Kashmiri and Kashmiriyat The Politics of Language, Religion and Region

Madhu Kishwar

During my recent visit to Kashmir written literature. Moreover, unlike the Valley, I never once heard two I was shocked to learn that hardly their western educated counterparts Kashmiris speak to each other in any anyone in Kashmir can read or write in other regions of India, Kashmiris other language except Kashmiri. Kashmiri. Kashmir is one of the few always speak to each other in Those fighting for azadi (freedom) places in the world where not more Kashmiri. During my five day stay in never tire of stressing the uniqueness than a handful of people can read or of Kashmiri culture and identity. write in their mother tongue. Kashmiri Kashmir is one of the For people all over the world is neither taught in schools nor in most few places in the world language is one of the key definers of colleges. Therefore, there is no identity. Most nation states in the question of it being used as the where not more than a modern world are carved along language of administration. handful of people can linguistic lines. Not too long ago in This despite the fact that the read or write in their the sub-continent, Bangladesh broke Kashmiri language has a rich body of mother tongue. away from Pakistan because the

2 MANUSHI Bangladeshis resented the imposition of Urdu on them leading to a subjugation of their mother tongue, Bengali. This repudiated the founding principle of Pakistan that Muslims were a distinct and separate nationality on account of their religion. Even after the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan, the domination of Urdu has caused deep resentment among other linguistic groups in Pakistan the Sindhis, the Baluchis, the Pushtoons, the Punjabis and others. On the other hand, in India, Urdu is a suspect language and neglected even in the land of its birth Uttar Pradesh. Hindus are extremely wary of giving Urdu official recognition because it has come to be stigmatised as the language which led to the Partition of the country. The main momentum for the creation of Pakistan came from Urdu speaking Muslims in India and not from those areas which today constitute Pakistan. As the proud creators of Pakistan, the Urdu speaking Muslim migrants from North India, tried to impose national unity among different linguistic groups in Pakistan by making Urdu the national language even though it was the mother tongue of this tiny minority which had migrated from Uttar Pradesh. In its spoken version, Urdu is indistinguishable from Hindustani, the spoken language of most north Indian Hindus. The two sister A Vakh from Bhaskara’s Lalla Vakh (the Vakh of Lal Ded) in Sharada script languages were torn asunder despite their close kinship, because the by the Muslims and the Hindus of the 14th century mystic poet of scripts were different and they came Kashmir. The Kashmiri Pandits tell Kashmir, who is, by common to be identified with different religious you that real Kashmiri can only be consensus, regarded as the mother of traditions Urdu uses the Persian script written in the Sharada script whereas modern Kashmiri language. The and gets identified with Islam and the Kashmiri Muslims believe that the Hindus believe that she belonged to Hindustani, using the Devanagari Persian script can serve the Kashmiri a Brahmin family and was a proponent script, gets associated with the language better since it has already of Shaivism; they call her Lalleshwari. Hindus. been in use for nearly four hundred On the other hand, there are also The neglect in the study of years in Kashmir and has been longstanding legends, recorded in Kashmiri language is also in large part suitably modified to meet with the Persian chronicles that she accepted due to the fact that a different history special requirements of Kashmiri. The Islam and was influenced by the Sufi and ethos is imposed on the language controversy extends even to Lal Ded, tradition. Thus both the communities

NUMBER 82 (May-June 1994) claim her as their own and they both How come there has been no have a strong sense of attachment to political pressure for making Kashmiri the Kashmiri language. learning a matter of routine rather than Yet, despite a long history of giving it the status of a special course popular upsurges asserting the as is done with foreign languages? I Kashmiri identity to justify the asked this question of Naseem as well demands of autonomy and separation as several important political leaders from both India and Pakistan, there of the Kashmiri movement for has been hardly any demand by the “freedom”. Some leaders glibly proponents of Kashmiriyat (Kashmiri blamed it all on the Indian government identity) and the “fighters” or azadi and its conspiracy to suppress the for the introduction of Kashmiri as Kashmiri people. But they could not part of school and college curricula explain why the Kashmiris had not and its adoption as the language of even raised it as an issue. Some like the administration. Zafar Meharaj, a Srinagar-based Naseem Meharaj is one of the very journalist, say that the continuing few in Kashmir who can read and write political instability in the state and the the script in its Persian version. She unresolved issue of Kashmir’s right teaches Kashmiri language and to self-determination overshadowed literature in one of the very few all other concerns. Others are satisfied Yasin Malik, JKLF chief colleges which offer a diploma course that Kashmiri is used by them for their in the language. In her opinion, it is a everyday oral communication. After great misfortune that Kashmiris are a living language because it absorbed all you cannot get jobs by studying illiterate in their mother tongue. In the outside influences. It is a sign of our Kashmiri, was a common response. In 70’s, under pressure from some slavish mentality that we have failed schools the Muslim students learn Kashmiri writers, a decision was taken to give Kashmiri its due. Ever since Urdu and the Kashmiri Pandits learn by the government that Kashmiri the Mughals deposed the last Hindi. would be taught in schools up to class Kashmiri king, Yusuf Shah Chak, by Sonnaullah Butt, the forthright 5, but that decision could not be fraud, there has been a conspiracy to editor of Aftab, a Srinagar based Urdu implemented and most children undermine the Kashmiri language.” paper, explained it thus: “Since the continued learning Urdu. Some It is noteworthy that the Mughal time of the Sikh rulers, Urdu has been writers and intellectuals then ruler Akbar who is held in high esteem the official language in Kashmir. pressured the government to in the rest of the country is considered Earlier the Mughals had introduced introduce it from above. As a result, a an enemy by the Kashmiris because Persian. Even after Dogra rulers took 9-month diploma course was started he arrested and deposed Yusuf Shah over Kashmir, they continued using at the University level. Since then Chak. Kashmiris believe that they Urdu as the language of some colleges have provided for have been enslaved ever since administration. After 1947 the elementary study of Kashmiri. But because Kashmir was ruled from then Assembly resolved that Urdu would whatever little work is being done in on to the present times by outsiders be the state language though most Kashmiri is confined to two Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs, Dogras and government offices used English. institutions the state government run now “Indians”! Moreover, the Muslim sentiment is Cultural Academy and the Kashmiri attached to Urdu since a lot of Islamic Department at the Kashmir University. literature is available in this language Naseem was among the first batch The two sister languages and not in Kashmiri. When Radio of students to take the diploma. She (Urdu and Hindustani) Kashmir started in the 50s, it began to explains that the earlier manuscripts were torn asunder despite broadcast daily news in Kashmiri. of Kashmiri are all in the Sharada Though the Pandits were keen to script. “Most of our words were their close kinship, encourage the use of the Kashmiri originally Sanskrit based. But later a because the scripts were language, the Muslims began to lot of Persian words were absorbed different and they came to be resent the fact that Kashmiri was into the language because of the identified with different being propagated at the cost of influence of Muslim kings. It remained religious traditions. Urdu.” Thus Urdu has come to play a

4 MANUSHI divisive role between Kashmiri alongwith it. The substantial Hindu Kashmiriyat has become a sub-set of Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims on the minority in J&K is, by and large, dead Islamiyat. one hand and Kashmiri speaking opposed to azadi because the Does that mean that for the Muslims and other ethnic groups symbolism of azadi has come to be Kashmiri Muslims their religious living in Jammu and Laddakh. more Islamic than Kashmiri. identity has overshadowed their Yasin Malik, the much lionised The attempt of JKLF leaders to Kashmiri identity? Has azadi for JKLF leader answered this question neutralise the sub-regional sentiment Kashmiri Muslims come to mean on a more politically pragmatic note: while defining their own politics cleansing all those elements of their “The Kashmiri language is not the simultaneously in regional and culture which smack of Hindu or non- only language of the people of Jammu religious terms has created a vicious Muslim ethos, Kashmiri language and Kashmir. Dozens of languages are circle. The more they resort to Urdu being one of them? The answer is spoken in this state Punjabi, Dogri, and Islam, the more are they estranged both yes and no. Gaddi, Laddakhi and a host of others. from the non-Muslim people of Jammu Undoubtedly, a significant, You cannot concentrate on any one and Kashmir. This takes the JKLF though still small, section of Muslim particular language even though there activists closer to the pro-Pakistani Kashmiris want to join Pakistan after is no doubt that Kashmiri, the politics in Kashmir and away from dissociating from India. Outfits like language of the Valley, has suffered a their cherished dream of azadi for all Hizbul Mujahiddin have popular great deal. Yes, I am in favour of Kashmiris. Their bottom line is to support in certain pockets like Sopore. Kashmiri being taught in schools. The unify all Muslims in the valley as well Yet, even there the anti-India truth is that the moment you talk of as in Jammu and Laddakh. Urdu and demonstrations end up more often Kashmiriyat, then one has to include the symbolism of Islam come handy with slogans for azadi than for joining the varied cultures of the entire state. for this purpose as they have the Pakistan. Today the organisation that It is not just the Kashmiri language, potential to neutralise the sub- enjoys the greatest popular support but the cultures of various regions of regional sentiment among Muslims. is JKLF which is engaged in a life and this state have also suffered. I am of The result is that even for the JKLF, death struggle against Pakistan- the view that Urdu has been thrust supported outfits like Hizbul on us. It was the language of Without being rooted in Mujahiddin, Al Baker, Harkat ul Ansar Lucknow. But now it has become an its own language no and others. integral part of the Muslim culture.” Though initially Pakistan lent It is this conflicting pressure to community can sustain its armed support to the JKLF, they soon speak on behalf of Kashmiris while cultural identity for long. withdrew it and began propping up carrying the varied non-Kashmiri speaking people of the state along with them that explains the complex dilemma being faced by the JKLF. However, Laddakhi Buddhists, Hindu Dogras, Gaddis and various other non-Kashmiri speaking groups are not going to support the call of independence under an exclusively Kashmiri Muslim leadership because the sub-regional sentiment is as strong as the Kashmiri sentiment. The Laddakhis and people of Jammu region also harbour a sense of being discriminated against and neglected by the Kashmiris in pretty much the same way as Kashmiris feel treated badly by the national leadership. The azadi slogan can have credibility only if it carries a majority of people from Jammu and Laddakh Photo: India Today

NUMBER 82 (May-June 1994) their own captive organisations with The educated among both available only through learning the purpose of undermining and the Hindus and the Muslims English. The bearer in-charge of my attacking the JKLF because the room in Ahdoo hotel in Srinagar told Pakistani rulers are determined to are gravitating more and me that they were running an English suppress the Kashmiri sentiment for more towards English rather medium school in his village through azadi. Therefore, the continuing than Hindi, Urdu or contributions from parents of school neglect of the Kashmiri language and Kashmiri. going children because no one the promotion of Urdu are an integral wanted to send their kids to Urdu part of the agenda of the pro-Pakistani medium government school. Only the groups in Kashmir. Their agenda is to Likewise, the Kashmiri Pandits are very poor who could not afford better, banish the Kashmiri sentiment of seriously undermining the send their kids to Urdu medium azadi and promote a pro-Pakistani distinctness they say they are proud schools. sentiment. Yet, despite all this, a large of by adopting the syndicated version So, for all the noise about majority of Muslims in Kashmir of Hinduism being peddled by the BJP. Kashmiri identity, it is English continue to feel Kashmiris first and For centuries they had willingly learnt education that is most sought after. Muslims next. This is not to ignore to read and write Urdu and Persian And those who harbour the illusion the growing religious fervour among under Mughal, Afghan, Sikh or Dogra that the English knowing elite which them which could well tilt the balance rule simply because Persian and Urdu will thus emerge is likely to be more in favour of the Pakistani or Middle were then the languages of “secular” and rise above narrow Eastern version of Islam being opportunities and elite employment. ethnic divides ought to remember that imported into Kashmir. But today, they would rather study the perpetrators of the Partition and Without being rooted in its own alien Hindi rather than their own the initiators of the most vicious language, no community can sustain Kashmiri in the Arabic script. Hindu-Muslim divide have almost all its cultural identity for long. As the However, the educated among been over-educated in English. Had leading organisation for Kashmiri both the Hindus and the Muslims are the political elite of our country, for rights, the JKLF will have to pay gravitating more and more towards instance, studied in local madarsas attention to keeping the Kashmiri English rather than Hindi, Urdu or or pathshalas, we might never have language alive as an integral aspect Kashmiri all because the best of jobs experienced the nightmare of the of and their fight for azadi. and material opportunities are Partition.

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