On dealing with difference: Rethinking the work of Edward Said, Martin Buber and Hannah Arendt with reference to Kashmir and Kashmiriyat

Abstract

This article looks at how Palestine has been a trope since 1948 for understanding forced refugee status of people who have been evicted from their own homes as a consequence of colonial policy. In this article, I look at the status of Kashmiri Pandits who were evicted by militant forces in the late 1980s. They then proceeded to make new lives elsewhere haunted by their longing for home. The militants are in turn targeted by the police and army, and ordinary bystanders become caught in the crossfire between separatists and Indian army. Using the work of Edward Said, in relation to the writing of Martin Buber and Hannah Arendt, I attempt to present the possibility of dialogue between conflicting groups as an existential problem, where intellectuals can play a mediating role.