Of wounds that won’t heal

Amir Karim Tantray

Danesh Rana’s Red Maize has captured the reality of Kashmir, of how it is losing its sons to the vicious machinations of militancy and counter-insurgency, through a crystal-clear lens. The work of fiction is a gripping account of how the innocence of Kashmir has been trampled upon like that of 14-year-old Fauzia’s childhood by militant leader Rehmatullah Peer, who is her grandfather’s age. But he is revered by his mujahid cadre before and after his death, despite knowing his lust for the young and beautiful girls, something that as per Islamic tenets is an unpardonable sin. The irony has been beautifully brought out by the author.

The thought-provoking and moving narrative has brought out the best and worst of Kashmir in the times of conflict. Kausar Jan, a widow and mother to three sons is a metaphor for a tortured Kashmir after the mujahids or warriors arrive in her village. The author, an Indian Police Service officer, has chosen the perfect setting of Morha Madana, a hilly village in the Doda sector that has a rivulet running through it and pine trees surrounding it. Cultivation of maize crop adds to the beauty of the region. People of the village are peace loving, but the birth of mujahid in Shakeel, Kausar Jan’s second son, who romances the gun and rises to become the ‘area commander,’ disrupts harmony in the region.

The arrival of a unit of Indian Army to capture Shakeel dead or alive sparks misuse of money, intimidation and highlights the role of double agents like a greedy village elder Gul Mohammad, whose two daughters Hasina and Fauzia are victims of atrocities of mujahids. The wedding parties and religious pilgrimages don’t matter to the fanatics as long as kafirs (infidels) or informers are concerned.

Kausar Jan’s maize crop becomes red with the blood of her sons. Shakeel is killed. Khalid, her eldest son hates guns and the ways of the mujahid, but he is tortured so much by the Army and the corrupt and ruthless Task Force men that he runs away from his home, only to become a member of ‘Tanzeem,’ a militant outfit. He is sold to the militant recruiters for a hefty price.

The third son, Firdous, is the most innocent of all. He has ambitions as a school student. His cricketing skills have earned him the sobriquet of ‘the wall’ used for Indian cricket legend, Rahul Dravid. He is dragged into counter insurgency by Mustafa, a Muslim police officer of the Task Force. He is killed in a fake encounter along with Timru, a militant who surrendered. Mustafa is the plotter. He gives Major Rathore what he wanted — ‘more kills’— which will please his superiors.

It’s a heart-wrenching story of Kashmir, where half-widows keep waiting for their husbands. Three-month-old pregnant Nelofar is left widowed as Shakeel, who thought of himself as invincible, is killed. The stories of betrayal, treachery, revenge and random humanity is what Red Maize is all about. The mujahids and also the counter-insurgency forces have tortured Kashmir to the extent that the prayers, ‘Khudaya, reham kar’, or ‘Reham kar’(Oh God be merciful) keep ringing in the ears. Yet, nothing changes for Kashmir, not even the Indo-Pak talks or the increasing strength of the Indian Army. It remains to be blood-drenched land of people in unfathomable pain.