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Kashmir in the shadow of midnight

In his 2007 dispatch from the Pakistani side of Kashmir’s infamous Line of Control, Christopher Hitchens called the area “the near-certain flash point of a coming war that could well become an Asian Armageddon”. That war came closer to fruition

Women on the poachers’ trail: The white rhino’s great hope?

There is something slightly lunatic about dusk. Here in the South African bush, it carries the unknown within it, a hint of possibility. The day disappears like the Cheshire Cat until only the stars above remain, grinning madly across the

A Journey Into Thailand’s Separatist South, Part Four: Escaping Thailand’s Violent Separatist South

Hat Yai is what Sungai Kolok wants to be: an actual den of sin and iniquity. It oozes sex, which runs along its gutters like gunk, clogging them in the rain. The latter hasn’t stopped yet, and won’t before I

A Journey into Thailand’s Separatist South, Part Three: In the Eye of the Storm of the Muslim Rebellion

The Pattani bus stand is a little out of town, swathed in greenery, which trembles slightly on the breeze, seemingly excited by the prospect of rain. I take a motorcycle taxi into the center of town, hanging off the back

A Journey into Thailand’s Separatist South, Part Two: Inside the Border’s Violent Den of Sin

The Cityline bus from Kota Bharu takes an hour and a half to cover fifty kilometers and stops with a start fifty meters from the border. Rantau Panjang is alive with activity characteristic of border towns the world over: roadside

A Journey into Thailand’s Separatist South, Part One: A Quest for Booze in the Land of Sharia Law

This story begins in Malaysia. It begins in Malaysia, in Kota Bharu, the capital of the north-eastern state of Kelantan, on a dusty train platform at the edge of the city, not far from the river, which leads to the

The Blood of Kashmir, Part Five: Shotguns at the Mosque

Friday prayers began at half-past twelve. There had already been a minor altercation. As I arrived at Nowhatta Chowk, a square on the Srinagar-Leh Highway where a fountain tinkled prettily, Indian security forces were attempting to prevent a group of

The Blood of Kashmir, Part Four: The Rugby Girls and the Restless Resistance

With my stay in Kashmir now approaching its end, I wandered down to the town’s rugby pitch to see one of the beginners girls’ squads at practice. As Waheed Para had promised, it was a great story: a ray of