CleanupBot II at 13:24, 14 August 2023

2023-08-14T13:24:07Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian-American journalist, commentator and author}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Basharat Peer
| image = Basharat Peer bharat-s-tiwari-photography-IMG 9738 July 28, 2017.jpg
| caption = Peer in 2017
| birth_date = {{circa|1977}}
| birth_place = [[Seer Hamdan]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], India
| alma_mater = {{plainlist|
* JNV Anantnag
* [[Aligarh Muslim University]]
* [[Delhi University|University of Delhi]]
* [[Columbia University]]
}}
| occupation = Journalist, author, political commentator
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Ananya Vajpeyi]]|2013}}
| children =
| relatives =
| credits = {{plainlist|
* ''[[Curfewed Night]]'' (2008)
* ''[[Haider (film)|Haider]]'' (2014)
* ''A Question of Order'' (2017)
}}
}}
'''Basharat Peer''' ({{lang-ks|{{resize|{{nq|بشارت پیٖر}}}}}}, born 1977) is an [[Indian Americans|Indian-American]]{{efn|He regards himself as simply Kashmiri, with his [[nationality]] being a "matter of dispute", owing to the [[Kashmir conflict|violent and long-running conflict]] between [[India]] and [[Pakistan]] over [[Kashmir]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/08/11/my-nationality-a-matter-of-dispute-basharat-peer/|title='My Nationality a Matter of Dispute': Basharat Peer|last=Sircar|first=Subhadip|date=2010-08-11|website=WSJ|access-date=2017-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Peer|first=Basharat|date=2019-03-02|title=Opinion {{!}} The Young Suicide Bomber Who Brought India and Pakistan to the Brink of War (Published 2019)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/02/opinion/sunday/kashmir-india-pakistan.html|access-date=2021-02-07|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Shamsie|first=Kamila|date=2010-06-04|title=Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer {{!}} Book review|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/05/curfewed-night-basharat-peer-review|access-date=2021-02-07|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>}} journalist, script writer, and author.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reporter |first=The Newspaper's Staff |date=2015-02-25 |title=Nothing as difficult as writing a book: Basharat Peer |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1165739 |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref>

Peer spent his early youth in the [[Kashmir Valley]] before shifting to [[Aligarh]] and then, [[Delhi]] for higher education.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Nath|first=Shiven|date=2020-09-23|title=Curfewed Night- Book Review|url=https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2020/09/23/curfewed-night-book-review/|access-date=2021-02-07|website=Modern Diplomacy|language=en-US}}</ref> In August 2006,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Peer|first=Basharat|date=June 2007|title=Style Over Substance|url=https://www.cjr.org/feature/style_over_substance_1.php|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207203640/https://archives.cjr.org/feature/style_over_substance_1.php|archive-date=7 February 2021|access-date=7 February 2021|website=[[Columbia Journalism Review]]|language=en}}</ref> he relocated from India to [[New York City]] in the [[United States]], where he is currently based as an opinion-editor at ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/The-Wail-of-Kashmir/391833|title=The Wail of Kashmir|date=30 November 2008|work=[[Indian Express]]|accessdate=14 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/lr/2008/12/07/stories/2008120750150400.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228073454/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2008/12/07/stories/2008120750150400.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 February 2009|title=How green was my valley|date=7 December 2008|work=[[The Hindu]]|accessdate=14 May 2010|location=Chennai, India}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://kashmirlife.net/basharat-peer-new-york-times-staff-editor-124323/.html|title=Basharat Peer is New York Times staff Editor|date=22 December 2016|work=[[Kashmir Life]]}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== Early and personal life ==
Peer was born in [[Seer Hamdan]] in the [[Anantnag district]] of the erstwhile [[Indian state]] of [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] into a [[Kashmiri Muslim]] family.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-06-19|title=Curfewed Night {{!}} Book review|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/20/curfewed-night-basharat-peer-dalrymple|access-date=2021-02-07|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> He did his early schooling from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Aishmuqam, an educational institution located near the city of [[Anantnag]], and attended [[Aligarh Muslim University]] as well as the [[Delhi University|University of Delhi]] for higher education in the fields of [[political science]] and [[law]], respectively. Peer also attended the [[Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism|Graduate School of Journalism]] at [[Columbia University]] in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/news/362 |title='Curfewed Night' by Basharat Peer, M.A. '07, gets high praise from The New Yorker |accessdate=2013-06-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210230835/http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/news/362 |archivedate=10 December 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref>

Peer's father is a retired officer of the [[Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Peer|first1=Basharat|author2=Basharat Peer|title=Curfewed Night|date=2 February 2010|publisher=Random House India|isbn=9788184000900|page=52|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqiqnt4uQ34C&q=basharat+peer+Kashmir+Administrative+Services&pg=PA52|language=English}}</ref> He married [[Ananya Vajpeyi]]—a [[Delhi]]-based academician of [[Hinduism and Sikhism|Hindu–Sikh]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vajpeyi|first=Ananya|date=27 June 2011|title=THE INWARD EYE - Only Kabir's name can stand for India's vast poetic traditions|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-inward-eye-only-kabir-s-name-can-stand-for-india-s-vast-poetic-traditions/cid/386025|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207202518/https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-inward-eye-only-kabir-s-name-can-stand-for-india-s-vast-poetic-traditions/cid/386025|archive-date=7 February 2021|access-date=7 February 2021|website=[[The Telegraph (Kolkata)|Telegraph India]]|quote=I knew of Allahabad because that was the place associated with [[Harivansh Rai Bachchan]], the older Hindi poet who had first helped my father to find his feet in Delhi in the early 1960s, and who, together with his wife [[Teji Bachchan|Teji]], had acted in loco parentis for my Brahmin father at his — at the time rather controversial — wedding to my Sikh mother.}}</ref> background—in 2013, following an eight-year-long [[courtship]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=May 2014|title=Vogue India – On The Same Page|url=http://www.porterfolio.net/uploads/article/file/4070/104_VO_0514.pdf|journal=[[Vogue India]]|volume=2014|pages=104–105|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207205025/http://www.porterfolio.net/uploads/article/file/4070/104_VO_0514.pdf|archive-date=7 February 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Bhatia|first=Ritika|date=2014-11-01|title=Basharat Peer: The man who scripted Haider|work=Business Standard India|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/specials/basharat-peer-the-man-who-scripted-haider-114103000877_1.html|access-date=2021-02-07}}</ref>

== Career ==
Peer started his career as a reporter at ''[[Rediff.com|Rediff]]'' and ''[[Tehelka]]''. In his early career he was based in [[Delhi]]. He has worked as an Assistant Editor at ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'' and was a Fellow at Open Society Institute, New York. He was a Roving Editor at ''[[The Hindu]]''. He has written extensively on South Asian politics for ''[[Granta]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Kashmir's Forever War |url=http://www.granta.com/Archive/112/Kashmirs-Forever-War/1 |publisher=Granta |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131201030951/http://www.granta.com/Archive/112/Kashmirs-Forever-War/1 |archivedate=1 December 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref> ''Foreign Affairs'',<ref>{{cite magazine|title=India's Broken Promise|url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137530/basharat-peer/indias-broken-promise|publisher=Foreign Affairs|date=May–June 2012|last1=Peermay/June 2012 |first1=Basharat }}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]'',<ref name="The Guardian">{{cite news|last=Peer|first=Basharat|title=Victims of December 13|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jul/05/kashmir.india|accessdate=5 July 2003|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|date=5 July 2003}}</ref> ''[[FT Magazine]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title=Divided but not forgotten|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/de2496fa-2eb8-11e2-9b98-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2pzczeovs|publisher=Financial Times Magazine|accessdate=16 November 2012}}</ref> ''[[The New Yorker]]'',<ref name="The New Yorker">{{cite news|last=Peer|first=Basharat|title=Posts by Basharat Peer|url=https://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/basharat-peer|newspaper=The New Yorker|date=13 May 2013}}</ref> ''[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]]''<ref>{{cite web|title=Bound for success|url=http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/bound-for-success#full|publisher=The National|accessdate=6 June 2009}}</ref> and ''[[The Caravan]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Legacy of The Looming Tower|url=http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/legacy-looming-tower|publisher=The Caravan|accessdate=1 September 2010}}</ref>

He is the author of ''[[Curfewed Night]]'', an eyewitness account of the [[Kashmir conflict]], which won the Crossword Prize for Non-Fiction and was chosen among the Books of the Year by [[The Economist]] and [[The New Yorker]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/witnessing-kashmirs-invisible-war/?_r=0 | work=The New York Times | first=Nida | last=Najar | title=Witnessing Kashmir's Invisible War | date=24 February 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/05/curfewed-night-basharat-peer-review | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Kamila | last=Shamsie | title=Curfewed Night: A Frontline Memoir of Life, Love and War in Kashmir by Basharat Peer | date=5 June 2010}}</ref> Peer ran the "India Ink" blog on the digital edition of ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2013/06/8530821/prominent-kashmiri-journalist-basharat-peer-take-over-times-blog-india |title=Prominent Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer to take over 'Times' blog India Ink | Capital New York |access-date=29 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622044217/http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2013/06/8530821/prominent-kashmiri-journalist-basharat-peer-take-over-times-blog-india |archive-date=22 June 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Notable work==
Peer was the script writer along with [[Vishal Bhardwaj]] for the 2014 [[Bollywood]] film ''[[Haider (film)|Haider]]'', in which he also made a special appearance.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/up-close-with-haider-s-scriptwriter-basharat-peer/story-0BtweAO0voKoigemPYUv7J.html|title=Up Close with Haider's scriptwriter, Basharat Peer|date=2014-10-10|website=Hindustan Times|language=en|access-date=2019-08-19}}</ref>
He is also known for his literary pieces. His open letter to Indians under the title of Letter to an unkonown Indian started a literary debate on kashmir dispute.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Peer |first1=Baharat |title=Letter to an Unknown Indian |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/kashmir-unrest-a-letter-to-unknown-indian/articleshow/6278402.cms |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref>

==Publications==
{{Expand list|date=January 2019}}

* {{cite book  |title=[[Curfewed Night|Curfewed night]] |location=Noida |publisher=Random House India |year=2008 }}
* {{cite journal |date=April 16, 2012 |title=Modern Mecca |department=A Reporter at Large |journal=The New Yorker |volume=88 |issue=9 |pages=74–81, 84–87|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/04/16/modern-mecca }}

==See also==
* [[List of Indian writers]]
* [[Mirza Waheed]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Twitter | BasharatPeer | Basharat Peer}}
* [http://www.asiasociety.org/video/policy-politics/curfewed-night-complete Video: Basharat Peer discusses his book ''Curfewed Night''] at the Asia Society, New York. 12 April 2010 Article about Basharat Peer adapting and co-writing the screenplay of the movie ''Haider'', an adaptation of ''Hamlet'' set in mid-1990s Kashmir and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140309014345/http://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/books/the-dawn-after-curfew/article1-1192577.aspx Hindustan Times]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peer, Basharat}}
[[Category:1967 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian essayists]]
[[Category:Writers about the Kashmir conflict]]
[[Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni]]
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Indian columnists]]
[[Category:Indian male essayists]]
[[Category:Indian male journalists]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Journalists from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Indian people of Kashmiri descent]]
[[Category:American people of Kashmiri descent]]
[[Category:The New Yorker people]]
[[Category:People from Aligarh]]
[[Category:People from Anantnag district]]
[[Category:People from Anantnag]]
[[Category:Aligarh Muslim University alumni]]
[[Category:Delhi University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian screenwriters]]

Basharat Peer - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 13:24, 14 August 2023