Militarization and Everyday Struggle

A Case of Families of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances in Kashmir

Abstract

The Indian state’s response to the late 1980s civil and armed uprising against the Indian rule over Kashmir witnessed excessive militarization that earned the region the distinction of being the highest militarized zone in the world. The intimacy of militarization in the everyday particularly increased the vulnerability of male members due to detentions and subsequent disappearances. Most of the disappearances have taken place during the cordon and search operations where male members are picked up, driven away in army trucks to unknown locations and later their custody is denied. In most of the cases, male member are the victims of the involuntary enforced disappearance leaving behind women members who are forced into the public sphere for their livelihood. The traditional male roles in a largely male dominated society are thus forced upon the women. The monthly sit-in protest in a public park by the families of the disappeared is a commemoration of the suffering and the means of challenging the Indian state’s regime of denial. This chapter captures the everyday lives of the families and their struggle against enforced disappearances. The primary focus will remain on the lives of the women members of the movement to understand their everyday negotiations with the Indian state and the larger patriarchal structures. Community meals were arranged to set the women free from household errands and ensure their involvement in the protests. When a majority of men retreated due to crack downs by (Indian armed forces) or went for training (to other side of Kashmir) the women carried on the movement. They marched to courts and camps of Indian armed forces to protest against detentions and negotiate the release of men.