Literary Representations of Terrorism-Induced Trauma in Jammu and Kashmir within Modern Indian Writing

Abstract

Fictional narratives of trauma in the shadow of terrorism The conflict in Jammu and Kashmir has contributed an unsavoury collection of literature- pages and pages filled with stories about death, destruction, rape and suffering. This study analyses the ways in which the psychological and emotional repercussions of displacement, violence, and exile suffered by Kashmiri Pandits are represented in recent writings published by Indian writers like Siddhartha Gigoo that form part of wider frames: current events such as the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and its subsequent Operation Sindoor. The Garden of Solitude is interpreted as a signposting novel chronicling the 1989-90 exodus and its afterlife. Drawing on trauma theory as a conceptual framework, this study examines how literary representations function as witnesses that recording collective memories and replicating the continuation of contemporary violence. It is based on qualitative textual analysis of leading literary texts in comparison with excerption from recent conflicts. Findings: The results imply that these stories genuinely reflect multiple layers of trauma (pscychological, cultural and existential) which resonates with the contemporary issues from present-day Kashmir. The conversation also highlights how literary devices are employed to articulate the inexpressible pain (and) the validation of documentation of trauma that goes on through literature and real life events such as Operation Sindoor. This research finds that Kashmiri English literature is both artistic creation and documentation of history, as well as providing self writes 104 insight into the continuing human cost of long-term terrorism.