Charar-e-Sharif  -- Drift and Discrimination

Pakistan-trained and oriented terrorists of Kashmir, and foreign mercenaries deployed by Pakistan, destroy the shrine of Nunda Reshi, one of the patron-saints of Kashmir, called Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani, the Alamdar-e-Kashmir (flag- bearer of Kashmir), by Muslims, on May 11-12, 1995. True, it is not the destruction of a single shrine or township alone; it implies destruction of the very concept of Kashmiriyat, the ethos of Kashmir which held sway in the Valley till some years back. Before the three hundred thousand and odd Kashmiri Hindu minority was hounded out of the Valley.

Reverberations

The reverberations of the destruction were heard throughout the State, the country and abroad. Every leader, of any consequence, condemned the despicable act. All electronic media, Indian and foreign, all newspapers, worked overtime to find out what is Charar-e-Sharif, where is it located, and why and how has it been destroyed. The world, the country, must know. Special correspondents were deputed to Kashmir to catch the devastation, interview officials and other people to find out the truth. Truth is sacred, you know, although it can be slanted a little this way or that way to suit individual inclinations, preconceived ideas and notions so to say. That is why the BBC, not intentionally perhaps, mixed up visuals of Russian tanks in Chechnya with the ruins that was Chrar- e-Sharif at the time. Not unlike the Amnesty International of London which showed a Muslim woman from Kerala mourning her dead in Kashmir, some time to show how atrocities were being perpetrated by Indian security forces on the innocents of Kashmir. Both the organisations accepted their mistakes later and apologised, of course after doing the damage. That is really English-like, to say sorry after the excess, you know.

On the Defensive

The Government of India found itself on the receiving end, deservedly, both in and out of Parliament. On the defensive really! Not that it mattered as the holy cow, that is the Government of India, has been on the defensive continuously for a decade now; the Bofors, the submarines from Germany, the scam, the ART, so on and so forth. In fact, the only issue on which it did not have to take recourse to defence was the hounding out of three hundred thousand Hindus from Kashmir in 1990, burning of their temples, their houses, loot, murder, rape, et al, which they were subjected to in Kashmir and the humiliating existence they are eking out since. In various parts of the country, in tents, in pigeon-holes called rooms. How could anybody talk about this and go back home unscathed, without being called communal, enemy of secularism, so to say. Nobody dared. And if anyone tried to raise the point in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, all the secularists and proponents of social justice pounced upon him together, in concert, because they would become non-secular in their own eyes if they listened to the pathetic tale of Hindus, those from Kashmir particularly. After all, there is something like conscience of which the dictates must be obeyed, wrong or right. It is preposterous, unpardonable, for Kashmiri Hindus to say they are a minority and seek justice as such under the Constitution of India. It is un-Indian, if not outright anti-Indian.

Drifting

The tragedy at Charar-e-Sharif brought out the Government of India in its best. After all, it had the support of the entire country through their representatives in Parliament at least this once. It had, however, to defend itself against the accusation of failure to protect the shrine and the inhabitants of Charar-e-Sharief. This it did by laying the blame on Pakistan. It is out to stall the much-publicised election process in Kashmir supposed to be the panacea for all ills which have plagued and overwhelmed the Valley during the past decade. It promised everything under the sun to rebuild and rehabilitate Chrar. Seeing the mood of members in the Lok Sabha, even the Speaker of the august House had to intervene and direct the Government to execute everything it was promising on war- footing. The Prime Minister lost no time in announcing a grant of Rs. 15 crores out of his National Relief Fund for the purpose. The State Government was directed to gear itself up for the gigantic task. Departmental agencies, insurance companies, banks, etc. were directed to depute officers and other staff immediately to Charar to assess the damage and make adequate payments on spot. Water and power supply, affected by the conflagration, was restored on emergency basis. A few State Governments hastened to announce relief of Rs. 15 lakhs each for the victims of the tragedy. The wave of indignation created for the purpose made every Tom, Dick and Harry, to come out with statements condemning the incident. Maybe to see their names in print or their faces on the idiot-box, of course without knowing what has happened, where and how. All know, Geography, not to speak of History, is not their weakness.

No locus standi

Finding support from every corner of the two Houses of Parliament, the Government felt emboldened to reiterate it for the umpteenth time that "Kashmir is an integral part of India, Pakistan has no locus standi in the issue, we cannot and I will not allow Pakistan to meddle in our internal affairs.... we are of course prepared to talk to Pakistan on bilateral problems, including Kashmir, anywhere, at any time, without any pre-conditions" and the like. The Prime Minister thundered "the election process will not be stalled because Pakistan wants it. We will, in no case, oblige Pakistan on this account, and the State will have a popular government by July 18, 1995". It is a different story that the Chief Election Commissioner did not find the atmosphere congenial for elections and the Centre was forced to eat the humble pie once again.

Oh, No!

The Government of India did not, however, promise anything it could not do. It did not, for instance, promise that it will make the situation congenial for elections. Nor did it say anything about return to the Valley of three hundred thousand Hindus turned out of Kashmir six years back. How could it? This part of the job is not within its competence, nor under the jurisdiction of its man on the spot, the J&K governor, whose only brief is to have elections, come what may, normalcy or no normalcy.

In fact, nobody asked for any information or clarification about this aspect of the Kashmir problem. Maybe because the word "Hindu" is taboo, in Parliament and also outside it. Or, maybe nobody in the country knows about it. The Hindu migrant from Kashmir is on no party's agenda. Well, the centre, the various political parties, except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). and their apologists have very assiduously played this aspect of the problem down for the past six years. How can they talk about it now? Anybody doing so would be dubbed "Hindutva-Vadi" and shouted down anywhere in the country, particularly in Parliament. Better to save one's own skin!

Discrimination

No matter if, in all this hullabaloo, every one, concerned or unconcerned, forgot, may be chose to forget, the other side of the drama that has added another chapter to the gory history of Kashmir for the past decade, 1990 onwards particularly. Since three hundred thousand Hindus of Kashmir were ousted from the Valley, exactly according to a plan formulated earlier by pro-Pak and anti- Kafir Muslims of Kashmir, the followers of Nunda Rishi, the Rishi-Zadas (progeny of Rishis) as a migrant poet chose to put it.

While the entire country was moaning over the destruction of Charar-e-Sharif, the Reshi-Zadas busied themselves with torching many more houses of migrant Hindus, desecrating their temples, places of worship, dharamshalas, large and small.

According to preliminary information, they burnt over one thousand houses, one hundred of them in a single village, Zainapora in Tehsil Shopian of Pulwama district this time. Apart from the houses, they desecrated over fifty temples, dismantling some and burning others. For instance all the seven temples in the Rainawari area of Srinagar, and all the large and small temples on the parikrama route around Hari Parbat, including the Ganesh Temple, adjacent to the stair-case leading to the Makhdoom Sahib shrine, have been laid flat.

Some of the other temples/ashrams destroyed are:

Tikkar and Hushar Temples in Kupwara district: Nagabal, Nagdandi, Lok Bhawan, Achhabal, Noahapura temples in Anantnag district: Bhawani Temple and Swami Mast Ram Ashram at Bandipora in Badgam district (on the road to Charar-e-Sharif): Ramji Mandir (Barbarshah), Dharam Dass Temple, Rani Temple (Magarmal Bagh), three temples: around Hari Singh High Street, Chakreshwari on top of Hari Parbat, Bhairava Temple at Chhatabal (closed since 1973 because of some sort of dispute created for capturing the prime plot of land around it) in Srinagar city.

Further reports about destruction of temples are still coming. It is said that all temples in Pulwama District have been laid flat.

Recurring phenomenon

It is already known that ever since the forced migration of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990 all their houses were looted and about 20,000 burnt. Nobody seems to be responsible for protection of these houses and places of worship. Now that over 95 percent of Hindus of Kashmir have been turned out what use are their houses and temples! Why should the government worry on this account when its hands are already full recapturing the hearts and minds of Kashmiri Muslims for India? Why alienate the arsonists when the aim is to remove any sense of alienation from the Kashmiris' minds? Let them continue with their depredations, short of attacking or ambushing security force convoys, if it helps one to conclude that the situation is normalising. Why try to catch gun-toting youngsters if they don't fire on security pickets or bunkers? Don't attack us and we will not object to your flaunting pistols, seems to be the policy. The gun-toters can collect protection money from householders and shopkeepers. How does it matter? Providing protection to so many people, even if they want it, against the gun-toters would become another burden on the nation's exchequer ! Let the gunmen destroy any and every vestige of the Hindu past of Kashmir if they don't attack security forces, seems to be the directive. Forget Hindus and forgive fundamentalists. Ignore the fact that fanatics are not leaving even peace-loving Muslims alone in Kashmir. That is the Kashmir Policy, if you care to know! Proved once again by Charar-e- Sharif!

DISCLAIMER:

The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."

Courtesy: KS team and June 1995, Kosher Samachar