A Kashmiri Pandit Writes on Unjustified Violence in the Valley

The state’s onslaught on Kashmiris has created an extremely hostile atmosphere in the Valley.

Kashmiris gather for Burhan Wani’s funeral. (Photo: Reuters) 

The quickest response to feminism is meninism, for Black Lives Matter, it is All Lives Matter, and when it comes to questioning the most undemocratic killings of Muslim Kashmiris by the security forces, the justification usually is, “But what about the Kashmiri Pandits who were massacred and forced to flee?”

Noted feminist scholar Judith Butler explains the problem with all the aforementioned responses:

When some people rejoin with “All Lives Matter” they misunderstand the problem, but not because their message is untrue. It is true that all lives matter, but it is equally true that not all lives are understood to matter which is precisely why it is most important to name the lives that have not mattered, and are struggling to matter in the way they deserve.

So why should the atrocious killings of more than 30 Kashmiri protestors after the death of Hizbul chief Burhan Wani matter to a Kashmiri Pandit?

Actually, the question is why not?

In a piece published by Huffington Post, Kartik Maini, who is of Kashmiri Pandit descent, wrote:

It is widely understood that the lives of Kashmiri Pandits and our armed gentlemen matter, but only because they have publicly recognized selves to present, articulate and defend…The Indian State today has the impunity to murder unarmed protesters in your name. In our name. As you delight in the gore, forget not that nationalism built on corpses is never yours, never anyone’s. Please, please stop invisibilizing people. You have more than blood on your hands.

In recognising the very legitimate concern of the violence engendered by AFSPA, that have not even spared aspiring students and little children, one doesn’t legitimise Burhan Wani’s methods of dissent, Kartik wrote. The problem is in equating it “in brutality to the Indian State’s onslaught on Kashmir.”

We have long surrendered Kashmir to nationalism, and washed our conscience with their corpses in the Jhelum…To grieve for Kashmir as an Indian, then, is never to unsee the vulgarity of violence, to try listening to the deafening screams that the powerful try to muffle, and to achieve the simple act of conversation. Of empathy. In that is the hope of Kashmir, of this country, of this world.

Kartik Maini

Read the full story on Huffington Post.