Burqa-clad women in Baramulla hit boundaries

As captain of the cricket team in Baramulla’s Government Women’s College, Insha is one of the young women setting trends in this suburban town in north Jammu and Kashmir and in the Valley. 

“Bekhauff azad rehna hai mujhe (I want to stay independent without any fear),” sings the 21-year-old fourth semester student of the Government Women’s College who successfully led her team to lift this year’s inter-university cricket championship in the Valley last week. 

Her brave words — taken from the title track of Aamir Khan’s talk show “Satyamev Jayate” — are echoed by others who walk the tightrope between tradition and passion, playing cricket even if it means doing so with their hijabs, a scarf covering the head and neck. Some even play with the burqa. 

Like Rabya, a first year student, an all-rounder who manages to bat, bowl and field with the burqa when she’s in Baramulla. When she plays in Srinagar, she opts for the hijab. 

“I cannot go against the wishes of my teachers at Darasgah (religious school where she gets her Islamic teaching),” said Rabya. The all-rounder on the team, the daughter of a daily wage labourer, is from the Jamaat-e-Islamia dominated old town of Baramulla. 

Insha, too, wore her burqa when she first started playing, but the patriarchal society in which lives did not take it well and often taunted her. An undeterred Insha now wears a hijab and confidently drives her Scooty to college with her bat. 

Building a team was a herculean task. Two physical trainers of the college — Gurdeep Singh and Showkat Ahmed —helped train women students. Insha, who had played at the national level, helped with additional inputs on warm-up exercises. 

“I learnt stretching and warm-up exercises during my camps outside the state. We also want to do something in sports and have petitioned the government many times for opening a training centre here but to no avail,” she said.