Nayantara Sehgal finds the central Govt and Modi complicit in crimes
against minorities , she returns her Sahitya Academy award and right
wingers goes back to their old woes what about Kashmiri Pundiths. I write this piece to counter their false propaganda and logic.
While I don't deny that a small minority of Kashmiris were at the that
time radicalized into threatening the pandiths, this minority was no
more in number than the minority of Hindus of Gujarat or UP who in
briefer durations killed more Muslims. The point here is not to get into
the comparitive hatred of fringe groups but to drive home the point
that in case of Kashmiri Pundiths, the general ruse is to victimize the
vast majority of Kashmiris. and hold them collectively responsible for
what the Pandiths faced. If that is the case than all the Gujarati
Hindus or the UP Hindus are responsible for what the Muslims there have
faced.
To say that Muslims did nothing to stop Pandiths from migrating is not only factually wrong but even wrong according to my own personal experience. My own relatives and friends were very sad and pleaded with their pandith neighbors and friends to not leave. The atmosphere at that time was extremely volatile. When the armed movement started, the Pandiths feared that some kind of an extremist Islamic Govt would be soon implemented and they will be subject to persecution. This fear was materialised in two ways.
1. The overt Islamic symbolism used by the militants at that time ( though if you compare the number Muslims and Hindus killed by militants you'll realize that even they did not have the Pandith massacre as their objective )
2. With no 1 in the minds of pandiths they began to see ( Hindu) army and Govt of India at large as their sole saviours. It was at this very time that Jagmohan reportedly threatened that he would wipe out the entire aeras of Kashmir to instill a fear in Kashmiris about their association with their independence / sepratism struggle.
This is what a senior Kashmiri politician said about Jagmohan:
" So you are on records saying that Jagmohan had said that he will kill two to three lakh people?
Dr Mustafa Kamal: Yes it had appeared in Indian Express of that time. Jagmohan is responsible of exodus of Kashmiri Pandits."
http://kashmirpioneer.com/.../784-ex-guv-jagmohan-wanted...
Ex-Guv Jagmohan wanted to bomb parts of Srinagar, asked pandits to leave, claims Kamal
kashmirpioneer.com
Ex-Guv Jagmohan wanted to bomb parts of Srinagar, asked pandits to leave, claims Kamal
.This was also the time when there were many incidents of massacres committed by army against Kashmiris. The Pandith community was made to believe that using brute force the Indian Govt would eradicate the sentiments of separatism from the minds of Kashmiris. Not all Pandiths believed in this, which is evident from the fact that some chose to stay in Kashmir.
Being forced to leave the home is a big tragedy and majority of Kashmiris empathise with the situation of Pandiths.
Nothing can compensate for the loss of their home though their have been attempts by Govt to provide them with job reservations, employment quotas, monthly stipends of 5000/ Rs which was based on the findings of how many of them have left Kashmir. I wish the Govt extends these compensations to Kashmiri Muslims and Sikhs who also left Kashmir during militancy.
The tragedy is that at a time when reconciliation is of utmost important to rehabilitate our Pandith brothers and sisters, rabid anti-Muslim parties and groups are being made the representatives of Kashmiri Pandiths. What hurts me more is that even tolerant and pluralistic people in the rest of the India are swayed by their rhetoric. Even "Hardcore seperatist" like Syed ali Shah Geelani do not speak anti hindu/pandith words and have infact, atleast publicly, repeatedly asked the pandiths to return. .
Contrast this with Togadiya who sadly many pandiths consider their representative, asking Hindus to " spit on Muslims". The point I want to make here is that such elements are antithetical to any idea of integration.
Lastly, I often get to hear, while discussing this subject, that some Kashmiri Muslims used hate filled language like " Muslaman jaago kaafir bhagaao". It is sad that even some pluralist people use such incidents to stereotype all Kashmiri Muslims as rabbid hate mongers. It is same as viewing every Gujarati Hindu as a barbaric rapist like
babu bajrangi who rip apart a pregnant Muslims women's fetus.Or calling every Hindu as killer like those who lynched old pious man at Dadri on rumor that he ate beef.
The bedrock and life blood of xenophobia is to caricature stereotype and generalized an entire community for the acts done of some people.
My limited argument in writing all of the above is that we must not fall into this trap.
The problem with these right wingers is that they are hell bent on victimizing the entire Muslim community based on faulty logical device which when mirrored elsewhere is not acceptable to them.
xenophobia "the hatred of others" are typically used ,though in a vitriolic mould,by Hindutva extremists to commit and justify crimes on Muslims who have nothing to do with what happened with Kashmiri Pandiths.
To say that Muslims did nothing to stop Pandiths from migrating is not only factually wrong but even wrong according to my own personal experience. My own relatives and friends were very sad and pleaded with their pandith neighbors and friends to not leave. The atmosphere at that time was extremely volatile. When the armed movement started, the Pandiths feared that some kind of an extremist Islamic Govt would be soon implemented and they will be subject to persecution. This fear was materialised in two ways.
1. The overt Islamic symbolism used by the militants at that time ( though if you compare the number Muslims and Hindus killed by militants you'll realize that even they did not have the Pandith massacre as their objective )
2. With no 1 in the minds of pandiths they began to see ( Hindu) army and Govt of India at large as their sole saviours. It was at this very time that Jagmohan reportedly threatened that he would wipe out the entire aeras of Kashmir to instill a fear in Kashmiris about their association with their independence / sepratism struggle.
This is what a senior Kashmiri politician said about Jagmohan:
" So you are on records saying that Jagmohan had said that he will kill two to three lakh people?
Dr Mustafa Kamal: Yes it had appeared in Indian Express of that time. Jagmohan is responsible of exodus of Kashmiri Pandits."
http://kashmirpioneer.com/.../784-ex-guv-jagmohan-wanted...
Ex-Guv Jagmohan wanted to bomb parts of Srinagar, asked pandits to leave, claims Kamal
kashmirpioneer.com
Ex-Guv Jagmohan wanted to bomb parts of Srinagar, asked pandits to leave, claims Kamal
.This was also the time when there were many incidents of massacres committed by army against Kashmiris. The Pandith community was made to believe that using brute force the Indian Govt would eradicate the sentiments of separatism from the minds of Kashmiris. Not all Pandiths believed in this, which is evident from the fact that some chose to stay in Kashmir.
Being forced to leave the home is a big tragedy and majority of Kashmiris empathise with the situation of Pandiths.
Nothing can compensate for the loss of their home though their have been attempts by Govt to provide them with job reservations, employment quotas, monthly stipends of 5000/ Rs which was based on the findings of how many of them have left Kashmir. I wish the Govt extends these compensations to Kashmiri Muslims and Sikhs who also left Kashmir during militancy.
The tragedy is that at a time when reconciliation is of utmost important to rehabilitate our Pandith brothers and sisters, rabid anti-Muslim parties and groups are being made the representatives of Kashmiri Pandiths. What hurts me more is that even tolerant and pluralistic people in the rest of the India are swayed by their rhetoric. Even "Hardcore seperatist" like Syed ali Shah Geelani do not speak anti hindu/pandith words and have infact, atleast publicly, repeatedly asked the pandiths to return. .
Contrast this with Togadiya who sadly many pandiths consider their representative, asking Hindus to " spit on Muslims". The point I want to make here is that such elements are antithetical to any idea of integration.
Lastly, I often get to hear, while discussing this subject, that some Kashmiri Muslims used hate filled language like " Muslaman jaago kaafir bhagaao". It is sad that even some pluralist people use such incidents to stereotype all Kashmiri Muslims as rabbid hate mongers. It is same as viewing every Gujarati Hindu as a barbaric rapist like
babu bajrangi who rip apart a pregnant Muslims women's fetus.Or calling every Hindu as killer like those who lynched old pious man at Dadri on rumor that he ate beef.
The bedrock and life blood of xenophobia is to caricature stereotype and generalized an entire community for the acts done of some people.
My limited argument in writing all of the above is that we must not fall into this trap.
The problem with these right wingers is that they are hell bent on victimizing the entire Muslim community based on faulty logical device which when mirrored elsewhere is not acceptable to them.
xenophobia "the hatred of others" are typically used ,though in a vitriolic mould,by Hindutva extremists to commit and justify crimes on Muslims who have nothing to do with what happened with Kashmiri Pandiths.
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