As I came off a flight recently at the Mumbai airport, abuggy driver offered me a lift to the gates. Another passenger wanted to hitcha ride but was told politely that this service is only for “seniorcitizens”! Thus, in the unlikeliest of places, I got enlightened aboutbeing an old man even though I am still a few years short of officiallyqualifying as a senior citizen. But that is the mystery of grace, it nevercomes late; or for that matter too early!
So from this vantage point, for which I had to wait fivedecades and more, I can now address the young men and women of Kashmir, thefuture. I can share learnings if not lessons, observations if notunderstanding, and experiences if not wisdom.
The transition from childhood to adulthood, like that from “occupation”to “independence”, can often be tough. It is even harder when the twotransitions coincide, as it is for any teenager growing up in Kashmir now. Ifthis wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse still when you find yourself growing upin the midst of a rebellion, without being told or taught why there is one.Indeed, far from being told why, you are not even being told that there is one.Not that you need to be told, it is there for everyone to see, endure, fear andbear.
Our history texts books don’t tell us that our geography isdisputed. Our political science texts don’t mention that our sovereignty isshared but contested. Our current affairs courses conveniently gloss over thefact of a three decade long armed insurgency, let alone discuss its reasons andrationale. Our civics curriculum has no chapters on issues of operating in asociety full of human rights violations.
The social sciences studies don’t dwell on our ethnicity andidentity that have come to become the core of our politics. Our behaviouralsciences don’t deal with our traumatised collective psychological firmament.The good old moral science lessons don’t somehow sermonise on impaired ourinherited value system has become.
The perversity of pedagogy in Kashmir is that the formal learningsystems haven’t, even after three decades, recognised the existence of what ouryoung men and women face on a daily basis. What then are we as a society,forget about the government and political parties, preparing the youngstersfor? Our schools and colleges, as and when these are open, resolutely refuse toreflect the travails in our society. Far from it, these institutions oflearning do not even acknowledge the problem that every student faces as he/shecomes in and goes out of the school; let alone discuss, debate it, analyse theissues.
Not just teachers, principals, or professors, no one who isin public life, mainstream or separatist or apolitical, even seems to thinksthat we need to equip our young boys and girls with the analytical acumen andemotional wherewithal to at least deal with the pervasive toxic environmentaround. Not to speak of building their understanding to help resolve it. Thisis not just thoughtless, it is criminal.
All political leaders never tire of emphasizing dialogue withinternal (Hurriyat) and external (Pakistan) stakeholders! But what about aninformed, formal, structured conversation in the classrooms with the largeststakeholders? A dialogue with the self is not on the agenda even thougheveryone bemoans the “radicalisation” of the youth and are quick to profferband aid prescriptions ranging from sports to sadbhavna.
Not dealing inside the class room with what is happeningoutside on the streets is akin to denying not just the struggle and the strifebut also the substance and sentiment underlying it. It is a devious method ofdenial tantamount to “occupation” of the mind which is much more dangerous thanthe occupation of territory and institutions.
So, the half a day that is spend in the school or thecollege doesn’t help. What about the remaining half? The family and friends, asinstitutions of civil society, don’t seem to help either. First, at home thereis ambiguity about which side they are on. If that is not so, then there isambivalence; being on both sides of the battle; supporting others, anddefending self. How often have we seen people serve the “oppressive regime” for36 years and then expound separatism a day after retiring?
In the civil society outside the family, it is not anybetter. If by chance, you lay your hands on the newspapers, the local ones,splashed as they are with death and destruction, make you feel why you exist,while the national and international ones make you feel you that you don’texist anyway.
In the cultural arena of our civil society, of late, a newgeneration of scholars are moving beyond the narrow definitions of thepolitical to explore the social, economic and cultural histories of theconflict. Even as our literature narrates the pain, poetry captures the pathosand both even articulate the aspirations, the cultural space has not evolved asa terrain for the struggle. The cultural narrative needs to not only supplementbut also be a significant alternative to the political narrative. It has to bea means to construct and enhance our identity, especially when government hasappropriated it discursively to enhance its legitimacy. As a result, the youthare not a part of the process of cultural institutionalization and emergentethno-national identity.
This causes a major disconnect: identity cannot be atransformative political tool, unless it is built as a social resource. Farfrom doing that, we are eliminating, indeed erasing, the Kashmiri narrativeourselves; we don’t teach in the institutions of our civil society anythingabout being Kashmiri; not just politically but ethnically. This prevents theyouth from developing a positive sense of identity based on the Kashmirinationalist narrative. Only a change here will change the narrative. For thisis where identity takes root and resides.
The only institution that seems to function amidst thecomplete collapse of civil society, even if by rote, are the mosques. Fivetimes a day, on the clock. In addition to being a religious obligation, it isalso the only place where genuine socialisation, cutting across politicalideology, social standing, occupational differentiation, takes place. Someunderstanding of local events gets imparted here through the weekly waaz andKhutba which theologically is supposed to be a guidance on current issues andconcerns of the society. However, this furthers only the religious part of theidentity not the ethnic part.
At a time when schools, colleges, the media, religiousinstitutions and even homes offer little guidance on our political problems,social dilemmas, economic distress and moral concerns, where will all theseconflicts residing within young minds get resolved?
Apart from the usual ones, in our society these conflictsare accentuated by the need to reaffirm their place not only in the Kashmirisociety, but also in the sub-continental polity and the Muslim world. Theseinternal conflicts can’t wait till a “peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue”happens.
Till now we have left the young boys and girls to fend forthemselves and get educated and become committed to an idea because of awriting on the wall. Literally, the graffiti! That too is limited to threeslogans; Go India, Go Back, We Want Freedom and Free Kashmir.
A result of this neglect an incipient socialdysfunctionality is emerging that can take us to the verge of a social andcultural collapse. If unaddressed our society will sooner than later becomewhat the celebrated writer Khaled Khalifa calls “incubator of contemporarydemons”. Before that happens we need to think through how we should pass on oursocietal DNA — value system, belief system, political ideology and culturalsensibilities — to the future generations. For, isn’t it these that we areseeking to protect and preserve as the key ingredients of our own nation, as weaspire for a nation state?