The late eighties and early nineties formed a turning point in the contemporary political history of the Indian administered valley of Kashmir. The streets and homes of Kashmir were resonating with a shrill, resounding, popular call for freedom from India. Life in Kashmir was changing from daily meanderings to a heightened sense of history and ages of injustices meted out to Kashmiris as a people. This manifested itself into massive popular protests, declaring popular support for the armed struggle against Indian rule, which had been launched in the late 1980s.
As Kashmiri masses were riding high on the wave for "azadi" ["freedom" - from India]; women did not remain impervious to the charged political landscape. They were pushed by circumstance or sentiment of nationalism to engage either as victim-activists, protesters or as separatist politicians. However, a Kashmiri woman's identity and place in historical accounts describing her position in the ongoing struggle - more often than not - is seen to rest at being a "victim".
Read the whole article at AlJazeera, published 2. August
The late eighties and early nineties formed a turning point in the contemporary political history of the Indian administered valley of Kashmir. The streets and homes of Kashmir were resonating with a shrill, resounding, popular call for freedom from India. Life in Kashmir was changing from daily meanderings to a heightened sense of history and ages of injustices meted out to Kashmiris as a people. This manifested itself into massive popular protests, declaring popular support for the armed struggle against Indian rule, which had been launched in the late 1980s.
As Kashmiri masses were riding high on the wave for "azadi" ["freedom" - from India]; women did not remain impervious to the charged political landscape. They were pushed by circumstance or sentiment of nationalism to engage either as victim-activists, protesters or as separatist politicians. However, a Kashmiri woman's identity and place in historical accounts describing her position in the ongoing struggle - more often than not - is seen to rest at being a "victim".
Read the whole article at AlJazeera, published 2. August