"Khoon Chhu Divaan Baarav" or Blood Speaks in the End (Arshia Malik, 2016)
This is for all of those who think that we never were speaking for minority rights, women's rights, child rights or LGBTQ rights. We were always speaking, looking for ways to do it since the Valley erupted. Most of the younger generation forgets that there was only STD facility till the early 90s. Cable TV was just coming and there was no Internet, which is a recent phenomenon.
They do not understand that the 24/12/8/6-hour electricity that
what they enjoy in winter months is nothing compared to what we faced with no
power lines the entire 2-3 snow-bound months. That we were in a cocoon, cut-off
from the rest of the world with rumours rife, and terror heightened,
complicated by the fact of lesser means of communication - be it the BBC, or
the pathetically inadequate Kashmir Times, Srinagar Times, Chattan, etc. That
they too were militant-controlled. Not unlike today where the dominant azadi
narrative runs the new English and Urdu dailies.
But to create a belief that we started writing/standing up for
social justice recently is just plain obfuscation that the JNU-Berkeley-KU
nexus enjoys in creating for the ''regressive Left''. Since I am not into
social groups at all, the rumours reach late to me, but that is the nature of
gossip - it inevitably reaches the person/persons/groups being discussed.
So here is to those who think we recently started speaking out
for Pandit ethnic cleansing, Muslim mass graves, disappeared, and torture
victims, half widows, widows and orphans, incest, and sexual abuse rampant in
the Valley, psychological impact of conflict on the population, women's rights
within and without marriage, environment pollution, class struggle, and other
social, political, cultural inequalities. We just didn't have the means to do it,
and most of us were teenagers and youth until the Internet broke the monopoly
of the dominant narrative.
The fear of the gun delayed our voices and it still does, but as
history goes, change happens, and cultures, civilisations evolve. We were
always speaking out, we were always standing up for what was not right and
unjust, in our personal and social lives, now we have the ability and means to
take it to a larger gathering and people.
And no, none of us are paid, or sponsored. I can affirmatively
say that we take care of our families with the sweat of our brows, the blood
off our backs (literally in my case) and the moral courage of our conscience.
Whoever you are, know that blood speaks in the end, ''khoon chhu baarav
divaan''.
Truth prevails, no matter how much of a casualty it may become
in war.
. . .
Original post by Arshia Malik (17 June 2016):
Comments
Post a Comment