A boy jumps into the sea at sunset in Gaza City: photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP, 11 August 2016

MIAMI BEACH, FL - AUGUST 11: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump socks are seen as he speaks during an address to the National Association of Home Builders at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel on August 11, 2016 in Miami Beach, Florida. Trump continued to campaign for his run for president of the United States. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Donald Trump socks are seen as Donald Trump speaks during an address to the National Association of Home Builders at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in Miami Beach, Florida: photo by Joe Raedle, 11 August 2016

* Breakfast Time For The Lions At ZSL London Zoo On World Lion Day

A lioness drinks after being fed by senior keeper Glynn Hennessy at ZSL London: photo by Carl Court, 11 August 2016

A man watches buffalos cross a river as they head to another grazing area, in Nanchong, Sichuan province, China, August 10, 2016. Picture taken August 10, 2016. China Daily/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.

A man watches buffalos cross a river as they head to another grazing area, in Nanchong, Sichuan province, China: photo by China Daily/Reuters, 11 August 2016

CAMBERLEY, ENGLAND - AUGUST 11: A Siemens security guard looks on as a Greenpeace activist dressed in a monkey costume demonstrate outside the Siemens' UK headquarters on August 11, 2016 in Camberley, England. Greenpeace activists joined two members of the Amazonian Munduruku tribe at German engineering company Siemens' UK headquarters today to protest the building of mega dams in the Brazilian Amazon and to demand a meeting with senior management at the company. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

A Siemens security guard looks on as a Greenpeace activist dressed in a monkey costume demonstrate outside the Siemens’ UK headquarters in Camberley, England. Greenpeace activists joined two members of the Amazonian Munduruku tribe at German engineering company Siemens’ UK headquarters today to protest the building of mega dams in the Brazilian Amazon and to demand a meeting with senior management at the company: photo by Jack Taylor, 11 August 2016

A worker paints a model of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate Quadriga in the landscape park Miniwelt (Miniworld) in Lichtenstein, eastern Germany: photo by Jens Meyer/AP, 11 August 2016

Supporters are seen before Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally at the BB&T Centre in Sunrise, Florida

Supporters are seen before Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally at the BB and T Centre in Sunrise, Florida: photo by Eric Thayer/Reuters, 11 August 2016

José Emilio Pacheco: La sal

Si quieres analizar su ser, su función,
su utilidad en este mundo,
tienes que verla en su conjunto. La sal
no son los individuos que la componen
sino la tribu solidaria. Sin ella
cada partícula sería como un fragmento de nada,
disuelta en un hoyo negro impensable.

La sal sale del mar. Es su espuma
petrificada.
Es mar que seca el sol.

Y al final ya rendido,
ya despojado de su gran fuerza de agua,
muere en la playa y se hace piedra en la arena.

La sal es el desierto en donde hubo mar.
Agua y tierra
reconciliados,
la materia de nadie.

Por ella sabe el mundo a lo que sabe estar vivo

Salt

If you want to study its essence, its purpose,
its usefulness in the world,
you’ve got to see it as a whole. Salt
isn’t the individuals who make it up
but the solidary tribe. Without it
each particle would be like a fragment of nothingness,
dissolving in some unthinkable black hole.

Salt surfaces from the sea. It’s petrified
foam.
It’s sea baked by the sun.

And so finally worn-out,
deprived of its great water force,
it dies on the beach to become stone in the sand.

Salt is the desert where there once was sea.
Water and land
reconciled,
matter of no one.

It’s why the world tastes of what it is to be alive.

José Emilio Pacheco (Mexico City, 1939-2014): La sal, translated by Katherine M. Hedeen and Víctor Rodríguez Núñez, 2014

Piñatas (Santa Clara, California): photo by efo, 30 July 2016

ciudad de mexico, la raza | by peter brutschin

ciudad de mexico, la raza: photo by peter brutschin, 29 July 2016

ciudad de mexico, buenavista | by peter brutschin

ciudad de mexico, buenavista: photo by peter brutschin, 5 August 2016

ciudad de mexico, del valle | by peter brutschin

ciudad de mexico, del valle: photo by peter brutschin, 30 July 2016

cholula, puebla: photo by peter brutschin, 24 July 2016

ciudad de mexico, roma sur | by peter brutschin

ciudad de mexico, roma sur: photo by peter brutschin, 5 August 2016

ciudad de mexico: photo by peter brutschin, 31 July 2016

Happy Together (Primatology)

Meanwhile, in #Rio2016: image via Mattie-Lou Chandler @MattieLouOKTC, 6 August 2016 Aspen, Colorado

I'm not proud of posting this image from the Men's Hockey #Rio2016: image via BOP Mafia @bopmafia, 7 August 2016

Germany's Linus Butt controls the ball during a men's field hockey match at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games: photo by Carl de Souza/AFP, 6 August 2016

This magical moment would rub off on the team as a whole, who would go on to win 6-2: image via GQ, 7 August 2016

Obviously, it would be hugely childish and wrong to chuckle at Linus and Florian, the backbone of Germany's hockey team: image via Ruth Davdson @RuthDavidsonMSP, 7 August 2016

Linus Butt and Florian Fuchs: So happy together: image via ThePostGame 6 August 2016

Night of Fire

A boy carries his sister, as he walks on rubble of a houseafter it was destroyed by a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen's capital Sanaa, August 11, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

A boy carries his sister, as he walks on rubble of a house after it was destroyed by a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen’s capital Sana’a: photo by Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters, 11 August 2016

Miss waking up to birds chirping. Woke up to explosions and Saudi jets screaming in sky. How am I to flip pancakes w/ house shaking! #Yemen:
tweet via Hisham Al-Omeisy @omeisy, 11 August 2016

Hasn't been this intense for months; hearing sirens of ambulances now.. #Sanaa #Yemen:
tweet via Osamah Alfakih @osamahfakih, 11 August 2016

Ambulances are rushing to explosion sites in Taiz St. and in Hadda - #Sanaa - where the Presidential Compound is. #Yemen:

tweet via Yemen Updates @yemen_updates, 11 August 2016

Leave windows open to mitigate pressure wave and not be blown up, or close bcz rain water. Decisions, decisions..damn Saudi bombs.:

tweet via Hisham Al-Omeisy @omeisy, 11 August 2016

Still till this moment, intense Saudi warplanes continue soaring over the sky of the capital Sanaa. It is an ugly night as usual.:

tweet via Fatik Al-Rodaini @Fatikr, 11 August 2016

NIGHT of FIRE: 110 Saudi airstrikes attack #Yemen today and Sanaa Airport just bombarded by 3 airstrikes: image via Yemen Post Newspaper @YemenPostNews, 11 August 2016

Incredible attack by #Yemen's Houthi fighters has resulted in them capturing large swathes of territory in Najran province, southern #Saudi: tweet via Haidar Sumeri @IraqiSecurity, 11 August 2016

Saudi Army was 'caught between a rock and a hard place' in Najran today, literally #Yemen: image via the 'Nimr' Tiger @Souria4Syrians, 11 August 2016

Power of MONEY: #UN is silent as Saudi airstrikes kill 2432 children in #Yemen proving everything has a price...: image via Yemen Post Newspaper @YemenPostNews, 11 August 2016

This kind of airstrikes they just hit Sana'a... Sadly we didn't see any country would stop this insanity.. #Yemen: image via Sam Adam @SamADam24, 10 August 2016

NOT BREAKING: #Sanaa under heavy bombardment by Saudi jets huge explosions and world still watching in silence #Yemen: image via Jahaf @A7medJa7af, 10 August 2016

A boy carries his sister, as he walks on rubble of a house after it was destroyed by a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen’s capital Sana’a: photo by Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters, 11 August 2016

A young migrant runs after a ball in the street of Via Cupa outside the former Baobab migrants reception centre next to the Tiburtina train station in Rome: photo by Filippo Monteforte/AFP, 12 August 2016

A masked Kashmiri protester stands during a protest against India after a day-long curfew in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Kashmir has been under a security lockdown and curfew since the killing of a popular rebel commander on July 8 sparked some of the largest protests against Indian rule in recent years: photo by Dar Yasin/AP, 8 August 2016

An Indian paramilitary soldier falls down as he tries to kick back an exploded tear gas shell thrown back at them by Kashmiri Muslim protesters at the end of a day long curfew in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir: photo by Dar Yasin/AP, 8 August 2016

A woman looks at a monitor showing Japan's Emperor Akihito delivering a speech in a video message in Tokyo, Japan. Japan's Emperor Akihito addressed to the nation in a rare video message on his worry that it may become difficult to carry out his duties as the symbol of the State considering his fitness level gradually declining. This will raise a debate in Japan as the current Japanese law states the Emperor serves until death.: photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi, 8 August 2016

A Filipino boy watches local man Ranie Retura swim with his dog named "Brownie" as rain pours in suburban Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines. Classes were suspended in most parts of Metro Manila due to heavy rains.: photo by Aaron Favila / AP, 9 August 2016

Secret Service officers work to secure U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton after a protester jumped into the buffer during a rally at Lincoln High School in Des Moines, Iowa: photo by Chris Keane / Reuters, 10 August 2016

Female Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters embrace each other in the city of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria: photo by Rodi Said / Reuters, 10 August 2016

A man shows a vulgar gesture as the motorcade carrying Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton passes by on its way to a campaign rally at the Exhibition Hall in Kissimmee, Florida: photo by Joe Raedle, 8 August 2016

Rebel fighters fire towards positions of regime forces in Ramussa on the southwestern edges of Syria's northern city of Aleppo Syrian rebels said they have broken a three-week government siege of second city Aleppo, turning the tables on Russian-backed regime forces who are now on the defensive.: photo by Fadi Al-Halabi / AFP, 6 August 2016

A man demolishes a statue in Jinan, Shandong Province, China: photo by Reuters, 5 August 2016

Ostriches wear masks as they are transported by a truck for relocation in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China: photo by ChinaDaily / Reuters, 8 August 2016

Migrants support each other after being rescued and transferred to an Italian Coast Guard vessel in the central Mediterranean Sea on Thursday.: photo by Manu Brabo/Associated Press, 8 August 2016

Migrants from Nigeria and Ivory Coast rested on a vessel after being rescued from the Mediterranean on Wednesday.: photo by Manu Brabo/Associated Press, 8 August 2016

A woman walked by a boutique selling Saudi-style clothing in downtown Cairo: photo by Nariman El-Mofty/Associated Press, 12 August 2016

Smoke rising last month over Aleppo, Syria, from tires burned to decrease the visibility of pilots from the Assad government and Russian forces.Beha el Halebi/Anadolu Agency, 12 August 2016

What Kashmir says

What Kashmir says. All parties meet today to talk about #Kashmir. But are they prepared to hear the Kashmiris?: image via Kashmir Global, 12 August 2016

What Kashmir says: All parties meet today to talk about Kashmir. But are they prepared to hear the Kashmiris? Muzamil Jaleel, Kashmir Global via Indian Express, 12 August 2016

I have been a journalist for the last 22 years and I feel my curse is to write the same story, again and again. That story is Kashmir. It is in essence a single story where like Sisyphus’s rock, efforts to resolve the dispute go through a similar and endless journey each time it is pushed up the mountain.

There is a script, a standard operating procedure is put into play each time Kashmir erupts, seeking “azadi” from India. So this time, when after more than a month of total lockdown, killing of 56 young Kashmiris, and blinding of hundreds of others, New Delhi finally decided to hold an all-party meeting, I am not wondering about the outcome of this effort. It has happened before. I have seen it.

There will be a promise of a “dialogue with all stakeholders”, with the compulsory disclaimer that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. A group of parliamentarians may go to the Valley to “meet and ascertain” the reason for the uprising as if it is unknown to those in the corridors of power in Delhi. By the time the all-party delegation gets to Srinagar, Indian intelligence and security agencies would have gathered the same handful of groups for the meeting.

Like in 2010, wholesale mutton dealers will show up, shikarawallas will be rowed in and apple growers will be brought. Voices palatable to New Delhi will be told to spell out their requirements, while a few bureaucrats-turned-civil society members and former Ikhwanis-turned-politicians known to New Delhi’s dialogue circuit will be shooed in.

This time, though, the ground has shifted. There are two reasons for it.

First, the complexion of the uprising has changed on the ground and the movement for azadi has transcended human rights issues. Unlike previous upsurges in 2008, 2009 and 2010, the protestors aren’t angry against a civilian killing. Though there are a number of reasons for this accumulated anger, the trigger for this massive outpouring explains the shift.

These large gatherings aren’t a protest against the killing of Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani. Instead, Kashmir has risen to endorse what Burhan stood for and the consensus seems to be around one theme: “We don’t want to be part of India.” The language of the people has never been so clear.

When Kashmir erupted in 1990, it was a sudden explosion, the heavy cost of such a demand for freedom was unknown. The Kashmiri youth who decided to pick up the gun in 1990 were of my generation and as classroom after classroom emptied to join the militancy, there were few who understood the scale of the state repression that it would draw. Once the state crushed the initial phase of the militancy, the azadi movement turned into a lament, centered on human rights abuses. Each time armed forces would conduct cordon and search operations looking for militants, the entire male population would be herded at one place. One by one, they would be brought before a masked informer. There was so much fear, hardly anybody would protest.

In the beginning of the new millennium, while azadi continued to be the main demand, militancy started to take a backseat and hopes for a negotiated settlement arose. By 2008, there was a strong realisation that peaceful means alone would help. In 2008 and 2010, there were scores of instances where people made human chains around a security bunker or a vehicle of the armed forces to avoid a confrontation. People would throw stones only when the government disallowed peaceful marches. The government’s response to the rallies and the marches was the same as against the militant movement.

The peaceful protests were called “agitational terrorism” and sought to be crushed.
In 2016, there is no illusion that anything would convince New Delhi to accept and engage with the evident reality that a vast majority of Kashmiris don’t want to be part of India. The fear seems to have evaporated completely. The young men, who go out to confront the armed forces, are aware of the costs.

The hints for dialogue by New Delhi, the constituting of parliamentary committees and civil society groups that are sent to visit Kashmir after every uprising, are seen as nothing more than a façade aimed at soft surrender. Unlike in the past, the known structures of separatist politics too aren’t in control of the street.

The oligarchs of separatist politics are exhausted. The state hasn’t allowed them to do politics, leaving a big void. This uprising is run by a new generation born after 1990 -- the children of the conflict, as they are called -- and they are deeply suspicious of the customary peace talk.

The second reason is the policy shift in New Delhi. The reason why the Centre doesn’t want to even acknowledge the ground reality in Kashmir isn’t an aberration or a reactionary response by a few hawkish officials. It is a manifestation of the Modi government’s Kashmir policy.

Ever since P.V. Narasimha Rao declared that the “sky is the limit” for resolving the Kashmir dispute, New Delhi’s policy had been rooted in the belief that managing the conflict, maintaining status quo and delaying resolution will ultimately tire out the majority in Kashmir and end the political problem. While New Delhi used force to suppress the separatist movement, the “sky is the limit” promise was aimed at convincing the National Conference to participate in the 1996 assembly polls.

By getting an NC government to replace governor’s rule, New Delhi managed to put up a Kashmiri political face without upsetting the status quo and without losing direct control of Kashmir. When in June 2000, the NC passed the autonomy resolution in the assembly, the Vajpayee government rejected it summarily. It, however, kept the veneer of dialogue intact.

While maintaining and controlling the status quo, New Delhi kept sending emissaries — first politicians, then bureaucrats — and mostly, the talks were only about the modalities of talks. The emergence of both the PDP and the moderate Hurriyat between 1999 and 2004 was an outcome of New Delhi’s policies to create a favourable buffer between the pro-azadi camp and the integrationists.

Even Vajpayee’s much-hyped promise of a dialogue “within the ambit of humanity” was only a vague expression to allow the separatists to avoid the “taint” of surrendering by agreeing to talk within the framework of the Constitution. For New Delhi, the engagement itself became the objective. The UPA government set up working groups but didn’t consider their recommendations, sent interlocutors but disowned their report. There was a tacit understanding on Article 370 too: Erode it gradually to the point where there is no need to remove it.

The Modi government has only pulled the iron fist out of the velvet glove. Its policy is based on the ideological position of the RSS, which wants Kashmir’s “complete assimilation” by removing constitutional hurdles such as Article 370 and the Permanent Resident Act. The RSS calls the Kashmir dispute a myth, insists that the problem is limited to Sunni Muslims of the Valley and that even if Muslims are a majority, “85 per cent of the area is Hindu or Buddhist dominated”. In a speech in Kargil in 2014, Modi talked about his government’s focus on “20 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir’s population”, clubbing together “the West Pakistan refugees, Kashmiri Pandits and victims of militancy”.

The recent speech where Modi refered to Vajpayee’s “insaniyat” framework is a repeat of what he said in Srinagar in 2014. Arun Jaitley has explicated the regime’s understanding: “The political debate on the constitutional framework of Jammu and Kashmir’s population is no longer linked to the aspirations of common people.”

As Kashmir erupts again, I look back at the two decades of stories I wrote. I wrote about promises for resolving the conflict and the sterile notes of fact-finding teams and parliamentary committees. I wrote of despair as well as hope. It seems that I wrote only one story that is repeating itself.

INDIA - An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard outside The Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 12 August 2016

INDIA - Indian government forces stands guard in central Srinagar.By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 12 August 2016

INDIA - A paramilitary trooper stands guard in Batmaloo Area of Srinagar during ongoing curfew: By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 12 August 2016

INDIA - Riot shields and bulletproof jackets of JKAP personnel lean against shops in Srinagar By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 12 August 2016

Kashmir: 35th Day: Bloody Friday, again

Kashmir 35th Day: Curfew, shutdown, clashes continue #Kashmir Srinagar, Aug 12 (KNS): image via Kashmir Global @kashmirglobal, 13 August 2016

Prayers were not allowed at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid for the 5th consecutive Friday | Photo: Faisal Khan

Prayers were not allowed at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid for the 5th consecutive Friday: photo by Faisal Khan, 13 August 2016

Bloody Friday in Kashmir again, more than a hundred wounded: Junaid Nabi Bazaz, Kashmir Reader, 13 August 2016

SRINAGAR: Scores of people were injured once again by government forces in Kashmir on the 35th day of the anti-India uprising on Friday. SMHS and SKIMS, the two main hospital of the valley, received 52 injured, mostly hit by pellets. At SMHS, 19 of the 38 admitted have received eye injuries while at SKIMS, among the 14 admitted was a person hit in the head. Scores of other injured were treated at their district, sub-district hospitals.

The joint pro-freedom leadership as part of its programme ‘to end Indian occupation’ had called for protests after Friday prayers. Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were kept under house arrest while JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik continues to languish in Central Jail Srinagar.

In the 35 days of curfew and restrictions in Kashmir, 58 people including two cops have been killed and over 5,500 civilians injured, more than 500 with pellet injuries in their eyes.

The government had imposed strict curfew across the valley, snapped all private mobile phone services, and blocked all entry and exit points of districts by barricades and razor wires.

Police on Thursday had appealed to people to stop their children from taking part in ‘stone pelting’, besides asking clerics to not deliver provocative speeches.

Following not the appeal of the police but the directions of the pro-freedom leadership, people took out anti-India protest demonstrations and were attacked with pellets, teargas shells, pepper gas and aerial firing. At many places the protests morphed into pitched stone fighting, including in parts of the old Srinagar city soon after curfew was lifted in the evening.

Scores of peaceful protests were taken out from Rainawari, Chota bazaar, Kani Kadal, Sarai Bala, Chattabal, Mala Bagh, Bagh-e-Mehtab areas that were dispersed by forces using teargas shells, pellets and aerial firing. Friday prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid were disallowed for the fifth consecutive Friday.

According to locals, forces didn’t allow them to venture out of their homes.

Massive stone fighting erupted at Khag, Beerwah and Ompora areas of central Kashmir’s Budgam district after Friday prayers during which police used teargas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters. At least 40 protesters were reported to be injured in the clashes but all are said to be stable. Clashes also erupted at Kojer area of Ganderbal district after Friday prayers.

In north Kashmir, people jointly offered Friday prayers at Eidgah Qadem and Rangwar ground in Baramulla. Forces blocked the town’s four bridges -- Cement Kadal, Azad Gunj, Khanpura and Sheikh-u-Alam -- by razor wires. The Sheikh-ul-Alam bridge was blocked by iron rods. These bridges connect old town Baramulla with Civil Lines.

The forces paid scant respect to the curfew pass issued by the district magistrate. Kashmir Reader Baramalla correspondent Mushtaq Ahmad was told by army personnel that “only passes issued by them will be allowed.”

A journalist, Irshad Ahmad, working with an Indian national news channel was also beaten by forces in Baramulla.

In Bandipora, peaceful protests at many places turned violent when forces waylaid them.

A protest taken out from new Jamia Masjid was joined by other protesters, including women, at the district’s square.

A large procession on way to Kupwara Town from Muqam-e-Shah Wali was intercepted by police at Bohama and in the ensuing shelling, more than six persons sustained injuries.

Peaceful protests were also held at Kandi, Brambi and Arampora villages of Kupwara.

Stone fighting occurred at Kralgund, Tikkipora and other areas of Lolab. Protesters at Tikkipora smashed the vehicle of a PDP sarpanch from Dewar, Manzoor Ahmad. He escaped unhurt.

In Shopian, at least 8 people sustained injuries following clashes between government forces and local youths at main town Shopian, Ziyarat Sharief, Reshipora, Qoimoh, Bugam, Khudwani and Mohanpora areas. Incidents of stone-fighting also took place at Choudhary Gund near DC office in Shopian where youths hurled rocks at the troops.

In Damhal Hanjipora four persons received injuries after forces attacked a protest demonstration. The forces fired several rounds of teargas and pellets to disperse the protesters.

Massive demonstrations were held in Bijbehara, Aariwan, Goriwan and Srigufwara areas of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The protesters made heavy sloganeering in favour of freedom and against India.

A huge pro-freedom rally, witnesses said, was taken out in Dialgam after thousands of people offered Friday congregational prayers. The procession dispersed peacefully later.

In Mattan township of Anantnag district, thousands of people offered Friday prayers at Hanifa Eidgah. Later, hundreds of people raising pro-freedom, pro-Burhan and anti-India slogans marched along the Khanabal-Pahalgam road. The rally culminated near Pran Bhawan peacefully. Pro-freedom processions were also taken out in Arwani, and several areas of Dooru, Kokernag and Bijbehara.

In Anchidora locality of Anantnag, hundreds of people took out a protest rally after offering Friday prayers. Raising pro-Azadi slogans the protesters marched towards the main town. On reaching Laizbal they were prevented by government forces from marching ahead. Clashes followed.

In Kachdoora area of Shopian, witnesses said that the army resorted to aerial firing to disperse a procession that was marching towards the army camp. In Arhama village of the district, people after Friday prayers took out a rally towards main town Shopian. On reaching near the mini-secretariat, forces stopped them from moving ahead by lobbing a few teargas shells at the procession.

A harsh curfew was enforced in all the four district headquarters of the region and other major townships. Huge contingents of forces wearing riot gear were deployed in the streets of all towns to curtail the movement of people. Forces also blocked main entry points of all the district headquarters. In Anantnag, army men were seen enforcing restrictions near Mominabad. A photojournalist working for a local daily said that army men checked their mobile phones when they were returning after covering a rally at Dialgam.

A peaceful protest march was carried out in Pampore town after Friday prayers offered jointly at Khanqah-e-Molla. The march, attended by thousands, moved through several areas and raised pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. The march ended peacefully.

Reports said that more than a dozen persons sustained injuries in Burhan’s hometown Tral where heavy clashes erupted between youths and government forces. An official source at Tral sub-district hospital told Kashmir Reader that five persons injured during the clashes have been admitted to the hospital.

A youth sustained injuries during clashes in Kakapora area of Pulwama district where youths hurled stones at the forces while the forces resorted to heavy teargas and pellet gun firing.

Protest rallies were also reported from Ruhmoo and Gusoo areas where people carried flags and posts with them.

Clashes also erupted in Newa, Trisoo and Tahab areas of Pulwama areas after congregational prayers.

In Nagbal area of Shopian district, thousands of people jointly offered Friday prayers and held protest demonstrations in the village.

At least 47 persons sustained injuries in Doda district of Jammu division in Friday clashes that erupted in protests against the civilian killings. Locals said that police resorted to heavy ammunition firing to scatter the protesters who pelted forces with stones and raised pro-freedom slogans. A local Station House Officer (SHO) is reported to have sustained injuries.

Reports said that soon after the prayers, a group of youths engaged police in pitched battles at Ajar and Nowpora areas. Police lobbed tear smoke canisters to quell the protests.

Protesters from Poshkar, Khag, Sitharan, Habar who led a peaceful protest to Khag had to face pellets from the government forces with several youth receiving pellet injuries. The injured were later referred to SMHS for treatment.

Police version:

More than three dozen incidents of stone pelting were reported from different districts of the Valley including Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian, Baramulla, Sopore, Kupwara and Bandipora. Curfew was imposed in Srinagar and in the towns of Ganderbal, Budgam, Anantnag, Shopian, Baramulla and Sopore.

After Friday prayers ‘miscreants’ assembled at various places and tried to disrupt the vehicular movement. At most of the places the ‘miscreants’ started pelting stones on moving vehicles, police and security force deployments.

The deployments exercised utmost restraint despite severe provocations at a number of places. Many police/security force men have been reported injured during these clashes.

At Arhama Ganderbal miscreants assembled on road and pelted stones on security forces. While tackling the situation six persons were injured.

At Dooru Tangmarg about 300-400 miscreants assembled on road and pelted stones on police and security forces. Two persons were injured, one of whom was shifted to Srinagar.

At Uttrsoo Anantnag miscreants pelted stones on police and security forces. While dispersing the mob, four persons suffered minor injuries who were discharged after first aid from the hospital.

Arrests:

A number of pro-freedom leaders were taken into police custody including Muslim League (ML) General Secretary Muhammad Rafiq Ganie, and shifted them to Srinagar’s central jail. Reportedly, police in the intervening night of Thursday-Friday raided the houses of several leaders including ML’s Rafiq Ganie, other ML leaders and activists, TeH’s Umar Adil and leaders and activists of other amalgams.

The leaders were arrested during the night and were lodged in police station Kothi Bagh and in the wee hours of Friday were shifted to Srinagar’s central jail.

A man passes by a fresh graffiti of Burhan Wani in downtown Srinagar on Thursday 11 August 2016 #kashmir #killings: image via Kashmir Global @kashmirglobal, 11 August 2016

Pic: Written in blood "Go India Go Back" A protest rally against indian occupation of #Kashmir at Pantha Chowk: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 13 August 2016

Senior doctors outside SMHS hospital protesting in a unique way. Message, stop firing pellets on eyes of protesters.: image via Mufti Islah @islahmufti, 10 August 2016

This is how Indian occupation forces treats lawmakers In #Kashmir. Er Rashid, lawmaker. Srinagar. 12 August 2016: image via Javaid Shaikh @javaidShaikh, 12 August 2016

Independence Train: Policewomen stand guard beside a poster bearing the image of Burhan Wani of #Kashmir in Islamabad: image via Kashmir Global @kashmirglobal, 11 August 2016

A Pakistani railway official waves a green flag to start the Independence Train in Islamabad: image via AFP Islamabad/Kabul, 11 August 2016

Celebrating the liberation

Celebrating the liberation of #Manbij from #ISIS. #Aleppo #SDF: image via Basileus Zeno @Basileus Zeno, 13 August 2016

MYANMAR - A child walks in floodwaters in Kyangyi Dauk village near Darka. By @ye_aung_thu #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 2 August 2016

RUSSIA - Gorilla Kira holds her baby born at the zoo in Moscow. By @vasilymaximov #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 11 August 2016

IVORY COAST - A woman holds a baby as she sits on a bed under a mosquito net in Abidjan. By Sia Kambou #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 11 August 2016

HAITI - A group of men work repairing fishing nets in the Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince. By @hectorretamal #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 12 August 2016

THAILAND - A labourer inspects the damage next to the site of a bomb attack in Hua Hin. By Lillian Suwanrumph #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 12 August 2016

SYRIA - Syrians buy sweets at a market in an opposition-held district in Aleppo. By @THAER_MOHAMMED #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 12 August 2016

FRANCE - A migrant orders a tea in a makeshift restaurant in 'Jungle' migrant camp in Calais. By Philippe Huguen: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 12 August 2016

An elephant separated from its herd by floods is saved from drowning by villagers in Bangladesh #WorldElephantDay: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 12 August 2016

In #Libya, thousands of parents are watching their babies learn to walk in makeshift migrant prisons: image via MSF Sea Verified account MSF_Sea, 11 August 2016

On week ago in #Libya, this man was repeatedly beaten with an iron bar on the soles of his feet. He's in agony.: image via MSF Sea Verified account MSF_Sea, 11 August 2016

Did you know that 3,673 #people have died in the sea this year? "We didn't care, death cannot be worse than#Libya.": image via MSF Sea Verified account MSF_Sea, 9 August 2016

Hoy

The Perseids meteor shower near Poznan, in Poland, on Thursday: photo by Lukasz Ogrodowczyk/European Pressphoto Agency, 11 August 2016

Hoy: photo by ingrid_b21, 10 August 2016

hills and sun 2 (Hoy, Orkney): photo by ingrid_b21, 26 July 2016

A child on a bicycle, in the damaged street PH: ABDULMONAM EASSA #boy #damage #street #jobar: image via Abdulmonam Eassa @abdfree2, 13 August 2016

INDIA - A Kashmiri protestor throws a stone at Indian government forces in downtown Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 August 2016

INDIA - A man walks as a police armoured vehicle blocks a road towards Lal Chowk in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 August 2016

Drought ravages Lesotho as water is exported to South Africa: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 12 August 2016

PHILIPPINES - A boy puts his pigs in a temporary shelter to protect them from flooding in San Mateo. By Ted Aljibe: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 August 2016

PHILIPPINES- A man carries a piglet to higher ground as he wades through a flooded street in San Mateo. By @Herime23: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 August 2016

PHILIPPINES - People push a "jeepney" out of a flooded street in Manila. By @Herime23: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 August 2016

Entire #Damascus can see how #Assad bombs the #Jobar quarter. How can they sleep at night?: image via Julian Röpcke @JulianRoepcke, 10 August 2016

Memories remain, war does not hide, old photographs in the destroyed houses, in Damascus Jobar PH: ABDULMONAM EASSA: image via Abdulmonam Eassa @abdfree2, 13 August 2016

#Hamoria in three days. Continued strike on commonalty, within the town PH: ABDULMONAM EASSA #SYRIA #GHOUTA: image via Abdulmonam Eassa @abdfree2, 24 July 2016

Children playing during the days of Eid, in the Eastern Ghouta. PH: ABDULMONAM EASSA #children #Eid #photo #play: image via Abdulmonam Eassa @abdfree2, 8 July 2016

Swimming pool in rebel-controlled Hamouria, eastern Ghouta, outskirts of #Damascus @AFPphoto by @abdfree2 #Syria: image via Jean-Marc Mojon @mojobaghdad, 26 May 2016

SYRIA - A rebel fighter waits to break his fast during the Ramadan in Jobar near Damascus. By @abdfree2 #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 14 June 2016

SYRIA - Funeral in Qamishly of fighters from an Arab-Kurdish alliance killed by IS in Manbij. By @Delilsouleman #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 14 June 2016

ου μαθειν τι δειν αλλα παθειν

20 students killed and injured by saudi airstrike on their school in #Haydan area north of #Yemen: image via jahaf @A7medJ7af, 13 August 2016

Aftermath of an alleged airstrike on a school in #Saada #Yemen. 9 kids claimed killed.- @HussainBukhaiti: image via ConflictNews @Conflicts, 13 August 2016

Before and After: #US-made smart bombs used by #Saudi #UAE jets on our village youngest killed 4 years old Saleh AlBukhaiti#Yemen: image via Hussain Albukhaiti @HussainBukhaiti. 10 December 2015

Deif Allah al-Fadhli, in his late seventies, the religious school teacher, bombed on 13/Aug 8/9am by #Saudi #UAE: image via Hussain Albukhaiti @HussainBukhaiti, 13 August 2016

Casualties by #Saudi #UAE strikes on religious school for kids #Saada #Yemen 10 killed 21 injured some critical condition: image via Hussain Albukhaiti @HussainBukhaiti, 13 August 2016

Saudi-led coalition continues destroying bridges and important infrastructure in #Yemen - @HussainBukhaiti: image via Gissur Simonarson CN @GissiSim, 12 August 2016

a place of unrest

MKE is in a place of unrest...pray for my city. #MilwaukeeUprising #Milwaukee: image via Shauntay Nelson @sn4sbcglobalnet, 13 August 2016

Deadly police shooting sparks violent protests in Milwaukee: Reuters, 14 August 2016

Protesters hurled bricks, fired gunshots and set a gas station on fire in Milwaukee on Saturday night hours after police shot and killed an armed suspect during a pursuit following a traffic stop.

Milwaukee police said a uniformed officer shot and killed a 23-year-old man during a foot pursuit which took place after an afternoon traffic stop.

The suspect, who the department said had a lengthy arrest record, was armed with a stolen handgun. It did not say whether the man fired any shots during the incident.

A crowd later broke the windows of an unoccupied squad car and set another one on fire before setting a gas station on fire. Firefighters were initially unable to combat the blaze because of shots being fired in the area, police said.

One officer was hit in the head by a brick thrown through a squad car window. Protesters fired shots and hurled rocks as police attempted to disperse the crowd, which local media reported numbered more than 100.

An unspecified number of people were arrested.

The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative duty during the investigation and subsequent review by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.

Protests in many U.S. cities including Baton Rouge, Dallas, Ferguson, Missouri, New York and Oakland have broken out in recent years over police shootings of civilians.

MKE 2016. #MilwaukeeUprising #Milwaukee: image via Shauntay Nelson @sn4sbcglobalnet, 13 August 2016

Here's the crowd gathered near the scene Sherman Blvd near Auer before the rocks started flying: image via Mike De Sisti @mdesisti,13 August 2016

People looting gas station and shouting "British Petroleum go home!" #MilwaukeeUprising: image via Baltimore BLOC @BmoreBloc, 13 August 2016

BP gas station and multiple cars on fire right now in #Milwaukee after police shoot and kill another man: image via Baltimore BLOC @BmoreBloc, 13 August 2016

Also got confirmation BP fire was same BP subject of boycott after employee shot gun in air, near youth, earlier this summer: tweet via Ashley Luthern @luthern, 13 August 2016

Protesters attempting to take down traffic light near Burleigh and Sherman in Milwaukee: image via Steven Radmer @Steven_R, 13 August 2016 Omaha, NE

What your witnessing is

Right now in #Milwaukee. Screenshot from @EX414's livestream #MilwaukeeUprising#MilwaukeeUprising: image via Baltimore BLOC @BmoreBloc, 13 August 2016

What your witnessing is not a riot, its a slave revolt #MilwaukeeUprising #RaceSoldiers: tweet via AC Uhuru @AcUhuru, 13 August 2016

What you are seeing in Milwaukee is not a riot but rather a demand for reparation and an end to past and modern day slavery. #MilwaukeeUprising:tweet via Tre Murphy @TheTreMurphy, 13 August 2016 Baltimore, MD

From a friend: "The cops barricaded 7th district police station" #MilwaukeeUprising: image via Baltimore BLOC @BmoreBloc, 13 August 2016

bank on fire

BMO Bank in #Milwaukee on fire (via @EX414#MilwaukeeUprising: image via Baltimore BLOC @BmoreBloc, 13 August 2016

BMO Bank in #Milwaukee on fire (via@EX414#MilwaukeeUprising: image via Baltimore BLOC @BmoreBloc, 13 August 2016

Bank now on fire in #Milwaukee: image via Nick Short @PoliticalShort, 13 August 2016

Police stand by as car burns. Was told it's not safe for firefighters due 2 rocks/gunshots: image via Mike De Sisti @mdesisti,13 August 2016

Violence tonight following an officer-involved shooting: image via Journal Sentinel @journalsentinel@,13 August 2016

Another pic of the burning car. PPL on scene said it was a cop car. Hard to tell.: image via Mike De Sisti @mdesisti,13 August 2016

Auto Parts store now on fire on 35th and Burleigh in #Milwaukee: image via Steven Radmer @Steven_R, 13 August 2016 Omaha, NE

O'reilly auto parts still on fire. #Milwaukee: image via Nick Short @PoliticalShort, 13 August 2016

A THIRD fire .. this one at a beauty supply store in #Milwaukee after unrest from officer-involved shooting: image via BJ Lutz Verified account @bjlutz, 13 August 2016

pure chaos

#Milwaukee right now. Multiple buildings on fire, looting, shots being fired, pure chaos.: image via Nick Short @PoliticalShort, 13 August 2016

Milwaukee right now

#Milwaukee right now. Multiple buildings on fire, looting, shots being fired, pure chaos.: image via Nick Short @PoliticalShort, 13 August 2016

Officer seen outside mpd district 3 with a shotgun or rifle: image via Jeff @jjview, 13 August 2016

On the streets of New York

People gather for a demonstration Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, near a crime scene after an imam and his friend were fatally shot while walking home from a mosque. Police said 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old associate, Tharam Uddin, were shot in the back of the head as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens.

People gather for a demonstration Saturday, 13 August, near a crime scene after an imam and his friend were fatally shot while walking home from a mosque. Police said 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old associate, Tharam Uddin, were shot in the back of the head as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens.: photo by AP via VOA News, 14 August 2016

Muslim cleric and associate shot to death on New York street: Imam, associate shot to death in New York: Frank McGurty, Reuters, 13 August 2016

A Muslim cleric and an associate were fatally shot by a lone gunman on Saturday while walking together following afternoon prayers at a mosque in the New York City borough of Queens, authorities said.The gunman approached the men from behind and shot both in the head at close range at about 1:50 p.m. EDT on a blistering hot afternoon in the Ozone Park neighborhood, police said in a statement, adding that no arrests had been made.

The motive for the shooting was not immediately known and no evidence has been uncovered that the two men were targeted because of their faith, said Tiffany Phillips, a spokeswoman for the New York City Police Department. Even so, police were not ruling out any possibility, she added.

The victims, identified as Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were both wearing religious garb at the time of shooting, police said. Police had initially identified Uddin as Tharam.

The men were transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where they died, hospital spokesman Andrew Rubin said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group known by the acronym CAIR, said Uddin was an associate of the imam.

"These were two very beloved people," Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of CAIR, told Reuters. "These were community leaders.

"There is a deep sense of mourning and an overwhelming cry for justice to be served," Nasher said. "There is a very loud cry, too, for the NYPD to investigate fully, with the total amount of their resources, the incident that happened today."

The organization held a news conference on Saturday evening in front of the mosque, the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid, where the two men had prayed.

"We are calling for all people, of all faiths, to rally with compassion and with a sense of vigilance so that justice can be served," Nasher said. "“You can’t go up to a person and shoot them in the head and not be motivated by hatred.”

The suspect was seen by witnesses fleeing the scene with a gun in his hand, police said.

"We are currently conducting an extensive canvass of the area for video and additional witnesses," Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner said in a statement.

Eric Phillips, a press secretary for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said the mayor was closely monitoring the police investigation into the shootings.

"While it is too early to tell what led to these murders, it is certain that the NYPD will stop at nothing to ensure justice is served,” Phillips said in a statement.

Akonjee was described as a peaceful man who was beloved within Ozone Park's large Muslim community.

"He would not hurt a fly," his nephew Rahi Majid, 26, told the New York Daily News. "You would watch him come down the street and watch the peace he brings."

Video footage posted on YouTube showed dozens of men gathered near the site of the shooting, with one of them telling the crowd that it appeared to be a hate crime, even as police said the motive was still unknown.

"We feel really insecure and unsafe in a moment like this," Millat Uddin, an Ozone Park resident told CBS television in New York. "It's really threatening to us, threatening to our future, threatening to our mobility in our neighborhood, and we’re looking for the justice."

In June, CAIR issued a statement calling for Muslim community leaders to consider increasing security after the Orlando massacre and incidents that it said had targeted Muslims and Islamic houses of worship.

A gunman who called himself an "Islamic soldier" killed 49 people in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub on June 12.

A crowd of community members gather at the place where Imam Maulama Akonjee was killed in the Queens borough of New York City, August 13, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

A crowd of community members gathers at the place where Imam Maulama Akonjee was killed in the Queens borough of New York City: photo by Stephanie Keith/Reuters, 13 August 2016

The killing appears to be targeted at these individuals, as there were other people around.: image via Imraan Siddiqi @imraansiddiqui, 13 August 2016

ZAMBIA - Municipal workers collect glass and plastic at a waste landfill in Lusaka. By @GGuercia #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 14 June 2016

The Peterloo Massacre (forcible dispersal of a reform meeting in St Peter's Fields, Manchester). On August 16 1819, the day now known as the Peterloo Massacre, thousands of peaceful protestors for parliamentary reform had gathered at St Peter’s Square, Manchester. Ten to twenty were killed and hundreds injured as the meeting was violently broken up by the Manchester Yeomanry, a force of volunteer soldiers. This vividly coloured print is one of several commemorative items produced in the aftermath of the event: colour print, anonymous, London, 1819 (UK National Archives / British Library)

Percy Bysshe Shelley: England in 1819

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying King;

Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow

Through public scorn, -- mud from a muddy spring;

Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know,

But leechlike to their fainting country cling

Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow.

A people starved and stabbed in th' untilled field;

An army, whom liberticide and prey

Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield;

Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;

Religion Christless, Godless -- a book sealed;

A senate, Time’s worst statute, unrepealed --

Are graves from which a glorious Phantom may

Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): England in 1819, 1819

The Massacre of Peterloo! LCCN2009632742 | by Fæ

The Massacre of Peterloo! or a Specimen of English Liberty. Print showing the Manchester Yeomanry slashing and beating a crowd gathered to demand parliamentary reform as the Riot Act is read from a window.: artist unknown, 1819, etching and aquatint, 25.9 x 36.4 cm (British Cartoon Prints Collection, Library of Congress)

Heathcote Williams: ForShelley on the 4thAugust, His Birthday

“Poetry sees the starlight smile of children”
Shelley said, seeing this as life’s truest wealth.

In Shelley’s world the “natural order
Has no place for tyrants” --
Neutering the beauty of the earth,
With all its inspirational beings:
Plants, animals, humans,
And elemental presences.

He was an atheist
Of a most particular kind
For his own spirit is ever present
In the poetry that he envisioned
To be “the interpenetration
“Of a diviner nature
“Through our own.”

He saw this poetry’s footsteps as being like
“Those of the wind over the sea
“Which the coming calm erases,
“And whose traces remain
“In the wrinkled sand which paves it.”

In just such a fashion Shelley’s now etched
Into the wrinkled neurology of the brain,
And he’ll rise to the surface in a trice
As the oppressed take up his chant:
‘We are many, they are few.’

These potent phrases were coined by him
After the Peterloo massacre where
Crowds of Manchester demonstrators
Protesting against cruel and unfair conditions
Were cut down by a Tory government --
Women and children included.

‘We are many, they are few’
Those who’ve never heard of Shelley
Know this to be true…
True for the Ninety Nine Percent who occupied Wall Street
To shame the One percent
Counting their algorithmic wealth In that cold-hearted gully;
True for those in Tahrir Square
At the height of the Arab Spring
Who adopted this as their slogan;
True for the two million who marched
Against the impending war in Iraq
With Shelley’s line displayed upon their banners.

Here’s how Byron invoked his dead friend
As he stood beside Shelley’s drowned body,
On the shores of Lerici on the Ligurian coast,
To watch its twenty-nine-year-old flesh burning:

“He was the most gentle, the most amiable,
“And least worldly minded person
“I ever met. Disinterested beyond all other men.
“And possessing a degree of genius
“Joined to simplicity
“As rare as it is admirable.
“He had formed to himself
“A beau-ideal
“Of all that is fine, high-minded and noble.
“He acted up to this ideal to the very letter.”

Shelley devised formulae for man’s improvement:
Poetic equations to enlighten those
Weighed down by enervating shibboleths.

He saw how, “The great man’s comfort equals the poor man’s woe”,
And how war makes small men feel important,
And why militarized violence is quite worthless
Because, “Man has no right to kill his brother.
“It is no excuse that he does so in uniform:
“He only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.”

Whilst laws passed in Shelley’s day are now redundant --
Consigned to unconsulted vellum scrolls --
And whilst the authorities who then held sway
Are no more than corpse-dust in the wind,
Shelley’s spirit is still legislating
For another world that’s possible.

“Government is an evil…” Shelley proclaims,
“When all men are good and wise,
“Government will of itself decay.”

He then whispers an erotic conjuration:
“Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips”,
As this life-lover dances through the aether.

**Heathcote Williams: For Shelley on the 4th August, His Birthday via International Times, 4 August 2016**

The Funeral of Shelley: Louis Édouard Fournier, 1889 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)

The unconsummated sacrifice

The wind was wrong, the idea was silly, no one knew what they were doing

A greenish light glowered from the flat darkening sea

City workers cross the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames on a foggy morning in London: photo by Toby Melville/Reuters, 2 November 2015

A seagull flies past Westminster Bridge during a foggy day in central London, November 2, 2015. Airports across Britain suffered disruption on Monday as heavy fog led to delays and cancellations for a second day. Flights to and from London airports were being affected, while foggy conditions in the capital and across Europe were causing problems to airports around the country.REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A seagull flies past Westminster Bridge during a foggy day in central London today. Airports across Britain suffered disruption on Monday as heavy fog led to delays and cancellations for a second day. Flights to and from London airports were being affected, while foggy conditions in the capital and across Europe were causing problems to airports around the country: photo by Stefan Wermuth/Reuters, 2 November 2015

Violence as anti-capitalist "Million Mask March" hits London: image via Agence France-Presse, 5 November 2015

Percy Bysshe Shelley: illustration by Culture Club, 2015

Protesters clash with police at anti-government #MillionMaskMarch demo: image via BBC News verified account @BBCNews, 2 November 2015

Percy Bysshe Shelley: image viaOxford University, 2015

Remember, remember the 5th of November. Guy Fawkes night.: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 5 November 2015

Violence as anti-capitalist "Million Mask March" hits London: image via Agence France-Presse, 5 November 2015

Embedded image permalink

Protesters clash with police at anti-government #MillionMaskMarch demo: image via BBC News verified account @BBCNews, 25 November 2015

Noticed on why home from #MillionMaskMarch. Seems apt.: image via Damien Gayle @damiengayle, 5 November 2015

Violence as anti-capitalist "Million Mask March" hits London: image via Agence France-Presse, 5 November 2015

The #MillionMaskMarch kettle: image via Damien Gayle @damiengayle, 5 November 2015

UK - Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince Charles attend the annual Braemar Gathering. By @acbphoto #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffard, 6 September 2015

Good morning. Yesterday The Queen attended the 200th #Braemar gathering. I use to also enjoyed attending the games: image via The Royal Butler @TheRoyalButler, 6 September 2015

Queen Elizabeth II greets actor Angelina Jolie to present her with the insignia of an Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, in the 1844 room at Buckingham Palace, London: photo by Anthony Devlin / PA , 11 October 2014

To Henry Hunt, Esqr. as chairman of the meeting assembled on St. Peter's Field, Manchester on the 16th. of August, 1819. On August 16 1819, the day now known as the Peterloo Massacre, thousands of peaceful protestors for parliamentary reform gathered at St Peter’s Square, Manchester. Ten to twenty were killed and hundreds injured as the meeting was violently broken up by the Manchester Yeomanry, a force of volunteer soldiers. This print is one of several commemorative items produced in the aftermath of the event. It describes the Yeomanry as a 'brutal armed force' who carried out 'a wanton and furious attack' on the protestors.: print, anonymous, 1819 (The British Museum)

Peterloo massacre (detail). On 16 August 1819, a large political meeting at St Peter's Field, Manchester, in support of parliamentary reform was charged by horseback troops with sabres. 11 people died immediately and others died later:detail from commemorative handkerchief, courtesy of People's History Museum, Manchester; image by Paul Downeyvia The Guardian, 17 May 2011

Peterloo massacre. On 16 August 1819, a large political meeting at St Peter's Field, Manchester, in support of parliamentary reform was charged by horseback troops with sabres. 11 people died immediately and others died later.:commemorative handkerchief, courtesy of People's History Museum, Manchester; image by Paul Downey via The Guardian, 17 May 2011

To Henry Hunt, Esq., as chairman of the meeting assembled in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, sixteenth day of August, 1819, and to the female Reformers of Manchester and the adjacent towns who were exposed to and suffered from the wanton and fiendish attack made on them by that brutal armed force, the Manchester and Cheshire Yeomanry Cavalry, this plate is dedicated by their fellow labourer, Richard Carlile: a coloured engraving that depicts the Peterloo Massacre (military suppression of a demonstration in Manchester, England by cavalry charge on 16 August, with loss of life). All the poles from which banners are flying have Phrygian caps or liberty caps on top. Not all the details strictly accord with contemporary descriptions; the banner the woman is holding should read: Female Reformers of Roynton -- "Let us die like men and not be sold like slaves": hand coloured engraving, Richard Carlile (1790–1843), 1 October 1819(Manchester Library Services)

Peterloo Massacre, print published by Richard Carlile, 1 Oct 1819 | by archivesplus

Peterloo Massacre: print published by Richard Carlile, 1 October 1819; image by Manchester Archives+, 15 August 2011

16th August 1819 - Peterloo Massacre, Manchester | by Bradford Timeline

16 August 1819 -- Peterloo Massacre, Manchester: image by Bradford Timeline, 23 February 2015

m07600 Peterloo Incident in a theatre, 1819 | by archivesplus

Peterloo Incident in a theatre: Richard Dighton, 1819 (from Annals of Manchester); image by Manchester Archives, 15 August 2011

Looking back at Queen Elizabeth's reign as she becomes UK's longest-serving monarch: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 9 September 2015

Oxford Street, in London, is now one of the most polluted in the world.: image via NYT Opinion @nytopinion, 6 November 2015

London Nocturne in Grey and Gold: Snow in Chelsea: James Abbot McNeillWhistler, 1876 (Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

The unconsummated sacrifice

The fire would not catch, the day was warm, the stench soon became awful

Particles still hang in the air

The Funeral of Shelley: Louis Édouard Fournier (1857-1917), 1889 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool); image via poetictouch, 15 September 2014

A Kashmiri boy peeps from the door of his home during a gunfight in Nowhatta area of downtown of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir: photo by Farooq Khan/EPA, 15 August 2016

INDIA - Indian army troops take position inside a building after a gunfight in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 15 August 2016

INDIA - Kashmiri mourners look on during the funeral of civilians at Aripanthan Magam village. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

INDIA - Indian paramilitary troopers stand guard during a curfew in Lal Chowk in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 14 August 2016

Jhanvi Behal prevented from unfurling the tricolour in #Srinagar, returns back to #Chandighar: image via NewsX Verified account @NewsX, 14 August 2016

40 days on, #Kashmir Valley Still on the boil: image via Economic Times Verified account @EconomicTimes, 16 August 2016

In Kashmir: image via Faisal Khan @lookaround81, 16 August 2016

August 14, 2016 in Srinagar, Kashmir. @lookaround81 @PakistanIndependenceDay: image via Faisal Khan @lookaround81, 14 August 2016

Modi Jee your Gao Mata gave aashirvaad to freedom of #Kashmir #FreeKashmir #Srinagar: image via Javaid Shaikh @javaidShaikh, 14 Aug 2016

Embarrassment for J and K government, as Indian flag fell while being hoisted in #Srinagar during a ceremony: image via Kashmir Dispatch @Kashmir Dispatch, 15 August 2016

Embarrassing moment......Indian flag falls off the pole in #Srinagar #SrinagarSlapsModi: image via queen of pti @queen_of_pti, 15 August 2015

Even air of Jammu and #Kashmir doesn't accept #indian flag which falls down like broken leaf from flagpole in#Srinagar: image via Fara Qureshi @Fara Qureshi, 16 August 2016

The flag of india fell in SHAME!!! Couldn't cover the shame of killing innocent people of #Kashmir by india.: image via Syed Ali Geelani @sageelani, 15 August 2016

Podcast: Why peace in Kashmir wouldn’t fix the issues between India and Pakistan: image via Reuters Opinion @ReutersOpinion, 15 August 2016

Security personnel stand guard on a deserted street during #curfew for 39th day in #Srinagar. Photo: PTI: image via All India Radio News Verified account @airnewsalerts, 16 August 2016

40 days on, #Kashmir Valley Still on the boil: image via Economic Times Verified account @EconomicTimes, 16 August 2016

In Kashmir: image via Faisal Khan @lookaround81, 16 August 2016

#India Independence day shooting injures 10 in #Kashmir: image via Al Arabiya English Verified account @AlArabiya_Eng, 14 August 2016

August 14, 2016 in Srinagar, Kashmir. @lookaround81 @PakistanIndependenceDay: image via Faisal Khan @lookaround81, 14 August 2016

#Kashmir unrest: #CRPF opens fire in fresh clashes, toll rises to 63: image via Firstpost Verified account @firstpost, 16 August 2016

This -- in a matter of less than an hour. The charade of democracy on such brazen display #Kashmir.: image via Sameer S. Bhat @sameerft, 16 August 2016

Complete shutdown in #Kashmir valley following the killings. 5 more people have died in fresh firing since morning.: image via #Kashmir Dispatch @KashmirDispatch, 16 August 2016

On the eve of India and Pakistans independence anniversary message from #Kashmir is loud and clear for the world to see! : image via Mirwaiz Umar Farooq @MirwaizKashmir, 14 August 2016

#Day 35 - Strict Curfew #Demonstrations #Srinagar #Kashmir: image via Faisal Khan @lookaround81, 12 August 2016

#IndependenceDayIndia Cops opened fire on protesters, two Kashmiris were killed in #Srinagar. #KashmirNow: image via Nas lutas @PersonalEscritolookaround81, 16 August 2016

Here is what #Kashmir is celebrating on a mid-summer's night. || #Srinagar #KashmirUprising || Photo: @KashmirLife.: image via Sameer S. Bhat @sameerft, 11 August 2016

Independence Day celebrations across India - in pictures

Indian paramilitary force personnel drink water after marching at a parade ground in Agartala: photo by AFP, 15 August 2016

Indian schoolchildren behind the national flag as they participate in Independence Day celebrations in Chennai: photo by Arun Sankar / AFP, 15 August 2016

SYRIA - Bodies are laid out in front of makeshift hospital in Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo. By @THAER_MOHAMMED: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

WEST BANK - Palestinian children look through a window in the Palestiniani al-Fawwar refugee camp. By @hazemjbader: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

WEST BANK - A Palestinian is wounded during clashes with Israeli soldiers in al-Fawwar refugee camp. By @hazemjbader: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

ISRAEL- Demo against administrative detention and in support of Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed. By @gharabli_ahmed: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

WEST BANK - Palestinian stone throwers run during clashes as the Israeli army in Bani Naim. By @hazemjbader #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

GAZA CITY - A Palestinian farmer harvests grapes from his family field. By @mohmdabed #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

INDIA - A motorist drives past an installation displaying a map of India ahead IDay in Chennai. By @ArunsankarKrish: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 14 August 2016

INDIA - A security force personnel stands guard in front of the Red Fort in New Delhi ahead of IDay. By @sajjadkmr: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 14 August 2016

Marcel Khalife: They stoppedme at the border

They stopped me at the border, asking for my I.D.
I told them, "It's in Jaffa, my grandmother's hiding it"

And with these words, the group split in two
One half carried whips, the other asked, “Where is it?”
"In Palestine," I cried, and they split me in two
One half at the border, one half in my grandmother’s breast

They stopped me at the border, asking for my I.D.
I told them, "It's in Jaffa, my grandmother's hiding it"

Oh grandmother, hiding who knows where,

Hide my ID, hide it in some wall
They want to burn it, wipe it from the world
Oh clouds of my country, don’t rain on them

They stopped me at the border, asking for my I.D.
I told them, "It's in Jaffa, my grandmother is hiding it"

Marcel Khalife (b. 1950, Lebanon), They stopped me at the border, 1980, translated by Dunya and Boudi at Arabic Poetry, 15 April 2016

وقفوني ع الحدود

وقفوني ع الحدود... قال بدن هويتي قلتلن إنَّ بيافا... مخبايتها ستي
يا كلمة القلتها... تقسموا صفين صف بكرابيج... وصف يسأل وين صرخت بفلسطين... فسخوني نصين نصي على الحدود... ونص بحضن ستي
وقفوني ع الحدود... قال بدن هويتي قلتلن إنِّ بيافا... مخبايتها ستي

ستي يامخبايّ... مدري بأي بيت هويتي ضبيها...خبيها بشي حيط بدّهن يحرقوها... من الدني يمحوها ويا غيمات بلادي... عليهم ما تشتي
وقفوني ع الحدود... قال بدهن هويتي قلتلن إنَّ بيافا... مخبايتها ستي

Mahmoud Darwish: On Wishes

Don’t say to me:
     Would I were a seller of bread in Algiers
     That I might sing with a rebel.
Don’t say to me:
     Would I were a herdsman in the Yemen
     That I might sing to the shudderings of time.
Don’t say to me:
     Would I were a cafe waiter in Havana
     That I might sing the victories of sorrowing women.
Don’t say to me:
     Would I worked as a young laborer in Aswan
     That I might sing to the rocks.

My friend,
The Nile will not flow into the Volga,
Nor the Congo or the Jordan into the Euphrates.
Each river has its source, its course, its life.
My friend, our land is not barren.
Each land has its time for being born,
Each dawn a date with a rebel.

عن الأمنيات

لا تقل لي:
ليتني بائع خبر في الجزائر
لأغني مع ثائر!
لا تقل لي:
ليتني راعي مواشٍ في اليمن
لأغني لانتفاضات الزمن
لا تقل لي:
ليتني عامل مقهى في هافانا
لأغني لانتصارات الحزانى!
لا تقل لي:
ليتني أعمل في أسوان حمّالاً صغير
لأغني للصخور
يا صديقي! لن يصب النيل في الفولغا
ولا الكونغو، ولا الأردن، في نهر الفرات!
كل نهر، وله نبع... ومجرى... وحياة!
يا صديقي!... أرضنا ليست بعاقر
كل أرض، ولها ميلادها
كل فجر، وله موعد ثائر!

Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008): On Wishes, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies (text via Arabic Poetry, 10 June 2011)

NYPD question man over killing of Muslim cleric as he left prayers: image via Reuters U.S. News @ReutersUS, 16 August 2016

Hundreds gather to mourn Muslim cleric and his associate killed in New York: image via Reuters U.S. News @ReutersUS, 16 August 2016

After decades of segregation, anger boils over in Milwaukee: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 16 August 2016

Milwaukee burned for a second night as protests erupted late Sunday: image via Reuters TV @ReutersTV, 15 August 2016

One person shot, officer injured in second night of Milwaukee protests: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 15 August 2016

Suspect questioned in New York slaying of Muslim imam: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 15 August 2016

New York man charged with murder in deaths of imam, assistant: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 15 August 2016

US - Floods ravaged the US state of Louisiana leaving 6 dead and thousands more forced to flee. By @b_smialowski: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

US - A man stands on the stairs of a home surrounded by flood waters in Gonzales, Louisiana.By @b_smialowski #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

A truck is seen in a flooded parking lot on August 15, 2016 in Denham Springs, Louisiana.

A truck is seen in a flooded parking lot in Denham Springs, Louisiana: photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP, 16 August 2016

US - Floods ravaged the US state of Louisiana leaving 6 dead and thousands more forced to flee. By @b_smialowski: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

A truck is seen in a flooded parking lot in Denham Springs, Louisiana: photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP, 16 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for August 16, 2016

Prefabricated homes are seen in flood waters at Southern Heritage Homes in Denham Springs, Louisiana: photo by. Brendan Smialowski / AFP, 16 August 2016

Muslims hold pigeons, dyed in the colours of the Indian flag, during a march to celebrate India’s Independence Day in Ahmedabad, India: photo by Amit Dave/Reuters, 15 August 2016

Muslims hold pigeons, dyed in the colours of the Indian flag, during a march to celebrate India’s Independence Day in Ahmedabad, India: photo by Amit Dave/Reuters, 15 August 2016

Free Syrian army fighters stand atop of a hill as the moon is seen in the background in the south of Nawa city, in Deraa Governorate, Syria: photo by Alaa Al-Faqir /Reuters, 17 August 2016

Cardboard home. Upward immobility. [Downtown Los Angeles]: photo by Andrew Murr, 19 July 2016

Los nacimientos

Nunca recordaremos haber muerto.

Tanta paciencia
para ser tuvimos
anotando
los números, los días,
los años y los meses,
los cabellos, las bocas que besamos,
y aquel minuto de morir
lo dejamos sin anotación:
se lo damos a otro de recuerdo
o simplemente al agua,
al agua, al aire, al tiempo.
Ni de nacer tampoco
guardamos la memoria,
aunque importante y fresco fue ir naciendo:
y ahora no recuerdas ni un detalle,
no has guardado ni un ramo
de la primera luz.

Se sabe que nacemos.

Se sabe que en la sala
o en el bosque
o en el tugurio del barrio pesquero
o en los cañaverales crepitantes
hay un silencio extrañamente extraño,
un minuto solemne de madera
y una mujer se dispone a parir.

Se sabe que nacimos.

Pero de la profunda sacudida
de no ser a existir, a tener manos,
a ver, a tener ojos,
a comer y llorar y derramarse
y amar y amar y sufrir y sufrir,
de aquella transición o escalofrío
del contenido eléctrico que asume
un cuerpo más como una copa viva,
y de aquella mujer deshabitada,
la madre que allí queda con su sangre
y su desgarradora plenitud
y su fin y comienzo, y el desorden
que turba el pulso, el suelo, las frazadas,
hasta que todo se recoge y suma
un nudo más el hilo de la vida,
nada, no quedó nada en tu memoria
del mar bravío que elevó una ola
y derribó del árbol una manzana oscura.

No tienes más recuerdo que tu vida

Skid Row morning (woman in white boots) | by ADMurr

Skid Row morning (woman in white boots) [Downtown Los Angeles]: photo by Andrew Murr, 27 March 2016

Births

We will never have any memory of dying.

We were so patient
about our being,
noting down
numbers, days,
years and months,
hair, and the mouths we kiss,
and that moment of dying
we let pass without a note --
we leave it to others as memory,
or we give it simply to water,
to water, to air, to time.
Nor do we even keep
the memory of being born,
although to come into being was tumultuous and new;
and now you don’t remember a single detail,
and haven’t kept even a trace
of your first light.

It’s well known that we are born.

It’s well known that in the room
or in the wood
or in the shelter in the fisherman’s quarter
or in the rustling canefields
there is a quite unusual silence,
a grave and wooden moment as
a woman prepares to give birth.

It’s well known that we were all born.

But of that abrupt translation
from not being to existing, to having hands,
to seeing, to having eyes,
to eating and weeping and overflowing
and loving and loving and suffering and suffering,
of that transition, that quivering
of an electric presence, raising up
one body more, like a living cup,
and of that woman left empty,
the mother who is left there in her blood
and her lacerated fullness,
and its end and its beginning, and disorder
tumbling the pulse, the floor, the covers,
till everything comes together and adds
one knot more to the thread of life,
nothing, nothing remains in your memory
of the savage sea which summoned up a wave
and plucked a shrouded apple from the tree.

The only thing you remember is your life.

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973): Los nacimientos (Births), from Plenos Poderes (Fully Empowered), 1962, translated by Alastair Reid

My kind of woman (San Leandro, California): photo by efo, 14 July 2016

Intimations of a Great Bottom in the Sky

INDIA - Paramilitary trooper stands guard during a curfew in the Batmaloo area of Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 August 2016

INDIA - The shadow of a paramilitary trooper standing guard during an evening curfew in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 August 2016

Like the moment of birth
The moment of death is a moment you will never remember

SUDAN - Authorities perform maintenance on section of highway that has been damaged due to flooding. By Asrhraf Shazly: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 15 August 2016

Sudanese children play in mud in the village of Makli that was flooded as the river Gash burst its banks: photo by Ashraf Shazly/AFP, 15 August 2016

#Airlander 10, World’s Longest #Aircraft, Nicknamed The ‘Flying Bum': image via Wicked Staffing @wicked_staffing, 8 August 2016

@modjo1978 @CardingtonSheds that's a great pic of an iconic moment #cardingtonhangars #Airlander: image via Hammers Legend @3_@niceyz521, 17 August 2016

History in the making tonight! #Airlander @AirVehicles: image via Dawn Wilson @RainbowWilson, 17 August 2016

A man takes his seat as preparations are made for the maiden flight of the Airlander 10, the largest aircraft in the world, at Cardington airfield in Bedfordshire: photo by Gareth Fuller/PA, 17 August 2016

Boys aboard an abandoned boat collect recyclable items through polluted waters in front of fishing boats at Fish Harbor in Karachi, Pakistan: photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters, 17 August 2016

PAKISTAN - A vendor waits for customers next to a mall in Islamabad. By Aamir Qureshi #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 August 2016

A melted sign from a McDonald’s restaurant shows the damage as firefighters check the area after a wildfire swept through Cajon Junction, California: photo by Eugene Garcia/EPA, 17 August 2016

.

A melted sign from a McDonald’s restaurant shows the damage as firefighters check the area after a wildfire swept through Cajon Junction, California: photo by Eugene Garcia/EPA, 17 August 2016

INDIA - A man offers prayer at temple on the banks of Yamuna River as floodwaters recede in New Delhi. By @PrakashAFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

US - A northern California wildfire grew rapidly destroying homes and forcing residents to flee. By @gabriellelurie: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 16 August 2016

US - A rabbit sits under bush during the Blue Cut wildfire in Phelan, California. By @jAlcornPhoto #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 August 2016

US - Mud covered belongings are seen on the floor of a home after flood water receded in Louisiana. By @b_smialowski: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 17 August 2016

Divers and fishermen carry the image of the Virgin of Palm as a girl touch it at El Rinconcillo beach during the yearly Virgin of Palm maritime pilgrimage on August 15, 2016 in Algeciras, Spain. The Our Lady of Palm maritime pilgrimage in Algeciras dates back to 1975 and takes place annually when fishermen rescue the submerged virgin from the deep sea. Worshippers amid thousands of visitors await its arrival at the Rinconcillo beach. The devotion for the Virgin of Palm comes from the seventeenth century when a ship coming from Italy docked at Algeciras port to wait out bad weather.

Divers and fishermen carry the image of the Virgin of Palm as a girl touches it at El Rinconcillo beach during the yearly Virgin of Palm maritime pilgrimage in Algeciras, Spain: photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez, 16 August 2016

Indian people hold cremations along a roadside following heavy flooding at Daraganj ghat near Sangam in Allahabad: photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP, 18 August 2016

Pablo Neruda: La palabra

Nació                                        
la palabra en la sangre,                     
creció en el cuerpo oscuro, palpitando,     
y voló eon los labios y la boca.             

Más lejos y más cerca                       
aún, aún venía                               
de padres muertos y de errantes razas,       
de territorios que se hicieron piedra,      
que se cansaron de sus pobres tribus,        
porque cuando el dolor salió al camino       
los pueblos anduvieron y llegaron            
y nueva tierra y agua reunieron              
para sembrar de nuevo su palabra.            
Y así la herencía es ésta:                   
éste es el aire que nos comunica             
con el hombre enterrado y con la aurora      
de nuevos seres que aún no amanecieron.      

Aún la atmósfera tiembla                     
eon la primera palabra                       
elaborada                                   
con pánico y gemido.                         
Salió                                       
de las tinieblas                             
y hasta ahora no hay trueno                  
que truene aún con su ferretería             
como aquella palabra,                        
la primera                                   
palabra pronunciada:                         
tal vez sólo un susurro fue, una gota,       
y cae y cae aún su catarata.                                

Luego el sentido llena la palabra.        
Quedó preñada y se llenó de vidas,                                                 
Todo fue nacimientos y sonidos:              
la afirmación, la claridad, la fuerza,       
la negación, la destrucción, la muerte:      
el verbo asumió todos los poderes            
y se fundió existencia con esencia           
en la electricidad de su hermosura.         

Palabra humana, sílaba, cadera               
de larga luz y dura platería,                
hereditaria copa que recibe                  
las comunicaciones de la sangre:             
he aquí que el silencio fue integrado        
por el total de la palabra humana            
y no hablar es morir entre los seres:        
se hace lenguaje hasta la cabellera,         
habla la boca sin mover los labios:                 
los ojos de repente son palabras.            

Yo tomo la palabra y la recorro              
como si fuera sólo forma humana,                
me embelesan sus líneas y navego             
en cada resonancia del idioma:                  
pronuncio y soy y sin hablar me acerca       
el fin de las palabras al silencio.            

Bebo por la palabra levantando               
una palabra o copa cristalina,               
en ella bebo                                 
el vino del idioma                           
o el agua interminable,                      
manantial maternal de las palabras,          
y copa y agua y vino                        
originan mi canto                            
porque el verbo es origen                 
y vierte vida: es sangre,                 
es la sangre que expresa su substancia   
y está dispuesto así su desarrollo:          
dan cristal al cristal, sangre a la sangre,   
y dan vida a la vida las palabras.

A house burns on a hill during the Blue Cut wildfire near Cajon Junction, California. According to reports, the fast-moving blaze, out of control and consuming some 15,000 acres, forced the evacuations of some 82,000 people.: photo by Eugene Garcia / EPA, 17 August 2016

The Word

The word
was born in the blood,
grew in the dark body, beating,
and took flight through the lips
and the mouth.

Farther away and nearer
still, still it came
from dead fathers and from wandering races,
from lands which had turned to stone,
lands weary of their poor tribes,
for when grief took to the roads
the people set out and arrived
and married new land and water
to grow their words again.
And so this is the inheritance;
this is the wavelength which connects us
with dead men and the dawning
of new beings not yet come to light.

Still the atmosphere quivers
with the first word uttered
dressed up
in terror and sighing.
It emerged
from the darkness
and until now there is no thunder
that ever rumbles with the iron voice
of that word,
the first
word uttered --
perhaps it was only a ripple,
a single drop,
and yet its great cataract
falls and falls.

Later on, the word fills with meaning.
Always with child, it filled up
with lives.
Everything was births and sounds --
affirmation, clarity, strength,
negation, destruction, death --
the verb took over all the power
and blended existence with essence
in the electricity of its grace.

Human word, syllable, flank
of extending light and
solid silverwork,
hereditary goblet which receives
the communications of the blood --
here is where silence came together with
the wholeness of the human word,
and, for human beings,
not to speak is to die --
language extends even to the hair,
the mouth speaks without the lips moving,
all of a sudden, the eyes are words.

I take the word and pass it
through any senses
as though it were no more than a
human shape;
its arrangements awe me and I
find my way
through each resonance of the
spoken word --
I utter and I am and,
speechless, I approach
across the edge of words
silence itself.

I drink to the word, raising
a word or a shining cup;
in it I drink
the pure wine of language
or inexhaustible water,
maternal source of words,
and cup and water and wine
give rise to my song
because the verb is the source
and vivid life -- it is blood,
blood which expresses its substance
and so ordains its own unwinding.
Words give glass quality to
glass, blood to blood,
and life to life itself.

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973): La palabra (The Word), from Plenos Poderes (Fully Empowered), 1962,translated by Alasteir Reid

World in focus – best photos for August 17, 2016

A child holds an umbrella as a woman burns paper money ahead of the Ghost Festival, in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China: photo by Stringer / Reuters, 17 August 2016

People sort through water-damaged products outside Jasmine’s Beauty Supply following the floods in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP, 17 August 2016

Cattle huddle together in the high water caused by flooding after the heavy rains in Ascension Parish, in St Amant, south of Baton Rouge, Louisiana: photo by Bill Feig / The Advocate via AP, 17 August 2016

INDIA - Children prepare to jump into the flooded Ganga river in Allahabad. By @sanjaykanojia07 #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

INDIA - Pedestrians walk during sunset after a heavy rainfall in the northern hill town of Shimla. By @AFPhoto: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

IRAQ - A boy dives into the Euphrates river from the back of a water buffalo in Um Khashm. By @HaidarAfp: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

IRAQ - A girl walks in front of water buffalos in Um Khashm, located on the banks of Euphrates river. By @HaidarAfp: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

An Indian priest dances as he carries a sacrificial goat during the Deodhani Festival at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati: photo by Biju Boro/AFP, 18 August 2016

Indian priest dances as he carries a sacrificial goat during the Deodhani Festival at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati: photo by Biju

An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard while he talks on a wireless set during a curfew in Srinagar: photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP, 18 August 2016

A Turkish soldiers stands guard in front of the blast scene following a car bomb attack on a police station in the eastern Turkish city of Elazig

A Turkish soldier stands guard in front of the blast scene following a car bomb attack on a police station in the eastern Turkish city of Elazig: photo by Ilyas Akengin, 18 August 2016

TURKEY - Soldier stands guard following a car bomb attack on a police station in Elazig. By @pironic2121 #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

A Turkish soldier stands guard in front of the blast scene following a car bomb attack on a police station in the eastern Turkish city of Elazig: photo by Ilyas Akengin, 18 August 2016

A still image taken on August 18, 2016 from a video posted on social media said to be shot in Aleppo on August 17, 2016, shows a boy with bloodied face sitting in an ambulance, after an airstrike, Syria

A still image taken from a video posted on social media said to be shot in Aleppo on Wednesday shows a boy with bloodied face sitting in an ambulance, after an airstrike, Syria: image from social media via Reuters, 18 August 2016

A still image taken from a video posted on social media said to be shot in Aleppo on Wednesday shows a boy with bloodied face sitting in an ambulance, after an airstrike, Syria: image from social media via Reuters, 18 August 2016

SYRIA - A boy cries as he awaits treatment at the makeshift clinic following an air strike on Douma. By @AbdDoumany: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

SYRIA - Smoke billows following air strikes by regime forces on rebel positions in Aleppo. By George Ourfalian #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

SYRIA - Syrian Kurdish civilians flee reported shelling toward the city of Qameshli. By @Delilsouleman #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi reviews honour guards during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China: photo by Jason Lee/Reuters, 18 August 2016

An artisan makes an idol of Hindu god Ganesh at a workshop ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival celebrations, in Chandigarh, India: photo by Ajay Verma/Reuters 16 August 2016

A dog with Indonesian national flags on his head walks during a parade a day before Indonesia Independence Day at Kuta on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali: photo by Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP, 16 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for August 18, 2016

An Indonesian student wears a colourful costume during a parade to mark the 71st Indonesian Independence day in Banda Aceh. Indonesia on August 17 marked the 71th anniversary of its independence from Dutch rule.: photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP, 17 August 2016

A Thai dancer performer uses her mobile phone at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand. A bomb exploded at the Erawan Shrine on 17 August 2015 and killed 20 people and injured more than 100 while two foreign bomb suspect were arrested and under trial by the Thai military court. A series of bomb attacks on 12 August 2016 in major popular tourist towns killing four people and more than 20 people injured including foreign tourists will shake Thailand's tourism industry

A Thai dancer performer uses her mobile phone at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand: photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA, 16 August 2016

A woman releases birds from a cage on the anniversary of a deadly bomb blast at the Erawan shrine in Bangkok, Thailand: photo by Narong Sangnak / EPA, 17 August 2016

Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) dance and sing around Wonderkop Hill during the 4th anniversary of the Marikana shooting in Rustenburg, South Africa. Police forces shot dead 34 miners from the Lonmin mine four years ago after a protracted strike in the mining sector. Relatives and fellow miners gather at Wonderkop hill each year to remember those who died and were wounded.: photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA, 16 August 2016

Miners gather during a rally on the fourth anniversary of the Marikana Massacre, where 34 striking miners were killed by police, in Rustenburg, South Africa. The Marikana mine workers were gunned down in 2012 after police were deployed to break up a wildcat strike that had turned violent at the Lonmin-owned platinum mine northwest of Johannesburg. Four years later, nobody has been prosecuted for the shootings, while miners continue to live in dire poverty.: photo by Mujahid Safodien / AFP, 17 August 2016

Miners in #SouthAfrica dance during the 4th anniversary of the #Marikana Massacre @AFPphoto @SafodienMujahid: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 19 August 2016

#USA - Firenadoes rage in California as blaze menaces 82,000. By Jonathan Alcorn #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 19 August 2016

#haveaniceday #Venezuela #sunset in Caracas on May 5 Photo by Federico Parra: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 19 August 2016

#USA - Firenadoes rage in California. By @Robyn_Beck #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 19 August 2016

PHILIPPINES - Coast Guard personnel looks from a porthole as the vessel arrives at the port in Manila. By @herime23: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

Firenadoes rage in California as blaze menaces 82,000. By Jonathan Alcorn #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFP, 19 August 2016

US - Flames rise behind burnt trees at the Blue Cut Fire near Wrightwood, California. By @Robyn_Beck #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

INDIA - A visitor poses for a photograph in front of a picture of a tiger in New Delhi. By @sajjadkmr #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

Afghan security officials attend a ceremony to mark Independence Day, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Afghanistan is celebrating the 97th anniversary of its independence from British rule.: photo by Muhhamad Sadiq / EPA, 19 August 2016

A South Korean army’s K-9 self-propelled howitzer fires during a military exercise in Yeoncheon near the border with North Korea. South Korea’s army says it has conducted its largest-ever artillery drills near the tense border with North Korea.: photo by Lim Byung-shick / Yonhap via AP, 19 August 2016

A Hindu priest’s forehead is covered with “tika”, coloured powder and rice used as a blessing, during the Janai Purnima festival (Sacred Thread Festival) at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Hindus take holy baths and change their sacred thread, also known as Janai, for protection and purification, during the festival.: photo by Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters, 19 August 2016

Young Hindu priests take a holy bath together as part of a ritual during the Janai Purnima festival (Sacred Thread Festival) at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Hindus take holy baths and change their sacred thread, also known as Janai, for protection and purification, during the festival.: photo by Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters, 19 August 2016

Fans of Germany watch the women’s Beach Volleyball Final match of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games between Ludwig/Walkenhorst of Germany and Agatha/Barbara of Brazil at the Beach Volleyball Arena on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: photo by Orlando Barria / EPA, 19 August 2016

WEST BANK - A Palestinian protester hurls stones towards Israeli security forces during clashes in the West Bank. By @Abbasmomani: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

GAZA STRIP - A volunteer at the Sulala Society for Training & Caring for Animals trains a stray dog. By @mohmdabed: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos: The history of the measure of memory

No han muerto los guardianes de la tierra y la memoria | by Carlos Ogaz

no han muerto los guardianes de la tierra y la memoria. Este el día fue la última vez que el Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos dijo sus últimas palabras en publico, el personaje Marcos murió para poder con esto desenterrar y que renaciera el Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano: photo by skarlos Ogaz, 24 May 2014

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos: The history of the measure of memory

To the national press:

Ladies and gentlemen:

A few reflections on Fobaproa and a taking of a position.

From here nothing new, an abundance of planes and helicopters promising war, rains promising sowing, and dignitaries promising futures. The children continue being children, and little Pedrito has re-baptized me as "Up" (an easy abbreviation for "Sup" as I understand), while he tries to find out if my pipe is made of chocolate as were some cigarettes he had been given.

While the sea dreams with me in the womb, I remember that in the next few days (August 28?), the Ladies will be celebrating the twentieth anniversary of an act which, like everything that comes from below, began small and then grew.

Twenty years ago a group of determined and inconvenient (for the Power) women and men began a hunger strike demanding the liberation of political prisoners and the presentation of the disappeared.

We, and others without memory, owe these women of foolish tenderness many things. The Ladies know that memory does not rest nor yield, nor does it have age, nor does dignity have size. And then Old Antonio comes with one of the gifts for the sea, and he tells, just to tell...

The history of the measure of memory

The oldest of our old tell, that the first gods, those who created the world, shared out memory among the men and women who walked in the world.

"Memory is good," the greatest gods said and told, "because it is the mirror which helps to understand the present and promises the future."

The first gods measured out memory with a jicara in order to share it out and all the men and women came by to receive their measure of memory. But some of the men and women were larger than the others and then the measure of memory was not seen equally in all. It shone clearly in the smallest and in the largest it was made opaque. Because of that they say that they say memory is greatest and strongest in the smallest and it is harder to find in the powerful.

That is why they also say that men and women become smaller and smaller when they grow old. They say it is so memory will shine more brightly. They say that it is the work of the oldest of the old: to make memory great.

They also say that dignity is no more than memory which lives. They say.

Vale.

Salud and may memory carry out its mission, to make justice.

From the mountains of Southeastern Mexico.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, August of 1998.

Subcommander Marcos: The history of the measure of memory, August 1998, from Writings of Subcommander Marcos of the EZLN

el sup. subcomandante insurgente marcos: photo by methodical.in.procedure, 10 April 2006

Subcomandante insurgente Marcos | by observar lo inobservable

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos: photo by Biofilo Panclasta, 9 May 2008

El Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos | by miotei

El Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos: photo by miotei, 21 December 2005

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos | by Quadraro

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos*EZLN*: image by Quadraro, 10 May 2016

el calor | by Mauricio Romero Mendoza

el calor. Caracol Zapatista Oventico, Chiapas: photo by Mauricio Romero Mendoza, 21 December 2016

Love and beauty at the Red Bird

Screen head (Los Angeles): photo by Andrew Murr, 23 June 2016

Love and beauty at the Red Bird | by ADMurr

Love and beauty at the Red Bird (East Hollywood, Los Angeles): photo by Andrew Murr, 23 June 2016

Tent City (Downtown Los Angeles): photo by Andrew Murr, 4 July 2016

Man with cart (Figueroa, South Los Angeles): photo by Andrew Murr, 7 November 2015

Repair (Downtown Los Angeles): photo by Andrew Murr, 19 July 2016

In Chinatown (Los Angeles): photo by Andrew Murr, 29 June 2016

A passerby looks at a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude in San Francisco, United State

A passerby looks at a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude in San Francisco: photo by Justin Sullivan, 19 August 2016

A passerby looks at a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude in San Francisco: photo by Justin Sullivan, 19 August 2016

Morning ground fog floats above the village of Stara Basta, some 280 kilometres east of Bratislava, Slovakia: photo by Peter Komka / EPA, 19 August 2016

Message from #KashmirNow: image via Nomy Sahir, 20 August 2016

Over 120 injured in #Kashmir: image via Syed Ali Geelani @Sageelani, 19 August 2016

Curfew in #Kashmir for 43rd day: Govt staff asked to resume duties as protesters hit streets: image via Firstpost Verified account @firstpost, 19 August 2016

Massive clashes erupted in Bandipora #Kashmir 14 injured after troops attacked pro-freedom rally: image via Nomy Sahir, 20 August 2016

#Kashmir opposition parties to meet President today: image via Hindustan Times Verified account @htTweets, 19 August 2016

Victimsof clashes overwhelm hospital in Indian Kashmir: Cathal McNaughton and Fayaz Bukhari | SRINAGAR, India, Reuters, 18 August 2016

More than 40 days of clashes between protesters and security forces have overwhelmed the main hospital in Indian-administered Kashmir, where some patients with severe injuries said they had been beaten in their homes by troops.

House-to-house searches continued on Friday, authorities said, for suspected ringleaders of street protests set off by the killing on July 8 of a popular field commander of a Pakistan-based separatist group.

At least 65 people have been killed and 6,000 injured in the ensuing clashes, many of them wounded by shotgun rounds fired by security forces enforcing a curfew across the Muslim-majority region.

Pictures taken by a Reuters photographer at Srinagar's main SMHS Hospital on Thursday showed men with wounds across their backs and buttocks they said had been caused by beatings.

Another showed a crying boy, his head swathed in bandages, being comforted by his family, who said he had been wounded by shotgun pellets.

The Indian army has apologised for the death in custody of Shabir Ahmad Mangoo, a 30-year-old college lecturer. The commander of Northern Army denounced the beatings and ordered an inquiry.

"These actions are absolutely not sanctioned. These actions are absolutely not tolerated," Lieutenant General DS Hooda told a news conference in Srinagar on Friday.

India's security laws grant wide discretion to the armed forces in "disturbed" areas such as Kashmir. Human rights activists say those responsible for excessive violence are rarely brought to justice.

Hospital doctors were exhausted, with one saying they had performed more eye operations in the past month than they had over the last three years.

"We are in physical and mental stress," said Nisarul Hassan, senior consultant at SMHS Hospital who was forced to use an ambulance to get home.

Dozens of volunteers received the injured at the hospital as ambulances brought them in from rural areas.

Paramedics and ambulance drivers said government forces attacked them on the way. The curfew restricts movement, severely disrupting daily life.

"India and Pakistan are fighting over my homeland but in the end it is only our blood that they manage to secure," said Faizal Wani, 24, whose father was being treated for pellet wounds suffered in the clashes.

Another doctor said patients had been brought in with abdominal injuries from rifle bullets. "Our operating theatres are working non-stop," the doctor told Reuters.

Troops have resorted to firing rifles and shotguns to quell stone-throwing protests sparked by the death of Burhan Wani, a field commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen separatist group.

Central Reserve Police Force, which deploys a large contingent of paramilitaries in Kashmir, told a regional court that more than 100 people had been partly or completely blinded by shotgun pellets.

Kashmir is at the centre of a decades-old rivalry between India and Pakistan, which rules a northwestern section of the divided region, and backed an insurgency in the late 1980s and 1990s that Indian security forces largely crushed.

A U.N. human rights official has expressed "deep regret" at the failure of both India and Pakistan to grant access to the separate parts of Kashmir that each runs to investigate allegations of serious human rights violations.

This picture should have been on the front pages #Kashmir: image via Supriya Sharma @sharmasupriya, 18 August 2016

Post 12: of elections, boycott, and democratic malpractice: image via Ather Zia @aziakashmir, 12 August 2016

poetry from #Kashmir #KashmirBlindSpot: image via Ather Zia @aziakashmir, 13 August 2016

Post 14: Kashmir maybe silenced; it is not silent: image via Ather Zia @aziakashmir, 14 August 2016

INDIA - An paramilitary trooper stands alert in a net-covered bunker during a curfew in Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

flooding the burn area

A barbecue and other items burn as the Bluecut wildfire rages near Cajon Pass: photo by Ringo Chiu / AFP, 16 August 2016

A chicken runs by a chicken coop that burns with some animals still inside at the Bluecut Fire in the San Bernardino National Forest: photo by Gene Blevins / Reuters, 16 August 2016

A home burns near the town of Lower Lake, California: photo by Josh Edelson / AP, 14 August 2016

Embers from a wildfire smolder on a hill along Lytle Creek Road near Keenbrook, California. Firefighters had at least established a foothold of control of the blaze the day after it broke out for unknown reasons in the Cajon Pass near Interstate 15, the vital artery between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Five years of drought have turned the state's wildlands into a tinder box, with eight fires currently burning from Shasta County in the far north to Camp Pendleton just north of San Diego.: photo by Noah Berger / AP, 17 August 2016

Flames whipped by strong winds burn though a hillside before destroying camper vans in the Bluecut Fire in San Bernardino County, California: photo by Patrick Fallon / Reuters, 17 August 2016

Corrected map: Satellite imagery shows the #BlueCutFire's huge burn area: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes, 19 August 2016

A chopper drops fire retardant on the Blue Cut fire, northeast of Los Angeles, California, USA

A helicopter drops fire retardant on the Blue Cut fire, northeast of Los Angeles, California: photo by Paul Buck/EPA, 19 August 2016

A firefighting helicopter makes a drop as firefighters try to gain control of the fire above homes along Cajon Boulevard at the Bluecut Fire, near Wrightwood, California: photo by David McNew, 18 August 2016

The sun sets through smoky skies from the so-called Bluecut Fire in the San Bernardino National Forest: photo Gene Blevins / Reuters, 16 August 2016

The sun sets over the Giza Pyramids, near Cairo, Egypt: photo by Amr Nabil / AP, 19 August 2016

Scorched pine trees, after a forest fire, near Agueda, Portugal: photo by Rafael Marchante / Reuters, 12 August 2016

Wildebeests cross the Mara river during their migration to the greener pastures, between the Maasai Mara game reserve and the open plains of the Serengeti, southwest of Kenya's capital Nairobi: photo by Thomas Mukoya / Reuters, 15 August 2016

Cattle are driven through a flooded road as they are herded to trucks to be brought to dry land in Sorrento, Louisiana. Starting last week Louisiana was overwhelmed with floodwater causing at least eight deaths and thousands of homes damaged by the flood waters.: photo by Joe Raedle, 16 August 2016

A Virgin Mary statue is seen in front of a flooded home in St. Amant, Louisiana: photo by Joe Raedle, 18 August 2016

A submerged vehicle is seen in Ascension Parish, Louisiana: photo by Jonathan Bachman / Reuters, 15 August 2016

The Gold-N-Guns pawn shop is seen in floodwaters in Gonzales, Louisiana: photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP, on August 16, 2016

A casket floats in front of a partially submerged church in Ascension Parish, Louisiana: photo by Jonathan Bachman / Reuters, 15 August 2016

A casket is seen floating in flood waters in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Torrential rains over the weekend dumped nearly two feet of water on the area.: photo by Jonathan Bachman / Reuters, 15 August 2016

the only one who can save us from this flood #harambe #prayforlouisiana: image via Anna @annaxlizabeth, 13 August 2016

Forever in our heart #Harambe #rip: image via Money-Lauren @mia_laureny, 16 August 2016 Silver Creek High School

A partially melted thermometer is seen on a house that survived after a fire tore through Lower Lake: photo by Josh Edelson / AP, 16 August 2016

Forever in our heart #Harambe #rip: image via Money-Lauren @mia_laureny, 16 August 2016 Silver Creek High School

#FRANCE The zoological park of Saint-Martin-La-Plaine is a shelter for beasts seized by the justice @AFPphoto: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPhoto, 16 August 2016

Harambe is tied with the Green Party in US election, despite being dead (and a gorilla): photo by John Sommers II via Metro UK, 17 August 2016

Pierre Thivillon (right), director of the zoological park of Saint-Martin-La-Plaine and his wife Eliane look at Digit, an 18-year-old female gorilla, in Saint-Martin-La-Plaine between Lyon and Saint-Etienne, France: photo by Philippe Desmazes / AFP, 18 August 2016

Resident Taina holds her brother Ysaque in the hallway outside their apartment in an occupied building in the Mangueira favela community, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hundreds of residents who live in the surrounding structures must collect water from hoses as there is no running water in the buildings. Much of the Mangueira favela community sits about a kilometer away from Maracana stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The stadium has received hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations ahead of the World Cup and Olympics. The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio's favelas, or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The plan has mostly failed to materialize. Around 1.4 million residents, or approximately 22 percent of Rio's population, reside in favelas which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence.: photo by Mario Tama, 13 August 2016

Não faça o @RyanLochte. Falsa comunicação de crime é #crime. #LochteGate: image via Governo do RJ @GovEJ, 19 August 2016

Four white guys said some brown people robbed them at gunpoint? And lied? That's unbelievable. #Lochtegate: tweet via CHRIS ROCK @chrisrockyoz, 18 August 2016

Thought something was suspicious when they didn't take his phone, gold chainz and diamond crusted rolex. #ryanlochte: image via Phil @Phillip_Thomas, 18 August 2016

"I just wanted to do something to shock people…. Something loud.” #RyanLochte: image via CharlotteFive @Charlotte_Five, 5 August 2016

Syrian refugee girl Housaida rests inside the Spanish rescue vessel Astral after being rescued by the Spanish NGO Proactiva off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea: photo by Giorgos Moutafis / Reuters, 18 August 2016

PHILIPPINES - A chalk outline remains on a street in Manila after the body of a killed man was moved. By @herime23: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

Police officers inspecting the body of a young man who lay dead in the middle of a residential street on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday.: photo by Felipe Dana/Associated Press, 17 August 2016

Little Omran among The Destruction of the World. In Arabic Omran means: the solid structure: image via Moustafa Jacoub @JacoubM, 19 August 2016

The front pages of newspapers of the world: image via Murad Shawakh @MuradShawakh, 19 August 2016

[Aleppo under bombardment]: image via zakaria abdelkafi @zakria_alkafi, 19 August 2016

24 hours of targeting #Aleppo by all weapon (cluster-navi-barrels-mortar-Phosphorus-Napalm) bombs 1st time Aleppo with empty streets: tweet via Bakri Zeneldeen @BakriZen, 20 August 2016

[Aleppo under bombardment]: image via zakaria abdelkafi @zakria_alkafi, 31 July 2016

Ed Sanders: Poem from Jail: Against "the enormous organized cowardice"

And at my ear

was the whirr

of wings,

"red wing,

black wing,

black wing

shot with crimson,"

and the Bird Flock

stared to my eye,

and always the Birds

flap overhead

shrieking

like a "berserk

tobacco auction":

Pains! Neverbirth! Dieness!

*

And we have
seen the men

farting around

in Geneva,

and the governments

have not clasped

one another

as lovers,

confronting

each other

in nakedness

No, they have

not halted hate.

Yes, it is true:

Death shall assume

the continuum.

*

Whom do we

blame, O Traveler...

O Traveler

let us blame

the cowardly,

& those in charge

of war,

the economists

&the profiteers,

&the hidden

men in the

military,

&all those who

profit by Death.

And let us place blame

upon

"the enormous

organized cowardice."

Ed Sanders: Poem from Jail, Montville State Jail, Uncasville, Connecticut, August 8-24, 1961, "having attempted to board the Polaris missile submarine the Ethan Allen, as a witness for peace" (excerpts)

a hand without face cards,

the enormous organized cowardice

Ezra Pound, Canto XC

                  and in the boughs now are voices
grey wing, black wing, black wing shot with crimson
Ezra Pound, Canto XC

[Untitled]: image via Hozaifa Dahmaan @hozaifadahmaan, 18 August 2016

[Omran Daqneesh]: image via Hozaifa Dahmaan @hozaifadahmaan, 17 August 2016

The criminals are bombing this Aleppo neighborhood with phosphorus, which is forbidden internationally!: image via Hozaifa Dahmaan @hozaifadahmaan, 17 August 2016

Triste: Little Omran among The Destruction of the World

[Untitled]: image via Hozaifa Dahmaan @hozaifadahmaan, 20 August 2016

#Omran #OmranDaqneesh: image via Moustafa Jacoub @JacoubM, 19 August 2016

[Untitled]: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 16 August 2016

[Untitled]: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 17 August 2016

Today is 3 years since #Assad killed over 1400 people using chemical weapons, and since #Obama decided #Syrian people can continue dying: tweet via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 17 August 2016

Five-year-old Omran Daqneesh sits in an ambulance waiting for treatment. Picture: Aleppo Media Center via AP

Five-year-old Omran Daqneesh sits in an ambulance waiting for treatment: image by Aleppo Media Center via AP, 17 August 2016

Daqneesh after receiving treatment. Picture: Aleppo Media Center

Omran Daqneesh, after receiving treatment: image by Aleppo Media Center, 17 August 2016

A girl walks along a deserted street in Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria. Picture: REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

A girl walks along a deserted street in Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo: photo by Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters via AP, 18 August 2016

Two bodies wrapped in cloth are laid out in front of a makeshift hospital in the Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo, following air raids that targeted rebel-held areas in the northern city: photo by Thaer Mohammed/AFP, 18 August 2016

A resident of the Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo, inspects the damage caused by air raids. Picture: AFP/THAER MOHAMMED

A resident of the Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo inspects the damage caused by air raids: photo by Thaer Mohammed/AFP, 18 August 2016

The remains of the Daqneesh family's neighbourhood

The remains of the Daqneesh family's neighbourhood. They lived in the building on the left of the picture.: photo by Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters, 18 August 2016

Ambulances full of children. 3 killed,17 wounded in another #AssadPutin massacre in #Aleppo: image via Julian Röpcke @JulianRoecke, 17 August 2016

Savaşın kirli yüzü... Ümran'ın fotoğrafını çeken bakın kim çıktı: image via cumhuriyet @cumhuriyetgzt, 19 August 2016

"It's sad, so sad It's a sad, sad situation And it's getting more and more absurd" #Omran #Aleppo. @BarackObama: image via Mohammed Tomihi Verified account @MohammedTomaihi, 18 August 2016

Syrians are sharing this photo featuring 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh, asking why the world hasn't acted in #Aleppo: image via Eliza Mackintosh Verified account @elizamackintosh, 18 August 2016 City of London, London

Enough is enough. The bombing of Aleppo must stop. Join us to protect all children in war.: image via Save the Children Verified account @savethechildrenuk, 18 August 2016

The doctor who treated Omran Daqneesh in #Aleppo: he was "silent, in shock and didn't cry": image via BBC Newshour @BBCNewshour, 18 August 2016

If @realDonaldTrumpgets elected, this boy would be refused US entry. Really think about that for a second. #Aleppo: image via Andy Oare @andyoare, 18 August 2016

His name is Omran. He is 5yr old. He has known NOTHING but war his ENTIRE life. Imagine he was YOUR child. #Aleppo: image via Anna Ahronheim @AAhronheim, 18 August 2016

"But it's someone's else's country, someone else's war, someone else's kid..."#Aleppo #CivilianDeathToll: image via Guz Khan @GuzKhanOfficial, 17 August 2016

This picture of a wounded Syrian boy captures just a fragment of the horrors of #Aleppo: image via Raf Sanchez Verified account @rafsanchez, 17 August 2016

Look carefully into his eyes. he is silent, but he tells you a lot. From under rubble .. #Aleppo today: image via Luna Wafta @luna_alabdalla, 17 August 2016

His name is Omran Daqneesh and he is 5. Here he is after treatment by some extraordinarily brave doctors in#Aleppo: image via Raf Sanchez Verified account @rafsanchez, 17 August 2016

One of the lucky children

A Syrian refugee child sleeps on his father's arms while waiting at a resting point to board a bus in Greece. One of the lucky children who escaped Syria.: photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP, 18 August 2016

AFGHANISTAN - An Afghan child carries a can of water on the outskirts of Herat. By @Arefkarimi #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 20 August 2016

A child's shoe is seen in the debris of a bomb attack on a wedding party in #Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 20 August 2016

PHILIPPINES - A man prepares his makeshift raft in his house erected at banks of Pasig River in Manila. By @herime23: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 19 August 2016

NEPAL - A masked youth participates in the Neku Jatra-Mataya festival in Patan near Kathmandu. By @PrakashAFP #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 August 2016

SYRIA - A wounded Syrian child lies in a hospital bed in the northeastern city of Qamishli. By @Delilsouleman #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for August 20, 2016

Women in canoes collect weeds on Dal lake in Srinagar as the city remains under curfew following weeks of violence in Kashmir: photo by Cathal McNaughton / Reuters, 20 August 2016

A dinghy overcrowded by African migrants is seen drifting off the Libyan coast in Mediterranean Sea: photo by Giorgos Moutafis / Reuters, 20 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for August 19, 2016

A lightning storm moves through Atlanta before the Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals in a baseball game: photo by Curtis Compton / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, 19 August 2016

A girl peers from her house as a member of the security forces patrols a street in Srinagar, Kashmir: photo by Cathal McNaughton / Reuters, 19 August 2016

Migrants and refugees fleeing Libya are rescued by members of a Spanish NGO in Mediterranean Sea, about 25 miles north of Sabratha, Libya: photo by Emilio Morenatti / AP, 19 August 2016

BREAKING: The #Aquarius has just rescued all those travelling on this rubber boat including 35 women and 2 kids: image via MSF Sea @MSF_Sea, 19 August 2016

Half of the #people rescued from this boat yesterday were unaccompanied children: image via MSF Sea @MSF_Sea, 19 August 2016

'You can't just walk away'

Remains of cluster bombs dropped on Almaqash neighborhoods in Sa’ada #Yemen #500Days_ForgottenWar: image via Rosa72 SaveYemen @Rasa171a, 16 August 2016

This was drawn by a Syrian girl now trapped in a camp in #Greece. See what we see - no child should draw this!: image via MSF Sea @MSF_Sea, 19 August 2016

In 2004 this stadium hosted the baseball during the #Athens Olympics. In 2016 it hosts 100s of #refugee families.: image via MSF Sea @MSF_Sea, 19 August 2016

#Afghanistan: “Intensification and proximity of fighting is limiting access to the hospital”: image via MSF International @MSF, 15 August 2016

‘You Can’t Just Walk Away' Why @paulaphoto Keeps Photographing#Afghanistan: image via Photojournalism @photojurnalink, 15 August 2016

@MSF is still surveying damage of Abs hospital and will launch its own internal investigation into the attack #Yemen: image via MSF Yemen @msf_yemen, 17 August 2016

A Saudi-led coalition air strike hits an @MSF hospital in Yemen: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 16 August 2016

People look at a crater caused by a Saudi-led coalition air strike in the yard of a hospital operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Abs district of Hajja province, Yemen. The airstrike reportedly killed 11 and wounded another 19 people.: photo by Abduljabbar Zeyad / Reuters, 16 August 2016

World in focus – best photos for August 21, 2016

A woman stands on rubble to talk to her friends after a night of clashes between protesters and security forces in Srinagar as the city remains under curfew following weeks of violence in Kashmir: photo by Cathal McNaughton / Reuters, 21 August 2016

A member of the security forces patrols a street after a night of clashes between protestors and security forces in Srinagar as the city remains under curfew following weeks of violence in Kashmir: photo by Cathal McNaughton / Reuters, 21 August 2016

Despite strict curfew for the 42nd day, #Kashmir protests continue. How can you police a thought?: image via Sameer S. Bhat @sameerft, 19 August 2016

Uzma Falak: One dies
One dies
The other is born
They only give us numbers
But poets hate numbers
And in our country we are all poets
of loss
of memory
of madness
We know the pain of erasure.
We, the poets of persistence.
We, who outran our destiny.
We, who cradle the ache of an unsung longing, a lingering history.
We, who bear the burden of outliving our children.
We, who survived a genocide of colours, a massacre of language.
We, who enwomb within us evanescence.
We, who have tricked forgetting.
We, within whom flows a dark river of impossible love.
We, the wandering minstrels of hope. We the balladeers of dawn. We the elegists of night. We the bards of loss.
"One dies...": Uzma Falak, Srinagar, via DailyO, 17 August 2016

Solving #Kashmir issue by raising #Balochistan won't work | @KamalChenoy: image via DailyO @DailyO, 20 August 2016

Watch 'Kashmir: Behind The Rage', a ground report from the valley by @maya206 at 10.30 pm on @ndtv: image via INDIA MATTERS @IndiaMatters, 12 August 2016

Government forces in Kashmir shoot 5 civilians and injure at least 15 others as anti-India protests continue: image via AJ+ @ajplus, 16 August 2016

It isn't "inciting hatred" against state to discuss Indian security-force abuses in Kashmir: image via Kenneth Roth @KenRoth, 19 August 2016

When she holds me in her arms, the fire simmers inside me. Our Women, Steel Magnolias. #Kashmir #KashmirUprising:image via faysal @_Faysal, 19 August 2016

Driving in Curfewed Kashmir in what can be called a windowpanes-less car!: image via Faraz Yaseen @FarazYaseen, 21 August 2016

Indian troops go berserk in Batamaloo and Mandir Bagh. Ransack homes and break public property. #Kashmir: image via faysal @_Faysal, 21 August 2016

Guess who have damaged more vehicles, public property and private property? Your very own stone pelters. #Kashmir: image via faysal @_Faysal, 20 August 2016

J&K: Tight security put in place in #Srinagar and across Valley to maintain law and order. Photo: PTI: image via All India Radio News Verified account @airnewsalerts, 17 August 2016

Lal Chowk in #Srinagar and the local newspapers filled with pictures of dead boys: image via Sameer Yasir @sameeryasir, 17 August 2016

#Indian Troops martyr four youth in occupied #Kashmir, as massive pro-freedom rallies continue across the valley: image via PTV World @WorldPTV 21 August 2016

Kashmir: why talk to India? Munir Khan, Dawn, 21 August 2016

Following the extensive discussions at the recent Pakistan envoys’ conference, Pakistan proposed a ‘separate’ dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir to India.

As expected, India promptly interposed preconditions for the talks, even more onerous than in the past. Pakistan’s counter -- that the talks would be strictly on the basis of the UN resolutions on Kashmir -- indicates that the proposal for talks was largely a tactical move to expose India’s obduracy.

It would have been unseemly to hold talks with India when it has just killed over 70 Kashmiris like Burhan Wani and blinded hundreds, including small children, and is continuing with its campaign of oppression. A ‘separate’ dialogue on Kashmir will not stop India’s repression. On the contrary, talks would have enabled India to deflect world attention from its atrocities by focusing on ‘terrorism’ and could have defused this latest Kashmiri revolt.

During Kashmir’s last major revolt in the 1990s, Pakistan refused talks with India unless it agreed to substantive discussions on the Kashmir dispute. Detailed proposals and counter proposals were exchanged prior to and following the foreign secretary-level talks in 1994. Pakistan called for implementation of the UN resolutions; India obfuscated. But, its foreign secretary indicated a readiness for a solution based on ‘autonomy plus’ (that is, more than provided in Article 370 of the Indian constitution) and ‘independence minus’ (that is, short of full statehood).

Obviously, since then, the ‘correlation of forces’ have moved negatively against Pakistan and the Kashmiri people. The Kashmiri freedom struggle was infiltrated and corrupted by India’s intelligence agencies, and then brutally suppressed by its half-a-million-man occupation force. After 9/11, and the attack on the Indian parliament, Pakistan was obliged, under heavy US pressure, to undertake not to allow its territory to be used by ‘terrorists’. As Islamabad’s support to the Kashmiri struggle ended, some ‘jihadist’ groups turned against Pakistan or went ‘rogue’. India now portrays any resistance in Kashmir as terrorism. Its powerful Western allies now accept this equation, enabling India to act with complete impunity in suppressing Kashmiri demands for azadi (freedom).

There is thus no point in talks with India at this time. It will not resolve the dispute; it could demoralise the Kashmiris. There are, however, two objectives which Pakistan can promote to help the Kashmiris; neither requires talks with India.

First, Pakistan should launch a major diplomatic offensive in international forums and the world’s capitals to halt India’s massive human rights violations in occupied Kashmir. Pakistan can call for: international investigations of India’s reported crimes, including the murder of Burhan Wani and blinding of unarmed children; the release of thousands of Kashmiri prisoners; the abrogation of India’s emergency laws; freedom for the Kashmiris to demonstrate peacefully; freedom for Kashmiri leaders to travel abroad and be released from imprisonment or house arrest; provision of medical and material assistance, including from Pakistan, to the suffering Kashmiris; withdrawal of Indian security forces from towns and villages into their cantonments and barracks; repatriation of all the refugees from India-held Kashmir, presently in Pakistan or elsewhere.

To be taken seriously, such demands would have to be translated into official proposals in the relevant international forums, such as the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. Even if such proposals do not command majority support, they would draw world attention to the plight and aspirations of the Kashmiris and oblige Western governments and UN officials to press India to ease its oppression. More importantly, this will reinforce Kashmiri resistance.

Pakistan’s second objective should be to revalidate the legitimacy of the Kashmiri freedom struggle and distinguish this from ‘terrorism’.

There is a substantial body of international law and precedent to establish the legitimacy of the Kashmiri freedom struggle. The right to self determination is a central principle enshrined in the UN Charter. It has been repeatedly reaffirmed as a right of colonised and ‘dependent’ peoples. The Security Council resolutions on Kashmir have called for a plebiscite to enable the Kashmiri people to exercise their right to self-determination.

Further, UN General Assembly Resolution 2649 (1970) “affirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples under colonial and alien domination recognised as being entitled to the right of self determination to restore to themselves that right by any means at their disposal”. It was explicitly recognised in UN debates that “any means at their disposal”, includes armed struggle. The resolution also “recognises the right” of such peoples “to seek and receive all kinds of moral and material assistance” in the “legitimate exercise of their right to self-determination”. It is not illegal for Pakistan or anyone else to support the freedom struggle of the Kashmiris.

Pakistan should clearly reaffirm this internationally endorsed legal and political position and assert the right to provide both moral and material support to the Kashmiris. At present, such material support could be in various forms: finance for rehabilitation of Kashmiri families uprooted by Indian security forces; help to the Hurriyet for political mobilisation; expenses for the travel of Kashmiri leaders and for Kashmiris seeking medical treatment abroad; scholarships for Kashmiri youth in Pakistani and other educational institutions. Pakistan’s clear and tangible support to the Kashmiri resistance will make it easier for the government to act against outlawed groups which have assumed the mantle of solidarity with the Kashmiri struggle.

Promoting the two objectives outlined here may not immediately change the current balance of power within Kashmir. However, the Kashmiris have displayed extraordinary courage and resilience over the past 70 years in resisting India’s occupation. Today, a third generation of Kashmiris has risen to confront Indian rule. With moral and material support from Pakistan, the Kashmiris can sustain this resistance. Ultimately, like so many other peoples under colonial and alien domination, the Kashmiris will succeed in winning their freedom.

What Pakistan can do is to create the best conditions for the success of their struggle. This requires, for the present, active and bold diplomatic action by Pakistan; not talks with India. A Pakistan-India dialogue will be meaningful only when India comes to the conclusion that it cannot sustain its occupation of Kashmir -- politically, militarily and morally.

Munir Khan is a former Pakistan ambassador to the United Nations

Security personnel stand guard on a deserted street during #curfew for 39th day in #Srinagar. Photo: PTI: image via All India Radio News Verified account @airnewsalerts, 16 August 2016

Precarity

Protection. Nogata, Tokyo, Japan.: photo by efo, 16 August 2016

Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma) 1986 | by Dizzy Atmosphere

Street scene, central Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar): photo by Dave Glass, 3 December 1986

#Precarious, Multivolumetria precaria.: photo by Pierclaudio Duranti, 25 July 2016

Rescuers say toxic gas dropped on Syrian town where Russian helicopter shot down: Lisa Barrington, Reuters, 2 August 2016

Sporting Diplomacy Murican style: Hope's Arsenal: Primera polémica de #Rio2016

Brazilianstaunt Hope Solo with chants of 'Zika' during initial match in Rio Olympics in response to her photos showcasing 'mosquito-proof' repellent arsenal: Daily Mail 3 August 2016

Amjad Majid: From Exile with Love

Amjad Majid: From Exile with Love from Kashmir Lit, 2016

Maaz Bin Bilal: A Shriek about Kashmir -- A Ghazal, from Kashmir Lit, 2016

The Restored Humanity of Commander Burhan Wani

The Restored Humanity of Commander Burhan Wani: Mohamad Junaid, Raiot/Kashmir Reader, 14 July 2016

Indian forces kill three in Kashmir as fresh protests erupt: Fayaz Bukhari, Reuters, 5 August 2016

Curfew Extended in Kashmir, but 2 Die, Many Hurt in Clashes: The Associated Press, 5 August 2016

Suicide bomber kills at least 45 at Pakistan hospital: Gul Yousafzai, Reuters, 8 August 2016

At least 40 killed in SW Pakistan hospital blast: minister: AFP, 8 August 2016

Pakistan: dozens dead as bomb hits mourners at Quetta hospital: Explosion, reportedly killing at least 67, occurred as body of prominent lawyer, Bilal Kasi, arrived at hospital after he was shot: Taha Siddiqui in Islamabad and Saeed Kamali Dehghan for The Guardian, 8 August 2016

What Kashmir says

Celebrating the liberation

Hoy

Muslim cleric and associate shot to death on New York street: Imam, associate shot to death in New York: Frank McGurty, Reuters, 13 August 2016

Percy Bysshe Shelley: England in 1819

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): England in 1819, 1819

Heathcote Williams: ForShelley on the 4thAugust, His Birthday

Heathcote Williams: For Shelley on the 4th August, His Birthday via International Times, 4 August 2016

The wind was wrong, the idea was silly, no one knew what they were doing

A greenish light glowered from the flat darkening sea

The unconsummated sacrifice

The fire would not catch, the day was warm, the stench soon became awful

Particles still hang in the air

Mahmoud Darwish: On Wishes

Muslims hold pigeons, dyed in the colours of the Indian flag, during a march to celebrate India’s Independence Day in Ahmedabad, India: photo by Amit Dave/Reuters, 15 August 2016

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos: The history of the measure of memory

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos: The history of the measure of memory

The history of the measure of memory

Love and beauty at the Red Bird

Victimsof clashes overwhelm hospital in Indian Kashmir: Cathal McNaughton and Fayaz Bukhari | SRINAGAR, India, Reuters, 18 August 2016

Maaz Bin Bilal: *A Shriek about Kashmir -- A Ghazal***, from Kashmir Lit, 2016**

**Heathcote Williams: For Shelley on the 4th August, His Birthday via International Times, 4 August 2016**