Kashmir: Dealing With Fear And Anger

In the din of comments on Kashmir that have flooded the Indian media in the past three weeks, the views and feelings of the people of Kashmir have counted for very little. Indeed, they have been tightly muzzled.

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On 5 August 2019, when Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was effectively abrogated, all means of communication were disabled in Kashmir. Curfewlike conditions were imposed across the Valley, making it very difficult to move about. Kashmir became a kind of black hole for days on end.

It was to see the situation for ourselves and listen to people’s views that four of us (Kavita Krishnan, Maimoona Mollah, Vimalbhai and myself) left for Kashmir on 9 August and stayed there for five days. We first spent two days in Srinagar, walking around the city and talking to local residents from all walks of life. Then we hired a car and travelled to Sopore, Bandipora, Pampore, Pulwama, Anantnag, Bijbehara, and a number of villages en route. Somehow, we were able to talk our way through the checkposts most of the time. Once or twice, however, we had to make a detour or simply turn back.

This was my fourth visit to Kashmir. As before, we were received with great kindness everywhere. Even in this hour of hardship and sorrow, people invited us into their homes as soon as they saw us. I wished Kashmiris had the same experience in Delhi or Ahmedabad.

I was struck, once again, by the prosperity of the rural economy. Most people in rural Kashmir have spacious, well-built houses and look reasonably well nourished. One rarely sees the sort of abject poverty that haunts the plains of north India. These impressions are confirmed by official statistics. J&K’s social indicators are certainly better than those of Gujarat, considered a model by the Prime Minister. This applies, for instance, to life expectancy (74 years in J&K compared with 69 in Gujarat), child full-immunisation coverage (75 per cent in J&K versus 50 per cent in Gujarat) and the head-count ratio of rural poverty (12 per cent in J&K versus 22 per cent in Gujarat).