Title: The Collaborator

Author: Mirza Waheed

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Penguin India
 Pages: 302







It is a debut novel of a Kashmiri journalist based in London and in fact the most authentic literary piece of work on the Kashmir conflict and its deep and multiple repercussions on the people of valley in general and the people living in frontier areas in particular. It is not easy to write a review of a book that carry the tales of oppression, suppression inflicted on a frontier hamlet by the so called protectors. Such stories give you goose bumps: leave your eyes wide open and your heart filled with sorrow. ‘The Collaborator’ relates such a horrific and heart wrenching tale of those unsung Sarhad Paar mutineers. Who left their abodes to salvage their land from the clutches of oppressors but were silenced by trigger happy men in uniform while crossing the line of control. Neither their bodies are retrieved from the euphemistically called encounter sites nor given a proper funeral but are left as a food for the carnivores.



The novel is written in the backdrop of a 1989 rigged election followed by the NC’s fascist approach towards its political rivals, which many political analysts believe created a catalyst for the insurgency and pushed herd of angry youths and their leaders to sneak across the border for arms training to avenge their political humiliation through bullet. The story starts in a frontier hamlet called Nowgam situated on the bank of a roaring rivulet piercing through the beautiful mountains and valleys. The major chunk of population in the area belongs to the Gujjar ethnicity with different life style and approach towards the changing political contours of state than a common Kashmiri. This village was an abode of peace and tranquility like the other parts of Kashmir till 1989 but the things changed dramatically, heaven within the heaven turned into garrisons, bunkers battlefields and the inhabitants are caged inside their houses by imposing the night curfew. The castle of peace and harmony shattered into pieces, when the first time Indian armed forces laid a longest siege around the village for three days. All the inhabitants irrespective of age, gender are forced to assemble in an open field in the village. This creates the phantom of fear in the minds of people that all is not well now in their village, after the sudden disappearance of local boys.



The whole sordid tale revolves around the village Nowgam and the four best pals among one turned up to be a collaborator in the novel and the sudden disappearance of other friends remained a mystery throughout the novel. The author brilliantly shows the interior monologue of world’s second largest armed forces through a military officer stationed at the border and his barbarity whenever he is interacting with the collaborator. During the first few chapters understanding the story is little bit difficult but later it begins cast to its spell. The novel casts a spell over the readers and it’s difficult to put down once you become attached to the sordid tale of collaborator. Mirza Waheed’s description of emotions and sufferings of the inhabitants of a beautiful jail are heart throbbing and heart rendering. He uses his powerful imagery to make the readers understand how morose and subjugated life has become in the valley particularly from the last two decades. The main plot of the novel is alienation convulsions and tribulations of remote villagers and their victimhood by the hands of so called security forces.



The narrator appears to be very bold when he is forced by the so called protectors to collect ID cards and the necessary possessions from those who are silenced by their fire power trying to sneak into this part of Kashmir. The novel ends with the collective horrific funeral of those boys whose dead bodies are being collected by the collaborator from the encounter sites and then on the orders of a diabolic military officer are cremated collectively not to spare a clue for the human rights activists.



The narrative technique of novel is so beautiful and musical that it hardly gives chance for readers to skip any content from the book. The structure of novel consists three parts and all the parts contain thirty two small and long chapters with particular heading related to the episodes which bring superb coherence and cohesion. This frontier in which the whole saga of episodes takes place in the novel is the microcosm of whole valley as for as the suffering, pain, mass exodus and massacres are concerned. From the beginning to the last chapter of book, the author has remained unbiased and has let his characters to speak the common concern and grievances which is unique thing in the league of Kashmir centric writers, who often try to indoctrinate their agenda through the power of words.



mir liyaqat