Short Verdict : It's a must read. Go get it if you want to understand Kashmir.
Longer review :
This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the overall Kashmir situation. The title of the book is an apt one 'Kashmir : Rage and Reason' as the author tries to explain the situation and reasons for the anger and the struggle of Kashmiris.
It talks about Kashmir - past, present and possibilities and hope for the future - as well as Kashmiri culture, religion, diversity, history, politics, art, resistance and so much more. It outlines every aspect of the complexity of the Kashmir situation clearly... from multiple perspectives.
The narrative is from the perspective of a Kashmiri who has seen Kashmir before 1989 and has lived in a very different one thereafter - someone who sees with anguish what is being done to the youth of Kashmir and decides to write about it. It is no wonder that the first two chapters are dedicated to stories of these youth... stories and experiences of real people and what leads them to the choices they make and what the consequences of those choices are - for Kashmir as well as for the future of all the stakeholders.
The book is very informative, well-structured, easy to read, thought-provoking and written in a journalistic tone - with references - trying to maintain objectivity and facts. And yet, despite the journalistic tone, it left me filled with anguish and despair.
The book starts with the 'Preface' where the author describes his childhood prior to 1989 - a fun, playful childhood which was about plotting apple and almond thefts along with cousins from under the noses of grandparents or aunts and uncles.... or of concocting ice-cream from icicles in winter. "The only tense moments in our life were to avoid being seen by our elders plucking apples or stealing powdered milk or cookies from the kitchen.." ... or his memories of playing cricket and being fascinated by commentary.. and trying to wriggle out of going to the mosque for prayer in unpleasant weather... A normal childhood...
And how this normal world turned into a world of bullets and armed resistance and where the vocabulary now included words and phrases like curfew, crackdown, cordon, custody killing, interrogation, detention, disappearance....
This preface sets the tone for the rest of the book which is a well-structured account of the complex Kashmir situation; its history, politics, culture, diversity, accounts of resistance - whether armed or through art, music, poetry - of the leadership or lack thereof - of trust and betrayal, of hope and horror, of human rights abuses and Kashmiri aspirations. And at every point my mind kept going back to the stark contrast with Kashmir before 1989.
The first chapter of the book starts with the flashpoint of Burhan Wani's killing, and moves on to stories of other youth who followed the same path. It then addresses the reasons for these choices and outlines the political and other ideologies that play a role. The fourth chapter describes the history of the Kashmiri struggle starting from 1931 which is the reason for the struggle and the political aspirations. I read these first four chapters in one go because I simply could not put the book down. From there the author talks about the efforts to bring peace to the valley where even Kashmiris gave peace a chance (but that didn't materialise) and then moves on to stories of resistance and how people have used different ways to resist the atrocities and human rights abuses. The next two chapters focus on these rights abuses that people in Kashmir have endured (including Pandits and their migration) and what the media and journalists have faced over the last 3 decades in Kashmir. The last two chapters are about the various formulae that have been proposed to bring peace to the valley over the years and how Kashmiri leadership has failed its people. It finally ends on the question of whether all stakeholders will finally step up and bring peace to the valley.
More details on each chapter below:
Chapter 1 - 'Teenager to Rebel Icon' - is about Burhan Wani and it establishes the support that any form of resistance still enjoys in Kashmir even decades into the conflict. (The charisma of a young, good-looking, militant in contrast to the jaded, tired rhetoric of other leaders also possibly had something to do with it).
"Lakhs of people attended the (Burhan) funeral and formed human chains to protect militant leaders."
"In the cycle of protest that followed, at least ninety civilians were killed and over 15,000 injured, including women and children as young as between one to fourteen years."
It tells the story of why the young rebel picked up arms and describes the revival of a waning militancy in Kashmir.
Chapter 2 - 'Why Tral 'Bleeds Green' '
The story moves from one Burhan to many others in the next chapter. The second chapter talks about Tral and the political awareness of the people from that region and their unapologetic stance for self-determination for Kashmir and their support for armed resistance because Delhi disregards protests (perhaps peaceful forms of protest). The chapter narrates stories of the militants and why they chose the path, while also clarifying that the 'number of people to have joined the ranks of rebels remains small and largely symbolic' and backing it with official figures. The fact that these boys or young men enjoyed local support was due to the fact that they were mostly locals and the other local Kashmiris respected their individual choices. Most of the stories are of boys and young men who were well-educated. "There are enough people in Kashmir who feel that India treats Kashmir as enemy territory to be grabbed for its land even if it means oppressing its people." (And boy, haven't we proved them right)
Chapter 3 - Homeland or Caliphate? - moves from individual stories of the resistance to why this is happening.. what is the conflict all about. Is it political or Islamist.. or a struggle for political, human and economic rights.. or something else.. and it further goes on to describe and discuss the complex web of the political history as well the ideologies and writings of leaders and of the various players including religious, political and militant outfits - as well as the social and cultural aspects of the Kashmir issue.
Chapter 4 - 'A Nationalism of Multiple Identities' - starts with a personal account by the author at Delhi airport where he is asked if he is related to 'firebrand Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani who is seeking freedom from India'.
"This is what a Kashmiri faces on a daily basis. You are a suspect, your credentials are questioned and you are judged. It doesn't matter how many times you stand up and say, 'I'm Kashmiri, I'm also a Muslim and I'm not a terrorist. But I do have legitimate political aspirations!'"
The author then goes on to explain the historical context of these political aspirations starting from 1931 when the first political mobilisation of Kashmiri Muslims against Dogra rule is supposed to have happened. The chapter details the political history of Kashmir from then to now - from the first resistance to the formation of Kashmir's first political party AJKMC and the emergence of Sheikh Abdullah as a leader.. from communist and socialist ideas to the Quit Kashmir movement to Indo-Pak partition and Kashmir's (conditional and provisional) accession to India all the way till 2008 with all the twists and turns and political manoeuvres one can expect from a place as complex as Kashmir. It's a fascinating chapter and a very well-researched one.
Chapter 5 - 'Violence to Non-violence : A Lost Opportunity' - starts with the author talking about growing up in the shadow of a gun, soldiers marching on streets, stopping, frisking, asking for identity proofs, being made to do push-ups on a whim - basically a daily humiliation which made fear a staple.
There is a childhood anecdote of bravado and attempts at defiance and a couple of other anecdotes - a rare personal inclusion by the author in this book - and they show what daily life for Kashmiris was (is) like under occupation by armed forces.. and on the other hand the fear of rebel outfits who would retaliate against those deemed 'informers', targeting both Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits. Fear, mourning, suppression of dissent, crushing any middle ground, Pandit migration, armed resistance, periods of ceasefire, brief rays of hope during 2003 and Vajpayee-Musharraf attempts at peace, opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road and the bus service, the hope and the loss of that hope and continued oppression - are all covered in this chapter.
Chapter 6 - 'A New Language of Resistance' - is perhaps the most heartbreaking one in the book. I have to confess that I had to put down the book for a bit midway through this chapter because it was just too overwhelming.
Kashmiris are generally well-read and politically aware but "... the onset of militancy and counter-insurgency negatively impacted this rich tradition of perceptive and passionate conversations on world affairs in the once vibrant social settings... (but) Kashmiris are finding new and innovative ways to talk... to tell their stories.."
Poetry, books, authors, cartoonists, chroniclers, prison diaries, art, cricket are all discussed here and some gut-wrenching poems are also included as well as accounts of protests by relatives of 'disappeared' persons.
Chapter 7 - 'Hell in Paradise'
As the title suggests, the chapter is dedicated to the violence, oppression and human rights abuses of the last 3 decades - firing on peaceful protests, suppressing dissent in every way.... It also outlines the Pandit migration / exodus from the valley with figures of the killings and numbers of families who migrated.
(I recall reading somewhere else, an essay that outlined how sudden the migration was and how sudden announcements were made asking Pandits to leave overnight as the government told them that they could not ensure their safety. Missed that aspect in this chapter but it could perhaps be that there wasn't adequate evidence available for the same - for the author has taken a lot of trouble to give valid references for all claims and accounts in the book).
Chapter 8 - 'Media Wars' - describes the difficult situations in which the media in Kashmir has been operating for 3 decades. Like the people, but much more so, the media has been stuck between the two guns - of the state and of the militants. "At times in the early stages of the conflict, threats of violence and kidnappings made news of journalists themselves. At other times, journalists had to agonise over what to write : highlighting militants' remarks made them guilty of 'glorifying' or 'romanticising' them, while carrying official statements meant they would be branded 'government agents'.".
Besides this, the chapter also talks about state coercion, lack of women journalists, the struggle to maintain objectivity in a conflict zone, targeting of journalists and violence against them and much more - along with a couple of personal stories. It really puts into perspective the struggle of true journalists and also makes one think about how easy it is for us to sit at home and demand fair, free and independent journalism while actual journalists are out there literally putting their lives at risk every day - especially in conflict areas like Kashmir. There is also a section on Delhi-based parachute journalists who fly in to frame the narrative into one that suits the government.
Chapter 9 - 'The Path Ahead'
"In 2012, there was one government armed person for every seventeen Kashmiris" (after Aug 5, 2019, the ratio became 1:10, I read somewhere at the time)This chapter outlines the stated positions of India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir and then goes on to also inform about the positions of various political parties in Kashmir and the various formulae that have been proposed to resolve the situation, among other interesting perspectives and anecdotes.
Chapter 10 - 'A Leadership Crisis'
As the name suggests, this chapter talks about how the political and other leadership has let down Kashmir and Kashmiris with their changing stances based on political expediency with the objective of holding on to power. In fact, when the going got tough, many of these leaders have spoken against their own people. It also comes back to the issue of youngsters picking up arms - mostly after some form of betrayal or abuse at the hands of someone in power.
(The lack of space for dissent, the constant fear and surveillance, the excesses by armed forces - all have played a role in bringing Kashmir to the misery and the youth to the fate that they choose. The book doesn't say so explicitly but to my mind the biggest failure of the leadership has been in not being able to protect their people from these atrocities for even a fraction of the decades that they have endured this. How do you not fight to protect your own people?)
The book, thus, deals with almost all social, cultural and political aspects of the Kashmir struggle.
One final observation - I really respect that the language of the book reflects the dignity of the Kashmiri people - they remain dignified and humane despite what they face on a daily basis. The book outlines the Kashmir situation and their political position clearly and unapologetically and manages to frame the narrative for Kashmir from a Kashmiri perspective - which is what the author says he set out to do.
The author returned to Kashmir from Europe to write about his homeland and that itself speaks of the love and courage involved in writing it. I hope you will read it.
