Take a Final Call

The new supremo of JeI J&k 

Recently change of guard happened in the state’s largest pan Islamist party, Jama’at-e-Islami (JeI) J&K after its Council of Representatives elected Ghulam Muhammad Bhat as their seventh Amir. Bhat, a former Amir of the organization, is elected fourth time – a record second only to Jama’at J&K founder Saad-ud-Din. Bhat’s tenure is important as Jama’at is caught in the multitude of issues concerning its past and future in J&K. Over the years, there has been a systematic effort within JeI to distance itself from the militancy and resistance politics just to fix itself within the portrait of mainstream politics. Addressing his first press conference, the newly elected Amir reiterating JeI’s stand of suspicion and that  the organization is democratic, peaceful and has nothing to do with the militancy particularly with the UJC chief Muhammad Yusuf Shah alias Syed Sallahuddin. Nobody denies the fact that the JeI is the only religious-politico-organization in the valley with its glorious past in the field of education, reformatory teachings of Islam and its uncompromised resistance against oppression. But the way Jama’at new faces and its current policy makers echo statements like, JeI will not join any Hurriyat amalgam since Hurriyat Conference stands divided put them under the radar of skepticism among its cadres and sympathizers. But Jama’at’s consistent absence from Hurriyat (g) sessions will yield them nothing on the political or religious front. This pacifist approach of nihilism and skepticism will only pave way to ideological crisis which has already crept in the organization.

Why the new leadership of JeI feels that it is time to focus only on the religious ground when it has historically held the reigns of (MUF) and played a significant role in the political history of Kashmir.  It was JeI which protested against the humiliating surrender of late Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in 1975. Then why JeI should now distance itself from the active resistance politics when it matters a lot given the changing political current in the sub continent. Any shift, weather you call it tactical shift or ideological shift will render this organization hollow, because there will be no stand on which you can reconstruct your ideology.  The new JeI Amir is certainly facing an uphill task because the way RSS ideology is being injected in the valley in the name of development and how the Muslims in Jammu region are subjected to harassment and isolation will be really a litmus test.

The time has come for JeI to come clear on issues like accusations, lobbying, dilemmas and crisis simmering within its structure. Nobody in  Kashmir wants to see yet another Muslim conference becoming the National Conference. I am not saying that JeI should ignore its basic purpose; at least it should maintain a balance between religious obligations and Kashmir sentiment. Hence the entire onus lies on JeI leadership to take a final call related to the new challenging socio- political theater of the valley. They can’t always navigate between the mainstream and resistance politics. They must either make a choice to become a forerunner or flunkeys.

Time to take a clear stand otherwise this tactical shift may transfer into politically driven manifestation of treachery and betrayal.

Resistance: between the pages

The post 1990 literary landscape of Kashmir is dotted with the tales of trauma and torture after the dissent was muzzled and muffled in the 1989 rigged elections. The wanton killings, arson, arrests, disappearance and terror became the new phenomenons that define the post 1990 Kashmir. The recent back-to-back summers of unrest catalyzed the new phase of resistance and simultaneously enriched the literary canvass of the young English writers of Kashmir. The post 1990 events not only plunged the paradise of East into the perpetual embers of fire but changed the discourse as well as the language of literary narratives. Literature of any form is always conditioned by the society, circumstances and out of which it usually springs. In Kashmir the political uncertainty and the continuous cycle of bloodshed procreated and conditioned numerous writings in English fiction that delineate this human estrangement in their own way. Lullabies of pain and the sordid tales of oppression are the common themes in the literary enterprise of the post 1990 Kashmiri English fiction. Both native as well as the Kashmiri diaspora writers now no more see the colour red in roses; rather see blood soaked petals in the Mughal gardens of Srinagar.

Historically, if we see Kashmir has been always nestle to the poets, writers and artists because it provides the right serene environment for intellectual quest. From Lala Ded to Agha Shahid Ali, valley has produced great literary jewels that not only aestheticize and revolutionized the regional literature but brought it recognition and legitimacy on the international literary map. But in the shadow of violence, valley suffered inevitable catastrophe in terms of loss of life and economics.

However on the literary ground, there is a sudden surge of young Kashmiri English fiction/non-fiction writers appearing on the international literary radar canvassing the tragic and untold stories of loss. Every contemporary writer, either native or diaspora, is trying his best to paint the conflict and its multiple ramifications in such a way, so that the worldwide English readers can get accustomed to this forgotten conflict. This new English non-fiction literary trend started with a journalist turned writer Basharat Peer, who in his debut memoir Curfewed Nightportrays the horrors of violence in Kashmir and the incessant agony and torment.

Peer’s work was followed by Mirza Waheed, a London-based Kashmiri journalist whose first novel, The Collaborator — is set in the backdrop of 1989 rigged election and talk about a frontier hamlet called Nowgam, situated on the bank of a roaring rivulet. Till 1989, Nowgam was an abode of peace and tranquility like any other part of Kashmir, but things changed dramatically, heaven within the heaven turned into garrisons, bunkers battlefields and the inhabitants are caged inside their houses.

His second novel, The Book of Golden Leaves, is a classic love story set again during the 90s in Kashmir. The plot of the novel revolves around a heartbreaking love story between Roohi, and Faiz, a Papier Maché artist, based in the downtown of Srinagar. The story gives an insight that how conflict affects the normal life, even the love affair that ends on a tragedy.

Then there is Siddhartha Gigoo’s  The Garden of Solitude. The novel encompasses the painful migration of Kashmiri pundits and its agonizing aftermaths encountered by the community at the various migrant camps since the 1990.

Shafi Ahmad’s novel, The Half Widow, is a blend of historical fiction and the realistic events that occur around the main protagonists in the novel. The novel depicts the plight of the half-widows whose husband have disappeared and cannot be traced.

Shahnaz Bashir’s novel The Half Mother is a true woeful story of a mother and her epic search to find her only son. Bashir artistically flashes the main plots of Kashmir in the ‘90s and also unveils the inhumane rule, the arson and the torture. There are other Kashmiri English writers also like Nitasha Kaul, a London based Kashmiri novelist, her first novel Residue, is about Kashmiris who live far away from their homeland. The novel was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize (sometimes called the ‘Asian Booker’) in 2009. Noted essayist and novelists Pankaj Mishra wrote in The Guardian that “apart from the youth on the streets, there are also those with their noses in books…” his oracle appears to be true as the continuous saga of political oppression is actually yielding a rich intellectual and artistic harvest.

Well known independent documentarian Sanjay Kak’s anthology, Until my Freedom Has Come, in which the film-maker has compiled writing, mostly produced by Kashmir’s summer’s of uprising and the English translation of Prisoner No. 100, by Anjum Zamarud Habib’s clearly manifests that the subaltern and marginalized are writing back.

The new emerging English fiction in Kashmir is somehow managing to break the long solitude and mind forged manacles to be the voice of people who remained voiceless for a long time. The contemporary English writers in Kashmir and outside are not only chronicling the epic battle of fact and fiction but it shows their moral courage and intellectual integrity par excellence. These new writings employ subjective elements to present Kashmir as a conflict involving all the factors that have made life hard to live and endure.  The way English fiction is emerging from Kashmir from the last couple of years and how within the short period of time it achieved the literary legitimacy and recognition worldwide is promising and productive. But it is good to sensationalize and to romanticize the vicissitudes of conflict for the literary purpose but given the distorted past and turbulent history of valley, every English fiction writer has a moral duty to wield his/her pen with a sense of responsibility.  Kashmir also has a rich history, language and culture that now demands recognition.

Mir Writes / Mujhe Hai Hukum-e-Azaan: Kashmir Elections: Vote not Victory

Mir Writes / Mujhe Hai Hukum-e-Azaan: Kashmir Elections: Vote not Victory: K ashmir is again in the grip of election fever; promises, pledges are manufactured and the cliché of ‘change’ is broadcast from the...

Kashmir Elections: Vote not Victory

Kashmir is again in the grip of election fever; promises, pledges are manufactured and the cliché of ‘change’ is broadcast from the every political podium in the chilly days of Chillai Kalan. This time the enthusiasm among the electorates is quite high and as usual the traditional as well as seasonal political parties present a canvass of distress and auspicious. Certainly it’s distressing to those who hold this hypothesis that the people of Kashmir can’t be easily hoodwinked and victimized by any political gimmicks. It’s auspicious to those who after avalanche of betrayals and horns waggling yet again successfully managed to stage a democratic show on the commitments which they never accomplished. However many political analysts in the valley believe that the day  right wing nationalist Hindu party came to power in the centre and their immediate political plunge into the Kashmir politics with provocative and polarized agenda heightened the voter turnout. In the backdrop of all these explicit political dimensions, common Kashmiri asserts a view that the socio- economic and political discourse in the state has become so fragile and fractured that forces people to choose ballot. On the flipside of political drama people of the state know the gothic face of all these democratic dances and how it pushed Kashmir into the Dark Age. However in this election people have decided at least to get rid of miss governance, corruption and fist rule through a democratic exercise in a place where they have never seen the real face of democracy.

Every time when the election drums are beaten in the valley all the so called mainstream political parties including those ruled the state for years are contesting elections in the name of basic amenities like electricity, roads, drinking water and health care. Moreover they also raise their political lollypops like self rule and autonomy in the election season just to maneuver the sentiment and came to power and nothing else. How better it would have been if they have focused on the public-related issues like issues of governance, development and taken on the corrupt elements in the political establishment and administration but instead of that they always prefer to be rubber stamps.  In their tenures they would have taken concrete steps at least to put an end to the acute power crisis which sometimes through life out of gear for weeks and it goes bad to worse in the winter season. Forget the basic needs, the so called mainstream elected representatives could not stop the havoc of NHPC on our natural resources instead of that gave it a free hand to operate above the law of land and had another state with in a state. The erratic power cuts, scarcity of drinking water, and the dilapidated roads have taken valleyites back into the days of Dark Age. It is not the first time that the people of valley are facing such endemic problems but they are intentionally created ordeals by our own so called red and green brigades of Kashmir. On the employment front all the consecutive governments have exploited the unemployed youth for their own vote bank politics, as result of that thousands of hapless daily wagers, need basis; contractual employees have become the abject to neo slavery. In the name of development, projects like railway link, northern highway corridor might herald new era of progress but when the projects are aimed to strengthen its grip over the territory and the sensitive ecology and agriculture sector is not taken into consideration, then the recent devastating deluge, increase in the temperature and premature glacier melting are the deadly repercussions people in the valley have to brunt. On the economical structure, governments as well as different banks are frantically outsourcing their benefit schemes in the form of business, car, house and educational loans at a whopping interest rate. This economical engineering in a concentration camp where people open their shops, drivers run their vehicles for hours and colleges remain open for few days in a week there such schemes are making people to live on the edge. It may have urbanized the valley and helped few people to establish small business units but at the same time jeopardized the very essence of our social fabric and values of life due to the bankruptcy.

Education sector over the decades has faced the most brunt of conflict and apathy from the all successive governments. Although the valley witnessed mushroom growth of private schools and other IT institutes which has improved the standard of education and the literacy rate of state. But in the higher education where you have the monopoly of single university and few engineering colleges ruined the research structure of the valley where we hardly produce the scientists and intellectuals established from the last 60 years. Although the steps are being taken to establish new varsities and technical colleges to ease the competition and encourage students for research and professional courses but will it sustain given the alarming unemployment rate is certainly a big question?

In spite of all this macabre of death and destruction people time and again participated in a democratic exercise to elect their representatives on those day today issues sorted out to be without any further delay. People are pinning their hopes and giving these political forces another chance to full fill their promises and bring political stability in the state before the volcano of anger burn down everything. Unfortunately every time their participation in the assembly election is being celebrated in the prime time talk shows in air and print and anticipate it as a referendum. If New Delhi again try to sell the large turnout in the assembly election their biggest political victory over the separatists it will be yet another gory mistake. Given the large participation of people, industrialists, bureaucrats, tired separatists and noted academicians joining the so called mainstream politics but the banker relationship between the New Delhi and the people of state continues since the 1987 rigged election when the mandate was hijacked and dissent was muzzled.

After that all the elections in the state took place in the shadow of violence and fear. The 1990 assembly election was completely boycotted but afterwards the participation of people in the elections has increased due to the governance miseries pushed people in the state to give clear mandate to this political class whose politics is usually conditioned by betrayals and hypocrisy. 

On the other side of story resistance leaders of valley were never given a democratic space in a democratic show by the authorities to run their election boycott campaign. This kind of selective and self serving democratic activity being carried out with the help of local collaborators in the state to show the rest of world that all is well will. The prevailing political unrest in the valley, these crafty  so called mainstream politicians also uphold this narrative that neither the people have rejected the resistance groups nor its a referendum in favor of any country, it’s a vote by the besieged people to put an end to the  day to day grievances. In between all the rhetoric’s if we closely analyze for a moment the perpetual agony and miseries   then those whom people vote again and again are responsible and culpable. They way world witnessed massive peaceful public uprising for almost three consecutive years and how the innocent blood was spilled across the valley to crush the sentiment. The criminal silence of these so called representatives will go down in the history pages as the soul less and sold out political leaders Kashmir has ever seen.

In light of the stupendous voter turnout in the Kashmir Valley, people are again expecting men in red and green to live up to their promises and at least restore some sort of dignity and peace. But what makes this election ugly and disappointing is that a new gang of surrogates are in the fray to carry the fetus of opportunity and backstabbing at any cost will one day force people in future to remove this democratic mask forever. The irony is that people risk everything for them to send them in assemblies and be the voice of voiceless but what they have received so far is utter humiliation, subjugation, corruption and an endless fear psychosis  in which people spend their every night and day. This gutter game for power struggle among the so called mainstream parties ignoring the fact people voted them to run the administrative show not an olive branch to anyone who just sees it as a political referendum. Those who were once the roaring lions and undefeatable force in the valley are so anemic today to stand among people. Those, who fantasy that the high turnout shows people bodes well in Indian democracy and is a serious blow to the resistance groups and the ongoing struggle, then the past public uprising should serve them as a reminder to their short memory that sentiment runs deep here. The elections and then the huge participation of people is confined just to run the local administrative show and it will be irrelevant, inappropriate and a big blunder to frame this democratic exercise as an alternative to the Kashmir imbroglio.