From the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots to the Gujarat holocaust, Communalism Combat, true to its name, has played a positive and meaningful role in highlighting the failure of the authorities in combating communal violence and exposing the political culprits behind the riots without inciting passions of any sort while dealing with such sensitive issues.

But when it comes to Kashmir, much of the discourse tends to become part and parcel of the communal polarisation theme throughout the rest of the country. In some of the issues over the past decade, the magazine has provided space to articles and features on the Kashmir issue, and the crisis has also figured as a cover story on several occasions. Yet, it has somehow often tended to project an oversimplified analysis of what the crisis is all about.

Some of the articles by Balraj Puri on the election scenario and the politics of militancy are exhaustive and informative, as is the report of 2001, ‘Wounded Valley’, by a fact-finding committee of PUDR activists on the bleak human rights scenario in the Valley. The report points out grave lapses on the part of the security forces and also mentions a visit to villages in Doda region where people spoke to them about being victimised and harassed and where women were raped and molested by the security forces in the name of security concerns. When the team left, the people who spoke to them on May 31, 2001, were picked up and tortured by the 8 RR men for having expressed their woes to the visiting team of well-meaning human rights activists.

Another recent report, ‘On the firing line’ by Kusum, on the aftermath of the Nadimarg incident (March 2003) in which 24 Kashmiri Pandits were slain by militants, deals with the traumas of both the communities in the Valley and their personal handicaps in overcoming the growing divide. It was one of the rare reports that also offered space to those Kashmiri Pandits who have braved all odds for the last 13 years and managed to stay back, reflecting also on the Muslim neighbours who have protected them all along.

Somehow, most other reports have either ended up presenting a one-sided picture of the agony of the people, by offering space singularly to the vested interests among the Kashmiri migrants, and projecting, through some of its reports, that it is a basic issue of Hindus being hounded out by the Muslims of the Valley. Or else, it has only supplemented the discourse of Pakistan bashing. Such pieces have only made the magazine, of distinguished character and with the credibility of abiding by the ethics of responsible and objective journalism, appear to fall in line with much of the mainstream Indian media, which fails to question India’s flaws in and on Kashmir, on the plea of so-called ‘national interests’.

The reactionary points of view by KN Pandita or other authors who have relied solely on versions of right-wing Kashmiri Pandit organisations such as Panun Kashmir and blown stray incidents out of proportion, as, for instance, some threat letters to Kashmiri Pandits in a locality of Jammu, can only contribute to the perpetuation of a dangerous communal polarisation. These try to project that it is only the Kashmiri Pandits who are being victimised, thus harming the cause of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. One expects balanced and objective assessment of the ground situation in Jammu & Kashmir.

There have been occasional voices in the magazine on the dying Kashmiriyat. But not much in-depth analysis on why this is happening and how people are caught unawares by it.

Kashmir is much more than just the guns of militants versus the people, minorities or majority. It is too complex a situation, owing also to the diversity of all of Jammu & Kashmir and its plurality, specially the Jammu region, which stands ignored. CC has yet to get a grasp of these problems. A decade old, it may be too early to expect too much. But one hopes that in the coming years, the magazine will dwell on several other issues from the people’s perspective without being caught in the trap of the minority syndrome of the Valley. It is also hoped that it will dwell on the complexity of the situation and the politics of identities. One also hopes that the magazine comes up with reports on the plight of those displaced from the borders due to shelling and landmines.