The latest incident of unspeakable desecration has prompted the government to impose curfew in parts of Srinagar. The desecration appears to be an attempt by nefarious forces to disturb the peace and amity that obtains in Kashmir. Lest the attendant outrage morph into an ugly situation, the government has imposed curfew as a pre-emptory measure. This is a prudent measure. However, it raises a set of questions: do we Kashmiris need to be under a curfew lest our arguments take a violent turn? Is our collective ego so fragile that we can be provoked my mischievous elements in a jiffy? What does all this tell us about the nature of our social and cultural ethos? Should we be taking recourse to the values that define us-tolerance, mutual respect and accommodation or should violence be the arbiter of all our arguments-social, religious and political?
Let us consider our social and cultural ethos first. Nurtured and nourished over centuries, our social and cultural ethos was and continues to be defined by tolerance, acceptance and respect for all. This is wired into the Kashmiri psyche. This then means that we are essentially a peace loving people and accommodative of diversity and plurality of opinion. What then explains the tendency to take our arguments-political, religious and cultural-on the streets?
This may be explained by the fact that our collective selves and sensibilities tend to be hurt by what are either slights or insults to what he hold dear and value. All is this well and good. We have the right to and should feel outraged to what are assaults on our values and what we hold dear. However, what is alarming is that this outrage take a violent turn. This is alien to our ethos and culture. If this constitutes an aberration and is alien to us, what could be done to obviate and negate this?
What we perhaps need to do is introspect. We need to delve deep into our collective self and have a conversation with our collective self. This means that we think through and thoroughly why we reach a tipping point and then take our arguments out on the street. This exercise will not only be cathartic but also revelatory. It may reveal that we have become overly sensitive and we vent out in ways that are alien to our nature and psyche.
It is not for one moment even implied here that we should not feel angry or outraged over scurrilous and outrageous incidents. What is meant here is that we should calmly see through the agendas and mischief behind these outrageous acts and then offer a calm, self- assured response that silences both our detractors and mischief makers. If we opt for violence then this means handing our enemies and mischief makers a victory on a plate- a gratifying victory which validates their cynical views about Kashmir and Kashmiris.
We are not a violent people. Violence is alien to use. We attracted the best of Sufis because of the beauty of the vale and our temperament and disposition. We evolved a unique syncretic dynamic where respect for human dignity, values and opinion was the norm. This has been a centuries old process and phenomenon. Islam was superimposed on this structure of values and beliefs very seamlessly and we became an example of peace and amity. It is this legacy that we are giving short shrift to by resolving arguments through violence. And it is against this that we must be eternally vigilant.
We are a capable, compassionate, intelligent, sensitive and kind people. It is these fine qualities that we must take recourse to when we feel outraged or when our decency is assaulted. Our collective self has been bruised by the violence of the past couple of decades. This self needs healing and it can only be healed when we become the paragons of peace, abstain from violence and answer our detractors, enemies and mischief makers with calm, rational argument; not violence. We would then be being true to our- selves and nature.
And it would do us a lot of good. Calm , dispassionate analysis of our problems and issues will lead to solutions that will redound positively to our society. Violence, to the contrary will only aggravate them. So let us with all sincerity and conscientiousness have this conversation with ourselves and then look each other squarely in the eye and ask: Is this really us? Do we need curfews to impose peace? The answer will be a resounding no.
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