Complexity called Kashmir laid bare

Gitanjali Sharma

The ‘Kashmir issue’ — a deceptively simple term used for intricate political, religious and territorial complexities besetting a region disputed since 1947. The “issue”  is not just restricted to the conflict between India and Pakistan but carries within its fold layers of irreconcilable differences and ideologies of people on either side of the border.

The volume makes it plain at the onset that it does not profess to offer a solution to the vexed Kashmir conundrum, but the 14 well-researched essays, edited by Chitralekha Zutshi, as promised impart extensive understanding of the region, its sub-regions and their inhabitants. 

Besides tracing the roots of the festering trouble, these writings by experts on Kashmir, scan the changing narrative of the hostilities that have only worsened over the years. 

The coming together of Jammu, Kashmir valley, Ladakh and the Frontier Territories with the creation of the princely state of J&K in 1846 under Dogra ruler Gulab Singh brought with it a series of political, regional and religious contingencies. The multiple aspects of the strife discussed from different angles — sociological, ethnographic and literary — make it easy to comprehend the elusiveness of a resolution for over seven decades. 

Tad heavy in places, the scholarly essays, complete with end notes and references running into pages, come under three sections: history, politics and representation. The two maps of pre-Partition and contemporary Kashmir come in handy for a better grasp of the region that has seen Partition and divisions. 

Mridu Rai dwells on archaeology and politics during the Dogra rule while examining the ways in which they amplified religious identities and complexities in Kashmir. Taking the historical perspective deeper, Zutshi’s piece throws light on the shrine culture and the controversies around the two Mirwaiz (cleric) factions preaching at mosques in the late 19th century. The details make it easy to explain the practice of holding sermons at Jamia Masjid by the Mirwaiz till today, and the pro-azadi protests that invariably follow it.   

Andrew Whitehead’s chapter on the Rise and fall of New Kashmir is one of the most readable in the collection. Primarily focusing on Sheikh Abdullah, the main protagonist who led the political awakening in Kashmir by opposing the princely rule, the essay describes how the National Conference (earlier Muslim Conference) founder gained power in J&K and floated his ‘New Kashmir’ vision. This former BBC India correspondent winds up his lucid account of the upsurge of Kashmir nationalism with the situation as it stands today: “There has been no enduring settlement between Kashmiri and Indian nationalisms, no agreement about the extent of autonomy for the state, and it’s not hard to see why such a resolution has proved so elusive.”

The complexity of the Kashmir issue is further laid bare by South Asia specialist Christopher Snedden, who dwells on the “little known Azad Kashmir” region in south-western J&K, and Martin Sokefeld, who presents the political predicament of Gilgit-Baltistan, which for years has been clamouring for “full accession to Pakistan”.    

The piece by Seema Kazi, an expert on gender conflict, touches upon governance, rather lack of it, repression and special legislative provisions like the Public Safety Act and Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Citing the Kunan Poshpora  mass rape case and the Shopian double murder, she exposes the gendered overtones in the Kashmir conflict and raises a number of compelling questions that definitely merit an answer.

The chapter devoted to the journey of the displaced Pandits by Haley Duschinski does justice to its title, Survival is now our politics, while the one on caste (with reference to Balmikis in the Jammu region) and conflict politics by Mohita Bhatia further elucidates the socio-cultural and religious complexities in the state. 

Though the volume has attempted to cover all parts of Kashmir, the Ladakh region, which often cries bias not without reason, gets a raw deal in this collection, too, with no space devoted to its expectations and needs.

The stand-outs under the ‘representation’ section are writings on mystics Lal Ded and Nund Rishi that highlight the spiritual landscape of Kashmir and the chapter on the shawl economy. The journey of the shawl, Kashmir’s “most iconic commodity” which retains its allure despite its diminishing economic gains, makes for an absorbing read. 

The volume, to a large extent, demystifies the Kashmir issue, bringing clarity on its sub-regions and the baggage they carry. Burdened with the weight of aspirations and sufferings of three generations, the collection underscores the futility of conflict in a region that is not even attempting to stride towards a resolution. Multiple problems of multiple entities apparently call for a multi-pronged approach to the discord, the anthology subtly suggests. Rightly so.