Herald Report Some 300 children from four villages in the Vahdat district of Tajikistan must make a treacherous journey to school, walking between three and four kilometers every day, each way. Some wade through a river, but when the waters rise, they must cross a high, rickety suspension bridge, says a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) report. Vahdat …

Herald Report The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Tajik authorities to investigate the “apparently targeted disruption” of the embattled independent news agency’s websites and to help ensure they are accessible. The New York-based media-freedom watchdog made the call on September 10 after Dushanbe-based media group Asia-Plus reported that its main websites and business e-mails had stopped working …

They’re marauding our homes like a victorious army, say Kashmiris Herald Report Stories of brutality, violence, arrests, and intimidation of Kashmiris by Indian soldiers continue to appear in international media since the worst clampdown in the Indian-controlled part of the Himalayan state, last month. Despite a ban on communication and media, reports of torture, abuse, and arrest of Kashmiris especially …

At least 22 arrested after demonstrators clashed with police near Tatrinote village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. News Desk Police have arrested at least 22 people at a pro-independence protest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after clashes broke out between authorities and demonstrators, police and activists told media. The clashes took place on Saturday near the village of Tatrinote, about 80km south of the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, …

Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro offers a portrait of the village of Immit in Ghizer district by Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro While going to Iskhoman, one passes by Gahkuch town, the headquarters of Ghizer district. It is also the main stop for Shandur, Yasin, Gupis and Ishkoman valleys. Ishkoman is one of the four tehsil of Ghizer district. The other three are Punial, …

Young people select their future life partner; tourists complain about dilapidated roads, lack of facilities in Kalash valley   By Karimullah & Gul Hammad Farooqi CHITRAL: The three-day Uchawo festival concluded at Bumburet here on Thursday amid great fanfare, dances, music, prayers and pledges for spending life together by young couples at Bumburet, Kalash valley of Chitral District. The festival …

HAH Correspondent CHITRAL: A paragliding pilot has fallen to death in Chitral, police sources told The High Asia Herald. According to police Khawaja Sheraz Nasir was flying over Dolomuch after taking off from Birmoghlasht when he lost control over the paraglider due to strong winds and fell down on Wednesday. He died of spinal and internal injuries while being shifted …

A documentary by an award-winning Pakistani filmmaker shows the lives of traditional musicians, musical instrument makers and the challenges they face by Omair Ahmad Indus Blues is an aural and visual delight, and it is no wonder it is winning, and being nominated for, a slew of awards. A 75 minute documentary on the folk musicians of Pakistan by the young filmmaker …

Article 370 enabled Kashmir to give land to the tiller. Today, that freedom is gone by Nyla Ali Khan The recent unilateral decision of Prime Minister Modi’s government to revoke Article 370 — which guaranteed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir — the dismemberment of the state, and its diminishment are, to my mind, flagrant violations of the sovereign Constitution of …

by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR Compared to the events two decades ago when the Afghan Taliban appeared in the Amu Darya region in northern Afghanistan and Central Asian states and Russia went into feverish tantrums, there is an eerie calm palpable in the steppes today.  The contrast couldn’t be sharper. In 1997 when Taliban first appeared in Mazar-i-Sharif on the Amu …