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Exodus of Hindus From Kashmir


Anshubhan Singh

 

Kashmir and its original inhabitants - the Hindus of Kashmir have been in existence for centuries before Pakistan or any of the Muslim League leaders and the proponents of the Two Nation Theory were even born. But, from the 14th century to the present times, the Hindus of Kashmir have been at the literal bleeding edge of the clash of civilizations. As a result, over the course of a few centuries most Kashmiris had been converted out of the Hindu fold by the force of intimidation and brutal violence that characterized the better part of Muslim Rule in Kashmir which has existed for many centuries in past.



By the turn of the 20th century, Kashmiri Pandits came to represent the bulk of the Hindu presence that remained in Kashmir. The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community.


Some westerners pose the question, why do all Kashmiri Hindus belong to just the Brahmin caste?

Well, that is because all the other (Hindu) castes were converted to Islam by the swords of the tyrants who ruled the valley. Tyrants like Sikander Butshikan, Ali Shah, Shamsuddin Iraqi and others who not only carried out terrible genocides but also destroyed the centers of Kashmiri Hindu spiritual and intellectual life. History bears evidence to the desecration and destruction of great Hindu temples like the Sun Temple at Martand and countless other shrines. Such atrocities created pressure on the dwindling Hindu community to flee from Kashmir not once or twice but seven times since Islam came to Kashmir. The demography of the Kashmir region continued to change decisively in favor of Muslims.

Kashmiri Pandits are a peace loving community that loved their country India. Being a minority in Kashmir, they were subjected to occasional poking by the Muslims who were in majority in the valley, but there was nothing seriously wrong till 1989.

This episode continued to its climax when we get to 1990, the year Hindus were ethnically cleansed out of Kashmir. In 1989, it all started with demonstrations and provocative announcements used to be made from mosques against the Pandits. All this escalated very fast and most of the eminent Kashmiri Pandits were shot in broad daylight. Pandit women were raped, men kidnapped and killed. There used to be announcements asking Pandit men to go away from Kashmir and leave their women behind. Threat letters were pasted on the walls of the Pandit homes to leave Kashmir or get killed. In matter of days, over 300 Kashmiri Pandits were killed. Adding to the trauma, the militants were not from some foreign land. They mere mostly Kashmiri Muslim youth who were trained by Pakistan and adequate troops were stationed to contain the violence perpetrated by them.


Broadcasting vicious Jehadi sermons and revolutionary songs, interspersed with blood curdling shouts and shrieks, threatening Kashmiri Pandits with dire consequences, became a routine Mantra; of the Muslims of the Valley, to force them to flee from Kashmir. As the night fell, the microscopic community became panic- stricken when the Valley began reverberating with the war-cries of Islamists, who had stage-managed the whole event with great care, choosing its timing and the slogans to be used. A host of highly provocative, communal and threatening slogans, interspersed with martial songs, incited the Muslims to come out on the streets and break the chains of slavery. These exhortations urged the faithful to give a final push to the Kafirs in order to ring in the true Islamic order mixed with precise and unambiguous threats to Pandits. They were presented with three choices - Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive (convert to Islam, leave the place or perish). Tens of thousands of Kashmiri Muslims poured into the streets of the Valley, shouting ‘death to India' and ‘death to Kafirs’.


The (Kashmiri) Pandits could see the writing on the wall. If they were lucky enough to see the night through, they would have to vacate the place before they met their deadly fate. The Seventh Exodus was surely staring them in the face. By morning, it became apparent to Pandits that Kashmiri Muslims had decided to throw them out from the Valley. Most of the Kashmiri Muslims behaved as if they did not know who the Pandits were. This frenzied mass hysteria went on till Kashmiri Pandits’ despondency turned into desperation, as the night wore itself out. For the first time after the independence of India from the British rule, Kashmiri Pandits found themselves abandoned to their fate, stranded in their own homes, encircled by rampaging mobs. Through the frenzied shouts and blood-curdling sloganeering of the assembled mobs, Pandits saw the true face of intolerant and radical Islam. It represented the complete anti-thesis of the over-rated ethos of Kashmiriyat that was supposed to define Kashmiri culture and old traditions.


A community who has a 5000 years attachment with Kashmir was thrown out and then troops got mobilized and still there wasn’t any end to that mindless “Azaadi”. Sufi Islam which was a mainstay in Kashmir got superseded by Salafi Wahabism which is an extreme form of Islamic supremacy wherein people adhering to other religions are liable to be killed or they have to pay a tax for not adhering to Islam. The incident of January, 1990 was a religious one. People of India need to understand that Kashmiri Pandits can't just be sent back or given land in Kashmir etc.


Integration with local populace is very important. For that local population needs to be brought back to non fanatic, regular human fold and under the present government post 5 Aug 2019, thankfully it has started, though slowly, but will surely meet its end state desired one day.

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