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Kashmir's Social Decay
By: Nizam-ud-Din Bhat How do we define the present Kashmir society? Confused? Violent? Or, is it lost in a maze of crises, not entirely of its own making? It is certainly not lifeless because it is politically volatile and has global orientation. Yet, the feeling we get is that it is somehow not able to respond to the challenges before it. The society has not been able to generate enough inner strength to check the gradual drift from its rich culture and traditions. Why does it no more exhibit its entirely justifiable pride in the great deeds of the literary and cultural giants like Kalhana, Sheikh Yaqoob Sarfi, Habba Khatoon and Lal Ded? It is easy to blame the last 12 years of militancy for all its present ills. Of course, the situation has been too abnormal to let saner elements assert themselves for the overall good of the people. It is indeed telling on the average Kashmiri’s zest for life and sense of humour. Now, he scarcely indulges in poetry, literature, music and other small pleasures of life. He has forgotten even his favourite pastime of nicknaming popular figures. If the leaders were called ‘lion’ or ‘bulbul’ in the past, it was because the Kashmiris loved it that way. Even in the initial days of militancy, they did not lose their sense of humour. If a militant would emerge from among the plumbers, they would name him ‘nalqa’ and another who would talk too much would be called ‘tota’ . It’s all vanishing now. The Kashmir University and top educational institutions no longer have bazm-e-adab where the teachers and the students would freely exchange their views. These councils proved to be training grounds for many widely-known academicians, film personalities, literary figures and political activists. Popular programmes like ‘Zoon dab’ on Radio Kashmir, which highlighted the common man’s problems, have disappeared from the official network. The Academy of Art and Culture has unfortunately been politicised; its Srinagar office lost many a precious manuscript in a mysterious fire last year. While literary and cultural activities hardly enjoy freedom, the media have virtually lost touch with social realities. The popular columns and cartoons too are not as thought-provoking as they used to be. The prolonged conflict has considerably reduced the power of words. The institutions once reflective of a vibrant, conscious society now stand like broken pyramids and ‘sokhta’ chinars. Some have ostensibly fallen from grace. In the past too, there used to be violent clashes between students and police. This was because a generation brought up in the midst of national and international intrigues had nursed a political vision which found no favour with either the unscrupulous local politicians or the puppet regimes in the state. But, during all these conflicts, care was taken to ensure that the finer values of the society remained intact; that is, cultural and literary activities continued to nourish and enrich the society. Both the ruling elite and the opposition zealously guarded the treasure of culture and tradition. But in the raging battle of bullets, priorities have tragically changed, with social and cultural values put on the backburner. Can the society check its own downhill slide? Before, we address this question, let us look deeper into the current scenario. Undoubtedly, the socio-political turmoil has been unprecedented. Adverse circumstances during the last two decades have created distortions in public life. Perpetual uncertainty has become the sole element of certainty. People do suffer from a deep sense of humiliation as the society groans under an apparently unending phase of suppression. The result is a general scare and a frustrating sense of insecurity. In turn, it is developing into the worst form of individual introversion, leading to total or partial detachment from the happenings around him. There cannot be two opinions that it is a pernicious phenomenon and is mainly responsible for slowly rendering the society from a homogeneous group of inter-connected people to a herd of scattered individuals. Years ago when the Kashmiri youth took to guns, nobody could hazard a guess about the exact nature of events which were to follow. The powerful armed assertion, in the process of effectively making a political point, washed away many important established institutions like a tornado. After a while, no trace of the old order was visible. What the leaders of the movement missed was to think of creating alternatives to channelise the strong individual feeling into a meaningful activity. The vacuum still persists and has sucked the society’s intrinsic strength. The retaliatory oppression, unleashed by the so-called “state forces”, other than the regular security forces, which have multiplied the prevailing sense of scare and suffering, has further diminished any possibility of a healthy reaction from the people at large. As if the visible torture to the Kashmiri psyche was not enough to tear apart the social fabric, the invisible hand continues to be at play to gnaw at the already feeble public confidence. The devastating events that have taken place in the past some years shocked the Kashmiri mind even in its virtually frozen state of being. The Kashmiri pandits left the state, eminent scholars and leaders died, institutions crumbled, traditions changed and the unique identity and ethos came under severe strain. The society was reduced to a hollow shell. To understand the peculiarities of the Kashmiri society, it is perhaps relevant to delve into history and recall that Kashmir has been a melting pot of ideas and cultures. It received every new creed discreetly and enriched it with its own contribution, without discarding its earlier acquisition. Kashmir’s cultural homogeneity, geographical compactness and enormous natural beauty have combined to instill a sense of pride in the Kashmiri psyche. In fact, what is true about the land is true about its people too. But the whole scenario changed over the years. A persistent attempt has been made to deprive the people of whatever was dear to them and replace it with whatever is designed to serve the vested interests. Today’s Kashmir is a deep agony; the collectivism of its people and pluralism of its society is irreparably bruised. What happened to historical shrines? Where are the symbols of architectural grandeur that used to adorn the Srinagar city? Everything has been destroyed. The society is robbed of its soul. If the government, as an institution, has been a failure in doing anything to save it from destruction, the social organisations have fared no better. Even the relief trusts played truant. Hilal-e-Ahmar of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front was closed down when its services were needed the most. Yateem Trust has become defunct and many otherwise healthy organisations like the Muslim Auqaf Trust and Anjuman-e-Nusrat-ul-Islam or Hussaini Blood Bank play a partisan role. Having said all this, it needs to be conceded that laying the blame at the doorsteps of others will not reveal the entire gamut of truth. The situation calls for far more serious steps to check recurrence of such events to save the society from dissipation. That way the Kashmir crisis offers an agenda to its own people to initiate an effective dialogue among themselves, a dialogue which might help minimise the mistrust not only within their own society but also between among regions and communities of the state. Kashmir has ironically become a marketable commodity of sorts, to be sold at seminars and symposia. For the ‘intellectuals’, it is a topic for exposition to prove their credentials in one-upmanship, and for career diplomats, college deans and political dons, it is a laboratory for experimenting in international relations, international legalities and international intrigues. With a little effort both in Srinagar and New Delhi, one can wangle “a free ticket” to international conferences, be it in The Hague, Geneva or New York as the representative of one interest group or the other. But for the overwhelming majority of the local people, it is a colossal tragedy. Be it 1990 or 1999 — the fag end of the millennium — their calendar is dotted with blood and tears. Consider the physical features of Kashmir, a paradise. All are virtually on the wane — Dal, Wullar and Aanchar are squeezing, forests are fast depleting, saffron fields decaying, giant chinars diminishing, wildlife dwindling, art and craft facing extinction and economy in a shambles. Alongwith this are the intellectual, cultural, spiritual and psychological sufferings which have become dreadfully conspicuous over the years. The most unfortunate part of the problem is that suggestions to set the valley in order are aplenty. But there is always a little or no effort to put them in practice. The efforts made at the government level, for instance, to save the physical features of Kashmir are yielding no results at all as these either lack conviction or go awry because of administrative bungling. Granted that the long-drawn crisis is engaging political, military and diplomatic attention. But the decay of the society should not be allowed to continue till a clue is found to the political imbroglio. Somehow, the society should shake itself and find an answer to its own miseries. Crime has increased. So has helplessness. There is an ever-increasing number of destitutes, orphans and widows. No one cares, not even the state, which has only customary treatment to offer to social issues through its weak institutions. It is pitiable that the state government which is in office for over three years now has not been able to compile a record of widows, orphans and persons disabled by years of insurgency. The government needs to do a comprehensive study of what has been done till now to minimise the people’s suffering and threat to natural resources. Sooner it is done, the better, as it will help in preventing another generation, which is more disillusioned and frustrated, from adopting a destructive course. Differences in political perceptions notwithstanding, it is an onerous task to save a deteriorating society. The enlightened people of all hues should rise to the occasion and do their bit to stem the rot. Efforts purely aimed at restoring societal values and harmonising human relations should be encouraged by organising get-togethers and conferences and there should be no bar on participation on the ground of political alignments. The venues of such get-together should be treated as “no vested interests” zones so that they are used exclusively for the purpose of rebuilding the society. All political parties and militant groups should lend a helping hand in this difficult task for their own sake; otherwise, they would find that societies which do not care about their own glorious heritage invariably end up groping for their roots. One of the basic factors responsible for such a decay is that social issues have been over-politicised. Human feelings have to be respected and the social bonds restructured to cut off roots of hatred sown by vested interests. The community feelings and sense of togetherness have to be nursed back to health so that passions do not run wild into the desert of dirty politics and the quagmire of commerce. Much can be said about the contribution of general public towards this tragic situation. True, but then, after all, people are on the receiving end and, hence, have their own compulsions and obsessions. But the so-called elite and the men at the helm must know they have their own code, the moral code, their own obligations which bind them towards the society. It is the adherence to those ethical standards and obligations that makes them humane. Otherwise, they will be reduced to commercial artists incapable of commanding any genuine respect. The choice lies with them and presently they have chosen the worst. They should read the writing on the wall before it is too late; they must get their act together because the prevailing situation is only such in which people have to perform the role of physicians to heal themselves.
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