Palestinian scarf takes Kashmiris by storm

As television screens and YouTube flashed images of Israeli bombing on Palestinian children and maimed bodies draped partially in the black-and-white checkered scarfs, almost 3000 miles away in Kashmir, I met a young protester, Bilal, who had decided to don the traditional Palestinian headdress as a sign of sympathy with the Palestinians.

Wearing it around neck with embroidered fringes hanging by his shoulders, Bilal shouted a slogan “Israel” while hundreds of other boys retorted “Hie Hie” (Down with you) with fists blossoming from the shoulders during a protest march in the Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar.

Like most of the Kashmiris, Bilal supports Palestinian people’s struggle against Israeli belligerence.

“And this scarf stands for my views,” he said.

In another such protest march, as I crossed a market street heading for an intersection,  I looked at the upright, nicely-groomed, mostly young, mostly white and brown crowd, many wearing the scarf and holding fists high, asking Israel to stop the aggression, to free Palestine, and to stop "thinking like Colonialists."

Here I was reminded of kuffiyeh's political message that took shape when Palestinian peasants wore the utilitarian cloth over their heads in solidarity against British rule in the 1930s. Its place in Palestinian identity was hardened in the 1960s when Arafat and his resistance faction adopted it in its fight against Israel, while the trend of wearing it reached Kashmir, this time, however,  more profusely.

The boys I talked to said that they feel what Gazans are enduring from past sixty years. And wearing the headdress, they said, they feel more connected with the land and the resistance where it was born.

When I was six or seven, the Palestinian scarfs were a famous possession among Kashmir’s armed guerrillas who had declared confrontation against mighty Indian troops after 1989. I remember, they would roam around the city with guns slung on shoulders but later the trend of donning it was reduced to those going out for religious tours and Muslim clerics.

And those days people would call it Molvi scarfs (scarfs for clerics), but now youngsters, mostly students are attracted to the cloth who visit Kashmir’s markets every day looking for Kaffiyeh—The Palestinian scarfs.

And if we observe the shops in city's diverse Nowhatta, Koker Bazaar and Maharaja Bazaar and other neighborhoods, vendors could be seen selling the bright-coloured item in several brands while as stylish youngsters could be seen in the city's attractive cafes and restaurants sporting red, blue, green and crimson versions of the scarfs.

The dress, however, seems to have hit the streets of Kashmir much to the displeasure of older Kashmiris who say that the scarf stands for Palestinian’s honour and valor.

“What are the youngsters here going to prove…They have made it a craze,” a visibly frail Bashir Shah, told me while explaining the customs of his time.

When Shah was young, he was awarded the scarf in a local Madrassa for his brilliant comprehension of holy Quran. It used to be an achievement and only few would headdress the cloth.

But Shah’s time Kashmir has changed when peace would prevail. Now the killings, protests and violent demonstrations have become the routine and from protest rallies to small informal talk shows, supporters of the Palestinian cause have begun adopting the traditional scarf as a show of shared aims.

By the way I too bought one.