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Snatching Pens and Taking Guns: A Study on Fahad Shah’s ‘Of Occupation and
Resistance: Writings from Kashmir’
Arundhati Raju and Krishna P. C.
I MA English Language and Literature
Naipunnya School of Management,Cherthala

Kashmir, also known as the ‘Switzerland of East’ has been a witness to bloodiest

battles and uncertainty since time immemorial. The conflict of India and Pakistan over the

land of Kashmir is a fifty-seven year old issue which still hasn’t found any tangible success.

Over the years the plight of Kashmiris was unheard in the society as their medium of

expression was suppressed and controlled, but gradually there evolved a set of youngsters

who dared to raise their voice through multiple medium like literature, social networking,

sites, music, art etc.

Fahad Shah, a Kashmiri journalist, writer, and editor of ‘The Kashmiri Walla’, is

one among the journalists who is well known for his anthology , ‘Of Occupation and

Resistance : Writings from Kashmir’(2013) which is a series of chronicles narrated by

different Kashmiris living inside and outside the valley. The book is divided into four

different sections namely, ‘Memoirs’, ‘Resistance’, ‘Longing’, and ‘The Kashmiri Walla’.

The first section of the anthology consists of seven narratives of different Kashmiris each

sharing a varied experience of their encounters with the chaos in Kashmir. The second

section, ‘Resistance’ too contains stories of oppression and resistance like, ‘Why Am I a

Stone Thrower’ and ‘The Portrait of a Stone Thrower as Blind Man’. The third section,

‘Longing’ narrates the stories of matters and half widower’s who are still awaiting their

missing sons and husband’s arrival. The last section ‘The Kashmiri Walla’ consists of

reports and narratives which are more of a journalistic value. Since the civil uprising in

2008, there has been an upsurgence in the youth resistance in Kashmir. There has been a
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shift from the older generation to the younger generation who has chosen various means

including violence to protest and raise their voice. This paper focuses on the youth

resistance in Kashmir where they have sought to alternative means of objection like rap

music, underground graffiti, literature, social networking sites and sometimes even stone

pelting which is an adverse means.

Barbara Harlow, a leading critic in Middle East writing, in her book

‘Resistance Literature’ (1987) says,

“The struggles for national liberation and independence have not only sought

Independence have not only sought socio-economic control and cultural

domination but have also produced a significant corpus of literary writing,

both narrative and poetic; as well as a broad spectrum of theoretical analysis

of the political, ideological and cultural parameters of this struggle.”

Caeliann Hogan, an Irish freelance writer, in one of the stories in ‘Resistance’,

titled ‘Summer in the Valley’, has remarkably described the uncertainty in Kashmir by

saying,

“Kashmir seemed to represent an intangible ideal, a word simultaneously

analogous with conflict and paradise, a land claimed and contested, coveted

as the crown of India and one of the most militarized regions in the world”

( 93/212)

Youths play a very important role in the society. A state’s youth determines its future

through their level of growth in the fields of education, career and economic stability. It’s a

period of time when one becomes independent and sought out one’s own means of
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livelihood. But in the case of the youth of Kashmir, resistance has become a means of

survival for them. An extract from a news in Aljazeera says that,

“The year of 2017 has been the year of student uprising in Kashmir”

A troubling trend has now evolved in Kashmir where the youth of Kashmir transists from

academia to insurgency. “Growing numbers of young Kashmiris turned to militancy in

2018, according to official figures, giving new energy to an armed struggle that as recently

as a few years ago appeared to be diminishing”, says a report which appeared on ‘The

Washington Post’ published by Joanna Slater on the 28th march 2019. Youth of Kashmir says

that when they want to raise their voice for self-determination, self -defense or liberty, they

are often arrested or punished under the very notorious law called a Public Safety Act (PSA)

which ruins their whole life. This ruthless suppression of the youth in Kashmir has given

birth to violent storms where they turn to militancy to fight against the Indian government.

MC Kash, a resistance rapper from Kashmir, known for his famous track, ‘I

Protest’, in his story, ‘The Life of a Rebel Artist’ gives its readers a virtual image of the

shattered childhoods and adulthoods in Kashmir who are forced into streets for protest in

order to survive when they are supposed to be sitting in classrooms learning and framing

their future. Kash effectively conveys the pathetic situation of childhood in Kashmir through

the lines,

“we grow up amidst gunshots and funeral processions; saw our neighbors

mourning their dead sons. Women who used to pull our cheeks where now

beating their chest and bemoaning their losses. They would never pull of

cheeks again; they would just look with longing. I guess they changed after
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what had happened. In those days everybody changed. Everything changed.”

( 53/212 )

Literature serves as the platform for the subaltern to voice against the hegemony. Resistance

through literature brings to limelight the atrocities suffered by the minorities. As Barbara

Harlow says,

“Resistance literature, like the resistance and national liberation movements

which it reflects and in which it can be said to participate, not only demands

recognition of its independent status and existence as liberty production, but

such also presents a challenge to the codes and canons of both the theory and

the practice of literature and its criticism as there has been developed in the

west.” (Harlow, 1987: xvi)

The collective identity of Kashmir can be treated as a subaltern identity because of the week

relationship of the Kashmir minorities with the dominant political institutions.

MC, Kash recalls a childhood incident where the first word he uttered became ‘Azadi’. Such

was the depth of the sense of freedom instilled in the younger minds of Kashmir. Since

independence, Kashmiri’s have always considered themselves to be separate and distinct

from the nation. This is basically due to the Article 370, which is currently removed. To

Kashmiris ‘Azadi’ means ‘end to Indian occupation’. ‘Azadi’ means different things to

different Kashmiris ,different meanings evolved after achieving a shared common goal and

that is freedom from India. The solution proposed by the Kashmiris is to hold a plebiscite as

promised by the leaders of India and Pakistan with an option of independence.

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Kash briefly narrates about his journey to pursue rap music as a career. From a very young

age, MC Kash had a strong liking towards rap music, which stemmed from the admiration

he had for his father’s collection of songs. Initially he involved in rap music to escape the

realities of his land but gradually he found a scope to speak for Kashmir through his music.

Hip-hop music became his means to be a rebel.

“I remember listening to Eminem’s tracks and really just trying to figure out

his words at first. He was funny, abusive, angry and hated. I don’t know why

but i could relate to it all- the fury, the rejection, the –protest. Deep inside, I

felt as if I had found a new beginning. I know Hip-Hop was about. I would

listen to for years to come.” (Pg 56/212)

Fahad shah says that most of the youngsters from Kashmir born between the late 80’s and

early 90’s have chosen stones over guns, which they throw at the Indian forces. Stone

pelting has become a culture to the youth of Kashmir. Showkat Nanda another youngster

from Kashmir narrates his story of turning into stone pelting from photojournalism.

Through the act of stone pelting both the forces and the pelters are injured. The stone pelters

are often attacked by tear gas shells, rubber bullets and sling shots which lead to severe eye

injuries. The pelters have made stone, a choice for their protest, which is easily available

and defenseless. It is the brutal killings of the youth of the Kashmir by the Indian forces

which have become their motive for stone pelting

Nanda in his memoir, ‘The Pain of Being Haunted by Memories’ unfolds the events

which forced him to take up stone petting for survival. He was always in a state of dilemma,

wavering between his ethics and profession. There occurred instances when he had to
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capture images of the little hands in pool of blood or a mother shot dead on the head. He

says,

“I too wanted to have an identity –a nationality that identified me as a citizen

of the nation I was born in; where I was raised by parents; where I shared my

pain and happiness with my chums. An identity where my heart always

belonged. That’s why I turned into a stone thrower. (Pg32/212)

He merely, desires to have a right to life just like the other citizens of India. Like every

Kashmiri, Showkat Nanda too wishes to see the children and young adults of Kashmir to

have proper education and career like the younger generation of India. When his views were

suppressed he sought out wrong medium to express his protest. Similar is the situation of

several other youth of Kashmir.

Snatching Pens and Taking Guns: A Study on ‘Of Occupation and Resistance:

Writings from Kashmir’ (2013) is a paper about the survival, resistance, and transitional

change in Kashmir. The dissertation talks about the drastic state of Kashmiri youth, at the

age of enthusiasm and determination when they are supposed to be leading a successful life,

majority of Kashmiri youths are turned into militants and stone pelters.
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Works Cited

Shah,Fahad.Of Occupation and Resistance: Writings from Kashmir.Westland and

Tranquebar press,2013.print

Zia,Ather.Resistance is a way of life for Kashmiri Youth.Al Jazeera.N.p.,26

Apr.2017.Web.16 Sep.2019https://www.aljazeera.com

Shanker,Soumya.’’Mourning and Resistance in Kashmir after India Revoked the State’s

Special Status.”The Intercept.Web.14 Sep 2019https://www.google.com