The only Rose Red in Gaza

I may read the first rays of the sun
when they suffuse the rubble
behind my grandfather’s
blackened garden
where roses grew
when we last promised to meet,
or maybe I will read the final words
when the shadows mingle with
the crusty runnels
it hastily scribbles over them
(an apology, maybe?... i jest)
as the dark chooses to take its place
taking all the color away
I will be here (I think),
in the alleyway behind
where it all happens
mulling, to read or not,
lines which lose meaning in dark,
and in light
their crimson
reminds
there is no rose red in Gaza
some noise (or quiet) later
come - read the lines
illegible, over me
and you will see
the only rose red in Gaza is blood…

Kashmir and elections share a tense and confusing history. It is a history wherein some men take to opportunist politics, some are reluctant to participate, some steer clear while women, ironically, become visible through their near-absence. The polity in Kashmir is a peculiar species and what may be seen as a democratic value elsewhere does not necessarily translate the same way for the people of this conflict-ridden region. Hence, elections--universally seen as democracy in action--do not mean the same in Kashmir.
In order to understand women’s involvement--rather, non-involvement--in Kashmiri elections and campaigns, it is important to take a look at the history of Kashmir's tumult. It is important to understand that the lopsided gender engagement in Kashmiri politics is not indicative of women’s political illiteracy, but a result of a turbulent political environment borne by Kashmir's disputed alliance with India and the armed struggle.
Ever since India and Pakistan became free from Britain they have fought over the territorial domination of Kashmir.
Since 1948, Kashmir has been divided in two, with far northern and western areas controlled by Pakistan and the rest by India. According to the U.N. resolutions, a plebiscite is supposed to determine the country’s final status. India, however, disagrees and argues that elections that have been held in Indian-occupied Kashmir annul the need for plebiscite. As a result, the electoral politics in Kashmir are today fraught by conflicting debate and restiveness.

 
The Runnel of Rigging: Whatever Floats Your Boat?
In this quagmire of dubious polity, Kashmiri people, no doubt politically aware, are disenchanted with politics. In a scenario where men are wary of joining politics, it's no surprise that politics have not been a priority for women, who are otherwise increasingly active as professionals and productive members of the society.
The process of election... [Read More]

Foreword

Naseem, an ailing Kashmiri woman in Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children, is examined by her doctor through a perforated sheet-one afflicted part at a time. She is described as a "collage of her severally-inspected parts," a description that personifies the identity of Kashmiri women. Although media portrays them as victims positioned between the separatists and the Indian armed forces, there is no one definitive motif that can reveal their true identity and status. On one hand, portraying their victimhood seems inevitable; on the other, it is incorrect to assert that all Kashmiri women have been neutral or home-front bound in the ongoing conflict.
In the past 19 years of an armed struggle against India, Kashmir has suffered massive damages of life and property. In the absence of male breadwinners, women of this conservative and patriarchal society were pushed into the public sphere. General and sexual violence by the Indian security forces, in addition to the war bereavements, gave rise to psychiatric and psychosomatic illnesses, especially in women. The turmoil, however, has had a catalytic effect on gender mainstreaming: today there is an increasing clamor for women's participation in the evolving Kashmiri political and economic processes.

Women, Politics & Kashmir

Historically women in Kashmir have had a negligible role in politics. At the time of Kashmir's partition into India-administered and Pakistan-administered regions in 1947, only a few women were politically active, mostly due to their family affiliations. This is evident in the likes of Akbar Jehan, wife of the former Prime Minister and popular political leader Sheikh Abdullah, who herself became an activist and a Parliamentarian. Many notable social activists also hailed from poli... [Read More]

The reaction to Benazir’s death is one that evokes an initial sympathy in most. Nevertheless it is followed by a vast spectrum of reactions ranging from grief to nonchalance.

While many join her estranged niece Fatima Bhutto in mourning her untimely and violent end as a person but continue to abhor her politics, many simply seek to revere her charismatic persona and the bold politician that she was perceived as. It was evident in the frenzy of the many “male” mourners who were seen reaching out in the mayhem surrounding her death, to simply touch her casket as it was being carried out from the hospital or the clamor abounding in the crowds that rioted across Pakistan.

The outpouring of grief and love was manifested in her followers like the one, who at a wizened seventy years of age, considered himself, “orphaned”.

Nevertheless the entire persona of Benazir threatens to drown in the criticism (or appreciation for that matter) that usually surrounds departed politicians of any shade, color or inclination.  With her being a woman, no doubt she has to bear the b... [Read More]

In the terrible predicament that Kashmir is lingeringly suffering between India and Pakistan, media has come to play a quite significant role; and why not? Media in its contemporary all encompassing role, is not only expected to report but also mediate and facilitate the narratives of conflict as has been prescribed for other conflict zones across the globe.

However, looking at the Indian media and its Kashmir coverage, such results can hardly be anticipated.

The Indian media has reduced the suffering and struggles of Kashmiri people to mere statistics and hangs on to rudiments of “he said, she said” token objectivity. With its teeming news bureaus and staff around the valley, it may well have been physically non-existent for the sheer fact of selective reporting that is done without any apparent qualms.

And not to mention the total loss of context, which is the greatest casualty.
The images of victim-hood and disparate representations of discredited pro-Indian politicians are manna for primetime but the same cannot be said for a majority of events that pivot around the separatist agenda, which are an open manifestation of a strong resistance movement such as the frequent protests by the harassed population, the mothers whose children disappeared in the custody of Indian armed forces or the students.

The mainstream Indian audience is hardly introduced to the human rights activists or other saner representatives of the struggle who share grassroots values and popular goodwill. Moreover, reporting cases of rape by Indian armed forces, which in the recent years have been on the rise, is strangely limited. This despite the fact that rape is internationally recognized as a weapon of war and a crime against humanity punishable at war crimes tribunals. Some high profile rape cases, even though covered by local and international media have been largely ignored by them. Such cases when reported are ... [Read More]