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Kashmir: 'A Corner of Hell'

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Basharat Peer tells Pankaj Mishra why the Kashmir conflict should be a concern for the US and the rest of the world. (5 min., 11 sec.)

NEW YORK, April 12, 2010 - What is life like in Kashmir today, and what is the status of peace talks between India and Pakistan?

Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer, author of the memoir Curfewed Night and an Open Society Institute Fellow, shared his deep concerns about present-day Kashmir at Asia Society New York Center.

In a conversation with Indian journalist and critic Pankaj Mishra, author of Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond, Peer gave his personal perspective on a widespread and brutal conflict that has claimed approximately 70,000 lives since its eruption in 1989.

"It is a corner of hell," said Peer in reference to the current political situation in Kashmir, before reading excerpts from Curfewed Night. Through stories from Peer's youth, the memoir depicts how profoundly the ongoing battle over Kashmir affects the lives of ordinary citizens living there. The author emphasized that despite India and Pakistan's attempts to restart the peace talks after the 2008 Bombay attacks, there has not been any progress and both countries have not come to an agreement that would put an end to their territorial dispute.

In fact, Peer predicts the situation is only likely to get worse in the future: "The headline that is often repeated in every South Asian newspaper today about Kashmir reads: 'Expect a Hot Summer.'"

In response to Mishra's question as to why America should be interested in Kashmir, Peer explained that the conflict is more than just a territorial disagreement—and there are fundamental human concerns, which the US can ill afford to ignore. Furthermore, he added, resolution of the Kashmir conflict would also be helpful in addressing the problems of instability not just in Afghanistan but the region as a whole.

Mishra and Peer agreed that one of the most pressing issues of the ongoing territorial battle between India and Pakistan is the new generation of Kashmiris who have grown up in the shadows of the insurgency, and are being recruited into mass militant movements. As Peer emphasized, continuing acts of violence and incitement to hatred are ultimately a dead end. He speculated, however, that resolving the territorial battle over Kashmir could potentially bring solutions to many other problems that India and Pakistan share.

Nevertheless, when an audience member asked Peer whether he saw any leader or organization on the horizon that could play a decisive role in reaching that resolution, he remained skeptical. "Things will not change unless both India and Pakistan and their political powers and population move forward."

Reported by Malgorzata Juszczak-Punwaney

Shop AsiaStore for Curfewed Night

yogi | 02:28:11 01:16am
Looks like you got your "story" from the pakistani side...
Atmo Jyakumar | 04:18:10 11:50pm
Why did every five Kashmiri s are behind the gun point? How many innocent people where killed? How many girls where raped by Security forces? Why fear to allow a credible international agency to enquire the real situation?
Dr. nO. P. Sudrania | 04:19:10 06:56am
Dear Sir Mr Atmo.... I can not understand the intent in your question. But I can certainly add to question, "Who raped the Balochs and Pakhtuns". There should be an equally impartial inquiry in those atrocities too. In fact there are, yet Pakistan keeps blaming India for that too. Because being India centric is the best and cheapest business for them. It helps the flow of US as well as petro-dollars. To your naivity, I might request you to explore the international reports, which have already been done and are on internet to see, only if you are seriously interested in these impartial enquiries to digest. The latest report by Gary Ackerman, Chairman of the Middle East subcommittee of the House of Representatives in USA is equally revealing. But you seem to be either oblivious or not interested in truth. It is the problem with you, like the Muslim mindset in general. This is a brain child of the Muslim elites to keep the valley on boil and embarrass the Indian establishment. The recent Srinagar Bar Council meeting discuussion to suggest to (mis)lead the Kashmiri people to ask the embarrassing questions. Are you unaware of the recent visit of Rahul Gandhi in Dec 2009 to Aligarh Muslim University, where he was asked by a girl student, "When will be a Muslim Prime Minister in India". What more embarrassing and ungrateful question a hardcore Islamised mindset ask? This is despite the fact that Muslims are breeding like rats in India (as Sir Winston Churchill had said about Indians after the Bengal famine in 1942, are you aware of it); while the minorities In Pakistan and Bangladesh are becomming extinct. Whatever dismal numbers are left, are living a life of hell. Could your heart bleed for those kafirs or dhimmis too. Dr. O. P. Sudrania
Dr. O. P. Sudrania | 04:17:10 10:17am
Let me now quote specifics of Muslim elites. Senator Maulana Muhammad Ibrahim is double MA in Journalism as well as Political Science. Also Ll. B. and is a big name in Pakistan Hierarchy. Space prevents details here. Is also Vice President of Jamat-i Islami, Pakistan, a hardcore Deobandi Sunni/Wahhabi fundamentalist organisation. When it came to militancy in Pakistan, he said,"Militancy must be condemned and rooted out wherever it exists in the world". Perhaps his world means their own own fantasy lands where they live with their 72 Hurries. See the link:http://enews.ferghana.ru/article.php?id=2570 ( dated 16.09.2009) Now let us hear him in his interview by Rooh-ul-Amin (4/14/2010) at this link: { http://globalpolitician.com/26366-pakistan-interview }; where he talks of Darul Harb, Darul Amn, Darul Islam, Zizzia, Ahle Zimmah and so on. Then he goes on to say, "Why Muslims can not make a united nation with Hindus". He was commenting on India-Pakistan partition. How are you going to emancipate with such a diseased mindset? I think the onus is on the Muslims themselves to answer! Amen. Dr. O. P. Sudrania
Dr. O. P. Sudrania | 04:17:10 09:38am
I have no malice against any caste or religion. But my recent studies on Islam has scared me of the hate filled muslim mindset and their aggression in the blood. They just don't seem to know, what is peace. I have read and keep reading and studying the contemporary muslim mindset of the most educated and elites. In fact, more educated they are, worst they become. Let us not go back in the olden medieval days of absent civilisation in the desert bed where Islam originated. Even Mecca had Hindus including Brahmins in pre-Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) days. Hussaini Brahmins are a stark (ungrateful) example who are still known to observe "Moharram" in the memory of "Ali". A long story but the hate filled Islamic outfits do not like to know of them. So what respect could all others expect from them. By and large, Muslims should learn to live and let live; instead of talking big rhetorics. That, and that is the only way for world peace. Amen. Dr. O. P. Sudrania
Dr. O. P. Sudrania | 04:17:10 09:16am
Kashmir: 'A Corner of Hell', a well captioned column. I shall be very brief. The need to look into is the origin of the malaise. Unfortunately, truth is bitter but can not do without it either. With no malice, in the interest of truth, the need of the hour is to de-islamise the muslim mindset full of hate, jihad, sharia, kafirism, zizzia, dhimmitude, unabated polygamy, pedophilia, forced conversion or death, gender inequality, they only breath-eat-drink-sleep in the euphoria of fight, fight and fight only, not with non-muslims only but among muslims themselves. Ahmadis are muslims but Zia debarred them legally from Pakistani citizenship. Shia-Sunni conflicts are well known in Sindh, Pakistan; Iraq in Saddam regime was well known for ruthless persecution of majority Shias. You can write treaties on muslim atrocities even in modern times. As space is limited, I conclude respectfully in the best interests of Muslims themselves, respect begets respect. We all know the history. 1400 yrs ago Islam was no where. Hindu tolerance should not be misjudged as cowardism. Dr. O. P. Sudrania

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