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kashmir

eace is a dirty word • Peace in pieces Peace is seen as
in Kashmir. You a function of the resolution of the
can certainly land conflict that breeds violence
in a serious trouble
P if you are deemed for the anger was that only
to be a votary of it. Your a year before the Valley had
arguments, your write-ups, witnessed a five month long
your social media posts in its Why is peace a dirty unrest leading to the killing of
support will count for noth- 120 persons. Writers and a ma-
ing and on the contrary only jority of the people in Valley
deepen suspicions about your Word in Kashmir? took serious exception to the
motivations. word “apolitical” and read it as
But this apparently weird One reason that breeding hatred against peace a deliberate attempt to limit
response has a rationale too. the scope of the readings and
And an eminently under- in Kashmir is the recurrent efforts by the dialogue at the festival.
standable one at that. Peace, successive central and state governments to dress Similarly, a music concert
in the context of Kashmir, by Zubin Mehta at Nishat in
is not seen as a condition to up the Valley as ‘peaceful ‘ to pass it off as their September 2013 got mired in
be sought for its own sake. It respective achievement, analyses Riyaz Wani deep controversy. The concert
is not about seeking to stop was also opposed by the civil
violence one fine morning at Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium reopening a cinema on Sri- society and separatist groups
and living happily ever after, a in Srinagar for the Prime nagar’s Residency Road there who argued it was designed
kind of thinking that seemed minister Narendra Modi’s to was a grenade attack during to project a false peaceful
to inform the recent unilateral deliver his speech. But while the first show itself, leading to image of the troubled state
ceasefire by New Delhi in the Modi spoke to a stadium-full the death of a person. to the world. But the concert
state. Peace is seen as a func- crowd, Srinagar was under a That is about the state went ahead nevertheless,
tion of the resolution of the complete lockdown to prevent government. There have also under a heavy security. On
conflict that breeds violence. separatist groups lead their been attempts to hold events the day it was held, however,
So, if you seek peace in parallel Million March. Police in the Valley from outside the a parallel concert Haqeeqat-
Kashmir, you better champion and paramilitary personnel state and which have been e-Kashmir (reality of Kashmir)
the resolution. And for anyone had fanned out across the city resisted for the same reason: was organised by civil society
interested in Kashmir, or setting up checkpoints and a widespread perception that members to protest Mehta’s
genuinely working to make a laying concertina rolls to pre- the secret motive behind them concert.
redeeming difference to the vent easy movement. As the is to demonstrate peace where While people tend to see
troubled state of affairs, know- stadium throbbed with activ- none existed. In August 2011, the motives behind these
ing this distinction is critical ity, reverberating to the cries the then proposed “apolitical” events, there is little they
to winning the confidence of of “Modi, Modi”, the silence Harud Literary Festival was can do about them except
a majority of Kashmiris and beyond its modest confines called off by its organisers complain, protest or simply
reassuring them as to your was deafening. Teamwork Productions after it resign to the state of affairs.
intentions. Early this year the J&K Gov- met a strong resistance by the But, the situation could be less
One reason that has bred ernment also held a tourism civil society groups including forgiving when an individual
this deep hatred of peace is convention to create an illu- the renowned Kashmiri writ- starts talking about peace — or
the recurrent efforts by the sion of peace in its bid to draw ers Basharat Peer and Mirza a defence of peace becomes a
successive central and state tourists to the Valley. While Waheed who refused to be a part of his outlook or activity.
governments to dress the state the convention was a success, part of it. Besides, an online It breeds more scepticism.
up as peaceful to pass it off as its purpose was defeated by campaign to boycott the event That is, if such an advocacy is
their respective achievement. the escalating violence in the went viral threatening to spill seen to be unqualified by the
And this is done by holding state. Both events, meticulous- over onto the streets. requisite stress on the resolu-
an election, a conference or a ly stage-managed, made some The idea of an “apolitical” tion. Or if the peace is seen to
large political rally in Srinagar news but had little to do with literary festival grated on be defended only as the means
with people being bused from the ground situation. the sensitivities in the Valley rather than a consequence
across the Valley to attend it. Such examples are galore: where people saw it as a cov- of the resolution you are in a
For example, in November In the mid-nineties, when ert effort to show to world that dangerous place.
2015, the PDP ferried its work- Farooq Abdullah government everything was hunky-dory
ers from across the Valley had tried to flaunt peace by in the state. One major reason letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 31 august 2018 28 www.Tehelka.com