Prem'sJourney

I started reading “Curfewed Nights” by Basharat Peer after reading “Our Moon Has Blood Clots” by Rahul Pandita. Both are of about the same age and are talking about the same time, landscape, and issue. But what struck me like a thunderclap on my head is, I was looking at two different windows into their world which show completely different scenes. I know it is the same land they are talking about, Kashmir. But the views they presented were completely diverse. While Rahul Pandita chooses to focus only on the issues of Pandits and pointing to religious bigotry of the Muslim brethren as a crux of the issue, without any larger context thus blinding out the organisational apathy and atrocities on Kashmir on whole, Peer tries to cover a larger picture. Both choose to go silent on the pains, atrocities, and ravages the other side faced. To be fair to Peer, he tries to walk around the Hindu Pandit issue with fragility and tenderness it requires, but he never delves into what triggered it or

Today Kashmiri Pandits are in the crossfire of the National Political battlefield, becoming the subject of Electoral fortunes. The government and its right-wing propaganda mills have started grinding them suddenly after eight years of just making cosmetic noises. Today it is the fodder for ultra nationalist fervour, like many others before it. The Left is also briskly shooting from the hip trying to reduce the issue to a minor statistical detail, to suit its narrative and broad brushing of the issue. Between these two sides, the issue, and the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits are being torn like a rag between the mouths of rabid dogs, without any empathy or kindness that it requires. Unfortunately, masses on either side of the divide, are fed on steroids of social media with little patience to do real reading and informed decisions... While the issue is very complex and solution is nowhere near the horizon, it is important to first listen to the Kashmiri Pandit view of their issue withou