Children in a Conflict

Let’s feel their pain and sufferings
By: Kashoo Tawseef
Human rights’ is the very soul of any sense of nationhood and it starts with children rights’ and their basic right to live. In the words of Frederick Douglass, “it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” There are certain groups of human race which either by nature or because of the situation caught in vulnerable and helpless circumstances and children are one among them. Universally, children, the citizens of tomorrow are disadvantaged in a significant respect, that they are defenseless both mentally and physically. If born and brought up under conflicting conditions are open for exploitation. They fall easy victims to the various crimes perpetrated against them.

A system based on Justice!

A dream to imagine in this day and age!

If parties to the dispute act justly, the issues are solvable! 

By: Kashoo Tawseef

In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... and he further adds that for every step towards the goal of justice; it requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals and such individuals make up the system or a nation based on justice. The various systems and nations that exist in today’s world are based on some sort of principle, but the underlying fact is that if any of such system or nation is based on justice, then only one can expect good out of it, otherwise it is not going to last for long and history bears witness to this fact, how systems and nations collapse. One should stand up for justice and side with the just and distance from in-just as Malcolm-X once said, I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against. There are various interpretations to this deliberation as to what justice is all about and how justice can be the principle of any system and how justice can be incorporated into nation building. 

Peace: What Does It Mean?

Let’s understand the history and facts better to make it happen

By: Kashoo Tawseef

There have been many deliberations about the word peace and so called peace processes in various parts of the world including Jammu Kashmir. What it means to the world and what it means to Kashmir remains to be seen. But Dalai Lama has something interesting to say where ignorance is our master; there is no possibility of real peace. If one puts the words of Dalai Lama in context of Jammu Kashmir; it seems very clear that its ignorance of the facts and history that is a big hindrance in the peace at large. 

The struggle for peace is going on in most of the war and conflict ridden areas of the world; for some the state of Jammu Kashmir is part of this on going struggle. Sagar Parsi in his novel Discovery of Peace says the peace is that state in which one feels free to survive. Here a question arises that is this peace persisting in Jammu Kashmir, if yes, how much?

Celebration or Observation?

Human Rights!

By: Kashoo Tawseef
Hostility seems never ending in today’s day and age. Bombing, shooting and countless other acts, will the violence ever end? Will peace and stability ever come? The answer is perhaps more complicated than the conflict in itself. What is that which turns these common citizens into killing machines and there is no regard of their basic, fundamental, inalienable and inherent rights called the human rights. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” The subject of human rights is one of the most fundamental human issue and also one of the most sensitive and controversial one in contemporary world. During the recent decades, this problem was more political than either ethical or legal. Although the influence of political motives, rivalries, and other considerations have made difficult, the correct formulation of this problem , but this should not prevent thinkers of the world and genuine humanists from probing into this problem and ultimately obtaining a good solution. As Noam Chomsky once said, “the most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations.” 

Volunteerism!

A Noble Concept Called Volunteerism!

Let’s Join Hands to Serve Humanity

By: Kashoo Tawseef

Every religion including Islam talks about humanity (Insania) umpteen times, as it does on justice (Haq) and charity (Sadaqat) one needs to understand these concepts. To help humanity in any shape and form is the best endeavor one can do and volunteering is one such action that can add to your deeds much more than anything else. To volunteer is an integral part of the lives of many people, communities and societies in the world who want to serve humanity across the board rising above the differences of class, race, sect, colour, gender or nationality that exists in certain societies even today. Individuals in need benefit from the valuable assistance of volunteer work in many ways who not only share their knowledge and expertise, but other things including skills, valuable time and resources in the areas like social services, humanitarian support, technical assistance, and so on.

A system based on Justice!

A dream to imagine in this day and age!

If parties to the dispute act justly, the issues are solvable! 

By: Kashoo Tawseef

In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... and he further adds that for every step towards the goal of justice; it requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals and such individuals make up the system or a nation based on justice. The various systems and nations that exist in today’s world are based on some sort of principle, but the underlying fact is that if any of such system or nation is based on justice, then only one can expect good out of it, otherwise it is not going to last for long and history bears witness to this fact, how systems and nations collapse. One should stand up for justice and side with the just and distance from in-just as Malcolm-X once said, I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against. There are various interpretations to this deliberation as to what justice is all about and how justice can be the principle of any system and how justice can be incorporated into nation building. 

Third and First World

With each passing day, gap widens!

By: Kashoo Tawseef

In the words of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, a politician and revolutionary who served as Prime Minister and then President of Cuba, more than 820 million people in the world suffer from hunger; and 790 million of them live in the third world. Question remains why? Every nation has something good to offer and the word ‘under’ makes the difference between developed and (under)developed nations. It kept bugging me for a long time, especially when I was a kid, what is the difference between “third world” and “first world.” I had this imagination that may be first world is in a different planet, somewhere in the solar system; but in-fact the countries that make the first world exists on this very planet, yes the same planet or may be is it that the people living there are different, but in-fact they are same people as the ones in third world, they eat, they drink, they sleep, and they work pretty much same way. They have the system of governance in place; they also have some system of management, and they too have dreams for the better future. Then what is the difference? To dig into this difference there are many aspects to look take into consideration. The next couple of paragraphs will explore some of the possible reasons.