Resources / Book of the Month

I chose to read this book because I have heard a great deal about the long-term conflict in Kashmir but never really understood what was happening there. Author Justine Hardy’s story of that beautiful and sad region both educated and inspired me.

She tells the story of the Kashmir Valley through the lens of the Dars, a Muslim family with whom she became acquainted when she was seeking out markets for the sale of shawls made by a group of Kashmiri women she wanted to help. The patriarch of that family, Mohammad Dar, was a carpet merchant and became Hardy’s friend while trying to help her get the shawls to market.

Over the years, Hardy spent a good deal of time in and around Lake Nagin, near the city of Srinagar. This area was once a major tourist destination, where people came to live on houseboats moored on the lake. Prior to the late 1980s, Muslims and Hindus lived together peacefully in the Kashmir Valley. Throughout the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir (of which the valley is only a part) many religions were represented, including Buddhism and Christianity. That changed around 1989 when, according to Hardy, Muslim insurgents sponsored by Pakistan proclaimed jihad and initiated open warfare in the region.

Part of the nation of India, Jammu and Kashmir is a majority Muslim state that had a sizable Hindu minority prior to the conflict. Now many Hindus (Pandits) have fled their homes out of fear and the Indian army has, de facto, become an occupying force in India’s attempt to maintain order. The whole situation is very sad for all concerned, Muslim and Hindu alike, and by the end of the book it is pretty clear that this conflict will go on into the future. No end seems in sight.

However, Hardy does witness some bright spots. For instance, she relates stories of an Indian general who was able to gain the trust of many of the local Muslim village leaders, to the point where men—and I do mean men only—were able to help each other after the big 2005 earthquake without much regard for their religious and ethnic differences.

The women of the Valley take a decided back seat in life, wearing burqas and centering their lives around the home and their children. Hardy notes that prior to the conflict, the custom was for women to wear a head scarf rather than a full burqa, or even to go with no head covering at all. So, as with many Muslim communities, women have rigid roles and their aspirations are limited, yet Hardy tells their stories in such a way as to make them real rather than mere ciphers behind a veil. It gave me an appreciation for the courage and humility that these women demonstrate in the way they live their everyday lives.

This is a wonderful book and well worth reading.

-- Bonnie McEwan