Chasing A Mirage

The Kashmir conflict continues to be one of the long pending issues be fore the United Nations. The people in this northern-most State of India have lived amidst chaos, confusion, trauma, turmoil and prolonged conflict. The Kashmir story though simple has been misinterpreted and misrepresented, thus making it a complex and a confusing issue. The conflict has engulfed both men and women; while men crossed the border to receive training in arms, the women were at the frontline participating in the protest marches and providing the psycho-social support to the menfolk. The broad narrative which surrounds the J&K conflict has always been woven around the role played by men in forms of freedom fighters, militants, martyrs and security forces, while the women who have played an exemplary role and bore the brunt of this insurgence, remain unrecognized and unnoticed. It is this non-recognition of the role of Kashmiri women which one gets to learn about through Manisha Sobhrajani’s work. Her book documents her encounters with the women from diverse backgrounds and the ways they defied various kinds of oppression.