Description
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), led by women seeking justice for relatives who were forcefully disappeared by the Indian state after the 1989 anti-India armed uprising, shows remarkable resilience. This paper examines APDP’s three-decade-long resistance against enforced disappearances through four key parameters. First, it analyses how APDP transforms passive waiting into active resistance by strategically mobilising and forming global alliances to amplify their voice against state oppression. Second, it explores the concept of 'thakawath' (exhaustion) as a sustainable tool of resistance, where members navigate between bodily exhaustion and active hope in their pursuit of justice. Third, it investigates APDP's commitment to documenting enforced disappearances through meticulous record-keeping and evidence gathering, creating an archive that challenges the state's narrative. Fourth, it examines how APDP reclaims visibility through the production of symbols like memorials and calendars, constructing a subaltern counter-history against state-sanctioned memory formations. Through these parameters, the paper demonstrates how APDP, primarily led by women, has evolved from a small group of affected families into a powerful voice against state violence, while simultaneously challenging patriarchal norms within Kashmiri society. Their sustained activism not only demands accountability for disappeared persons but also redefines the role of Kashmiri women in conflict narratives.
