Ms.Wahi of Himmat replies

This is the reply I got to my question about the efforts that various organisations might have made for the victims of Punjab and J&K terrorism?
SM

Dear Shyam,

Thank you for writing in. I am sorry I opened my mail only yesterday because I have been out of my office since more than a week.

I am sure other people too would have responded in their own way, but I will also try to.

I do not think any one of us believes that communalism, communal discourse or communal massacres started happening only after ’84. Nor are these confined to merely our part of the world. Nor are they committed by any one section or community.

I would probably be speaking for everyone here when I say that our sympathies and support go to people of Kashmir who have been victimized both by the militants and by the states (both governments of India and Pakistan). To those who have been displaced and driven out. To those too who have been killed in numerous landmine accidents and who have been caught in the crossfire between the militants and the army. To those who have been tortured while being perceived as informers of either the militants or the armies. To women who have to bear the burden of the continuing conflict again from all sides.

We also understand the particular situation of the minority (pandits in Kashmir, muslims in Gujarat). But in Kashmir it gets further complicated because of the claimed stakes of both governments and their actions or inactions. I also feel terribly for those displaced in Kashmir – because even though a lot of political parties speak on their behalf, they do not do anything to reach out to the victims nor do they try in anyway to work towards a settlement of the Kashmir problem.

I went to Gujarat as a volunteer to help in the relief camps – and stayed on – as I built relationships with women survivors and Himmat was born. I would also like to go to Kashmir but till now haven’t been able to. But of course there are a lot many organizations and well known activists who have been consistently working with people there across the regional and religious divide. Some who work for rehabilitation and others who work for re-conciliation. As I say this I am aware that a few widow homes here and there can not in any ways be an answer to a crisis of such magnitude. But everyone responds in their own ways, according to their understanding and capacities.

I know of Veer Munshi – an artist who has brought the plight of being Kashmiri on canvas. He himself had to migrate from the valley. Sonia Jabbar – noted activist and journalist – her film Autumn’s final country and photo exhibition (along with Sheeba chachi) – ‘When the gun is raised, dialogue stops’ – are voices of ordinary women from J&K. There are many others who have been trying to give space to voices of sanity. Someone more familiar with Kashmir would be able to tell you that.

I am responding to you because I feel often when some of us work actively in a certain area and with a certain group – it is automatically assumed that we are for or against some religious communities. But in reality those of us who work closely with survivors know that one person’s pain cannot cancel out another’s. Just as one person’s loss cannot be blamed on another person’s community.
But what is possible and what should happen is to build bridges – between victims and survivors – from Kashmir to Gujarat to Punjab.

If we keep seeing each other through the prisms of what religion the victims and perpetrators belong to and in the process miss out the complexities and nuances that lie underneath and choose to ignore state backed fundamentalism and injustices – among other factors – we will overlook the pain that ordinary people have to go through and we would miss opportunities towards reconciliation and justice.

I am aware my response may not satisfy you. But I have attempted none the less.

Warm wishes

Monica Wahi