KPs struggle for survival A page from recent history

 

Communal violence that rocked Kashmir Valley during the fateful last week of February 1986, has taken a heavy toll in terms of not only the trail devastation it left behind but also the damage it inflicted on the psyche of a whole community of Kashmir Pandits The traumatic experience they have gone through has compelled them to think more seriously than ever of mass migration to places of safety in the rest of the country, or even outside India A gnawing fear of the future has suddenly gripped members of this much-harassed minority as no serious efforts are being taken to take them out of their present predicament.Anti-Hindu riots in north Kashmir began in the township of Anantnag in 1986. The riots engulfed the whole of the south Kashmir and spread to the district of Baramulla in north-west of Kashmir. Mobs attacked the Hindus, burnt their homes and then destroyed their temples ant places of worship. The reports of the anti-Hindu riots evoked sharp reaction from Hindus in the Indian capital, New Dehi Arya Samaj and the Bharatiya Janata Party sent their tac-finding teams to Anantnag and the other affected places in the Kashmir province. The Bharatiya Janata Party leem was headed by Shri Kedar Nath Sahani, a senior leader, of the party The Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi, the frontline organisation of the Kashmin Hindus living in Delhi, also sent a theme  of its members to Kashmir to report on the anti-Hina riots and the damage done to the Hindus shrines and temples.The Kashmiri Samiti team constituted of a Committee which was headed by Shri JL. Bhat, President of the Samiti and four other members, Sh. ML. Kaul, Capt. M.K. Kachru, Sh. Deepak Bhan and Sh. JN. Tikoo The Committee Went from village to village, collecting information about the damage done to the Hindus in the riots. The live-member fact-finding Committee of the Kashmiri Samiti arrived in Srinagar on March 15. The Committee visited the worst affected villages of Dhanav Wanpoh Lok Bhawan, Bijbehara, Pampore, besides Srinagar They also met the representatives of all affected areas individually and severally. Members of the fact finding committee observed during their visit that almost all Hindu temples in the Anantnag District have been severely damaged and desecrated priceless architectural treasures and idols broken as a real reminiscent of the dark days of Sikandar, the Iconoclast All evidence points to a deep-rooted and sinister conspiracy to exterminate the Hindu minority of Kashmir The marauders came for attack when most of the men folk were away at work. Whenever men came their way, they were subjected to severe beating, some of them having been injured seriously. Even tethered cows were beaten up mercilessly merely because these belonged to Hindus.Even though the violence has abated, an air of despondency and deep sense of insecurity and fear prevails amongst the Kashmir Pandits, who are even now. threatened with dire consequences. Posters issued in the name of fundamentalist and pro-Pakistan organisations like Muslim Militia and Al-Jehad continue to surface in Srinagar and elsewhere in the valley preaching hatred against the minority community.The minority community is badly shaken and has no faith in the administration which, it thinks, has in many cases acted in collusion with fundamentalists and anti-national forces It is apparent that without the connivance of like- minded elements in the State administration, these forces could not have wrought the destruction, they did.The brutalised atmosphere prevailing in Kashmir valley speaks of a definite design to squeeze out this tiny minority Therefore, large scale exodus of the scared Pandits appears to be in the offline.

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Courtesy:-  C.L. Gadoo  and  Koshur Samachar 2019, May