Flood-affected shawl artisans discouraged to take up craft again

Rifat Mohidin

Srinagar, August 29

As people in Kashmir are still trying to rebuild their lives after the last year’s floods, Shafiqa Bano, 42, has lost hope. The art, which fed her family of six, faced a death blow after the floods.

For the past 20 years, Bano, who makes and designs the world-famous Kashmiri shawls, has been earning her living from the craft. When the floodwater entered her village on September 9 last year, Bano’s family left everything behind and fled to safety. When the family returned home after the water receded, they were in for a shock and are yet to come out of it completely.

Bano and her family are in a trauma as they lost more than 250 expensive shawls in the floods. These included pashmina shawls, kani shawls, tosha and count.

“We left our house as the structure wasn’t strong to stand the floodwater. The priority was to save ourselves,” says Bano. The family repaired its single-storeyed house in the Narbal area of Budgam district, but it developed major cracks due to the floods and the floor caved in. “Even our shelter is not safe. The floor shakes when there is movement,” says Irfana Jan, 24, Bano’s daughter.

“For more than three months, we have been without any work. We are discouraged to carry on. No one has helped us. It has shattered me,” she says.

Even as the loss is irreparable, the floods seem to have failed to discourage Bano from designing shawls. Artisans like Bano earn Rs 60-100 a day. The artisans are given work by the shawl and handicraft dealers, who later export the finished product to various European countries, fetching a good price.

Aware of the irony and negligence, the artisans, the real makers of the craft, earn little. Over the years, hundreds of Valley artisans have switched jobs for better remuneration.

“We were content with our small earnings, but after the floods, we don’t want to carry on the craft. No one has considered or looked at our problems. No one knows what happened to us. Everyone is talking about losses in the handicraft sector but no one is bothered about the pain of poor artisans,” says Bano.

While the artisans are thinking of starting their life anew, Bano is worried about the future of her daughters. “I have four daughters. What should I do?”

People like Bano are purely dependent on their daily earnings. Moreover, artisans, who are not educated, do not know about the insurance facilities available for their shawls.

“I went to the office of the Industries and Commerce Department and brought to their notice the problem of artisans and the losses suffered by them, but they did not pay attention. Nothing has been done to help the artisans. Men have switched jobs and women are without work. This has been a setback for handicrafts in Kashmir,” says Abdul Ahad Wani, an artisan from Arth village of Budgam. Wani said more than 10,000 artisans had been affected by the floods in Budgam district.

“The losses suffered by the artisans due to the floods have put them in distress. We have families to feed and our problems persist,” he says.

Parvez Ahmad Naqash, who represents the Rehabilitation Forum of Artisans in Kashmir, says the government has not announced any relief package for the artisans even as nearly a year has passed, leaving them hopeless. “We have nowhere to go. Though the government promised help, but nothing was done,” says Naqash.

Narbal, a village lined with willow trees and old houses, is also known as village of artisans.

The village, some 12 km from Srinagar, is famous for designing and weaving of expensive shawls. At least three members of each family in this village are engaged in making pashmina, kani and other shawls.

The artisans lost everything from raw material to finished products worth millions in the floods. Looms and other tools used for centuries to make shawls and carpets and furniture and paper machie were also damaged.

Hafeeza Bano, another artisan, has a similar story like Bano’s. Her more than 200 handmade shawls got buried under her collapsed house in Narbal.

“We followed other villagers, leaving everything behind. Once we returned, our house was rubble and 200 shawls were buried under it. We are just labourers, who earn on a daily basis,” says Hafeeza while recounting last year’s horror.

The village was flooded two days after Srinagar got submerged. The floodwater entered Narbal village on September 9 after the banks of the Sokhnag river that passes through Narbal breached. Sohknag is one of the main tributaries of the Jhelum.

Unaware of the breach, the villagers, after finding themselves in the middle of the roaring river, fled their homes and moved to higher places such as Gulmarg, Tangmarg and Baba Reshi, leaving their belongings behind.

President of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries Sheikh Ashiq said: “Directly or indirectly, the floods have affected the annual export of shawls and losses are more than Rs 400 crore. No rehabilitation package has been announced for them (artisans). We have discussed the issue with the government and are awaiting its response.”

Studies reveal that handmade shawl-making is struggling to survive in Kashmir due to the negligence of the government towards preserving it and the availability of fake shawls in the market, imported from other states.

With the number of people involved the art dwindling, the floods have become a bigger reason for many to give up shawl-making.