Exploring Kashmir peace through ‘culture’ ?

DR. JITENDRA SINGH
July 24, 2011
Deviating from routine stereotype methods, the Dileep Padgaonkar led team of Interlocutors recently hit upon the idea of convening a Round Table Conference to exclusively discuss means of restoring normalcy in trouble torn Jammu and Kashmir through the medium of ”culture”. How far this innovative initiative could go in achieving its avowed objective is a separate question but it did present an unusual picture of some of the eminent cultural, art and literary personalities closeted with about four or five office bearers of national political parties albeit known better for their academic or literary profile.That culture has traditionally been the hallmark of Kashmir’s pleuristic identity is a matter of fact that can hardly be disputed. That Kashmir’s composite culture, popularly described as ”Kashmiriat” stands unique in the entire subcontinent is but a fact that needs to be reiterated again and again lest it should be forgotten in the din of deafening political conflicts particularly when displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, an essential component of ”Kashmiriat”, continues to live in exile. And this precisely prompts the next vital question: can culture thrive in an atmosphere of unrest? Is it not true that when natural outlets of cultural expression get stifled, unnatural outlets open up which are often ”uncultured”?Although the organisers of the Interlocutors’ Round Table Conference would have ideally wished to keep a discussion about culture above politics and perhaps desirably so, but it was not to be for reasons as diverse as the diverse traits of Jammu and Kashmir State’s culture that is moulded by Buddhist tradition of Ladakh at one end and a proud Dogra heritage of Jammu at the other end with sound Islamic ethos of the Valley of Kashmir in between.Culture, art and literature of any given place at any given time are a complex interplay of a number of factors including the political milieu of the given place at the given time. Bahadur Shah Zafar’s literature inspired by the British crackdown of 1857 and Sadat Hasan Manto’s writings born in the aftermath of subcontinent’s partition stand out as the most glaring examples of this phenomenon in India’s recent history. This could therefore lead to an obvious conclusion that it is difficult to discuss culture in total isolation of politics particularly in the topsy turvy environs of Jammu and Kashmir. And this was also visible as a constant undercurrent in the two days of Round Table Conference.Nevertheless, to be fair, it is any time healthier for different regions, different religions, different ideologies and different cults to fight each other through the medium of culture rather than through the weopanry of violence. After all, in all these years of terror turmoil in Kashmir, it is a handful of self-effacing crusaders who risked their lives to create literature and art that kept alive the survival instinct of common man. To use the poetic cliche for Umapathy ‘‘Likhte Rahe Janoon Ki Hikayaat Khoon-ch Khoon, Har Chand Hum Se Haath Hamaare Kalam Hue’’