Author: Lalit Koul
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 20, 2012
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/51266-kashmir's-hindus-have-survived-ordeal.html

Twenty three years after they were last driven out of their homeland, the Hindus of Jammu & Kashmir have survived the nightmare and are now even more emboldened to return to the State of their origin. They cannot remain refugees in their own country

After bearing the brunt of persecution at the hands of Islamic rulers for more than 400 years, it was only in 1820 that Kashmiri Hindus began to breathe freely, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh took over the reins of the Valley. The wounds of the Kashmiri Hindus began to heal. It was a period of peaceful development and fair governance, which continued much into the Dogra rule until early 20th century. Around same time, while British colonial power was failing in countering India’s independence movement, it was also using the time tested and proven ‘divide and rule’ strategy in Kashmir.

It supported and promoted Muslim insurgency against the Dogra rule in Jammu & Kashmir and implanted activists like Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in the Valley. Sheikh Abdullah, after graduating from Aligarh Muslim University, got active in the ‘Muslim Reading Room’ party in the Valley, with the key objective of creating a revolt against Dogra King Maharaja Hari Singh. Sheikh Abdullah and his party leaders started gathering in big numbers in mosques and instigating the masses with their fiery and provocative speeches. And then came July 13, 1931 — a black day in the history of Kashmiri Hindus. That day, Kashmiri Hindus were once again made targets and subjected to vicious attacks. Shops and houses belonging to Kashmiri Hindus were ransacked and burnt down. Several Kashmiri Hindu innocents were killed in Kanikoot, a village few miles outside of Srinagar city.

As Britain was leaving India after dissecting it into two countries in 1947, Pakistan was getting ready with its evil designs to attack Kashmir. Still in its infancy, Pakistan launched a deadly attack on Kashmir during October of 1947 by sending her Army men pretending as tribesmen. These armed men engaged in indiscriminate looting and killing of innocent Kashmiri Hindus at various places in districts of Kupwara, Baramulla, Badgam and outskirts of Srinagar. Thousands of Kashmiri Hindus living in the Northern Kashmir had to overnight escape to Indian plains to protect their womenfolk from Pakistani Islamic marauders. Legend is that during those trying times all Kashmiri Hindus used to keep some amount of poison in their homes, ready to be administered to their women folk in case of an attack from Islamic zealots. This wave of exodus was the fifth major exodus for our community.

Since Maharaja Hari Singh’s accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India, it has always been ruled by Muslim rulers from Kashmir. Even though India’s independence brought democracy and popular rule to Jammu & Kashmir, plight of Kashmiri Hindus didn’t have any material change. Yes, they were not subjected to day-to-day Islamists’ torture but they were still subjected to targeted discrimination and ridicule at the hands of majority Muslims. Kashmiri Hindu children were consistently discriminated during admission to various professional colleges.

And then came 1986. Ghulam Mohammed Shah, estranged brother-in-law of Mr Farooq Abdullah, had recently taken over as Chief Minister and was starting to show his true communal colours. His 20-month rule was one of the worst times in the State. Based on the number of days the Valley was under curfew during his rule, he was nicknamed ‘Gul-Curfew’. In order to appease a certain section of the electorate, a new mosque Shah Masjid, named after the Chief Minister, was built within the premises of a Hindu temple in the New Civil Secretariat in Jammu. This, for obvious reasons, was not taken well by Jammuites and under the leadership of Dogra leader Vaid Vishnu Dutt they protested against it. The whole city of Jammu was shut down for four days. Feeling the heat from the charged atmosphere, Gul Shah ran away to Srinagar on February 20, 1986 and started instigating local Muslims against Hindus.

It is alleged that he floated two false rumors about Hindus damaging mosques and killing Muslims in the Jammu region. Like any rumour, these too spread like a wild fire and created a very volatile situation in the valley that just needed a little light to turn into a big fireball. And that little light was very conveniently provided by anti-social and anti-India separatists’ forces. As usual, the easy targets for these Kashmiri Islamists were innocent minority Kashmiri Hindus in the valley. Unlike 1947 when the Kashmir’s northern areas saw the brutalities, this time it was the southern areas of Kashmir that faced the brunt of horrendous atrocities.

Kashmiri Hindus living in the towns of Anantnag and its adjoining areas were specifically targetted and attacked. Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who at that time was JKPCC (I) chief, allegedly played a key role in fomenting the trouble and used his influence in instigating the attacks on Kashmiri Hindus and their properties. It is believed that more than 500 houses belonging to our community were looted and ransacked; more than 50 houses were totally burnt; hundreds of shops were looted and set ablaze; and over 60 Hindu temples were damaged and desecrated. Such massive destruction created an environment of fear psychosis in the minds of innocent Kashmiri Hindus and resulted in the sixth major wave of exodus from our homeland to lands elsewhere.

That is how we, Kashmiri Hindus, have suffered gradually over centuries until the sudden onslaught on January 19, 1990, which resulted in our most recent and seventh exodus. That night, now etched in our memories as the darkest night of our lives and now observed as “Kashmiri Pandit Exodus Day” was the beginning of our most recent exodus. During the day, then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah resigned from his post and sent the whole administration into a topsy-turvy. There was absolutely no law and order that night and like on a cue, hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Muslims came out on the streets demanding Aazadi and our eviction from our homes. Islamic terrorists used loud speakers installed over all the mosques to blare out their threats to our community.

The majority Muslim community stood silent watching our ethnic cleansing. We were given three choices and 24 hours to decide. Three choices of ‘Raliv, Galiv ya Chaliv’ (Convert, Die or Escape). Our houses were marked for impending attacks. Under such circumstances, where there was no Government to provide any security and majority community was after the blood of minority community, what should have we done?

In order to safeguard and protect our honour, more importantly of our mothers and daughters, thousands of us escaped during that horrendous night. We got on to whatever mode of transportation we could find and started our journey to plains, hoping that it would be a temporary phenomenon. We were under the impression that it will be a two to three month phase, the dust will settle and we will soon return to our homes. But, sadly, we were wrong.