Resistance Literature is Blooming in Kashmir

A poet famously wrote of Kashmir, “if there is a heaven on earth, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here.” The steep, icy slopes of Sonmarg or the soaring Himalayan views are the sights that inspire poets and tourism magazines alike, but Kashmir is having a surge in a different kind of writing: passionate resistance literature against Indian occupation.

The voice of Kashmir is often suppressed by the censorship and seemingly endless repression from Indian officials. With a communication lock down in Kashmir, which affects everyone from journalists to poets to the average person on social media, their ability to express feelings and frustrations, free from oppression, is highly stifled. But writers and dissenters are always finding ways around these bans to explore new avenues of free expression and convey their frustrations with Indian occupation, lock downs, COVID-19, and the regular trauma that is a part of daily life.

Kashmiri writers, poets, and activists can speak up on an online publication called Kashmir Lit, a platform for Kashmir and diaspora writings (http://www.kashmirlit.org/). The project began twelve years ago, started by Ather Zia who is the editor and teaches at the University of Northern Colorado. This journal has readers around the globe and gives Kashmiri writers the chance to get their work before a worldwide audience while connecting and sharing their ideas with their fellow people.

“Kashmir is an idea whose time has come. The voices speaking up — through analysis, poetry, prose, and art are growing. There might be repression and censorship and it is increasing day by day but so are the Kashmiri voices. It is important to keep writing, speaking and having the intention to resist — whatever degree of action one can, one must take. Kashmir Lit is part of that resistance — a platform ready to amplify the voices for the global community to hear,” Ather wrote to me over email. “The situation in Kashmir is like a pressure cooker. People are traumatized under the Indian occupation.”

The massive toll that repression has taken on the individuals in Kashmir can be understood through literature. Many of us, with no concept of life in Kashmir, can better understand the situation there through the words of the people. Author Anjum Zamarud Habib’s book Prisoner №100: The Story of My Ordeal in an Indian Prison tells of her unspeakable experiences of life in prison as a political activist. Until My Freedom Has Come by Sanjay Kak is a collection of essays, poems, interviews, and other writing from Kashmiri writers. This book gives readers a first-hand perspective of political activism among the average Kashmiri. There are countless books by Kashmiri writers that give readers an awareness of the struggles they face.

By putting their experiences on paper, Kashmiris are able to expose the world to the river of hidden suffering. There are so many voices whose stories will never be told, but for these writers, they are able to capture just a small snapshot in which the outside world can empathize with their toil.

Kashmir knows no history but

A history of not-having.

Not having employment, or industry,

No safe childhood, or the certainty

Of a marked grave.

Kashmir has never known what it is like

To drink the water of a free river,

Boundless and liberated

In its entire course.

Section of Why Do We Write About Kashmir by Syamantakshobhan Basu