Emotional Cost of 'Peace'

Senior PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, who contested from Srinagar, says the prevailing silence in Kashmir is New Delhi’s definition of peace. In reality, this silence is stifling Kashmiris

- Naseer Ganai

THE silence in Kashmir dominates all other issues. During our election campaign, the People’s Democratic Party’s focus was to break this long cycle of silence.

Kashmir had a vibrant civil society, a relatively bold press, and a very talkative social media. However, on the day Article 370 was abrogated on August 5, 2019, another thing happened. Top leaders, including former chief ministers, all mainstream leaders and trade and business community heads, were arrested. This sent a strong message that no one has any immunity. Anyone can be arrested at any time. This has been the major trigger for the prevailing atmosphere of silence. People realised that it is better to be silent, presuming that silence could save them. It, in a sense, was an act of self-preservation. If you want to avoid detention, you have to be silent.

What happened subsequently was very sad. Kashmiris weren’t allowed to even mourn. There have been incidents where people were prohibited from crying, and mourning over a loved one became an act of sedition. This still continues. Even if something is happening to you at a political or personal level, maintaining complete silence over the loss or the issue seems to be the accepted norm. Gradually, silence also became an act of self-defence. People started avoiding attention. They thought getting noticed would cause problems. This ended discussions and discourse. Discussions were seen as provocation by the state. There were journalists, lawyers and politicians who tried to keep talking. Then we saw passports being weaponised. They were put on no-fly list, passports were withheld and impounded.