The invisible ghost of Kashmiriyat
Last month 2 news items caught my eye. The first was a series of excavations in Bijbehara in Anantnag district of South Kashmir which unearthed statues of Lord Vishnu & other Hindu deities. The second was a video of Talha Saeed provoking a frenzied crowd to wage war against India and also glorifying Dawood Ibrahim. As Talha invoked the poster boy of Kashmir terrorism i.e. Burhan Wani & Hafiz Saeed, the delirious crowd chanted, how they wanted Azaadi & nothing else in life.
Fast forward to discussions in some major news studios in New Delhi where the usual suspects who always appear whenever some tragic incident takes place in Kashmir are debating the Talha Saeed incident. The arguments being put forward are the usual ones; India must have patience with the people of Valley, how the Indian security forces are committing serious crimes in the Valley, how Kashmiriyat still exists in the Valley & how the Indian state has failed the Muslims in Kashmir. ‘Failed the Muslims in Kashmir', I shake my head in disbelief.
There is no dearth of ‘Kashmir Experts' in Delhi; news Studios are full of journalists who due to their proximity to the ruling establishment in New Delhi, have been able to visit Kashmir & file their datelines. They routinely hobnob with the secessionists in the Valley and enjoy their Kehwa together. They are not even beyond chiding some hapless Kashmiri Pandits who would occasionally appear on their shows & recount the horrors & the travails, they and their families endured, when they had to flee Kashmir. Tsk tsk, Kashmiriyat, they are told, still holds true in Valley & will eventually prevail. Kashmiriyat, is the elixir which will save Kashmir; is the solution most frequently put out. Kashmiriyat; the word, returns to haunt my thoughts. Just what is Kashmiriyat & why is this term used so frequently by the media in New Delhi?
14th Sept 1989, political activist Tika Lal Taploo is dragged out of his own house in Srinagar & brutally gunned down. No one comes to his rescue. 4th Jan 1990; a local Urdu newspaper Aftab publishes Hizb-ul Mujahideen's notice to all Kashmiri Pandits; Pack up & leave Kashmir, or else be prepared to be killed. Another newspaper Al Safa re-publishes the open threat.
15th Jan 1990, Baldev Raj Dutta is kidnapped in Srinagar. His brutalized dead body is found four days later. Meanwhile every night the loudspeakers in Kashmir start broadcasting ‘Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive'. The silence of the night is drowned out in the marital chants, communal slogans loudly broadcast from the Mosques. Mysterious knocks are made on the doors of the Kashmiri Pandit's houses. As the Pandits cower in fright in their own household, the streets are full of inflamed Muslims screaming'
‘Yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa. La sharqiya la garbiya, Islamia Islamia'
‘Zalzala aaya hai kufr ke maidaan mein, Lo mujahid aa gaye maidaan mein'.
‘Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te Batanev san‘
All this while, there is no sight of the famous Kashmiriyat. Neighbor's who have lived together for decades, turn against the Pandis. Chinese whispers, Intrigue, Betrayal add to the frightening atmosphere.
19th Jan 1990 provides the tipping point. Thousands of loud speakers all across the Valley start broadcasting Azaadi slogans & calls for the killing of Male Pandits & abduction of Female Pandits. A whole ethnicity is terrorized and decides to flee Kashmir. Estimated 100,000 to 800,000 Pandit's leave their houses, belongings and flee in terror. Overnight people are homeless, jobless & have an uncertain future. There is still sign of the elusive Kashmiriyat.
As years roll by, dates become statistics. 21st March 1997 Sangrampra, 25thJan 1998 Wandhama, 23 March 2003 Nadimarg; Pandit's are routinely brutally massacred in large numbers, their temples destroyed, houses burnt down. There is still no sign of the elusive Kashmiriyat.
The houses left behind by the Pandit's have their locks broken, pillaged and occupied by erstwhile neighbors. Most Temples are destroyed, deities desecrated & a militant Islam overtakes the Valley. There is still no sign of the elusive Kashmiriyat.
Fast Forward February 2017. Ancient Hindu sculptures are unearthed in Kashmir. It wasn't till early 14th Century, that Muslim rule & Islam appeared in Kashmir. Till then, Hinduism & Buddhism had existed in Kashmir. The rise of Islam corresponded with the decline of Kashmir Shaivism in Kashmir. However, the famous Kashmir Experts will now have you believe that Islam has always been a part of Kashmir's culture & history. It has not. With the exodus of Pandits from the valley, the link to the ancient civilization is lost. Kashmiriyat is the casualty in the ethnic cleansing
As news channels routinely beam footage of violent mobs pelting and attacking vehicles of security forces in the Valley, impeding operations against terrorists, mass gatherings & hysteria at the burials of killed terrorists, eulogization of Kalashnikov toting terrorists; one can't help but feel that, Kashmiriyat is long dead in Kashmir. It is time we all understood this. There can't be anything secular in a society which allowed the willful killing, plunder & terrorization of an entire community. Majority of Muslim society of Kashmir was either complicit or a mute spectator, when Pandits were being brutalized. More than a generation has passed by, from that fateful night of 19th Jan 1990, when an entire community was uprooted from its homeland. However the Kashmir Experts in Delhi, used to hobnobbing with the secessionists and providing an almost tragic romantic excuse for what happened then, are yet to wake up to this reality. It is about time that the ghost of Kashmiriyat was given a burial. For good.
