Kashmir: Occupation and Resistance

Kashmir became a part of the Muslim World in the 14th century C E. Under the local Sultans (1325-1585) , the Mughals (1586-1752) and the Pathans (1752-1819) , it developed into a state and society with its own peculiar Islamic culture. Kashmir was colonised by the Sikhs (1819-46) from the Punjab and the Hindu Dogra Maharajas (1846-1947) . The Muslim Kashmir stood for Islam through the freedom movement during this period. When the movement under the banner of Islam was at its apex and it seemed that the mahkutn (colonised / enslaved) Kashmir was about to achieve the goal, India ( Bharat) , a newly born nation (Aug 15, 1947) , invaded it on Oct. 27, almost 3 months after her own birth. Since then this newly emerging occupying -power through its policies of political deceit, cultural aggression, economic onslaught and delslamizing educational schemes has given rise to the problem of the IOK (Indian Occupied Kashmir) . The paper narrates the story of the past up to 1988-uprising & throws light on the oppression, persecution and discrimination that the Muslim Kashmir has been witnessing. The form offreedom-movement that followed from 1947 to 1989 is also outlined. In 1989 Jihad Kashmir, a new phase of the movement that invited the attention of the world begins. The paper helps to understand the background ofthe genesis ofthis new phase

Exploring the Use of Literary Texts to Develop Moral Values in Grade Six of a Private School in Karachi, Pakistan

English literature teaching and learning practice can transform individual understanding, appreciation, and eventual practice of moral values. Research in this area indicates the ever-present dichotomy of how reading literary texts for moral learning should ensue, through William Bennett's teacher-centred, transmission approach, or through a more transactional approach between reader and text, as elaborated in Louise Rosenblatt's Reader Response Theory. Dr Darcia Narvaez builds upon Rosenblatt's theory, considering it a more active approach to MTC that can foster practical moral learning practices, which do not work through top-down transmission but rather ensue from the students themselves, regardless of their individual reading ability. An exploratory, qualitative study to discover how Grade Six students read, interacted and identified with the literary texts taught in class was conducted, using the methods of semi-structured individual and focus group interviews, document and textbook analyses, and classroom observations, and the collected data were carefully analyzed through pattern forming, identifying themes, developing major categories and planning each category under a code to generate explicit findings. Findings that emerged were that Grade Six students are aware of their moral selves and basic moral values, equating morality with a system of rewards and punishments, or a system of right and wrong actions. The major finding is that students willingly identify with the moral messages inside literary texts when it is presented through a personal approach, rather than through a didactic text. The intention of this research is to inform interested stakeholders such as curriculum planners, English Literature teachers, and the general teaching body, parents, and, most essentially, all the readers of Literature, be it in any language or from any culture, of the integral moral message that literature hopes to convey, so that through active reading, discussion and interaction with the literary text, we can all enhance our moral attitudes and practices, to lead our lives successfully and safely into this new century and A consequently through our living and learning, pass forward a rich legacy to future readers of literature, to carry forward the torch of moral enlightenment into the next century.