Ashima Kaul and Qurrat-ul-Ain
Building Constituencies of Peace
Stakeholders in Dialogue – V
(New Delhi: WISCOMP, 2006, 26pp.)

One of the goals of Women in Security, Conflict Management, and Peace (WISCOMP) is to provide a safe space for creative expressions particularly for women writers across ethnic, political and generational divides.  A particular focus has been the conflict in Kashmir.  One of the biggest casualties of this conflict, in addition to death and destruction, is the breakdown of human relationships.

Jammu and Kashmir has been the scene of a protracted conflict since 1989 that has left thousands dead and wounded and survivors who live with memories of atrocities and human rights violations.  There is hardly any household in the Kashmir valley and in parts of Jammu that have been untouched by memories that have left behind scars.  Typically, many of the survivors of political violence remain “frozen” in their grief.  Their trauma and that of their loved ones remain unaddressed.

There is no instant or magic solution to the problem of dealing with trauma and the loss of communication.  However, creative writing is one aspect of restoring communication.  As this report states “Writings — plays, short stories, poetry — especially those penned by the younger generation during the conflict as well as the older genre of Kashmiri literature influenced with notions of co-existence that formed part of the legacy of Kashmiriyat, could be used to break down walls, dispel myths and to ‘re-create’ spaces of understanding and trust.  These creative expressions would also provide a reflection of how women have negotiated patriarchy, religious extremism and political violence in the past and offer new pathways for the present.”

The first writers’ workshop was devoted to women’s perspectives on violence, an account of women’s multiple journeys through the minefields of violence.  The narrations, both by the writers in the Kashmir Valley and those, especially Kashmiri Pandit women, who had migrated in the early 1990s, reflected a woman’s personal pain, anguish and sense of loss.

The second writers’ workshop focused on literature of exile and looked at the way women had interpreted the idea of exile in their writings.  For the migrant Kashmiri Pandit women, the canvas of exile stretched from territorial to ideological and to spiritual exile, and for those still living in the Valley, there is an “internal exile” — an isolation from the ongoing processes of violence and religious extremism.  The narrations reflected the women’s inner conflict in negotiating territorial, emotional, psychological and spiritual distances.

One unanticipated aspect of these two meetings was to highlight the generational gap between women writers.  “It was apparent that the turmoil had changed traditional forms of storytelling, and the tragic events had cast their shadow on the content and body of literary work.  The younger generation had grown up amidst conflict and had not experienced the syncretic culture of Kashmir.  The conflict had also deepened the gulf between the writings of the two generations.  For instance, while poetry in traditional Kashmiri language was appreciated by many for its tremendous wealth of metaphor, the younger participants found it difficult to appreciate the ‘archaic’ language.”

Thus, the third workshop was structured around the analysis of Kashmiri writers of the past whose works could form a common heritage of all Kashmiris and who have enriched the language and literature.  “One of the most unfortunate consequences of the violence of the last decade and a half is that Kashmiris seem to have lost touch with their own literature.  Bombarded with slogans and political discourses, they have no time or leisure for its appreciation.”

The writers chosen had included themes from mysticism, social relationships, co-existence and nationalism.  They had tried to bridge religious and ethnic divides.  Most of the writers chosen for analysis are from the recent past.  Naseem Shafai, born in 1918, belonged to the pre-Independence “protest writers” against imperialism.  After Independence, as a Communist, he was influenced by the art and cultural policy of the USSR and China, writing about the downtrodden.  He composed the first Kashmiri opera called Bombur Yamberzal based on folk tunes.

Moti Lal Saqi was also a poet and researcher of Kashmir’s cultural and literary tradition.  He compiled and annotated five volumes of Kashmiri folk songs.  Saqi was forced to leave the Valley in 1990 as part of the Pandits’ displacement.  His poetry is one of exile and nostalgia.  Another poet of an earlier generation is Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor (1918-1952).  Basically, Mahjoor was a romantic poet stressing the beauty of the seasons and the environment.

A knowledge of a rich cultural heritage can be a bridge to understanding and peace.  Obviously, for literature to be a bridge, the writings and folk songs must reach a wide public both through schools and in the media.  The workshop has shown that such inclusive literature exists. It can inspire current writers and enrich a wider public.

René Wadlow