In the sweltering heat of Delhi in August 1995, on the plush green lawns of the India International Centre, a friend from Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) introduced me to a vivacious young man and described him as Sanjay Nahar, running a non-governmental organisation (NGO) called SARHAD in Pune. I had some vague impression of this NGO when I held charge of the office of the Additional Chief Secretary, J&K, in-charge of the Home department. Though SARHAD was working for the welfare of the victims of violence in Punjab, J&K and North-East, its activities were not adequately known to me. Sanjay Nahar gave me a good narrative of his objectives behind the trail of his onerous activities in relation to the rehabilitation of the victims of violence unleashed on the poor and the innocent. He invited me to Pune and even agreed to visit me in Aligarh. At that hour, I had no inkling that this was going to be the beginning of a meaningful relationship above the mundane affairs, in which we are generally engrossed. I returned to Aligarh and continued to hear about the yeoman service rendered by SARHAD and the rehabilitative work it had embarked upon in Pune.
After some years of my close association with SARHAD, I got increasingly exposed to the challenges faced by SARHAD.
With the passage of time, SARHAD came of age and I continued to meet the uprooted families and the young children living under the care of Sanjay Nahar and his amiable wife, Sushama. I was really filled with admiration when I learnt from the children that when Sushama goes out of Pune, the children miss her bitterly. Some children even fall sick in her absence. These children come from an area, where violence has left its indelible mark on the psyche of the whole population. A boy from Anantnag told me that if you topple democratically elected governments by engineering defections, the forces of doom and destruction will rule the roost and people will flee to the places offering refuge. Another boy from Kupwara related his agony and thanked his stars that he came to study and live in the serene environs of Pune, where he has the opportunity to see the kaleidoscope of Indian society. How could the land of peace and prosperity, where people lived in comfort in sylvan surroundings, live in the midst of death and destruction? People continued to reel under the constant shadow of death and as such hear about encounters, firing, kidnapping, killing and abduction of young people, interrogation, death and carnage. It appeared that the halcyon days of peace and communal harmony had vanished forever. In the clash between the militants and the security forces damage to property and loss of life became inevitable and the children and innocent families suffered heavily. The education and upbringing of the children and safety of men and women continued to suffer an incalculable damage for a long time. In such a situation, the bold initiative taken by SARHAD in organising the children to move to Pune into a new home under the care of SARHAD was a very momentous step towards the resolution of the imbroglio facing the States of J&K, Punjab and North-East.
This following text is the diary of an individual, an organisation and a State in India, in that order. The individual in this case is me, Sanjay Nahar, the NGO is 'Sarhad' and the State is Maharashtra, to which I belong. It is the story of the social organisation that has dedicated itself to a cause, bonding with a disenchanted part of the country, Kashmir. This narrative is in the form of a diary because it is a running account of the experiences, thoughts and activities of "Sarhad since its birth and thereafter. Long ago, I had read 'Diary of Ann Frank. Somewhere, it became a part of my psyche. Perhaps, it came to the fore when I sat to write The Sarhad Story.
This is not a diary in the sense of a detailed, chronological travelogue. This is an activist's document, which records the events, sometimes second-hand, but mostly first-hand experiences, emotions and thoughts at those times. The narration also contains opinions and thoughts of other people, expressed while talking to us. While these opinions can be subjective, they also reflect the general feelings at those respective times. I decided on the diary format also because it allows me to be straightforward and candid in writing down my experiences, without bringing in my ego. Two decades is a long time in today's dynamic world, where situations tend to change very dramatically in much shorter time. Given the dynamic nature of the Kashmir issue, somewhere in the diary, you might find that the thoughts, opinions and impressions held during one phase are in variance with those in the earlier phases. But then, these things are the outcome of the situation at any given time. To be true to the experiences at different times and in different situations, I have deliberately refrained from making any attempt to rationalise the thoughts in the hindsight.
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