Arshid Malik
Anger, best defined as a feeling of displeasure, irritation or hostility can have different dimensions with mild to violent responses. Psychological theories consider anger as a response to pain. Thus when we feel a sort of pain or irritation or go through unpleasant feelings along with a realization of a potential threat, we tend to get angry.
Kashmir is on the boil, again, almost all of a sudden. What exactly flared up the masses this time over may be debatable in terms of whether it was some kind of inherent unrest that bubbled up for air or was it specific circumstances crafted by solitary incidents that revved up the crowd, or perhaps still an amalgamation of both? Whatever the answer be, it is for sure that there is a lot of anger brewing among the people. These people are badly hurt, be it at the hands of the historic “betrayal” propagated by the Indian super state back in time, the ever resonant bad governance, the self-inflicted collective compunction bordering on existentialist threads (almost everyone around here regrets having ever been born), or the “omnipresent” onslaught on the collective self of Kashmiris at the hands of the “security” forces. And the bad (and perhaps very sad) factoid is that this hurt was never recognized by the Indian super state, which by all means adheres to the seat of sovereignty over Kashmir.
Pocket-sized editions of treason and ever-effective violation of rights are found scattered all over the Kashmiri soil. So people here really do not need to categorically hunt for issues that bother their sustenance. You just reach inside your proverbial pocket and lo and behold, you have an issue at hand, seeking immediate attention and anything else you can do to make it more compound. Thereof, we really have issues all along to protest about and around. So while all else is swept clean off collective reason, what we are left with is the very elementary build-up along purely human emotional terrains of resident hurt and anguish. This hurt and anguish mosses up on the collective psyche of Kashmiri people and whenever and wherever there is a build-up of emotional vitality there collaterally emerges a need for catharsis. And catharsis it is, osmosized across the translucent planes of emergent paucity and divergent teemingness.
What is happening in Kashmir as of now should not come as a surprise for the observant but rather as surmise. We are at present witness to a mass catharsis of pent up anger and anguish. One could very well alienate a corroborative pattern along the lines while working on possible stimuli, but an elementary analysis should primarily focus on the compounds affecting the chemistry.
It has come around in the shape and form of three years in a row and there is every possibility that the widespread protests that rock Kashmir right now have built up a strong periodicity. While the administration at the state level and the think tanks at the Centre attempt to fuse the tensions in the Valley by resorting to cane charging and divesting initiatives, they should rather analyse the “genetics” of the unrest in Kashmir and if possible attach a more human angle to the whole suction process. Imposition of curfews and barricaded restrictions are only helping stew up the anger.
