

































Visual culture and militarization: A case of Kashmiri Women 

Bashrat Hassan 

Abstract  

The paper is an attempt to understand the complex intersection between visual culture 

and militarization. In order to comprehend this interface between these two delicate terrains, the 

paper would site two cases which occurred in the context of Kashmir in recent past. Therefore, 

the paper would take readers through the comparative analysis of two important events premised 

on the women bodies and their politics. The two important events allow us to see, how Kashmiri 

women are framed in visual culture, and how media apparatuses reinforce patriarchy on 

Kashmiri women. It also attempts to address, how militarization as a dominant phenomenon 

challenges the theories of visual culture or helps in theorizing the significant aspects of visual 

culture, and its discursive significance in the context of Kashmir. Image verses text has remained 

a heated debate among the advocates of visual culture.  To this end, analysis has been done at 

two levels A) Linguistic analysis. B) Visual analysis, so that we can locate Kashmiri women 

both in textual and visual discourses.  

Visual Culture 

Before switching to how Kashmiri women have been represented in visual culture in 

aforementioned twin cases. Let us try to conceptualize, what visual culture stands for? Morra and 

Smith (2006) have already put considerable efforts in their four volume book, Visual Culture 

Studies, to set the boundaries right between Visual Culture and Visual Culture Studies. J T 

Mitchel (2002) has also been engaged in pioneering work in order to conceptualize the emerging 

field of inquiry---- visual culture. The applicability of visual culture depends upon sense of 

author, who might use the phrase ‘Visual Culture’ in myriad ways simultaneously. Interestingly, 

visual culture has attained interdisciplinary status and is becoming ubiquitous, omnipresent, it 

also reflects “Works or artifacts or spaces from any historical period, geographical location, 

thematic concern or combination of methodological practices”( Morra & Smith, 2006:10). Visual 

culture encompasses entire domain of inter texuality, where images, sounds, spatial demarcations 

are “read on to and through one another, lending ever-accruing layers of meanings and of 

subjective responses to each encounter we might have with film, TV, advertising, art works, 

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buildings or urban environments”( Irit Rogoff, 2006). It is a critical model of thinking about the 

world of images. From the very beginning, Visual culture has aimed at breaking down the 

disciplinary boundaries about how and what images should analyze (Jones, 2002).   For William, 

Visual culture offers an antidote to the dominance of texuality linked with structuralism and post 

structuralism of 1960’s and 1970’s. Visual culture relies on sense perception rather than the 

sphere of linguistic relations (William American art, 1982). “The visual of visual culture 

presumes a space that exists  between the viewed and viewer, a space that is psychological and 

physiologically necessary for the process of seeing to occur”1 Some brilliant work has been done 

by Menzel (1994), Sarah Pink (2001), Harper (1982, 1987, 2001), Becker (1986), Collier (1967), 

Ruby (2001), Prosser (1990), Morris (1999), Greenfield (2002). Also, Berger (1932), Roland 

Barthes (1980) and Walter Benjamin (2008) their writings are important source that has 

furthered the debate on epistemology, methodology, and the diverse materials that could 

contribute to the field of Visual culture.   

A Story that is presented in the form of visual images, as in painting and sculptures, the 

visual images do not disappear and is unlike the case of sounds (Brilliant, 1984). Babra Stafford 

writes in her 1996 publication, “I am arguing that we need to disestablish a view of cognition as 

dominantly and aggressively linguistic. It is narcissistic tribal compulsion to overemphasize the 

agency of logos (the word) and annihilates rival imaginaries” (Richardson, 2004:62). Over the 

last two centuries west has been dominated by visual rather than the oral or textual media. Even 

the printed world has shifted to colored images by the end of twentieth century, in order to 

appeal readers and give more meaning to its printed items (Sturken & Cartwright, 2001). Visual 

image or photograph have been pertinent ever since the technological age dawned a great phase 

of development, which resulted in transmission of message in principal to innumerable recipients 

and audiences (Evans and Hall, 1999). The linguistic and discursive discourses have not 

necessarily been replaced by pictorial or figural representations but rather infringed by them in 

complicated ways (Brenana & Jay, Mirzoeff, 1999)     

Feminism and visual culture, both, in a way are driven by political concerns and primarily 

stresses upon cultural forms as vibrant subjective experience. Feminism has long accepted the 

visuality,  visuality stands as one of the important specificities in visual culture (Jones, 2003) 

                                                           
 

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Nevertheless,  Women continue to be in a vulnerable position to challenge and alter established 

patterns of meaning set up though patriarchy and delivered by visual meanings (Gaudelius, 1997)  

Women body has always been a site of contestation, so visual culture lays significant emphasis 

on political and ideological representation as rightly pointed by Magenini , “[T]he body is a rich 

interesting “object” of social use and political theory upon which individual, ethnic and social 

values are inscribed to enhance ideological needs.  Women images produce at various social 

sites, aim at selling the dominant ideology and normalizing them with identity markers. The 

politics on the representation of the female body have been, and are still, polemical and a 

complicated subject to tackle in visual culture” (Pro`sobopha, 2006:116) .Women, although, are 

represented in visual culture, but their subjectivity, knowledge, experience and contribution are 

excluded from the male dominated art history (Carson Fona, Claire, et.al,  2002). The ideological 

and social spaces related to feminity, female sexuality could not be directly accepted. Women 

artists who had privilege to question the gaze of flaneur, could not because of non – recognition 

of their work (Pollock, 1999)         

1.  Linguistic analysis:   

A) Pragaash 

In 2013, Indian media went frenzy. Pragaash, A small three member all-women musical 

band,  decided to stop performing, largely reasoned on the pretext of Fatwa issued by the grand 

Mufti (a self-styled controversial religious leader). Indian Media portrayed a different picture of 

this altogether, reducing the resistance movement of Kashmir as atoned with patriarchal, sexist 

and misogynistic colors.  Media depicts women as recipients of pain and suffering, reinforced by 

hegemonic forces(men) and render them agent less (Chety, 2004)  The event which was 

organized by Central Reserve Police Force, that is one of the primary contingent of army 

responsible for besiege of Kashmiri population. That way, it was a militarized event that was 

largely contested by the people, if at all it was contested by the people of Kashmir at first place. 

Otherwise, it appears both the Fatwa and then the furious condemnation from Indian media 

worked in favor of Indian state, and emerged as intelligible tactics employed to use media power 

against the people of Kashmir and more particularly, brought havoc on teenagers. It was a case 

of particular dispositions and predilections, that is what could be called in the Bourdieuian 

language as doubly determined (Sonderling, 1990) 

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  The kind of linguistic discourse generated by the India media reflects the ideology of the 

owners of the modes of production and the systematic way in which media was organized to use 

culture as a site of power against the less powerful and the represented one. It is about altering 

the balance of power in the relation of culture, it is about changing the dispositions and 

configurations of cultural power, not getting out of it .As such nothing really changes, it is the 

system which always remain (Hall, 1993). The mainstream Indian media vociferously 

highlighted the Fatwa threat and lead to the unprecedented sensationalism. Fatwa against 

Kashmir's all-girl,  Pragaash band leaves music dead, Innocent girls muzzled, girls swears to 

Fatwa etc2. The all-women musical band received various death threats, followed by number of 

abusive comments by the online Facebook users. Latter the Fatwa issued by the religious leader, 

warranted the threat against the three teenage girls. But what was not bought into the recurrent 

discourse was the grounded understanding of the dynamics of the Fatwa and legitimacy of the 

Grand Mufti. The credibility of those Facebook users and the authencity of their comments in the 

light of the fact, that technology could be easily manipulated.  Technology could be used to lie 

about the social world we live and connect with. Nor there was emphasis on the fact that why 

certain civil organizations question the legality of grand mufti even within the territorium of 

Kashmir. (India Today, 2013)  Thus the whole event was reduced to few selected words and 

chosen phrases. Words are powerful in literature society (Verner, Ruby, 1988) and not a-political 

in nature. Such a language metaphorically refers to disciplinary actions to secure the rights of the 

vulnerable groups and thus paves way for more militarization. Metaphors function to highlight 

shade or obfuscate certain aspects of reality at the expense of others, enabling us to “see” reality 

in different ways (Hook, 1984). 

   Although, people from different quarters of life and even some women organizations 

condemned the way fatwa was overloaded with anti-Kashmir and anti –freedom overtures. It aids 

media to paint the general public as obstructionist and religious jingoists. But such condemnation 

was deeply invisible in the state narratives constructed by different media organizations and 

liberal Indian intellectuals. What is significant are the political questions who are permitted to 

speak about what, which collide with intellectuals stands that serve for us all possibility of 

engaging with text and images and other responses and  frameworks, which help in production of 

territorialized knowledge (Ragoff, 1966). 

                                                           
2
 As reported by various newspapers like the Hindu, Times of India, Hindustan times etcetra 

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A narrativization of this nature condenses the images of Kashmir, invigorated  in the form of 

Fatwa, as an intolerant, primitive and non-secular society governed by religious diktats, where 

woman is ‘an occupied territory’3 of their male- members. What was completely missing within 

such rubric descriptions, was the fact how Indian media which itself is patriarchal and an apt 

example of masculine order, could auspice for demystifying the patriarchal structures of Kashmir 

society. Mass media is men controlled and attempts to perpetuate social and economic status 

quo. It controls image production to discredit and influence public opinion against any 

progressive feminine change. (Tuchman, Daniel, et al., 1978)  The power of the masculine order 

lies in the fact that it operates with proper justification. The misogynistic vision is woven by the 

state itself, although it projects itself neutral and don not attempt to identify out in the discourse 

aimed at legitimating it. The social order works as an imperative ‘symbolic machine’ trying to 

ratify masculine domination on which it is placed (Bourdeiu, 2001). 

 

In this paper, I am not supporting the argument that there is no patriarchy in the Kashmir 

society; nowhere am I trying to endorse such a viewpoint. But what I am tying to engage is, how 

Indian Media as the producers of those visual Images is actually promoting layers of patriarchy 

through its formulation and depiction of social relationships within the arch of those mediated 

Images. In majority of the commentaries devoted towards gender issues in Kashmir, visual 

images have been subsequently conflated into the patriarchal frameworks of their own men folk. 

There has been no emphasis on the fact that how visual images of Kashmiri women actually 

emerge from misogynistic lens of Indian media, as such they have been problematically 

portrayed by Indian media and producing a commodified vision and version of Kashmir through 

the consistently demonic images of Kashmiri people. These Images serve a particular ideological 

perspective, one that is heavily borrowed from ‘colonized discourses’. Misrepresentation of such 

nature contaminates human memories in a huge way. As McKittrick(2006) also states that 

women bodies are often seen as ungeographic bereft of spatial knowledge and memories   

     B) Shopian : Double Murder and Rape case. 

The massive medialization witnessed in the light of Pragaash, was aiming to conceal a 

more colossal event ---------the Shopian double murder and rape case.  In May, 2009, Asiya and 

Neloofar, sister in laws were found dead in the ankle deep water of Rambi ara (one of the 

                                                           
3
  As cited by Sharoni, Simona in her one of the articles   

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tributary of the river Jhelum) Shakeel, brother of Asiya, married to Neelofar. Asiya and Neelofar 

went missing after they had gone to their orchard and the way to orchard remains thickly 

militarized. Shakeel searched for Asiya and Neelofar from 6pm to 2:30 am morning. (IWIJ, 

2009). Latter at around 6 in the morning Shakeel with the help of police recovered the mutilated 

and dead bodies in the stream. The spot he had searched multiple times, only couple of hours 

back. The doctor who confirmed the rape was suspended and partial commission was set up 

which came with a forged report after being heavily meddled by the local police officers(ICJIW) 

The role played by then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who is basically pawn in the 

hands of Delhi, was also apprehensive and doubtful. “The disingenuous attempt by state 

administration led the chief minister Omer Abdullah to subvert an impartial enquiry into the 

alleged rape and murder of Neelofar and Asiya and the subsequent destruction of vital evidence 

by the state authorities reflects a deep and disturbing lack of public authority in Kashmir”(Kazi 

2009:13. 

 The case was shifted from high court to CBI, Which further reduced the possibility of 

free and fair trail and justice to the double victims. Bodies were exhumed only to fabricate the 

facts. Autopsy report was produced to deny the rape and such falsified versions were sustained 

by the Indian newspaper “The autopsy report has revealed that the one of the two rape and 

murder victims was a virgin. The autopsy of the exhumed bodies revealed that the hymen of the 

17-year-old Aasiya Jan was intact, which rules out the possibility of rape” (www.online.com, 

2009). 

Meanwhile, the whole of the Kashmir had erupted in massive protests. Public had started 

coming into streets burning Indian flags and resorting to stone pelting as a mark of strong dissent 

against the Indian army and government of Jammu and Kashmir. Questions were raised to 

demand justice and end to the impunity Indian army enjoys. Draconian laws accentuate this 

culture of impunity. “Militarization operating though the capillaries of powers blurs the 

boundaries between military and civilian activities and institutions, producing patterns of 

impunity for state violence. The AFSPA gives armed forces special power to kill, but it does not 

give arbitrary power to kill” (Duschinki: 2009, 708).  Further, the new doctor was appointed and 

latter was forced the change the vaginal swaps, only to hush up the case and combat the public 

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http://www.online.com/


discontentment. Majlis-e-Mashawarat 4 the local civil body, who organized the peaceful protest 

were also criminalized by stating their alleged political relations with separatist leaders. 

                                                                                                                              

While covering both the case, researcher could see a gulf of difference in terms of 

language, strategy, ideology and frequency both events where accorded by Indian Media. The 

Pragassh musical band got overwhelming support from different Indian media organisations and 

other governmental, and non- governmental organisations. Newspapers like Economic Times, 

Tribune, Thelka, Daily Baskar ran series of articles and news items to support the disbanded 

musical band, While as they were almost invisible with respect to Shopian double murder case. 

The kind of text or the politics of text was quite evident in both the events like ‘alleged murder 

and rape, likely drowned, in-tact hymen, and no marks to muzzled, talented, Islamic threats etc. 

This kind of texuality is in line with what a careful reading of Baudeliar’s easy ‘women and 

prostitute’,which helps us to archetype that the text is itself construction a notion of women 

across a broad spectrum of meaning and urban spaces------- a space of modernity. Further to add,   

as Paul Ricoeur notes, that text is aligned to masculine metaphors of strength and objectivity, 

“writing was given to men to come to the rescue of the weakness of the discourse, a weakness 

that was of the event……………it is the meaning of the speech event, not the event as event” ( 

Ricoeur :1971, 530-31) 

 

2. Women in Visual Culture   

 A) Pragaash Incident.  

Much of the attention by the visual media has been paid to the fact that, how such non- 

secular politics would gain authority and remains unquestioned. Thus the old tactics of 

constructing the images of secularism and nationalism are being played though the women 

bodies. The complexity in the subjective positions of the women has been tactfully negated, in 

order to safeguard the nationalist portraits of the Kashmiri women (Khan, 2009).  The Patriarchal 

Indian media furthers the issue by inviting people as ‘panelist’ on their channels only to distort 

the women agency and brings collective humiliation to the people of Kashmiri. It is more of a 

                                                           
4
 The local civil body comprising largely of elders, which demanded justice for the victims and spearheaded the 

protest  

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biased representation or a staged melodrama that gets aired to paint Kashmiri women as 

oppressed by their own men folk divorced of any consciousness and political will. The political, 

social, economic bias is innate to different forms of media, weather radio, T.V, Magazines, 

Posters, etc. Thus, a true and unbiased representation of women is nigh impossible (Chetty, 

Agenda, 2004).    

A keen study of visual images circulated on array of Indian news channels would signify 

the fact that how the issuance of Fatwa was actually connected with separate politics. Indian 

media as a vital state institution is consistent of linking every untoward incident with separatist 

camp, in order to split the resistance movement on the basis of gender division and de-

contextualize a particular event or phenomenon which otherwise calls for thoughtful discussion 

and probing attention. Media coverage of women movements is another disappointment as 

evidence show symbolic annihilation of women through such media reporting (Canford, 1979). 

Also, bizarre things happen take place in media discussions like; various religious leaders were 

called on the News show to express their opinion, which resulted in strong digression from the 

core issue. Issues, which were impertinent in the light of the whole development, were accorded 

a conjunctional status. The way visual discourse was shaped actually results more in denigrating 

women agency, as the production and consumption of such a discourse has direct bearing on 

their bodies. It is essential to know about the consumption of those visual images. In fact, the 

violence laden and misogynistic images circulated by Indian media are consumed by women, 

who became recipients of the violence and patriarchal politics produced on their own bodies. The 

consumption of those visual images is dangerously asymmetrical (Bonna, Gordman, Allan, et al. 

, 2005) Women bodies of Kashmiri women became central to the process of disparagement 

carried out by Indian media. The national Indian media has been a strong force in propagating 

the traditional deficient reporting on Kashmir (Kumar, 2005)    

A good number of Hindi news channels devoted significant time to take up the case of 

Pragaash and link it with national politics. Seemingly, media tried to meticulously investigate the 

matter and bring the truth about women musical band in public gaze. However, such ostensible 

gestures are served as stands of negative differentiation about the concerned society. These acts 

of deviance are located as against the progressive and empowered troupe of Kashmiri women, 

reiteration of similar questions are brought back into light to uphold the significance of Indian 

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laws in Kashmir. Rather than effacing the importance of the locality and local identity. Freedom 

of expression, secular image, gauge the voice, Islamic diktat etc becomes increasingly the large 

language markets. Also, efforts are put to criminalize the rest of the society on the basis of these 

images, which are indeed powerful. Ridiculous analogies are drawn to compare with the worst 

like Talibanisation, Islamization etc, to bring more fear among the viewers continuously. “There 

have been claims, made mainly in Indian media, that Kashmir itself is being Talabanised ---

forced to Islamize under militant pressures” (Evans: 2005, 14). That way women bodies are 

dehumanized and demoralized (Klien, 2008)  

Controversies of such nature are flagged to abuse men through their women folk and in 

turn subject local women to multiple layers of patriarchy. Likewise, sets in motion a stage for a 

perfect case of gender politics. To substantiate this argument, it is worth noting that when much 

of the damage was done by those visual images attempts were made to go for damage 

controlling. A news report was circulated abundantly on newspapers and social media sites, 

which complained about grand mufti’s presence in a musical event. “The state government 

backed grand mufti presided over the musical function organized by radio Kashmir in memory in 

Urdu poet Akbar Jaipure”(27th June, 2013, India Today). The news reports carried a pictorial 

evidence that how grand mufti is amused by musical evening, besides being flanked by then 

director of Doordarshan Shezadi Simon. However, when the report surfaced on news papers and 

social network sites, much of the damage had already been done. Surprisingly there was no let up 

in criminalizing the local religious leaders. Congress general secretary Divijaya Singh tweeted, 

“All religious fundamentals are experts of double speak” 5 

Visual Images of Musical Band  

                                                           
5  Kashmir grand mufti’s musical evening video goes viral (2013) July 28, Hindstan Times.  

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Musical Band@ Express Tribune,  2013.  

 

 

Battle of Bands : Muscial Concert. The Hindu 2013.  

 

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Visual images of Shopian double murder and rape case. 

 

Asiya and Nelofar News786.com 2015.  

 

 

Lost KashmirHistory.files 2011.  

B) Shopian: Double murder and Rape case   

Contrary to the Pragaash musical band, English News channels devoted more time   to 

Shopian double murder and rape case.  Time and space allotted to Shopian incident was 

drastically lesser. Media channels were seemingly hell bent in thrashing people of the valley. 

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Those who were panelists were either representatives of the government of Jammu and Kashmir 

or people from Delhi. It was more a mediated tussle between government of Jammu and 

Kashmir, and Delhi authorities, or in some cases a fair reflection of political animosity between 

the then ruling party National Conference and opposition party People’s Democratic Party. 

Common Kashmiri people, especially women were missing from media frameworks.  Thus the 

deliberation was implicated and controlled one.  

One significant thing about the media coverage of Shopian was media channels evidently 

were   not only trying to quieten up the case, but also bluntly misinforming the public with a 

counterfeit story. As William Mazzarella writes in his brilliant account on advertising capitalism 

in India, Shoveling Smoke, “We are surrounded by photographic images which constitute a 

global system of misinformation. The system known as publicly proliferating consumerist lies. 

The role of photography in this system is revealing. Lie is constructed before the camera (Berger 

and Mohir, 1995, William 2003). An astute deliverance of visual images and language was 

repeatedly done to uphold the integrity of investigating agency after the case was shifted to CBI. 

There was less emphasis on the fact that the CBI lacks public support with respect to its past 

records. One of the reporter talks, “CBI took everyone on board, team of doctors, local 

magistrates, religious clerics, etc” ( NDTV Videos, 2009) such reports were conscious attempts 

to win the public confidence   

In sequence of events, little attention was paid to the fact that how commoners link the 

double murder and rape case with the Indian occupation and massive impunity Indian army 

enjoys. For months Kashmir kept boiling and protesters suffered massive police violence, which 

was condensed into images like ‘reaction from certain sections of population’. Thus, encasing 

the events of protest and discontentment as minortarian affairs which serve as a zoning 

mechanism to segregate them from their own community, and certainly not approximal of the 

rest of the population.  Visual images circulated, were largely concentrated to appraise the efforts 

of various national level organizations like CBI, Narco analysis team.  All these were used as a 

medium to support the fact that Asiya and Neelofar were not raped and murdered by the Indian 

army as was alleged by the locals. Visual images were circulated to prove that there was no 

conclusive evidence to confirm women were raped and murdered. After bodies were exhumed, 

debate shifted on intact hymen and septum. Questions were also raised on the private lives of the 

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victims. Morality belched out of media discourses, morality aids in sanctioning violence against 

women.  Thus body politics was central motif of this entire discourse.  To uphold concepts like 

nationalism, women bodies are exposed to extreme state and sexual violence. Unabated violence 

enacted on women bodies is to transform them into political artifacts (Menon, 2007). The acts of 

violence appropriated through women bodies “constitute a mode of transcription to communicate 

with other men that will encounter this body”6 (Menon: 2006, 29). Thereby, such media 

coverage certainly works to cover up the atrocities of Indian army.  In fact, the process of 

militarization and the prevalence of draconian laws are fostered by media apparatuses. There was 

hardly any news channel which highlighted how protesters holding banners in their hands could 

be deciphered “Shopian Tragedy ……. Conclusion of Indian Occupation.” (CNN IBN Videos, 

2009) . On the contrary relentless efforts were put to practice by media news channels to locate 

those visual images squarely within the discourses of democracy, secularism and Indian 

nationalism. Indian media conspicuously showcases Kashmiri men as misled and are tired of 

their resistance politics. It maligns their struggle for life and right to self determination in every 

possible way. “A brief excursion back through history reveals how enduring the ties between, 

Art, culture, politics, and power actually are. Rulers and conquers of states, kingdoms, and 

empires of both the ancient and modern worlds have strategically employed the arts to venerate 

the victories, reinforce their power and intimate and malign their enemy” (Darts: 2004, 313). 

Nevertheless, Indian media continues to be a major agent in the development of the Indian 

military ethos within the geographical spaces of Kashmir. Media assists in the expansion and 

survival of a besieged society under the conditions of prolonged militarization.     

There is a certainly a great coherence between the linguistic discourse and visual 

discourse generated in twin cases of Shopian double murder and rape case, and Pragaash, the 

musical band.  

In the light of the above discussion, it is imperative to map out the intersection between 

militarization and visual culture. The significant principles of visual culture like spectatorship or 

the social theories of visuality stand deeply challenged by the phenomenon of Militarization. The 

visuality of both murder and rape of Shopian women was not only negated by visual images but 

an alternative discourse was generated which was more forged and duplicate, only to preserve 

                                                           
 

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the integrity of vital institution called army. Thus in a sense media reduces visuality of things 

and justifies the use of military force. “Militarization is simultaneously a discursive process, 

involving a shift in general societal beliefs and values in ways necessary to legitimate the use of 

force, the organization of large standing armies and their leaders, and higher taxes or tribute used 

to pay them” (Goiux : 2008, 40)     

The visual images produced in the context of Kashmir actually eclipse the real time. 

Reality is forged with the use of new technological apparatuses and a new form of reality is 

produced. The paradoxical virtual images surface when the real-time images dominates the 

things that are being represented, real time prevails over real space eventually, virtually altering 

the concept of reality and actuality to a large extent. (Virilio, 1994)  The visual images circulated 

where responsible for producing a new reality, a reality that is far off from actual reality. That is 

what could be called as hyper –reality7 in Baudrillard terms. As such, militarization through the 

medium of technological induction promotes a new kind of reality; militarization helps in 

creation of hyper- reality. Because of the secretive nature of army, media was corrupted by its 

total submission and was recruited to create a false image of nation –in arms, a kind of heroism, 

a kind of new reality ( Pappe, 2002). 

Militarization and its underlying values, social relations, Ideology and hyper masculine 

ideas gets enmeshed into other domains of poplar culture ( Henery Giroix ). On the other end, 

Visual culture is concerned with mass culture and popular arts. (Mitchell). It also tries to locate 

the contexts surrounding the art. What is, here, more intriguing is how the meaning of the 

context and militarization gets lost completely when militarization collides with Visual culture. It 

is difficult for the art to emerge as it should have emerged in normal conditions.   

Militarization is driven by the ideology of protofacism, militarization believes in the 

application of coercion to substitute the democratic process of debate and deliberation (Girioux, 

2008) Military Industrial complex runs on the perpetuation that is impossible to execute without 

arresting both women and ideology of femininity. However, Visual culture on the other hand, 

tries to promote democratic ethos in every possible measure. It also respects sexual orientations 

and attempts to trace the structural hindrances women are entangled in.    

                                                           
7  The concept of hyper-real is something that is produced or labeled as real but in reality it is just an appropriation 
of the real. 

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The practice of seeing and looking which stands very essential to the field of inquiry of 

Visual culture remains blurred under the militaristic interventions. In fact, much of the work of 

some prominent scholars like Benjamin, Barthes, and Berger is based on what is now called as 

seeing in the field of visual cultures. The process of Militarization increases the complexity of 

the terrain of images and process of seeing is further complicated Post industrial capitalism has 

not only aided the process of producing and circulating the visual images of women but it has 

also doubled the process of militarization in different parts of the world. In this fragile 

intersection between militarization and visual culture, women as sufferers are put to back burner. 

The women have been used; the military hierarchy carries out the function of “political pimp” 

putting women on street to give their approval to the ends which are contrary to women’s own 

interests”(Zajvoic:1992,7) 

 

Conclusion  

It is quite evident from both the cases discussed above that how militarization actually alters the 

existing repertoire and meaning of visual culture.  The process of militarization significantly 

creates inroads in the process of visual culture. It blurs the phenomenon of visuality. Media 

shares a powerful nexus with military industries and other state institutions. In this significant 

intersection between militarization and visual culture we were able to archetype how women are 

actually pushed to the sphere of abandonment because of this delicate conjunction. “The sites of 

exclusion and concentration provide for the encapsulation and confinement of these forms of 

political life that have been stripped of rights, cast into a “zone of social abandonment” ( 

Duschinki: 2009,694) . Militarization blurs the already delicate boundaries of visual culture and 

robs the circulated images of historical context……. This results in massive distortion or 

mendacity of those real human beings. In the language of Derrida those images could be 

envisaged as ‘dangerous supplement’8.  Boorstein calls it Pseudo-event. “That is the creation and 

dissemination of mass mediated images of cultural experience whose truths, realities, and 

meanings are complicated with ambiguity to arouse and public interest” ( Boorstein:2009,11).  

Kashmiri women have been traditionally very prosperous and progressive; however, it is process 

                                                           
8
  As eplained by Trifonas(2000) in one of his articles , Derrida and Rousseau : Deconstructing the Ethics of a 

Pedagogy of supplement    

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of militarization which has fostered cultural conservatism and promotes layer of patriarchy 

(Kazi, 2009). Media discourses helps in rationalization of militarization and thereby, perpetuates 

patriarchy on local populace, which results in further criminalization and dehumanization of 

human (women) bodies. In a huge chunk of photographs clicked in the context of Kashmir, much 

focus is on landscape. That is what is known as landscape photography. However, such an 

approach robs the subject from its subjectivities and is reduced as a- timeless object.  A working 

country is hardly ever a landscape. The very idea of landscape implies separation and 

observation. It is possible and useful to trace the initial histories of landscape painting, writing 

landscape architecture, but in any final analysis we must relate these histories to the common 

history of a land and its society. (Raymond Williams, Mirzoeff, 1999).  

  

 

 

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	Visual Culture
	The kind of linguistic discourse generated by the India media reflects the ideology of the owners of the modes of producion and the systematic way in which media was organized to use culture as a site of power against the less powerful and the represented one. It is about altering the balance of power in the relation of culture, it is about changing the dispositions and configurations of cultural power, not getting out of it .As such nothing really changes, it is the system which always remain (Hall, 1993). The mainstream Indian media vociferously highlighted the Fatwa threat and lead to the unprecedented sensationalism. Fatwa against Kashmir's all-girl,  Pragaash band leaves music dead, Innocent girls muzzled, girls swears to Fatwa etc�. The all-women musical band received various death threats, followed by number of abusive comments by the online Facebook users. Latter the Fatwa issued by the religious leader, warranted the threat against the three teenage girls. But what was not bought into the recurrent discourse was the grounded understanding of the dynamics of the Fatwa and legitimacy of the Grand Mufti. The credibility of those Facebook users and the authencity of their comments in the light of the fact, that technology could be easily manipulated.  Technology could be used to lie about the social world we live and connect with. Nor there was emphasis on the fact that why certain civil organizations question the legality of grand mufti even within the territorium of Kashmir. (India Today, 2013)  Thus the whole event was reduced to few selected words and chosen phrases. Words are powerful in literature society (Verner, Ruby, 1988) and not a-political in nature. Such a language metaphorically refers to disciplinary actions to secure the rights of the vulnerable groups and thus paves way for more militarization. Metaphors function to highlight shade or obfuscate certain aspects of reality at the expense of others, enabling us to “see” reality in different ways (Hook, 1984).
	Although, people from different quarters of life and even some women organizations condemned the way fatwa was overloade with anti-Kashmir and anti –freedom overtures. It aids media to paint the general public as obstructionist and religious jingoists. But such condemnation was deeply invisible in the state narratives constructed by different media organizations and liberal Indian intellectuals. What is significant are the political questions who are permitted to speak about what, which collide with intellectuals stands that serve for us all possibility of engaging with text and images and other responses and  frameworks, which help in production of territorialized knowledge (Ragoff, 1966).
	A narrativization of this nature condenses the images of Kashmir, invigorated  in the form of Fatwa, as an intolerant, pimitive and non-secular society governed by religious diktats, where woman is ‘an occupied territory’� of their male- members. What was completely missing within such rubric descriptions, was the fact how Indian media which itself is patriarchal and an apt example of masculine order, could auspice for demystifying the patriarchal structures of Kashmir society. Mass media is men controlled and attempts to perpetuate social and economic status quo. It controls image production to discredit and influence public opinion against any progressive feminine change. (Tuchman, Daniel, et al., 1978)  The power of the masculine order lies in the fact that it operates with proper justification. The misogynistic vision is woven by the state itself, although it projects itself neutral and don not attempt to identify out in the discourse aimed at legitimating it. The social order works as an imperative ‘symbolic machine’ trying to ratify masculine domination on which it is placed (Bourdeiu, 2001).
	In this paper, I am not supporting the argument that there is no patriarchy in the Kashmir society; nowhere am I trying o endorse such a viewpoint. But what I am tying to engage is, how Indian Media as the producers of those visual Images is actually promoting layers of patriarchy through its formulation and depiction of social relationships within the arch of those mediated Images. In majority of the commentaries devoted towards gender issues in Kashmir, visual images have been subsequently conflated into the patriarchal frameworks of their own men folk. There has been no emphasis on the fact that how visual images of Kashmiri women actually emerge from misogynistic lens of Indian media, as such they have been problematically portrayed by Indian media and producing a commodified vision and version of Kashmir through the consistently demonic images of Kashmiri people. These Images serve a particular ideological perspective, one that is heavily borrowed from ‘colonized discourses’. Misrepresentation of such nature contaminates human memories in a huge way. As McKittrick(2006) also states that women bodies are often seen as ungeographic bereft of spatial knowledge and memories  
	B) Shopian : Double Murder and Rape case.
	The massive medialization witnessed in the light of Pragaash, was aiming to conceal a more colossal event ---------the Sopian double murder and rape case.  In May, 2009, Asiya and Neloofar, sister in laws were found dead in the ankle deep water of Rambi ara (one of the tributary of the river Jhelum) Shakeel, brother of Asiya, married to Neelofar. Asiya and Neelofar went missing after they had gone to their orchard and the way to orchard remains thickly militarized. Shakeel searched for Asiya and Neelofar from 6pm to 2:30 am morning. (IWIJ, 2009). Latter at around 6 in the morning Shakeel with the help of police recovered the mutilated and dead bodies in the stream. The spot he had searched multiple times, only couple of hours back. The doctor who confirmed the rape was suspended and partial commission was set up which came with a forged report after being heavily meddled by the local police officers(ICJIW) The role played by then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who is basically pawn in the hands of Delhi, was also apprehensive and doubtful. “The disingenuous attempt by state administration led the chief minister Omer Abdullah to subvert an impartial enquiry into the alleged rape and murder of Neelofar and Asiya and the subsequent destruction of vital evidence by the state authorities reflects a deep and disturbing lack of public authority in Kashmir”(Kazi 2009:13.
	The case was shifted from high court to CBI, Which further reduced the possibility of free and fair trail and justice tothe double victims. Bodies were exhumed only to fabricate the facts. Autopsy report was produced to deny the rape and such falsified versions were sustained by the Indian newspaper “The autopsy report has revealed that the one of the two rape and murder victims was a virgin. The autopsy of the exhumed bodies revealed that the hymen of the 17-year-old Aasiya Jan was intact, which rules out the possibility of rape” (www.online.com, 2009).
	Meanwhile, the whole of the Kashmir had erupted in massive protests. Public had started coming into streets burning Indin flags and resorting to stone pelting as a mark of strong dissent against the Indian army and government of Jammu and Kashmir. Questions were raised to demand justice and end to the impunity Indian army enjoys. Draconian laws accentuate this culture of impunity. “Militarization operating though the capillaries of powers blurs the boundaries between military and civilian activities and institutions, producing patterns of impunity for state violence. The AFSPA gives armed forces special power to kill, but it does not give arbitrary power to kill” (Duschinki: 2009, 708).  Further, the new doctor was appointed and latter was forced the change the vaginal swaps, only to hush up the case and combat the public discontentment. Majlis-e-Mashawarat � the local civil body, who organized the peaceful protest were also criminalized by stating their alleged political relations with separatist leaders.
	While covering both the case, researcher could see a gulf of difference in terms of language, strategy, ideology and freuency both events where accorded by Indian Media. The Pragassh musical band got overwhelming support from different Indian media organisations and other governmental, and non- governmental organisations. Newspapers like Economic Times, Tribune, Thelka, Daily Baskar ran series of articles and news items to support the disbanded musical band, While as they were almost invisible with respect to Shopian double murder case. The kind of text or the politics of text was quite evident in both the events like ‘alleged murder and rape, likely drowned, in-tact hymen, and no marks to muzzled, talented, Islamic threats etc. This kind of texuality is in line with what a careful reading of Baudeliar’s easy ‘women and prostitute’,which helps us to archetype that the text is itself construction a notion of women across a broad spectrum of meaning and urban spaces------- a space of modernity. Further to add,   as Paul Ricoeur notes, that text is aligned to masculine metaphors of strength and objectivity, “writing was given to men to come to the rescue of the weakness of the discourse, a weakness that was of the event……………it is the meaning of the speech event, not the event as event” ( Ricoeur :1971, 530-31)

