In October 1947, Kashmir was in turmoil. Hari Singh, the then Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir, was still undecided whether to join either India or Pakistan. Around this time, Pashtun tribes backed by Pakistan invaded Kashmir in multiple places, such as Baramulla and Poonch. How did Kashmiris respond? A new book, The Battle for Baramulla (Penguin), by lawyer-turned-author Mallika Ravikumar, talks about how Kashmiris who under the leadership of the National Conference, not only opposed the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh, but also Pakistan’s attempt to divide people in the name of religion.
“People who know the history of the Valley understand it has a complex history. Muslims fought against the autocratic rule of the Maharaja as well as Jinnah’s ploy of dividing the valley. They also did not back the Pakistan-backed invasion. Back then, it was not Muslims versus Hindus, like it has often been shown,” notes Ravikumar.
The story is told through the eyes of a kid called Zooni. Zooni wants the turbulence to be over, and Maqbool boi (the name of Maqbool Sherwani of the National Conference, in the book), becomes her saviour. Sherwani is shown taking on the invaders alone.
“This book is written for Penguin’s ‘Songs Of Freedom’ series, which looks at the lives of children during the freedom struggle,” says the author. “In any politically volatile situation, children suffer the most. When we talk about Kashmir, we mostly hear the voices of adults; children’s experiences haven’t come to the fore. I wanted to tell the story through a kid so that her voice can be heard and her opinions reflected.”
Two genres
As an enthusiast of both history and literature, Ravikumar believes that they cannot be separated. “The word history ends with the word story. There’s always a story to tell,” she says. “History provides us with the necessary information, and literature provides us the emotional connect.”
She is inspired by the work of Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. “I’ve read Tungabhadrar Tire in English translation, a historical novel by him. I also like books by Kalki Krishnamurthy, Shivaji Sawant and Ken Follett.”
The character of Maqbool Sherwani is one of the fascinating characters of the book. He is shown to be against the two-nation theory and having welcomed Jinnah with a garland of shoes when the latter came to Kashmir. He took on the tribal invaders and delayed the invasion of the tribesmen and bought time for the Indian army’s Sikh regiment to land in Kashmir. “I was researching for another of my books, which talks about the story of the erstwhile princely state, when I first came across Sherwani. I was amazed by his story. However, when I tried to talk about him to my history-enthusiast friends, I was shocked that people hardly had any idea about him. So, I decided to write about him. While writing the book, I read Andrew Whitehead (a journalist), who has written on Kashmir and recorded many stories about the attack on Baramulla. I also relied on journals and news reports to collect data on Sherwani. That’s how the book was formed,” says Ravikumar.