Prof. Siddiq Wahid received his Ph.D. in Inner Asian Studies from Harvard University, a Masters in Education from Harvard University and a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Theory from Gustavus Adolphus College. Dr. Wahid has taught Central Asian Studies and Comparative Literature at Harvard University and at Metropolitan University. After his return from the United States he has held academic positions as a Chair Professor in Modern History at the University of Jammu, the Founding Vice-Chancellor of the Islamic University of Science & Technology in Kashmir and Director of the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute of Kashmir Studies, which is the position he held until May of 2013.
 
He has authored a book on Ladakh and several articles on Central Asia, Tibetan Civilization and the Kashmir conflict. He has lectured widely in South Asia, Europe, and the United States. Currently, he is a member of the University Court of the Central University of Jammu, the Executive Council of the Central University of Kashmir, the Managing Committee of Delhi Public School in Kashmir and several other professional bodies.

Since 1994 Dr. Wahid has been deeply involved also as a political activist in Jammu & Kashmir. In 2001he was named a member of the People’s Election Commission of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

Q. Give us a brief about your journey as a student till date.

At my age, this “brief” would be a long one indeed! So let me just summarize my journey in formal education. My schooling was mostly in Darjeeling, where I went to a boarding school. This was followed by four years of schooling in New Delhi. For college, I went to the United States where I majored in political philosophy. Since this qualified me for no job as such, I then went on to get my Masters, where I focused on the philosophy of education, and a Ph.D. in Central Asian and Tibetan history.
Tell us something about your book on Ladakh.

There is very little to tell really. It was one of the first large-format picture books on Ladakh, which has excellent photographs by Kenneth R. Storm, Jr. By a series of chance circumstances, I was asked to write the text for the book and I wrote it largely by way of a rambling caption to Ken’s brilliant photographs. In my first attempt at writing and could have been much better, but it was over thirty years ago, and we learn as we go along!

Q. Recently you were appointed as a member of the State Education Advisory Board. What will be your contribution to the Education of Ladakh as a member of the Board?

Well, actually the Advisory Board is yet to meet and there has not been any communication as to our mandate. We are going to meet for the first time later this month and I too look forward to learning than as to what the extent of my contribution can be. When asked to be on the Committee, I told “the authorities” that although I am happy to be on it, I am not an expert on school education. So I will probably learn more than I will contribute from the activities of the School Education Advisory Board.
 
Q. In your view, how can we improve the current Education Scenario of Ladakh?

There are many in Ladakh who are more qualified than I to speak about school education in Ladakh, so I will not anticipate solutions before familiarizing myself with the problem. To begin with, I will look forward to engaging with educational professionals in Ladakh about school education and move on from there.

Having said that I would feel comfortable in saying that some of the broad parameters for good education in Ladakh today should be, (i) to give children a sense of belonging to their immediate surroundings a socio-economic environment that alienates them for it, (ii) to include an understanding of the “other” in our educational journey and (iii) to create space for critical thought processes when our educational methodologies tend to stuff mere facts into minds. These need to be the key parameters for primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education.

With new progress and developments in all fields, what do you think is the biggest threat to Ladakh’s future?

The subject is related to your last question. I think there are two big threats: alienation from our past, which tends to rob us of a sense of belonging and the ability to think for ourselves, which is what critical thought is all about.

Let me explain this a little. We seem to think that the past is to enshrine our memory of it, worship it and mimic the actions of past generations. It is not. The idea of adhering to tradition is a difficult commitment. It means to understand our past, assimilate it within ourselves and then to build on it at the personal and societal levels. This requires critical thought, the ability to think for ourselves. Unfortunately, the ability to do this is getting more and more difficult. We are everyday bombarded with propaganda (which is to say pre-fabricated thought) in the economic, social, political and even the philosophical contexts. Economically, greed, we are told, is “okay”. Politically we are told that it is enough to take care of the self and our own “group”. As for philosophy, which literally means the “love of wisdom” and which allows us to make our own decisions, we are much too busy, too “practical” to value it. So the threats are those of actually not knowing who we are and losing the ability to think for ourselves.

Q.We heard that you were proposed for the Vice Chancellor of Jammu University but denied for some reason. Can you throw some light on this issue?

If it was formally proposed, I am not aware of it. In any case, the process for the appointment of a Vice Chancellor is such that the word “denied” is probably not the right one. One was probably not selected from a list of several choices if one was included in such. But as I just said, if this was the case, I am not aware of it.

In many schools and in college in Leh still, there is a problem of lack of staff. Is it feasible to open Central University in Leh at this point in time?

This is a chicken and egg question. Which of the two comes first? If a University were to be established in Leh, it will have the same challenges that confront any University; recruiting its faculty, administration, finances and, most importantly, students. For example, would students go to a University in Ladakh or would they prefer to go to the city lights of Srinagar, Jammu, Chandigarh, Delhi, Bengaluru and beyond? I think such questions need to be tackled once the practical situations present themselves. Otherwise, we are dealing with notional ideas which don’t, in the long run, matter.

Q. In an interview, you have mentioned that you are a Ladakhi, Kashmiri, Indian and Muslim. How does it affect your everyday life decision?

I once jokingly described myself in another interview – about twenty years ago – as a “healthy schizophrenic”. What I meant by this was that we all have multiple identities in our lives. This makes the process of decision making difficult and, at times, messy. To make decisions keeping only one identity in mind is easy. To be true to all your identities is complex. In my case, I would say that it makes decision-making in my everyday life complex and complicated; but also rich and rousing.

Let me give you an example of what this means practically. If  a person were to say “I am a Muslim, or a Buddhist, first and last” (a slogan that one often hears today in our age of identity) does it mean that if a decision about Ladakh as a whole has to be made, I will examine it only from the prism of one or the other religious identity? It causes us to be unfair, unreasonable and even violent, in thought, word and deed. If, on the other hand, I were to try to be true to more than one of my identities in my decision-making process, it takes more thought and time, but it is truer and more rewarding.
 
What do you think is the reason for Ladakhi students not going for full fledged research? Is it because of lack of research facilities, lack or financial support or any other reason?

I think it is probably for any of those reasons or a combination of them. “Research” is more a state of mind and a vocation of luxury, because it involves hard-work and patience without immediate results. It takes a certain mindset to choose it as a profession. So the conditions of physical infrastructure, familiarity with methodology and scholastic dedication have to be right. Not everyone is suited for it. It is not a “mass” activity. So we should not expect this to be a popular career. I am sure there are some young Ladakhis involved in research. We probably do not hear about them now and will once they make a breakthrough. But that is normal.
 
Q.What kind of research were you involved in? How did you approach the research questions?

I am trained to imagine in the fields of politics and history. So my research questions involved both those fields and it still does. My questions are not different even today. In politics, I try to imagine what it would be like if politicians were uncomfortable with power and exercised it with caution and humility. In my studies about the past, I try to imagine what it would be like if we learned from our mistakes and did not repeat history.

Q.What are your research goals in the coming 5–10 years? Is there anything specific you would like to achieve in your career?

I do not have any specific major research goals for the immediate future, although to re-search (in the sense of to “search again”) is a lifelong process. My goals now have more to do with applying to real life what I have again searched for, like so many before me.

Q. What would be your advice to young researchers still trying to decide a career path for themselves?

Know that if you choose this path you will have chosen a career that involves deep dedication, anonymous work, and fruits of which are late in the coming. But it is also a career that is very rewarding personally.