Military Occupation and Women’s Activism in Kashmir
The history of Kashmir is typically explained in the context of military power and political dead-end. Almost nothing emerges in headlines is the silent yet strong opposition of women in Kashmir. In Resisting Disappearance Ather Zia shines a light on this struggle. It demonstrates how the grief expressed publicly can turn into a tool against the erasure. The women have made turning mourning into a political act in Kashmir.
Enforced disappearances have been a dominating practice of control employed by the Indian state since the years of 90es. Thousands of men have disappeared following the security agencies. Families are never free to mourn or to have confidence in hope. In these vacuum females have come out as the primary markers of resistance. They do not mourn behind shut doors They congregate in the communities in the parks; they carry photographs of the missing and are demanding accountability. They leave the message that cannot be conveyed by words: the disappeared remain present in the memory, and memory can fight.
APDP is representative of this activism. Funded by Parveena Ahangar, it has now become a symbol of indomitable spirit. Females who had previously led an isolated life lead the streets, courts and police stations. They enter realms which were seen as the preserve of men. Their act is not only to seek their loved ones, but to confront the presence of the occupation as well in claiming silence to dissent. The sit-in is considered a funeral and protest in every gathering every month. Vertical photograph is a refusal to forget.
Such demonstrations are described by the Indian state as a stranglehold on order. However, the reality is they are acts of care. Women are preserving the memories of fathers, husbands and sons. There is nothing complicated in their protest, but it is revolutionary According to it, life cannot be effaced by a decision of the man. It makes it clear that, rather than being a personal issue, grief can be political. This palatizing of grieving interferes with the need to normalize loss by the state.
The rebellion showed by Kashmiri women also disturbs gender stereotypes. In mainstream terms they are portrayed as victims, passive, dependent and voiceless. However, the APDP tells otherwise These are organizers, archivists, and activists of these women. They keep records and take testimonies and construct counter-archives of truth. Their agency does not always sound very vocal or even confrontational And it is sometimes in staying around, not quitting, in the grit not to quit, in the boldness to sit down in refusal to stop sharing in places where soldiers rule. It is another kind of strength, based on stamina, tenderness and remembrance.
The reason their struggle is at the root of things is that it is two-edged. They do not just resist militarization but also patriarchal norms. Conventional lamenting in Kashmir restricted women inside the home. By entering the public sphere, they are protesting state violence, as well as, against cultural norms. In so doing they rearticulate politicalness. Their sorrow is not infirmity It is a survival tool as well as a power base.
There is also the danger of how their suffering is consumed. Women are photographed crying, allowing media to make the pain part of a spectacle. These pictures are introduced by international organizations to alert about the violation of human rights. Although there is a need to have visibility, it can be exploitative. Women know about this contradiction. They understand that they must grieve to garner attention even as it makes them merchandise. Still, they do go on, since it would be worse to say nothing. They prefer publicity to obliteration.
The state of India with its interests tends to conceal behind the democratic and humanitarianism slogans. Elections are given as evidence that all is normal. Reviews of relief are cast in care terms, but these are occupational instruments. They conceal the original violence by which the everyday life is constituted. In most towns civilians are outnumbered by soldiers. Bunkers, check points and raids are the features of the area. The meetings of APDP are even more outstanding under these circumstances. They are seagulls of truth in an ocean of denial.
What lesson can you get out of chapters like these? The combat of that resistance does not always appear in the form of an armed struggle It may appear as a grandmother with a sign. It may appear to be a widow in silence under a chinar tree. It could appear such as a little girl with a white headband with an image of her father. Such actions could be seen as insignificant, nevertheless, an aggregate of many of those would be a movement. They maintain an awareness of the need of justice where justice is being systematically disenfranchised.
Lesson goes beyond Kashmir All over the world, euro-centrists have undertaken to silence all the opposition by abducting the citizens. The strengthening of this anthropological insight leads families to react by refusing to forget. Women have borne movements of memory as witnessed by the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo of Argentina and APDP of Kashmir. They help us remember that mourning does not refer only to the past. It also Horses the future. The one to keep is to remind that a better future can be had.
The women of Kashmir demonstrate that resilience is not about big rousing speeches, or heroic gestures. It is repetition about it. It is about appearing each month, each year. It is also a struggle not to turn the disappeared into a blank. Their struggle makes narratives of victimhood difficult. They do not feel powerless They are overwhelming in terms that the state is not able to ease. They are representations of grief thus making the invisible visible. With memory they prevent disappearance.
Not simply about Kashmir, Resisting Disappearance explores how communities have struggled along with the state in pursuit and resurgence of their common cradle. It is about how human can turn loss to resistance. It is all about politics of memory and ethics of survival. It is above all about women who should not be silenced. They are the symbol of our fate that no matter how bad the situation may be, there is always a chance of resistance. Sometimes it takes the form of mourning, out in the street.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are exclusively those of the author and do not reflect the official stance, policies, or perspectives of the Platform.
