The website has been designed to retrieve as much as possible my writings mostly in the form of articles and commentaries on issues of national and international importance and put those at one place. It provides elucidation wherever required,of motivation and cause behind particular article, commentary, documentary film or talks and discussions. After my retirement from IIS in 1993,being a migrant from Kashmir and because of adverse circumstances, I had to move between Delhi, Vadodra and Srinagar frequently and could not keep track of all my writings and other works. Consequently some of my writings are not supported by published copies. My articles would be generally published by more than one newspaper.Earlier too at the time of migration from Kashmir I had to leave back papers, writings and even library and family legacy mostly for security reasons.
The website reminds me of my daughter Sunita Koul Raina who passed away at Kolkata in March,2014 after erratic and prolonged excessive treatment in a Super Speciality hospital just days before she was to undergo kidney transplant after having been on dialysis for over thirteen years because of unique neurogenic bladder. With a tail of degrees mostly in science,commerce and journalism, her untimely death deprived me of her inspiration and valuable help in my mission.
For my antecedents I was born in Srinagar,Kashmir in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state on 29th May,1935. Freedom struggle of our country was then at its zenith and as I grew up,true to the spirit and ambience prevalent then,I was imbued with patriotic spirit and zeal from earlier school days. Later I participated in debates and discussions revolving round essence of our freedom struggle and other connected issues. In 1947 when India achieved freedom I was a middle class student in Hari Singh High School,Rainawari,Srinagar where I was a merit scholarship holder and Monitor of my class:-
I was also selected for participation in elocution contests and debates which further enriched spirit of patriotism and nationalism in me. During this period I was instrumental along with another classmate Abdur Rahim Gujri in saving life of a common class-mate from drowning,but our class teacher took no note of it and the matter ended there.
I continued my participation in elocution contests and debates and other extra-curricular activities during my College days also and Head of Department of Economics of my College,Gandhi Memorial College,Srinagar Professor S.N.Kaul mentioned these facts in his certificate given to me:-
Accession of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state to India in October,1947 following tribal raid some days earlier continued to be under severe challenge particularly after UN negotiated cease fire on 1.1.1949. Pakistan had unleashed a vitriolic propaganda campaign against India and made appeals based on religion touching religious sentiments of overwhelmingly predominant Muslim population of Kashmir. Ancestors of most Muslims in Kashmir were Hindu converts and this propaganda nourished their pan-Islamic loyalty and zeal. Locally also despite being a constitutional part of India,conscious and deliberate attempts were afoot to divest Kashmir of its rich past and only highlight its links to central Asia and Middle East after Islam entered the Valley from its north-west during fourteenth century AD. This was particularly so after Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, most popular leader of Kashmir then who had supported accession of the erstwhile J&K State to India in 1947,changed his stance later. Incidentally there should have been no room for Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah to change his stance later had the then Congress party particularly Shri Jawahar Lal Nehru viewed the pre- independence political situation of the then princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in correct perspective and handled it realistically. This would have also further strengthened the secular credentials for accession of the then princely state to India. Though a student at that time ,I took note of this campaign to divest Kashmir of its rich past and to prove Kashmir`s links with mainland India from ancient times, carried out research on difficult and uncharted subject of Kashmir`s numismatic history. Despite scarce material available then and a sort of silent local taboo prevalent about such subjects,my research Article on “COINS OF KASHMIR” was published in monthly magazine “KASHMIR” in its September,1957 issue as lead Article. The prestigious magazine was published then from Delhi by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,Government of India. The Article provided a cogent numismatic evidence of historical fact that Kashmir has been generally a part of different regimes that rose and fell in India from time to time. The Article under my then pen name J.L.Jalali was also my formal foray in the field of journalism and is as follows:-