More than two years after the reading down of Article 370 which gave erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir a special status, spree of targeted minority killings started in the first week of October 2021. They instilled fear and terror into the lives of minorities especially non-Muslims.
Among those gunned down was a female Sikh teacher, who according to Bupinder Singh Bali, author of the book, Those Who Stayed - The Sikhs of Kashmir, was killed for her identity. It is the killing of an innocent teacher, employed under PM Package scheme, which triggered him to write this book.
The book acts a channel of catharsis. It gives vent to the suffocation and accumulated anger of living in Kashmir as a micro- minority and bearing the brunt of long lingering conflict silently. As every Kashmiri community has documented their narrative, there is a void when it comes to Sikhs in Kashmir. This book fills that void.
Born and brought up in Kashmir, the author honestly admits that he never felt attached to the identity of Kashmiri but felt closer to his religious identity. He felt more freedom, cultural and social affinity outside Kashmir.
The author has used real life characters in his book to convey the message. These characters have depth and a real life of their own. He uses to them to comment on various aspects of daily life in Kashmir, thereby preventing the memoir from becoming a monologue. The author, who defies rituals, has questioned the futility of rituals across faiths. If not political, the social commentary in the book is laced with astute observation. He reflects realities.
Security and Peace in Kashmir
Besides rituals of people, he uses satire in the common man’s parlance. He dishes out the glaring ground reality through one of his characters that vast majority of people are unemployed and in private sector, there is job scarcity and insecurity. This message runs contrary to many claims of Naya Kashmir.
The writer uses satire to reflect the larger reality of Kashmir in which communication clampdown is frequent especially when ‘security and peace’ has to be maintained.
Giving details about his conversation with one of his colleagues, he writes: “When have you seen protests and hartals and shutdowns after 370? This is the new Kashmir now? People are scared of the government. Modi hai to Mumkin hai,’ I teased. ‘Mind your language. It is Modi ji. Add Ji always,’ she replied.
Terming himself as a seasonal migrant, Bali writes, the Sikh community has endured silent migrations, discrimination, fear psychosis, massacres, uncertainty, trauma, slurs, livelihood problems, employment, education, and other socio-economic challenges but, according to him, never left their roots like Kashmiri Pandits.
Like any other child in Kashmir, his memories are imbued with violence and conflict unlike his wife who grew up in Kerala. Expressing psychological agonies of confinement after killings, he has been able to bring forth some of the socio-political and economic ground realities.
Far away from public scrutiny, the killings psychologically impacted the minority community. Amidst uncertainty of present and future in Kashmir, the personal relationships of couples too started to strain.
Sikh Rule in Kashmir
He highlights the Sikh rule and offers a glimpse in positive frame. The author traces the history of Kashmir from 1490-present terming Sikh rule as a phase when no forced conversions took place or demography was tinkered.
His cherry-picked studies run contrary to popular narrative regarding Sikh rule in Kashmir. The Sikh rule is recorded in Kashmir as oppressive and economically exploitative.
William Moorcroft, the most referred author about early nineteenth century Kashmir termed that people were treated worse than cattle and heavy taxation rendered majority of them poor. The author could have cited multiple perspectives to trace the historiography of Sikh rule in Kashmir and offer holistic perspective.
As he traces the history of Sikh rule, he does not mention or question the widely reported event in history that for 21 years, the Jamia Masjid in old city Srinagar was closed under Sikh regime for prayers.
The book recounts the events of October 1947, when Pakistani tribal forces invaded Kashmir. The tribal raids left death, desolation and despair. Post partition, the author has interviewed Sikh survivors of massacres which narrate the harrowing experiences and silent suffering of the micro-minority. These interviews with vivid details and anecdotes contribute to the rare understanding of the suffering of the community.
Chattisinghpora Massacre
At a time when American President was visiting India after two decades and whole international media’s attention was on the visit of Bill Clinton’s visit to India, 36 Sikhs were gunned down in South Kashmir’s Sikh village of Chattisinghpora.
The author has interviewed the survivors of the massacre to narrate the harrowing story of the night when innocent civilians were massacred. Later, the author shared the story of massacre with one of his colleagues and asked him about the future of Sikhs in Kashmir.
“One day you, Sikhs, will have to leave Kashmir when it accedes to Pakistan because that is what this movement is all about. Kashmiris won’t rest until that dream is realised,” his colleague said.
But the author’s colleagues’ viewpoint cannot be generalized or equated with public opinion.
Even though some of the massacres like Chattisinghpora were carried by mysterious forces to peddle certain narratives, five days after the events at Chattisinghpora, five men alleged to be responsible to massacre were killed in Pathribal encounter.
As questions were raised by locals, over the killings of five men passed off as foreign terrorist, it was after investigations by Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) that the encounter was termed fake. The book does not mention this event interlinked to the massacre.
Battle against Tribal Raiders
The author has also said that Sikhs and the battles fought by them were the only force and defence against tribal raiders which helped in integration of Kashmir with India. However, like many locals, Maqbool Sherwani, National Conference activist played a pivotal role against the tribal assault. His ploy delayed the advance of the raiders as he organized his party workers to shelter Sikhs and Hindus but was ultimately killed by raiders.
He assesses the major political events post 2008 and helps recall symbols and signs of protests. He does not shy away from narrating facts and figures and is careful in choosing terminology to describe people and places.
However, there are few typos, and factual errors in the book which needs rectification. He writes that three Pakistani infiltrators were killed by the Indian army in June 2010. The people of Kashmir according to him called it a staged encounter.
However, it was not the killing of Pakistani infiltrators, but the alleged encounter of three local porters that sparked a protest movement. This framing entirely changes the discourse related to protests and phenomenon.
Besides the subjective assertions and research tilting towards confirmation bias, his sweeping generalisation in his introduction that majority wants to accede to Pakistan is contesting. These assertions are contradictory to history of Kashmir and historical facts.
Story of Sikhs in Kashmir
The story of Sikhs is important in the historiography of Kashmir, the book fills some but is marked by some limitations. It could have benefited from rigorous research.
But at the end it is a memoir. The memoir does offer insights into his life, his community and identity clashes and crisis as he has enriched it with interviews and facts. It does bring into attention the neglected narrative of micro-minority and provides an opportunity to listen to them.
It also provides a perspective of impact of conflict and violence on human beings and how it in turn shapes them and their lives especially when they are in minority. The book successfully offers a glimpse into the community’s struggle amidst present and future uncertainties. It is a good read to understand the deepest recess of psyche of a micro-minority.
Sikhs live among Muslims and are their immediate neighbours. The book puts Kashmir’s majority reader into the self-introspective mode, as it did for me, prompting questions.
How much do we know about the Sikhs of Kashmir? How much do we know about others? About other minorities as we are living in a country of minorities. The divisive labels, stereotyping and phobic tropes have made us oblivious to each other’s suffering.
The book is a bridge only if we choose to walk and embrace people on the other side.
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