Centenary Occasion

Kashmir Sentinel, with this issue is hundred issues old. For a journal, which survives on limited resources and enjoys a highly committed readership, it is a great moment. The idea to start this paper was born out of a realisation that the regional and the national press were giving a short shrift to the deprivations and problems of displaced Kashmiris.

The separatists in the Valley had ganged up with influential members in the Indian media and the civil society to indulge in disinformation on real reasons for Pandits' ethnic-cleansing, their deprivations in exile and on the issue of eventual return to homeland. These vested interests floated many myths about Kashmiri Muslim alienation and on the desired solutions. The purpose was to confuse the national opinion, keep the national focus blurred and lastly, to derail Central government's policy on Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandits.

Sensitive Indians and Kashmiri Pandits had deluge of disinformation to counter. Also, the exile breaks the resistance of a community. It endangers the physical and cultural survival of the community. There has to be a super-human effort, on the part of its members, to avert this eventuality. Yehudi Amchai, Mehmood Derwesh, Edward Said, all have been great intellectuals only because of their responsible role during exile.

Aware of the responsibilities, Kashmir Sentinel assumed the task of a crusade journal. It fought for the rights of displaced Kashmiris, as never before and boldly countered the disinformation on many issues. It challenged the national discourse on Kashmir and on the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus. Kashmir Sentinel drew the ire of the vested interests but admiration from the patriot. It polarised this schism even deeper. Gradually, Sentinel expanded its profile to cover the issues of regional discrimination, disinformation on Kashmir's history and culture and in-built contradictions in Centre's approach on Kashmir.

Globalisation and the imperatives of sheer survival are breaking down the primordial identities, crafted on the principles of community, caste, ethnicity or region. Isn't Pandits' ethnic-cleansing issue a part of the bigger malaise that threatens Kashmir's survival as a tolerant and pluralist society? Aren't displaced Kashmiris a part of the bigger community, which constitutes the people of J&K? The problems of the border refugees and other unfortunate victims of ethnic-cleansing in Doda and elsewhere have got submerged in other issues. Kashmir Sentinel made some modest attempts to bring the focus on these neglected people.

There are other issues which rivet attention. Every other day stories refer to how ordinary Kashmiris are being hounded out of their homes by the terrorists and slaughtered brutally, on the mere suspicion of being an 'informer' or for standing upto the terrorist diktat. These brave sons of Vitasta stand disowned not only by this great nation but also by the society, to which they immediately belong. Expediency and nation-building cannot go together. Aren't these people fighting India's second battle for freedom, i.e. national consolidation.

Sooner than later, the terrorist disruption is going to end. Priorities will shift to the arduous task of national reconstruction in Kashmir. What will be the future of 'identity politics' in Kashmir, which has fuelled communalism and fundamentalism? How far the Indian state will go in restoring Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland to fulfill its commitment to the nation? Will it bargain the exclusion of the Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir in return for an elusive peace? What message a 'monocultural society' in Kashmir is going to send elsewhere for nation-building? There will be other problems too--issues of regional discrimination and political re-organisation of the state, future of democracy and industrialisation in agrarian-mercantilist economy of Kashmir, allied issues of corruption, environmental degradation etc.

Kashmir Sentinel has stayed away from the temptations of sensational journalism. Its priority has not been the news but views. Its target is not the casual but committed reader, who is concerned about his country. At times, Sentinel may have taken liberties with the readability aspect, but then the larger concerns have been to build campaign on a vital issue. One hundred issues are enough to announce a verdict on the role of a journal. Whether Kashmir Sentinel has fulfilled its commitments for which it was launched, it is for its readers to tell. Aren't they, the real moral support, who have kept the going on for Kashmir Sentinel, despite all odds.