Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies

Dear HumanDHS network friends

Please find below a new publication on Kashmir.

Kind regards
Brian Ward

Contested Border and Division of Families in Kashmir
Contextualizing the Ordeal of the Kargil Women

Authors:

Seema Shekhawat is associated with Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai,
Mumbai, India. She received her PhD from the University of Jammu, J&K. Her published
works include Conflict and Displacement in Jammu and Kashmir: The Gender Dimension
(2006).

Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra is associated with Centre for Central Eurasian Studies,
University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India. He received his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi. His published works include, India-Russia Partnership: Kashmir,
Chechnya and Issues of Convergence (2006) and Central Eurasia: Geopolitics,
Compulsions and Connections, Factoring India (2008).

WISCOMP, New Delhi, 2009

Contested Border and Division of Families in Kashmir: Contextualizing the Ordeal of the Kargil Women questions the state-centred focus of previous studies on the Kashmir conflict by centrally engaging with the issue of its humanitarian costs. By retelling the narratives of families divided by the contested border that carves Kashmir into parts, the authors do two things. One, they document the suffering that ordinary people, especially women, have endured as a consequence of the six decade conflict between India and Pakistan. Two, and importantly, they reclaim the geographic space that has been alienated from the population living in the area under the so called realist paradigm, and in so doing seek a recasting of the theoretical and policy debate on security and nationalism in the two countries.
The focus of investigation is the contested border dividing the Kargil district and its impact on the local population living along the border. These impacts are multilayered- from division of families to repeated displacement, shelling and land mines to the presence of security personnel. Hence, the humanitarian impact in Kargil is immense and this work painfully highlights the human suffering that has resulted from the protracted conflict.

While the fact that borderlanders have to confront the realities of state control in a much more rigorous fashion when nation and state borders are not co-terminus, which has been established in the literature, the unique condition of the Kargilis has not been thus far the focus of academic research. An emotionally loaded issue in the region is the tragedy of the divided families. When the borders –were drawn and redrawn after the wars in 1947-1949, 1965 and 1971, men and women who happened to be on the other side of the border were forced to remain there. Thus families were split – women lost their husbands; mothers lost their daughters and sons and, sisters and brothers were separated from each other. The authors have compiled fascinating first-hand accounts of journeys across the LOC and of family reunifications, as well as of failed excursions and disappointments. Shekhawat and Mahapatra bring specific attention to the importance of intra-Kashmir routes. They point out how the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakote routes have made possible the reunification of families and facilitated trade. They argue that the opening of the Kargil-Skardu route would have similar benefits.

Previously, not much research has been undertaken on the gendered experiences of the division of Kashmir (although research on the impact of Partition on women in Punjab has been undertaken), thus Shekhawat and Mahapatra’s work is also significant from this standpoint. Highlighting the gendered dimensions of borders and life in the borderland, they investigate the implications for women separated from their husbands or family members. They found that even though economic, social and emotional
hardships sometimes compelled women to remarry, whilst others chose to remain single and raise their
children alone, the emotional toll on all separated women was widespread. Women, who had never
before considered working, had to take up vocation in order to provide for their children. Clearly, also
the trauma of losing loved ones had immense effect on the psyche of both men and women. In these
circumstances, the borderlanders have used several strategies to organize reunions.

Apart from applying for visa and going through circuitous routes to reach their destinations, they sometimes arrange meetings abroad during travels or religious pilgrimages. However, even here women experience several gendered hurdles to meet their relatives again. Low social status, illiteracy and lack of economic resources, are some explanations offered for their inability to apply for passport and visa, arrange for tickets, and travel alone to a foreign country. Sometimes also permission from the husband or extended family is denied. Hence, authors are apprehensive that even if the Kargil-Skardu route is opened, these gender structures would make it difficult for women to reunite with their families.
As little work has previously highlighted the gendered experiences of borderland life in Jammu and
Kashmir, Shekhawat and Mahapatra are opening up a new field for future research. The specific
dynamics of a contested border brings out complex and vibrant experiences not only from a geopolitical
perspective, but also for that of the people on the ground. The LOC has divided families and stalled all
forms of interaction between the two parts of Kashmir. The opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route and the symbolic bus ride flagged off by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 7, 2005, as well as the subsequent opening of the Poonch-Rawalakote route in 2006, had, to some extent, accorded fluidity to the intra-Kashmir border. The Mumbai attack in November 2008 has severely restricted movement again.

Whilst this study has painted the contours of the human costs of the rigid intra-Kashmir border, much needs to be accomplished in terms of documenting the positive impact of cross-LOC contact on securing human needs and well-being.

Contents: Introduction; Drawing and Redrawing of Borders; Softening of Borders; The Forbidden
Route; Chronicling Women’s Woes; Mapping Gendered Hurdles; Conclusion

Seema Shekhawat is associated with Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai,
Mumbai, India. She received her PhD from the University of Jammu, J&K. Her published
works include Conflict and Displacement in Jammu and Kashmir: The Gender Dimension
(2006).

Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra is associated with Centre for Central Eurasian Studies,
University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India. He received his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi. His published works include, India-Russia Partnership: Kashmir,
Chechnya and Issues of Convergence (2006) and Central Eurasia: Geopolitics,
Compulsions and Connections, Factoring India (2008).
Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP)
Foundation for Universal Responsibility
————————————————————————————————————————
Core 4 A, Upper Ground Floor, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003, India
Phone: 91-11-24648450 Fax: 91-11-24648451
Email: wiscomp2006[@]gmail.com; Website: www.wiscomp.org

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