“Communities in Kashmir lived in harmony for centuries and the mix of population and mix of culture that was prevalent in Kashmir has to be brought back,” felt Chief Justice of Madras High Court Sanjay Kishan Kaul.

“Kashmir was always one of the peaceful places one can think of. I would say, till the eighties, nobody their locked houses there. Communities were living in peace and harmony. But somewhere things went wrong over a period of time. We thought things were looking better. But, the past three months have been terrible. It looked like things had gone back by a decade,” he said, while addressing an event organised by the Chennai International Centre for the review of book ‘The Last Queen of Kashmir’, by Rakesh K Kaul.

The Chief Justice also highlighted that empowerment of women was always there in Kashmiri pandit community as the inculcation of education for women was embedded into its society.

Stating that country was facing challenges in bringing back the people to the mainstream, he pointed out that post 1989-90, a new generation had come up in the valley and they didn’t know that communities lived in harmony. However, he was of the view that some beginnings have to be made to bring peace and revive the harmony of the valley.

Rakesh K Kaul, author of the book that discusses Kota Rani, one of the greatest queens of Kashmir Valley during 14th Century, explained how Rani protected the people against the invaders of her land and preserved the diversity of her society.

He was making the point that Rani’s story was relevant in today’s context as the world was facing challenges for a pluralistic civil society.

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