August 14, 2011

KASHMIR'S FIRST LITERARY FESTIVAL HIT BY CONTROVERSY

Posted by The Himalayan Voice:
["A festival just for the sake of literature is always welcome but if it is done to show that everything is OK these days then it is a problem," said Arshad Mushtaq, a well-known local playwright whose recent work focused on the ongoing detention without trial of young men in Kashmir. "How can discussion be free and fair if people are afraid to speak their minds? It is an exercise in propaganda?"]

By Jason Bruke
Kashmir appears the perfect location for a literary festival. Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP 

With its placid lakes, snow-capped mountains, and deep cultural heritage, Kashmir would seem to be the perfect location for a literary festival. Yet the first such event to be held in the disputed Indian state, which is slowly recovering from decades of brutal conflict, has been hit by controversy.

Organisers say the festival, scheduled for next month, will create "an open and democratic space for poetry, readings and dialogue", but leading cultural figures in the Muslim-majority territory are already saying the event is propaganda and several international Kashmiri writers have made clear they do not want to take part.

One is London-based Mirza Waheed, whose first novel, The Collaborator, was published to critical acclaim earlier this year. "The organisers have said the event will be apolitical. So what would I do if I was there? What would I read? Every page I have written is political," he told the Guardian.

Another high-profile author who will not be attending is Basharat Peer, author of the much praised Curfewed Night, an autobiographical account of growing up in the worst years of the conflict between insurgents and Indian security forces in Kashmir in the 1990s.

"It really makes me angry," Peer said. "The mainstream Indian press has made it sound like the festival is part of bringing civilisation to Kashmir. It's a fine idea but the framing of the event in the media has been extremely problematic and condescending." Kashmir was divided between Pakistan and India in the violent chaos that followed the end of British imperial rule in south Asia. Unrest in the former princely kingdom, the only Muslim-majority state in largely Hindu India, prompted a draconian security crackdown in the late 1980s.

Up to 70,000 died in the ensuing conflict. In recent years, violence has ebbed, in part due to better relations between India and neighbouring Pakistan, although last year still saw hundreds of insurgents, police, soldiers and civilians were killed.

In their reports on the festival, the Indian Express referred to "winds of change" while the Times of India said the state was "turning a page".

Even if this summer has so far been relatively calm, some Kashmiris are angered by claims that the situation is normal.

"A festival just for the sake of literature is always welcome but if it is done to show that everything is OK these days then it is a problem," said Arshad Mushtaq, a well-known local playwright whose recent work focused on the ongoing detention without trial of young men in Kashmir. "How can discussion be free and fair if people are afraid to speak their minds? It is an exercise in propaganda?"

Organiser Namita Gokhale, part of the team that created the internationally renowned festival in the western Indian city of Jaipur, said that the idea for the Kashmir event had come from Kashmiris. "The idea arose from a wish to emulate some of the stimulating results of otherfestivals. There was special interest and enthusiasm from several Kashmiri writers after the success and visibility of the Kashmir sessions at the Jaipur literature festival this year," she said.

"There is nothing wrong with controversy. There was perhaps some misinterpretation of my use of the word 'apolitical' … The festival will attempt to provide a literary platform for all shades of opinion."

Literary festivals are increasingly popular in south Asia with the success of Jaipur sparking events in Kerala and Kathmandu. The annual event in Galle in Sri Lanka has also gained major international recognition.

But many cause controversy. Earlier this year, one of the organisers of the Jaipur festival, the British writer William Dalrymple, was drawn into a media row over the role of English language writing and western critics in south Asia.

Few are as fraught as Kashmir, however. Opinion about the event is polarised.

Local columnist ZG Muhammed told the Mail Today newspaper that the festival was "a good beginning" that would help Kashmiris "carve a niche in the literary world".

Rahul Pandita, a Kashmir-born author based in Delhi, said he hoped it would be possible "to transcend the boundaries of petty politics" and allow young Kashmiris "the chance to tell their stories".

But Peer said he was happy with his decision not to attend. "How can authors who tell the story of abuses of power or the suffering of people in Kashmir be part of such an event? I would rather go to a jail in Srinagar and read my book to the young people who are still imprisoned there."
[A police investigator working on the case said his team had not determined whether the abductors were Islamist militants or kidnappers seeking a ransom. Kidnapping for ransom is not uncommon in Pakistan. The tactic is used by both criminal rings and Islamist militant groups to raise money, authorities say. But the targets are rarely foreigners.]

By Karin Brulliard and Aoun Sahi 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A band of gunmen abducted an American aid worker from his home in the eastern city of Lahore early Saturday, Pakistani police officials said, in an unusual incident likely to fuel questions about the security of Americans in a country beset by both Islamist militancy and kidnapping gangs.
The U.S. Embassy identified the man as Warren Weinstein, and a profile on the LinkedIn networking Web site indicated that he serves as Pakistan country director for the Arlington-based development contractor J.E. Austin Associates. The firm’s Web site said it has held contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), including in the insurgent-riddled tribal border region, and that Weinstein headed a “strategic development and competitiveness” initiative.
The LinkedIn profile said Weinstein — who maintains a residence in Rockville — had lived in the cultural hub of Lahore for seven years. A Lahore police investigator, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Weinstein mostly traveled between the eastern cities of Lahore, Islamabad and Sialkot and that he had no evidence Weinstein had worked in the northwestern tribal areas.
A police investigator working on the case said his team had not determined whether the abductors were Islamist militants or kidnappers seeking a ransom. Kidnapping for ransom is not uncommon in Pakistan. The tactic is used by both criminal rings and Islamist militant groups to raise money, authorities say. But the targets are rarely foreigners.
Even so, in a country where anti-American sentiment runs deep, the U.S. Embassy and American contracting firms often severely limit their employees’ travels, citing security concerns. U.S. officials say that has hampered their ability to implement civilian aid projects in Pakistan, a U.S. ally.
A State Department travel warning this month warned U.S. citizens of what it called a growing kidnapping threat across Pakistan. Two Swiss citizens were abducted last month as they traveled in the restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, and the Pakistani Taliban asserted responsibility. The two remain missing.
Foreigners in Pakistan have faced increasing scrutiny since January, when a CIA contractor fatally shot two Pakistanis who he said were trying to rob him on a busy Lahore street corner. That incident sparked a firestorm of rumors about battalions of American spies roaming around Pakistan, raising concern among U.S. officials that Americans, including aid workers, might face new threats.
Deputy police superintendent Shahzada Saleem said Weinstein was at his rented house in the upscale Model Town neighborhood when three men approached his security guards about 3:10 a.m. Saturday and offered to share food before the Ramadan fast began at daybreak. As the guards opened a gate, at least three more men forced their way in, tied up the guards and a driver, and abducted Weinstein, Saleem said. The men wore Western-style shirts and pants, police said.
Another senior police official said that it appeared “insiders” — possibly people who worked at Weinstein’s home — were involved and that his guards and driver had been taken in for questioning.
Weinstein’s LinkedIn profile said he works in Pakistan on an $11 million USAID-funded “competitiveness” project relating to products including dairy, gems, furniture and marble.
Alberto Rodriguez, a U.S. Embassy spokesman, said American officials were working with Pakistani authorities on the case.
Police officials said Weinstein had just returned from a 10-day stay in Islamabad, the capital, and that a calendar recovered from his house and statements from his staff indicated he intended to leave for the United States on Monday. It was unclear whether he planned to leave permanently or return to Pakistan.
A man who identified himself only as “a family friend” issued the following statement in response to a reporter’s requests to speak to members of Weinstein’s family: “The family does not wish to talk to the press at this time. They ask that people respect their privacy during this trying time.”
Jeanne Wagonner, who has lived on the same street in Weinstein’s Rockville neighborhood for more than 30 years, said her husband told her of the kidnapping Saturday morning after hearing the news on television. “He has always been overseas, so we almost never see him,” Waggoner said of Weinstein. “When he is home, he waves and we exchange hellos. He is a very private person.”
According to the J.E. Austin Web site, Weinstein has 25 years of experience in international development, particularly in banking and private enterprise. He has a doctorate from Columbia University and is proficient in six languages, the site said.
U.S.-Pakistan tensions have sharpened following the January shooting in Lahore and the U.S. commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden. In recent months, the Pakistani government and military have sought to reduce the number of U.S. officials working in Pakistan, as well as to restrict the movements of U.S. diplomats and other foreign workers.
Sahi, a special correspondent, reported from Lahore. Staff writer Kimberly Kindy and staff researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.