Outside Islamabad

After years and years of being neglected by the US and the world, Kashmir made it to the front page of the New York Times print edition today. I have to say when I saw the paper, my heart skipped a beat.

Why?

Putting the (tamed) headline, “Seeking Kashmir Peace, India Feels Anger of Residents” aside, having worked as a reporter for the NYT, and also having worked as an editor at DawnNews, I know just how much serious deliberation went into simply putting a story on Kashmir on the front page and also that one word “Kashmir” into the headline. It is something that editors must’ve gone back and forth on continuously. And to put into print first, was a huge deal. They did it, so they couldn’t take it back. Because I assure you, soon after that paper hit the front porches of some houses on the east coast, someone very important at the New York Times, got some calls from some very important people in Washington, who had received some very angry calls from some very important people in Delhi.

A part from the NYT’s brave editorial decision, the fact that I’m half Kashmiri, made that headline pull a few strings in me. Both my maternal grandparents were refugees from the war torn valley. My Nanajan was from Badharwa, Jammu and my Nano is from Sri Nagar. Leaving his brothers, sisters and parents behind, my Nanajan had to flee, shortly after partition. One of the few educated Muslims in the area, and the only member of his family to make it to college (Aligarh); his life was at risk. A young man in his early twenties at the time, he never saw his family again and that is something that weighed heavily upon him the rest of his life.

When I moved to Pakistan in 1990, Nanajan’s book, Tragedy in Kashmir, had already been published. He was frequenting round table talks and presenting at seminars on the dispute. To the world, Nanajan was always willing to talk about Kashmir politically. He used to say his pen and his mouth were his Jihad. But every time my sister and I would ask him about Jammu or his family, his eyes would swell up and he’d go quiet. He just couldn’t handle remembering all the love he had left behind. It was simply to painful. Sometimes we’d catch him crying in his room, after receiving a letter from a family member in Jammu and Kashmir.

So being Kashmiri, and if you’ve met me, looking Kashmiri, has had a huge impact on my cultural outlook, my sense of history and my sense of this-world-is-just-so-Goddamn-unfair. Being Kashmiri also means that, food like Gushtabay, Ristay, Harisa, and Tabaqmaz–unknown dishes to most Pakistanis, were the most treasured delicacies in my house. And no winter evening was complete without a cup of steaming hot Kashmiri pink tea, and putting sugar, instead of the traditional salt was frowned upon. In fact, my Nana Jan, would also take salt in milky black tea or chai.

Needless to say, when I saw that headline, I thought of my Nanajan. I know that if he was still alive, and I showed it to him, irrespective of its content, that headline being in an influential, widely circulated and respected paper, like the New York Times, would bring tears of joy to his eyes with the hope that things might soon change in Kashmir, because Kashmiris are back into the world’s discourse.

In the last few months, over a hundred people, have been murdered by Indian security forces in occupied Kashmir. Most of these people were protesting Indian occupation of their land. The Kashmiri people have been subjected to constant curfews and restrictions for decades. And they have had enough. They want independence from India.

And their demand can no longer be played as an Indian check-mate on Pakistan. India can no longer blame Pakistan for stowing violence or supporting Mujahideen within Kashmir, because the world knows Pakistan has its hands tied dealing with militants within the country.

And the NYT seems to agree:
“For more than 100 days, in which Indian security officers have killed more than 100 Kashmiri civilians, the Indian government has seemed paralyzed, or even indifferent, as this disputed Himalayan region has plunged into one of the gravest crises of its tortured history….Indian officials concede that this latest unrest is different, a domestic Kashmiri revolt against Indian rule, unlike past insurgencies sponsored by Pakistan. “

The article’s title, “Seeking Kashmir Peace, India Feels Anger of Residents” starts off with a delegation of Indian members of Parliament arriving in Sri Nagar with a message of peace. But the writer, Jim Yardley, (my new hero) did not mince words in expressing the real situation.

“If the delegation had come to reach out to Kashmir, it was extending its hand through barbed wire…..The steadily rising death toll is the most lethal measurement of the governmental failure to quell the crisis. As of Tuesday, at least 107 people had been killed, often in confrontations between stone-throwing protesters and security officers returning lethal fire.

“Why would we trust them?” said one man who had slipped out Sunday evening, despite the curfew. “There is no reason to trust India. There is a huge trust deficit. The press is seized. The people are caged.”

Finally, the curtain has been pulled from the tragedy and the injustice that has defined the lives of Kashmiris for too long.

Most powerful of course, was the conclusion of this piece, which mentions Yasin Malik, self-determination and Pakistan.

“Mr. Malik, the separatist leader, discounts any suggestion that Kashmir is inflamed merely because of bad governance or mismanagement. After listening to the visiting parliamentary delegation on Monday night, Mr. Malik recited a long litany of broken promises from Indian leaders going back to the founding of the nation in 1947. Ultimately, he argued, the only thing that will pacify Kashmiris is a political solution, involving Pakistan, to fulfill the region’s desire for self-determination.

“Do not give them a sense of defeat,” he said. “Give them a sense of hope. Or you will push them to revolution.”