By: Tmr Mohsin
The History of a nation is no less than a treasure although intangible.Its importance is well accepted & the impact it has on the nation and its citizenry is far-reaching as it acts a vivid guide elucidating future course of a nation in a crystal clear manner. A nation bereft of the guidance of its past is hard to avoid the serious repercussions that may possibly arise from its present maneuvers in future and thereby bound to harvest bitter fruits as natural outcome of its policies and strategies whatsoever. Such a nation is always vulnerable to unduly overcompensating its affairs instead of devising them in such a fashion that would lead them onto the path of politico-socio-economic sustainability.
History is both an individual and collective retrospection of previous heroics and follies… taking inspiration from marvelous achievements while at the same time rectifying past mistakes in a sense not to repeat them ahead in order to secure your nation from leaning into the lap of monstrous eventuality. This is what stands you firm, as a strong nation, against all odds. This is what makes you immune from doing the same old blunders.Therefore one cannot afford to overlook the strategic importance the history entails, by merely leafing through pages without delving deep into the important lessons it has to offer, especially the watershed events at local & global level which served as catalyst for the transformation of nations. However, civilizations, by and large, have cautiously trodden the path of preserving their history, with only exception of ours.
It’s actually our reluctance & criminal negligence in such a serious field that led to distortion and manipulation of historical facts and events at the hands of foreigners and native historians who every now and then mould the waxy nose of history as per their sweet will. In this case the movie, like recent, is a glaring example of arbitrary portrayal of Kashmir history in a grotesque manner seemingly with malicious designs.
One wonders what prompted our academicians to digest false legacies & distorted narration of K-history? That too at ease! On the other hand the native marauders under the guise of historians are always hell-bent to exploit every narration to their nefarious advantages. In this regard it becomes extremely necessary to come up with sincere scholastic endeavors most preferably through native ones so to exhume the deeply buried ‘monster of Kashmir enigma’ and unravel its true nature by removing the dust of arbitrary connotations and fallacious narrations that had shrouded over it.
Although some attempts (sporadic in nature) have been made to lift up the veil from the actual & citizen centric perspective. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by Prem Nath Bazaz, Qashmuqash by Choudhary G. Abbas, and so on. Nevertheless the true genesis of Kashmir has unexpectedly remained obscured at least outside the state which seriously points finger at our intellectual lot. Ironically a large chunk of Kashmiri people is not fully aware of the reason behind the constant turbulence! This has to be done with the help of Pen by frequently writing books , preparing literature, publishing research papers, documents etc on the history of Jammu & Kashmir.
Such a pathetic situation, where we have very meagre documentation availability of firsthand records & recollections of our original history should serve as a wake up call to our historians, writers and of course the journalists. Historiography in Kashmir is bustling with opportunities for budding writers to bring into limelight some of the unexplored dimensions. To build a new and profound narrative that may debunk all the myths and weed out the impurities which have crept in mostly from outside. Without questioning the credibility of foreign literary pieces written on Kashmir, the pain & the essence that would flow from the tip of a native pen may not be compensated through scribes and they may never be able to translate it into words.
Author has completed a Masters in Public Administration. He can be mailed at tmrmohsin321@gmail.com
