[Reader-list] First posting - IFS 2007

[Shafia Wani]

Hello Everyone,

Here is my first posting for the SARAI Independent Fellowship, titled 'The
Aesthetic of Resistance and Women in Kashmir'

First Posting Sarai Independent Fellowships.

The valley of Kashmir was for long a synonym for the picturesque and the
enchanting. Though much of this has been lost to the vagaries of time and
the work of humans, Kashmir retains its touch with the enchanting, with
its centuries old blend of Buddhism, Shaivaite Hinduism and an Islamic
culture rooted in deep mysticism. Its pagoda like shrines often perched
precariously on hillsides overlooking the valley with a panoptican and
benevolent gaze.

Rishi Vaer or Pir Vaer is how the Kashmiris refer to this land if they are
asked to point to its quintessence. This phrase loosely translates as
"abode of saints".

This characterization has survived even the grim realities of life and
death that has been a part of daily life in Kashmir since past seventeen
years or so. Since 1988 the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been seeing a
low intensity and violent conflict which has its antecedents in the
historical events that occurred in the region after the partition of
subcontinent into the two independent nation states of India and Pakistan.
This conflict has taken a severe toll on life and property over the years.
Around 35000 -80000 people have variously been estimated to have lost
their lives in this conflict in the past over 16 years.

The conflict of the past years has brought suffering upon almost everyone
who lives in the valley and in many ways women have been at the receiving
end of the violence with the loss of sons, brothers and husbands to bear.
Apart from those who have been killed there is the continuing story of
loss of those who are missing or have disappeared.

Amidst this suffering there are many stories and narratives of fortitude
and forbearance and a determination to not only overcome odds but also to
make an effort to actively contribute to the construction of the self and
the society. It is these narratives that this study seeks to engage with
and plot across time and space

A focus of the study will be women and the initiative taken/ fostered by
women, whether as individuals or as members of institution /organizations
that have sought to address the conditions arising out of this general
circumstance of continued violence.

In doing this, the study will traverse various individual /organizational
initiatives that have been taken up by women and in turn have changed
affected their own lives in various ways. One of these is an association
that fights for the rights of those who have disappeared in the state
during the past many years. The story of this association is also the
story of the determination and fortitude of a group of women who have
found strength in their own suffering.

It is thus that the Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons
(APDP) was born. The Association of the Parents of the Disappeared Persons
(APDP) a constituent of the Coalition of Civil Society (CCS) was formed
in1994. It was formed primarily to offer legal assistance to those whose
relatives had been subject to what is termed as enforced involuntary
disappearance. Since the founding of the APDP, it has been taken under the
aegis of an umbrella organization called the Coalition of Civil Society
(CCS). The CCS is an umbrella organization of many civil society groups
that seek to coordinate efforts to revitalize a battered civil society in
Kashmir.

The APDP in itself apart from the CCS is not a human rights organization
it is simply an association of the persons of the people who have
disappeared, in many cases in state custody and have not been heard of
since by their relatives. The rule for membership is simple, any person
whose relative, brother, father, son has disappeared can join the
Association. The association is an independent entity and during its early
years moved ahead with an independent agenda that was not affiliated to
any political agenda.

The APDP believes that 8000-10,000 people have been subject to enforced
disappearances since the start of the unrest in 1988. The main objectives
of the APDP therefore are to document cases of the disappeared and
provision of legal aid for the relatives of those who have been subject to
enforced disappearances.

The general profile of the people who have disappeared is of the young
male between the ages of 20 to 50. This is a group that perhaps tends to
be seen as being the more likely to comprise the category of the militant
or insurgent or simply combatant, hence their large representation in the
list of those who have disappeared. In consequence to this an interesting
fact emerges; that a significant number of the members of the association
are mothers of those young men who have disappeared. It is the story of
these women and their journey and fight for justice that will be explored
within the scope of this fellowship.

The patron of APDP Mr. Pervez Imroz was instrumental in shaping the
discourse within the APDP. Mr Imroz is a prominent human rights advocate
and activist of the state. It is through his effort that the association
acquired the reputation of being a van guard group of people in the
forefront of a fight for justice.

A constant and persistent commitment for its agenda has meant that the
APDP has acquired not only a reputation in the state but internationally
as well. Over the past ten years the association has formed active and
sustained interaction and links with other similar organizations and
associations across the globe that share or have a similar agenda as the
APDP. The Association has linked up with organizations in the Thailand; in
Philippines and in Sri Lanka and is a founding member of the Asian
Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD).

Another parallel initiative that this study seeks to engage with is the
Kashmiri Women's Initiative for Peace and Development (KWIPD); this is an
associate organization that works under the broad umbrella of the CCS. In
2000 a group of students from the Kashmir University launched the KWIPD.
It was formed in great part as a result of the contribution and initiative
of a young lady named Asiya Jeelani who along with a group of university
students started an initiative that started out with the effort to 'create
a space for the betterment of society in general and women in particular'.
This effort emphasized the self-reliance of women and fittingly was
started and managed largely by women with an active support and
facilitation of the CCS. The members of the KWIPD represented a wide range
from teachers to doctors, academics, and journalist to students. The KWIPD
had the avowed mandate of fighting for he rights of women by first raising
the awareness of these rights and then to produce efforts at organizing
women to claim these rights.

To provide a voice to the issues that were central to this initiative
KWIPD launched a quarterly newsletter " Voices Unheard".

Aasiya Jeelani who had ably provided the initial impetus to the KWIPD died
tragically in the April of 2004 at Chandigam in the frontier district of
Kupwara when the vehicle carrying her and a few others hit an explosive
device. Aasiya and a team from the CCS were going as a part of an election
monitoring team to this frontier area.

Since then KWIPD went on to become an effective forum that sought to
engage young women in areas that offer the opportunity to raise their
concern as also offering them opportunities to engage with issues of their
concern in various national and international fora.

In this manner this study will seek to include certain other narratives of
women who by dint of their determination have changed not only their own
lives but also the lives of others in a productive and positive manner.
This has been accomplished against great odds in a context that is
volatile and adverse in many a way.

These accomplishments have been possible in great part because the
cultural ethos of this place, though generally referred to as patr
iarchal
and traditional is one that is appreciative and positive towards the
active and productive agency that women are capable of. This then will
form the central theme and the connecting thread that will bring together
these diverse individuals and initiatives into a narrative that is local
and traditional and yet global and modern. This will enables us as well,
to elaborate and understand a position in which tradition and modernity
are not necessarily contraries. Neither so the local and the global.

It is then, towards a contextual and organic understanding of these
current initiatives and the lives they touch that the focus of this study
tends to. In doing so certain other sub themes that will necessarily
emerge as the study progresses in scope will also be looked into.

Current engagements: With the primary actors and organizations, collecting
primary materials and building rapport with actors concerned.


Regards,

Shafia Wani.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20070314/611093b5/attachment.html