Talking of Russia-Ukraine

Divert the conversation to faraway places, quote Urdu poetry—tactics to avoid talking about issues confronting Kashmir

- Naseer Ganai

THE enveloping silence looks back at you in the form of that blank stare in the eyes of the people you bump into on the streets. It is as if, someone, someday, at some point in time, poured an apothecary’s measure topped with silence into the region’s public water channels. And from the water channels, the silence spread uniformly into the bodies and souls of the people who inhabit the Valley and beyond.

Or perhaps there was a heavy, cold rainfall of silence some time ago, drenching their lips shut. Getting a peek into a Kashmiri mind this election season, is as elusive and frustrating as resolving to climb Mount Everest and then ending up being stranded in a hotel near base camp. Ask anyone just about anything these days and all that one gets in response is a verse or two of Urdu poetry. And it’s no longer words penned by Faiz Ahmad Faiz or Ahmad Faraz. It’s the season for Munir Niazi.

Zinda rahen to kya hai, jo mar jaaen hum to kya Duniya se khamushi se guzar jaaen hum to kya (What if we live, so what if we die What if we leave the world in silence)

This veil of silence in Kashmir has peaked even as the festival of democracy reached its last crescendo.

The silence almost makes you want to give up and run away.

In Kashmir, you would have faced a unique issue once, when everyone was talking. Even minor political events were then viewed through a geostrategic lens, with public appeals often directed to the United Nations Secretary-General. The appeals published in local newspapers before the abrogation of Article 370 are proof of such a time.