The Dhimmis of Kashmir

 

Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection. (Qur’an chapter 9 verse 29)

 

While I am a Kashmiri Pandit by birth, my initial education due to my dad’s nature of job happened outside Kashmir. When we finally went back to Kashmir (to be thrown out again few years later), the place was full of surprises and shocks. Kashmir was odd; it was a place where I was treated differently because of my religion. I as a kid always used to wonder why, and how did they figure out that I am a Kashmiri Pandit and not a Muslim boy. The mystery was soon solved, when I figured out that there was a clear-cut differentiation in the dress worn by Pandits and Muslims. Even the dresses which were common, there were distinctive features to identify the Kashmiri Pandit. The Islamic rulers had made changes in the designs of turbans and pherans (Long, commodious apron worn by Kashmiri men and women) and the same even continues till date. While caps replaced the turbans, the pherans are still very much used in Kashmir and Pandit Pherans have a distinct fold at the knees, identifying them as Pandits or should I say, Dhimmis.
 

During the course of time, I discovered something called Dhimmis, and while it shocked me, I could clearly see that we the Kashmiri Pandits were being treated as Dhimmis. What does Dhimmi mean? Dhimmis are non Islamic minorities in a Muslim majority state, living in a recognized subordinate legal status. If I put it simply, Dhimmis are second grade citizens.

The Islam prohibits the Dhimmis and minorities from:

1.      Wearing clothes that do not make them recognizable

 

2.    Constructing big houses or owning estates

3.      Marrying Muslim women

4.      Holding important public positions

5.      Practising their religion in public & constructing religious structures

 

Yes, with modernisation these restrictions have somewhat eased in rest of the world, but not in an important state of the Socialist, Secular Republic of India, the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The Kashmiri Pandits have been facing persecution for many centuries and have been treated as Dhimmis by both barbaric Islamic rulers and the elected representatives of Kashmir in free India.

Immediately after coming to power in 1947, Mohammed Sheikh Abdullah, the then Prime Minister and grandfather of the current CM immediately implemented the first principle of Dhimmi code. He confiscated the lands of Kashmiri Pandits and redistributed them for free to the Muslims of the state. This was done under the garb of ‘Land for Tiller act’ and surprisingly implemented with full vigour in the Kashmir Valley only, where the Hindus are in minority.

The Kashmiri Pandits persecution qualifies Dhimmi treatment in every sense. The Pandits are not allowed to hold any important political post and for last few decades not even a single Kashmiri Pandit has been given election ticket by the Muslim dominated parties of Kashmir. The Kashmiri Pandits are not even nominated to the upper house of the legislature and making them a minister is not even a dream that can be seen.

I remember last year the CM of Kashmir, Omar Abdullah tried scoring political point by criticising Narendra Modi for not giving election ticket to any Muslim in his state. On being confronted, on how many Kashmiri Pandits were given tickets by Omar Abdullah’s party, the CM had no answer.

While I was in the valley, honestly I do not remember any Kashmiri Pandit boy marrying a Kashmiri Muslim girl. Yes, I knew many falling for each other but never marrying. The Kashmiri Pandit boy knew that if he dared to marry a Muslim girl, not only him but his entire family would be butchered. While on the contrary it was quite common to kidnap a Pandit girl and forcefully marry and convert her. In the famous Parmeshwari case, such was the open discrimination that even the state machinery ensured the parents do not meet the girl; alas the truth may come out.

The persecution of minorities reached to such an extent that the Muslim fanatics openly started killing the minorities and raping their women. By Jan 1990 almost every Pandit home in Kashmir was on the hit list of Islamic fanatics, and its prominent personalities were assassinated almost every day. The Dhimmis of Kashmir were warned to move out the valley or get killed. The common slogan of the Muslim fanatics was “we want Kashmir without Hindus but with their women”.

The Muslim majority govt of the valley turned a blind eye to these atrocities or pleaded helplessness. And by the first few weeks of 1990, the entire Kashmir valley was bereft of its only prominent minority, the Kashmiri Pandits.  The exodus of the Pandits saw the execution of the last principle of Dhimmi law, prohibition of minority religious practice and destruction of minority religious institutions. Slowly the temples are being desecrated and lands belonging to these temples are being forcefully taken over. Many prominent temples are in ruins and efforts to rebuild them are seeing resistance from the fanatic population of the valley. As usual, the Muslim controlled government of the valley is also ensuring that the lands are usurped by the Muslims land mafia and all the symbols of Hinduism are wiped out.

The Kashmiri Pandits now almost for a decade have been trying to push “Temple & Shrine Bill” to save their religious institutions. The bill just asks for an institution similar to Muslim Aukaf Trust, which allows Muslims to run their religious institutions in a better and safe way.

The mentality of not providing religious freedom has made the state government form innovate ways to block the bill. Constant request, appeals and protest have fallen to deaf ear. The mindset of denying the minority of their religious right can be gauged from the actions of Mustafa Kamal, the senior member of the ruling party and uncle of the current CM, Omar Abdullah. Mustafa Kamal wants an amendment to the bill, where he wants the amendment to include Muslims to be part of running and managing Hindu Temples. Now the bill has been send to a standing committee for further study, almost after 8 years of it being introduced in the legislature.

With such delaying tactics, the government of Kashmir has reconfirmed that few mind-sets just don’t change. And yes, even in a Hindu majority, secular nation like India, Dhimmis do exist.

 

 

 

 

Butt Butshikan

Butt Butshikan

 

Islam came to valley in 1320 with Rinchans conversion to Islam.  And with advent of Sayyid Hamdani, the Islam gained more prominence in the politics of the valley. The Islamic zeal gained fanatical proportions with Suktan Sikandar, the infamous Sikander Butshikan (Sikander Destroyer of idols)

Butshikan launched relentless campaign to convert the local population of Kashmir into Islam and destroy the religious symbols of Hindus. Tons of Januas (Sacred thread worn by Hindu Bhramins) were burnt. The cities were burnt and many temples destroyed or attempted to be destroyed. The famous sun Temple at Martand, built by the Great King Lalitdatiya was destroyed too. It is said the temple was so big and grand that even after employing all tactics, Sikander and his men could not completely destroy the temple and thankfully the remains of the temple still stand at Mattan and even the ruins clearly highlight the grandeur of the temple.

The fanatical zeal of Islam continued for centuries with occasional respites during the rule of Zani-ul-Abidin, more lovingly called as Budshah, Akbar and Sikhs. Lakhs of Hindus were forcibly converted and all the identity of Kashmiri Pandits would have been wiped out had it not been the courage and determination of our ancestors who managed to stay Hindu, preserve their 5000 year old culture and rebuild their places of worship. Our ancestors preferred to give up their lives than to give up their faith.

Let’s not forget that this is not the first exodus of Kashmiri Hindus. 1990 exodus was the seventh exodus in last 700 years.  But each time our ancestors did not let their desire to be back in their motherland die down. It is said during Afghan rule only 11 Hindu families were left in the valley, while all other Hindus had fled. But the families which fled did not forget their motherland and ensured that their religious shrines, their customs, their language remained intact.  

Inspite of being just 3% of the population, the Hindus of the valley safeguarded their temples with zeal. Almost all towns and villages had temples which were well maintained inspite of the meagre income of Hindus.

Post 1990 exodus, what we the Kashmiri Hindus have achieved in 20 years, was not even achieved by the Islamic fanatics, Shah Hamdan, Afghans and Sikander Butshikan in 700 years.  We are on verge of destroying our proofs of existence in Kashmir by sheer neglect and selfishness.  We sold our land, houses and other properties in Kashmir. Yes, it was more to help over the tide financial crisis most of the families were going through.  But what made many of us to sell the temples that belonged to community, our ancestors, our identity and our pride. 

I many times wonder that Panun Kashmir call of “ sethyum te pethyum’ (seventh and last exodus), does not end up in its literal meaning. I hope and pray that Kashmiri Hindus have not decided against going back because if the valley will be bereft of any Hindus, there can’t be any questions of any exodus.

Today our Kashmiri identity is reduced to roganjosh, Haakh, occasional Kehwa and a formality trip to Kashmir with our new borns, who can’t even speak Kashmiri. We visit as tourists, behave like tourists and come back as tourists from our real home to current postal address.

Our elders just 23 years back sacrificed everything of theirs to keep us safe and save our identity. They chose life of hardship even when an easier option of conversion was available to them. And when it is the time for us to express our gratitude, we seem to be hell bent on destroying the same identity which our elders preserved for 5000 years.

I have seen many prominent Kashmiri Pandits updating their blogs, facebook pages with stories and anecdotes of their childhood visits to their neighbourhood temple or prominent Kashmiri Hindu temples. They pretend to get emotional too, but I can guarantee that most of them will have no clue of the current condition of the temple they so fondly pretend to remember

Circumstances and choice forced me to visit Kashmir quite frequently in last few years. And lately I started visiting the temples of Kashmir, while I started with the famous ones; I also started visiting not so famous ones.

The trips to these temples have been eye openers for me.  These temples which one proudly stood as our symbols of our existence, faith, determination and proof of our courage, are today in conditions which only can bring tears to one’s eyes and make the entire community ashamed of itself.  I could feel my ancestors cursing themselves to have produced such progenies. I could feel the sarcastic smile of Shiva, which said I don’t need you to take care of me, but then don’t pretend that you love me. Don’t tell world that you are a proud Kashmir Pandit and a Shaivite

Yes, community has seen enough hardship post exodus, and we have worked very hard to rebuild our lives. And by the grace of the God, most of you who are reading this blog, are doing quite well on both professional and personal front.  Most of us earn 6 figure salaries, hefty bonuses and have multiple properties across India. But what have given back to our roots, our motherland, our temples, where our religion grew and created our identity.

Recently one of my friends told me that what is the use of the temples when the devotees don’t live there. I hope many of you who don’t stay with your parents don’t apply same analogy to them. What is the use of the parents when I don’t live with them?  What was the need for Guru Teg Bahadur to give up his life for us, when we were not even his followers, nor lived with him? Sikhs even today maintain their Gurudwars in Paksitan, even when there are no devotees. Mount Kailash is still revered even though it is in China and inaccessible to most of the Indians, except for a short period, where select few hundred visit by taking a hazardous trip through an inhospitable terrain and country. The crusade was led by Europeans, for a holy place they never lived or indented to live in. Even today Pandits of Varanasi complete their Janau (sacred thread) rituals by taking seven steps towards North, a symbolic gesture of having returned from Kashmir with knowledge, even when there are no institutions of Vedic learning left in Kashmir.

Kashmir is still part of India and easily accessible to all. And we have already given up our claims to our religious places.  

What have we Kashmiris done to claim our temples, our religious identities? We do occasional havans, where we behave more like greedy humans, collecting as much food we can for home. We have created grand replicas of the famous shrines of Kashmir and visit them as picnic spots. Yes, we need replicas, but those replicas should be pale in comparison to originals. To me these grand replicas portray a community that has given up hope and desire to go back.

It is time that we wake up and start claiming what is rightly ours. It is time we start building our temples back, re-establish to the world that the first claim to Kashmir lies with us, the original inhabitants.

Wake up before history forgets Sikander Butshikan and labels us as Butt Butshikan

CSDS Seminar on “Multi-Party dialogue on Political Future of Jammu & Kashmir”

I have a Maths test on Wednesday but I just can’t study. My mind refuses to concentrate. Two years ago, when Rashneek bhaiya made me write a speech for World Refugee Day, he said that Kashmiri Pandits were viewed as ‘collateral damage’ of the Kashmir issue by ‘intellectuals’. I understood what he meant but never really faced this harsh reality head on. Yesterday, as I listened to leader after leader talk, I understood how  insignificant we actually were to the ‘main issue’.

(Click to enlarge - Report in Punjab Kesri)

Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat from Moderate Hurriyat Conference looking towards Yasin Malik.

I came to Teen Murti in time only for the post-lunch session. I can only give you a brief summary of the first session (garnered from various sources). Abdul Ghani Bhat talked the usual about dialogue between India, Pakistan and Kashmir for peace and reconciliation. Muzzafar Baig accepted that Kashmiri leaders had time and again sold their conscience to India and Pakistan to remain in power. On the subject of Kashmiri Pandits, he said that all Kashmiri leaders wanted the safe return of KPs to Kashmir. He also said that his mother still cried, on remembering their KP friends and neighbors. Shafi Uri of NC talked about the NC’s willingness to negotiate with PDP and other parties on the autonomy document presented by NC in July 2000. Balbir Punj and Tarun Vijay demanded the removal of Article 370. 

CSDS fellow and seminar organiser Madhu Kishwar seen here defending Yasin Malik.

The post-lunch session started with Madhu Kishwar of CSDS calling everybody for a group photo with Yasin Malik; Ramesh Manwati of Panun Kashmir was the only person who refused to be part of the photo. Kishwar then announced that Ram Jethmalani had to attend a press conference at his residence and so would absent himself for some time. Jethmalani started the parting message by holding Yasin Malik’s hand (YM had come straight from the Jammu TADA court, where his presence was needed in the Rubbaiya Sayeed kidnapping case, and was seated beside him) and welcoming his ‘dear friend and honored guest’. Importantly, he mentioned that the problem in Kashmir started due to the coincidence of two events happening together. First, the Russians left Afghanistan and the terrorists in Kabul became ‘unemployed’, and second, India started rigging elections in Kashmir. He also said that it was the highest virtue of an Indian to love Pakistan, and that the entire discussion should be in the spirit of ‘love and affection’. After he left, Ellora Puri from Jammu talked of how it had always been ignored that the state was actually made of three geographically and culturally distinct regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. She proposed a federal system within the state, with the three regions having three separate ‘councils’.

JKLF Terrorist and Rapist Yasin Malik at the seminar.

 Protesting Civil Society members in the seminar. 

 

Panun Kashmir's Ramesh Manwati at the seminar.

Ram Jethmalani at the seminar.

After her, Sanjay Tickoo of Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (representing KPs who were still living in Kashmir for these 20 years) spoke. He first wanted to discount the notion that KPs fled because the then Governor Jagmohan told them to do so, quoting that in 1998, there were 19,000 KPs in Kashmir, whereas in 2008, there were only about 3000. This proved that conditions in Kashmir were far from being conducive to their return. He also demanded a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” to be set up by the Indian Parliament where the different stake-holders could voice their grievances and demands. Ramesh Manwati of Panun Kashmir showed a report published in a national daily in which the government had placed “Relief and Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits” under the topic of Animal Husbandry. That aside, he talked a little about the concept of Panun Kashmir. He also talked about how 150 temples that had been desecrated and demolished in 1990 and blamed the media, civil society and HR groups for turning a blind eye to the plight of KPs. I personally thought that both speakers could not manage to convey either the past or the future in the right perspective, but it is pertinent to note that Madhu Kishwar interrupted both their speeches about 2-3 times, chiding them like recalcitrant children whenever they even mentioned 1990. We were expected to forget everything and start afresh. There really wasn’t any time for telling reality to the world. We were asked to make “tall demands” of the future. I know that rationally we should do that, and to an extent, we did do that too. What infuriated me was that only we were admonished for speaking about the old truth. Mehbooba Mufti went on and on about Kashmir being a “chota Iran” and how Accession to India had isolated Kashmir from the rest of Central Asia and West Asia. (The main point of her talk was more like propagating PDP’s agenda – she kept asking if India was ready to trust Kashmiris and uniting the 'two Kashmirs' - PoK and IK). There was a Mr. Tahir Khurshid Raina (Mr. Three-In-One – Rajouri and Poonch representative cum PDP member cum Yasin Malik supporter) who talked about how war had ravaged Rajouri and Poonch and how all these years they had few basic facilities. Yasin Malik went on to give the entire history (read: justification) behind his proud taking up of arms (reiterating that it was not an unemployment issue at all). But no, Madhu Kishwar did not have the guts or the rather the inclination to stop them and ask them to talk about the future. Only we were supposed to listen and digest.

I know we haven’t been the only sufferers – far from it. But I believe that if you remove KPs from the context of the Kashmir problem – it becomes a clear case for YM’s ‘freedom struggle’. I don’t pretend to know much about the workings of Kashmiri politics but to an outsider, ignorant of the ethnic cleansing in 1989-90, there would be little wrong in YM’s story (which he skillfully recited yesterday) of 3rd degree torture from Indian authorities, leading to ‘armed struggle’, leading to jail and finally “Gandhian enlightenment”. He was ‘forced’ to pick up arms and then by the strength of his character and the overwhelming sentiment of ‘azadi’ in Kashmir, he chose to become non-violent (despite seeing ‘600’ of his ‘friends and followers’ dead after coming out from jail). The intellectuals present yesterday knew both of our displacement and the ‘armed struggle’ but chose, peacefully, to keep them separate. They didn’t, of course, have any explanation for the former. It just happened. And now Kashmiri Pandits needed to go back to Kashmir to reverse history and show that everything was normal. As simple as that. As moral, just and enlightened citizens they needed to support the Kashmiris’ right to independence, even if it meant listening to YM saying that he had defeated India militarily, mentally, culturally and spiritually. When Madhu Kishwar showed some sense by asking YM how practical his notion of azadi was, Ram Jethmalani cut her short and said that he found no problem whatsoever with YM’s proposal.

When YM was announced as a speaker, I had thought that we would pounce on him during or after his speech with questions. Then Sushilji got up to protest his presence, as a murderer and a rapist. Once it started, we didn’t back off. The astounding part was how everybody in the room thought that we were irrational liars. They welcomed and pleaded him to continue while admonishing us for not listening to him. He talked about how the problem between KPs and KMs was essentially a “power struggle”, not a communal one. The educated Pandits got insecure of the increasing power with the poor, uneducated Muslims and hence the trouble. He said that he had visited refugee camps in Jammu, and commiserated with the old ladies there; he had the guts to quote a “sher” from Lal Ded. Better still, he said that in KPs, India had found a “weeping boy” for Geneva. Madhu Kishwar and Ram Jethmalani said nothing at all on this and instead scolded the PK representative who raised an objection. I asked YM to shut up on this topic at least; he didn’t have the right to talk about Kashmiri Pandits from his bloody mouth. When Sushilji asked for permission to ask a question, Jethmalani said that he could ask only if he promised to speak in the spirit of “love and affection”. Love and affection to your killers! Of the two questions Sushilji asked, only one was permitted – that of how YM could say that all KMs had left arms when Let and Hizbul Mujahideen continued to operate. The second and more important one, about just how YM could compare himself with Gandhi when he and JKLF had killed so many unarmed, innocent women and children was promptly and completely ignored. We were largely seen as deranged communalists shouting at a hero for no good reason.

When Mehbooba Mufti and Yasin Malik were speaking I really felt like we were banging our heads against stone walls who would never listen. It was suffocating. They had thrown us out of Kashmir and consequently we were left with no say in the ‘current problem’ of Kashmir. We were an ugly face of history that nobody wanted to recall, because we just didn’t fit in. Today, as I scoured newspapers, both online and paper, to see if anybody had reported us, I was shown the raw truth. The news people had got their quotes from YM, Abdul Ghani Bhat, Baig, Mehbooba Mufti and Jethmalani. We had given pamphlets to people explaining why we were protesting against YM but still we were only mentioned in one-liners as disrupters of YM’s speech. Nothing else. Regardless of the cries of rehabilitation and relief – succor for the past in the future – there was after all nothing in the present. Nobody wanted to talk about collateral damage. In the end, Muzaffar Baig, the man who ignited the Amarnath agitation by talking of “demographic” changes in Kashmir due to settlements for Amarnath pilgrims, showed why he was a successful politician. He talked about things I thought only we could understand – he talked about Kashmiri Pandits as a unique unit of civilization; he talked about how individual successes aside, the loss of homeland would always be irreparable.

The program ended there. Baig had said the right things; Madhu Kishwar volunteered to hold a signature campaign for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and also arrange for a private conference between Baig and KPs.

Words…

I only hope that we ‘heckled’ YM enough for the time being.

- Radhika Koul

Wanted-One more Liberhan

Picture Courtesy-KPSS,Srinagar

Finally, finally the Liberhan commission has submitted its report. It took the commission a good 17 years to furnish a report which was to be submitted in 6 months. On Dec 6,1992 Karsewaks brought down the disputed structure called Babri Mosque which has supposedly built by the barbaric Mughal Emperor Babar after demolishing an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Ram. This was done under the watchful gaze of the Congress government headed by P V Narshima Rao.

The day the disputed structure was demolished the very next the Govt of India instituted an enquiry commission under Justice Liberhan to find what exactly happened, what led to the demolition of the structure, who were the people responsible for the demolition of the structure.

In the November of 1986 dozens of temples were destroyed by the supporters of what is now called PDP in the south Kashmir district of Anantnag.Pandit women were raped, houses burnt and many Pandits were killed in these so called riots.Among the temples destroyed were the ancient shrines of Lord Shiva and the mother Goddess.

No Liberhan Commission was appointed then.

A certain Mufti Sayeed was known to be behind what had been done to Pandits.The same Mufti Sayeed later became a Home Minister.The same Mufti Sayeed later got his daughter kidnapped and released 5 dreaded terrorists in exchange for his daughter. But, more of it later.

After 1989 hundreds of temples have been either partially or completely destroyed, most have been desecrated and on their places now we have buildings and shopping complexes today. It was all common knowledge yet no Liberhan Commission was appointed.

Most Kashmiri Muslims blame Jagmohan for the exodus of Pandits.But the moment you ask them who broke these temples and who encroached the land or who defecated on an idol they have no Jagmohan to blame.But today it is not them but the Government of India that we are asking to get a Liberhan from somewhere to see who broke my gods.
If one Babri Mosque deserves a Liberhan,are Hindu temples in Kashmir so inconsequential that they don’t need a commission at all or do we have to presume Omar Abdullah’s Oscar Winning Speech in the Parliament as gospel truth that the Kashmiri Muslims broke no temples.Maybe I invented all the pictures that I am pasting here.

Maybe for Hindus no Liberhan is needed,maybe Omar Abdullah is too busy with something else,maybe he was abroad when those temples were broken,maybe he has partial amnesia.

There are too many Maybe’s, Maybe someday our broken gods may call a Liberhan…till then Saugandh Ram ki khatay hain hum mandir vaheen banayege…