Srinagar is coming back to life after the dark years of Sunni extremism, the Indian media reports, describing the nightlife scene in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. People promenade along the lakefront till late in the evening, attracting the notice of the national and Asian press, who write about the new flowering of “India’s Switzerland”, until 1980 the summer capital not only of Jammu and Kashmir, but of the stars of Bollywood, not to mention Western celebrities such as ex-Beatle George Harrison, who once lived in a houseboat on the shores of Lake Dal.

In the Chinese daily “Asia Times,” reporter Una Sankt Moritz explores the reawakening of Srinagar, with its tea houses and Starbucks-style cafés open till the wee hours. Office workers, artists, and journalists are recreating “La Dolce Vita” that once characterized the preferred resort of northern India’s bourgeoisie, fleeing the summer heat of the plains of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. Special events last June drew the attention of all Asia, such as the first film festival in 20 years, held in the new Conference Center. Following that, a three-day Sufi and Kashmira Music Festival took place in the new Opera House in Zabarwan Park.

In The Midst of War. It’s all happening under the watchful eyes of the Indian Army, since 1990 deployed throughout the Kashmir Valley to repress the Islamic indipendence movement, sparked from the border regions with Pakistan, where radical fundamentalists seek to import practices previously unknown to the moderate Islam of Sufi Kashmiri. Now, Boulevard Street along Lake Dal is filling up with Kashmiri and Chinese restaurants, McDonalds-style fast food joints, and Mongolian barbecues. For the past 17 years, groups advocating moral renewal such as the women of Dukhtaran-i-Millat conducted a campaign to “defend Kashmir from moral decay,” destroying liquor stores, restaurants popular with young couples, and even stores that sold Saint Valentine’s Day cards.

Whiskey and Burqas. When the Sunni extremists arrived in the city after the first anti-Indian revolts in 1989, their first campaign attacked the fashions of the young. In 2000, fundamentalists shot a boy in the knees because he was wearing a sweater and jeans. During the early 90s, efforts to impose the wearing of the Burqa found resistance because it was “foreign to the Kashmiri Muslim tradition,” in the words of a young journalist named Afsana. But after the Islamic insurrection in 1989, all cinemas and hairdressers closed, whether by shootings or bazooka attacks. All liquor stores were destroyed. Now, liquor can be found in a few five-star hotels and daring shops, sold through an iron grating. Still, it’s preferable to a 150-kilometer trip to Ramban just to buy a drink.

The Other Side of the Coin. Last month, the Niilam cinema reopened, but the crowds are still sparse. In the last 20 years, Kashmiris became accustomed to watching their Bollywood fare via cable or by VHS or DVD. Polls report that the new idols of the young are Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, who has promised to bring India’s techno-miracle to Kashmir, and Qazi Tauqir, winner of the most recent local version of “Hollywood Idol.” Peace still has not yet come to Srinagar, with six mortar attacks in the last week alone, one of which fell directly into the “Port of Dal” commercial zone, and occasional attacks by the “Islamic Forum Against Social Evil” on young couples found in public unaccompanied by their parents.

 

Gianluca Ursini