19/01/90: When Kashmiri Pandits fled Islamic terror - Kanchan Gupta

Srinagar, January 4, 1990. Aftab, a local Urdu newspaper, publishes a press release issued by Hizb-ul Mujahideen, set up by the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1989 to wage jihad for Jammu and Kashmir's secession from India and accession to Pakistan, asking all Hindus to pack up and leave. Another local paper, Al Safa, repeats this expulsion order.

In the following days, there is near chaos in the Kashmir valley with Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and his National Conference government abdicating all responsibilities of the State. Masked men run amok, waving Kalashnikovs, shooting to kill and shouting anti-India slogans.

Reports of killing of Hindus, invariably Kashmiri Pandits, begin to trickle in; there are explosions; inflammatory speeches are made from the pulpits of mosques, using public address systems meant for calling the faithful to prayers. A terrifying fear psychosis begins to take grip of Kashmiri Pandits.

Walls are plastered with posters and handbills, summarily ordering all Kashmiris to strictly follow the Islamic dress code, prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks and imposing a ban on video parlours and cinemas. The masked men with Kalashnikovs force people to re-set their watches and clocks to Pakistan Standard Time.

Shops, business establishments and homes of Kashmiri Pandits, the original inhabitants of the Kashmir valley with a recorded cultural and civilisational history dating back 5,000 years, are marked out. Notices are pasted on doors of Pandit houses, peremptorily asking the occupants to leave Kashmir within 24 hours or face death and worse. Some are more lucid: "Be one with us, run, or die!"

* * *

Srinagar, January 19, 1990. Jagmohan arrives to take charge as governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq Abdullah, whose pathetic, whimpering, snivelling government has all but ceased to exist and has gone into hiding, resigns and goes into a sulk. Curfew is imposed as a first measure to restore some semblance of law and order. But it fails to have a deterrent effect.

Throughout the day, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists use public address systems at mosques to exhort people to defy curfew and take to the streets. Masked men, firing from their Kalashnikovs, march up and down, terrorising cowering Pandits who, by then, have locked themselves in their homes.

As evening falls, the exhortations become louder and shriller. Three taped slogans are repeatedly played the whole night from mosques: 'Kashmir mei agar rehna hai, Allah-O-Akbar kehna hai' (If you want to stay in Kashmir, you have to say Allah-O-Akbar); 'Yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa' (What do we want here? Rule of Shariah); 'Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te Batanev san' (We want Pakistan along with Hindu women but without their men).

In the preceding months, 300 Hindu men and women, nearly all of them Kashmiri Pandits, had been slaughtered ever since the brutal murder of Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, noted lawyer and BJP national executive member, by the JKLF in Srinagar on September 14, 1989. Soon after that, Justice N K Ganju of the Srinagar high court was shot dead. Pandit Sarwanand Premi, 80-year-old poet, and his son were kidnapped, tortured, their eyes gouged out, and hanged to death. A Kashmiri Pandit nurse working at the Soura Medical College Hospital in Srinagar was gang-raped and then beaten to death. Another woman was abducted, raped and sliced into bits and pieces at a sawmill.

In villages and towns across the Kashmir valley, terrorist hit lists have been floating about. All the names are of Kashmiri Pandits. With no government worth its name, the administration having collapsed and disappeared, the police nowhere to be seen, despondency sets in. As the night of January 19, 1990, wears itself out, despondency gives way to desperation.

And tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits across the valley take a painful decision: to flee their homeland to save their lives from rabid jihadis. Thus takes place a 20th century Exodus.

* * *

Srinagar, January 19, 2005. There are no Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar, or, for that matter, anywhere else in the Kashmir valley; they don't live here anymore. You can find them in squalid refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi. As many as 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits have fled their home and hearth and been reduced to living the lives of refugees in their own country.

Two-thirds of them are camping in Jammu. The rest are in Delhi and in other Indian cities. Many of them, once prosperous and proud of their rich heritage, now live in grovelling poverty, dependent on government dole and charity. In these 15 years, an entire generation of exiled Kashmiri Pandits has grown up, without seeing the land from where their parents fled to escape the brutalities of Islamic terrorism, a land they dare not return to, although that land still remains a part of their country.

A large number of them are suffering from a variety of stress and depression related diseases. A group of doctors who surveyed the mental and physical health of the Kashmiri Pandits living in refugee camps, found high incidence of 'economic distress, stress induced diabetes, partial lunacy, hypertension and mental retardation.' Statistics reflect high death rate and low birth rate among the Kashmiri Pandit refugees.

And thereby hangs a tragic tale that has been all but wiped out from public memory.

An entire people have been uprooted from the land of their ancestors and left to fend for themselves as a weak-kneed Indian state shamelessly panders to Islamic terrorists and separatists who claim they are the final arbiters of Jammu and Kashmir's destiny. A part of India's cultural heritage has been destroyed; a chapter of India's civilisational history has been erased.

Had this tragedy occurred elsewhere in Hindu majority India, and had the victims been Muslims, we would have described it as 'ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide.' We would have made films with horror-inducing titles. We would have filed cases in the Supreme Court of India. Our media would have marshalled remarkable rage in reporting the smallest detail.

But, this tragedy has occurred in Muslim majority Kashmir valley, and the victims are all Hindus, that too Pandits. What has been lost is part of India's Hindu culture, what has been erased is integral to India's Hindu civilisation.

Therefore, the government makes bold to record that the Kashmiri Pandits have "migrated on their own" and their 'displacement (is) self-imposed;' the National Human Rights Commission, after a perfunctory inquiry, refuses to concede that what has happened is 'genocide' or 'ethnic cleansing,' though facts add up to no less than that, never mind that 300,000 lives have been destroyed.

And, our jhola-wallah brigade of secular activists rudely turn up their noses to the plight of Kashmiri Pandits: Hindu sorrow, inflicted by Islamic terror, stinks.

Today, on January 19, the 15th anniversary of the forced flight of Kashmiri Pandits, look back at India's wretched history of secular politics and consider the terrible price the nation has paid at the altar of appeasement because the Indian State has, and continues to, toe the line of least resistance.

Reflect. Resolve. React.

https://m.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/19kanch.htm

The longest night - Akshay Ambardar

“And this is the pain & glory, I said,

 That after bidding Africa goodbye,

                                we still cannot leave her behind, said I” — Femi Osofisan

The words belong to a Nigerian writer, Femi Osofisan. Femi, am sure is unknown to most people reading this post. I choose his words today to symbolize the state of Kashmir Pandits like his popularity in India – negligent & negligible.  He in my head represents 8 Lakh Femi Osofisan(s) in the largest republic of the world. Femi, even with hindsight couldn’t have used better prose to describe the state of a community which is pushing itself to bear the 25th year of exile and lives in nostalgic pain each day thinking of their homes in Kashmir . 25th year - quarter of a century, sum of two decades and importantly end of one generation in a family.

19th January, 1990 was the night of horror for a community which had learned to survive subjugation, political un-touch-ability & religious intolerance. A night where Kashmiri Hindu women , who by the way were used to forgoing “bindi” on Fridays to avoid getting abused and cussed, were told on mosque mounted loudspeakers, that “they” are desired in Kashmir but without their men. A night they were shouted at, from loudspeakers to be part of Kashmir where religion other than the one would be basis of “right to live”.

It is difficult to relive horror. More difficult to recollect it. Most difficult to keep narrating it to people at large. Recollection is vital armor of  exilees to keep race memory going. Every Kashmiri Pandit who lived to re-tell that night, lives in a perpetual paradox – Paradox of exile.

“That even when we know her love has waned

  we can never stop her odors clinging on”

Kahsmiri Pandits could have fled, left en-mass or in lots since the time they were reduced to 11 families in kashmir in 1400 AD, yet majority of them chose to stay in land of their Gods and ancestors, resisting the humiliation of being humiliated for being a) Indian b) Indian flag saluting minority, in Kashmir. Ironic in same Kashmir Nehru and Gandhi both saw hope against 2 state theory of Jinnah. Who let this minority community down is a question that can be asked over and over again with no answers , for secularism demands not to name those who did it for reasons that were not political but religious – Islamfication of Kashmir. “Pakistan se rishta kya, ya Ilaha, Illallah” (Whats kashmir’s relation with Pakistan? Allah is great) “Yaha kya chalega , Nizame-mustafa“( what shall rule in Kashmir, reign of Islam ) – 2 most popular slogans shouted by kashmiris.

19th Jan, 1990 has been etched in my memory for lack of comprehension mixed with certain understanding that death seemed certain. As a 6 year old you do not understand death but you recognize fear ridden frozen faces. A nearby CRPF camp was glitter of hope and instructions were to run straight to it if the prowling mob chanting “Hum kya chahte Azadi” and anti KP slogans break in. My grand parents had realized fanaticism outside the house was too wild to be stopped by main wooden door that was additionally nailed with ply boards. This mind you, was not some remote corner of kashmir, this was heart of main Srinagar city. This personal piece is just one of many such cases that happened. Crowds were assembling in Srinagar , all parts of it. Whispering of crowd was reaching the status of sloganeering. Anti India, pro Pakistan slogans. It was dark and scary. And in all this few houses remained painted in darkness, their occupants huddled together in fear. Calls, desperate calls, to JK Police yielded no results. Unfortunately, then Governor Mr Jaghmohan was in Jammu Raj Bhawan. What was whispering , now ate the night with its loudness. Men , who could, decided to fight, women they prepared for self immolation. And all this in heart of Srinagar city.  KPs waited with anxious patience for the eventuality of the longest night of their lives – death.

The impact of 19th Jan 1990 unfortunately can never be understood by people unfamiliar with 1990 or not having a Kashmiri Pandit in his or her circle. For there were no newspaper stories covering independent India’s biggest and only exodus within country as focus was on liberal left manifested propaganda of India’s brutality. Its just another fact often ignored that pre 1990 Kashmir had neither – AFSPA , encounters, murders or crimes of horrific nature. In the shadow of Auschwitz , a Jew probably shall always cry. 19th Jan , 1990, shall do same to a Kashmiri Pandit , who saw to live and retell.

It was not the end but start of a process that lead to humiliation of being called refugees and migrants in own land, worse in own state. Life across Pir Panjal consumed elders by heat, youngsters to snake bites. While Pandits live on to remember another year of exile, 25 years on Kashmiri Pandit tourists are in much demand in Kashmir by locals who hounded them out. Imagine a yazdi tourist shown Mosul by a Iranian guide 30 years later? 

https://exiliccogitations.wordpress.com/2015/01/17/the-longest-night/

STONED

The Amarnath Yatra began yesterday with some 3000 brave hearts being flagged off from Jammu. This was despite the fact the Kashmir has seen one more planned "summer of discontent". One should not be surprised at all with the timing of the "spontaneous outpouring of the anger of urban -jeans,chic t-shirts, Nike shoes and Reebok caps youth". The master mobster Syed Ali Shah Geelani had warned the government of large scale protests if the period of the Yatra was not reduced to 15 days. True to his word Geelani showed that he meant business. With covert and overt support from Pakistan (to where he bows when in prayer) he unleashed the power of what he is known best for-the Islamic mobs.

It is not Geelani that baffles us here but all those parents who send their children to riot, to lynch, to kill,to throw petrol bombs and to pump out all their adrenalin on the streets of Kashmir. I didn't know this was a way of channelisng pent up sexual energies in the new radicalized Islamic Kashmir .What kind a parent would send his son to indulge in riot I often wonder. But then there is a history to it.

Kashmiri Muslims are adept in the art of Stone throwing. The last I heard was that some Malik is writing a book on Zen and the art of stone throwing. Throughout the sixties, seventies and eighties when there was no "occupation force" the Kashmiri Muslims would indulge in this "sport" by throwing stones at each other. The Sher-Bakre (supporters of NC and supporters of Mirwaiz) would almost indulge in this Kane-Jung(stone wars) almost religiously and come what may every Friday post the Nimaz this would be a permanent fixture and would delay my return from the school because the Alikadal bridge would be hostage to this stone war. So to believe that they are throwing stones because they are mourning or protesting would be out-rightly comical if it wasn't terribly tragic.

There is no doubt in anyone's mind why all this is happening now. The answer is simple that the separatists no matter what they say see the Amarnath Shrine as an extension or a connect of India with Kashmir. They do not see the same in case of let us a Kheer Bhavani Shrine because even today it is not frequented so much by non-kashmiri hindus.

They feel that all the gains of cleansing that they clinically achieved so far are seemingly frittered because lacs of pilgrims from the mainland are visiting Kashmir and thus the connect lives on. It frustrates them to no end but at the same time they cannot openly oppose the Yatra because they do not want to be seen as foot-soldiers of the ideology of Islamic Hate that their mentors like Syed Sallaudhin, Hafiz Saeed and others stand for.

At the same time Pakistan and other donors ask for some performance for the money that they are giving the separatists so here we are.

The other reason for stone throwing is that Pakistan and its cronies in Kashmir have realized that is simply impossible to beat India by force of Kalaishnikovs. So this route of Intifada (the Palestinian model) looks more real. In all this Kashmiri Muslims do not understand the damage they are doing to themselves. Imagine a young man in teens or even younger who is made to believe that a solution to a problem lies in throwing petrol bombs and stones. What kind a society are we creating. We have already seen effects of violence in Kashmir when one Kashmiri Muslim boy killed another simply because he thought that his friend was wooing his girlfriend. It is this belief that violence is answer or a solution that is dangerous and fraught with problems.

As a fellow Kashmiri I would request with folded hands to all Kashmiri Muslims not to give their children a stone or a petrol bomb but a book. Don't let them get used by mobsters like Geelani. Ask him where are his children and grand children. Are they throwing stones too?

It is time Kashmiri Muslims realize the enemy within. It is time the people like Shabnam Hashmi do not just lecture the state on being humane but also tells these Islamic mobs not to lynch security personnel, not to burn temples, not to encroach on properties of Kafirs and not to think of a stone as a solution.

PS: I will today re-read Wazoo-i-khoon of Mansur bin hallaj who too was stoned to death at the directions of someone who was a Geelani of those days. The Stone throwers live on......

A message for Manish Tiwari

Although there were hundreds of angry messages for Manish Tiwari after his insensitive remark about the Pandit exodus but none better than Rahul Pandita's message published in the OPEN magazine.
We are posting it here for all our readers.

Care for a History Tutorial, Mr Tewari?

Spokespersons of political parties in India are not quite known for their sagacity. But if ever a foot-in-the-mouth award was instituted for the fraternity, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari would emerge as the winner.

Ever since he was given the responsibility of tomtomming his party’s achievements and point of view, Tewari has started putting up that I-know-it-all demeanour in TV studios. During a recent TV discussion on constitutional reforms, which veered towards Article 370 and ultimately towards the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, Tewari, in keeping with his self image as the most crafty spin doctor after Alistair Campbell, opined that J&K’s Pandits were driven out due to the fear psychosis of the then Governor, Jagmohan.

Obviously, Kashmiri Pandit groups are not amused. To add insult to injury, Tewari spoke rudely to an elderly Pandit the next day, who called him to register his protest. Tewari reportedly told him to “fuck off” before banging down the phone.

On social networking sites, Kashmiri Pandits are venting their anger. Calling Tewari’s statement sickening, actor Sanjay Suri, whose father was killed by militants in the early 1990s, wrote that Tewari ‘surely needs to get some history lessons’. One group has called for a protest outside the Congress office.
This is obviously no Tharoor-like situation for Tewari, who is still in 10 Janpath’s good books. But for someone whose father was killed by Khalistani terrorists, Tewari surely must update himself on terrorism. That is one thing that spokespersons like him will have to deal with for a long time to come. With or without constitutional reforms.

RAHUL PANDITA
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/india-this-week-19

Asrar and the art of stone throwing

Asrar Mushtaq - killed by his friends

Kashmiri Muslims have acquired a fetish for demonstrations, stone throwing, vandalising and asking for Azadi on every possible pretext. We have seen how whole Kashmir was on streets when the Shopian rape and murder came to light.

The latest case was the case of murder of a boy named Asrar Mushtaq.The boy apparently went missing and everyone took to streets.Apart from throwing stones which has now become the favourite pastime of Kashmiri Muslims, cars were burnt, Hindus at Purshayar were forced to join the protests and shout “hum kya chahtee”,Kashmir’s only Coffee bar was Café Arabica was vandalised because it belonged to a non-Muslim.One can understand the agony over the death of a young man but Kashmiri Muslims today have to shout,scream,stone,stall,strike and call for Azadi even if someone is constipated.

Now as it turns out the boy was murdered by his friends because a Kashmiri Muslim girl earlier used to sleep with his friend and now was apparently sleeping with him. This infuriated Asrar’s friend so much that he tortured his friend to teach him a lesson. He tortured him and killed him and who knows then he also got to shouting “Hum Kya Chahte”. Do you believe it? It is all happening in “brand new Islamicized Kashmir” and what is Asiya Andrabi shouting at?

This tendency of equating everything with Azadi and throwing stones, burning and vandalising is slowly destroying the Kashmiri Muslims. We have already seen that drug abuse and prostitution is at an all time high in “the Islamicized valley”. It isn’t for anyone but for themselves that Muslims learn to behave civil or else they are sowing the seeds of tomorrow’s Afghanistan today.

Read Greater Kashmir report at - Friends Turned Killers

No protest over murder of women by Hizb men

No Shopian-type protest over murder of women by Hizb militants

PTI
June 23, 2009

Srinagar In the uproar following the Shopian rape and murders, two separate brutal killings of women by militants in Jammu and Kashmir have almost gone unnoticed.

While the first case was that of 17-year-old Nigeen Awan which took place barely few kilometres away from the place in Shopian of South Kashmir which is witnessing protests over the alleged rape and murder of two women, the second took place at Sopore where the 45-year-old lady Rashma Jan was shot dead because her daughter and son-in-law worked with police force.

But these two deaths -- barbaric in their own way -- have gone little noticed. Police reasons that its because of the fear as these gruesome killings were undertaken by militants of prominent terror group Hizbul Mujahideen, armed wing of Jamaat-e-Islamia.

According to the police files, Awan was allegedly killed by Latif Theuuda along with Riaz of Hizbul Mujahideen at her residence on the intervening night of June two and three because she had spurned advances by the former.

Quoting eye-witnesses, the police alleged that Latif pumped over a dozen bullets into her at her residence in Dohnado in Shopian district and instructed that no one to take her to hospital.

The young girl died in front of her family members and villagers after struggling for 45 minutes.

Ironically, in the FIR 109/07 registered in police station Keller, police have quoted unnamed eye witnesses who refused to come on record because of the fear of gun except her father Sharief Ahmed Awan who told the police that he was "instructed" by the duo to bury the body and not to make any hue and cry.

While the Jamaat cadres in the Shopian district spread the word that Awan was working for police, senior officials brushed aside the charge saying that the victim had not even attained the age of 18 years which is mandatory for working as Special Police Officer .

Another killing by Hizbul Mujahideen militant was that of Rashma Jan on June 16 at Sopore in North Kashmir. This area is a Jamaat-e-Islamia stronghold and pro-Pakistan leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani also hails from here.

The 45-year-old Jan, work ing as an employee of UCO Bank, met her death when terrorists barged into her house at Sopore on June 16 and fired indiscriminately. She died on her way to hospital as she had received bullets in her head and chest.

She was allegedly killed by Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Basharat, who had nurtured a grudge against her because she had a fight with his mother over marriage of her daughter.

The daughter -- Shameema, a police constable – was married off to a Policeman and at present posted in Baramulla.

When approached, neither leaders of the ruling coalition of National Conference and Congress nor the opposition PDP are willing to comment about the two incidents and are even refraining from saying on record that culprits need to be brought to book.

..another report published in Hindustan Times.

Arjun Sharma, Hindustan Times
Srinagar, June 24, 2009

Amid protests over the Shopian rape-cum-murder case, two separate killings of women by militants in Jammu and Kashmir have almost gone unnoticed.

While the first case was that of 17-year-old Nigeen Awan, which took place barely few kilometres away from Shopian, the second took place in Sopore where the 45-year-old Rashma Jan was shot dead on a doubt that she was a police informer.

Superintend of Police, Baramullah, Viplav Kumar said: “The members Hizb-ul Mujahideen entered the house of Rashma Jan on the intervening night of June 2 and June 3 and gunned her down. The militants have been identified as Basharat, Latif and Riaz.”

But these two deaths have gone little noticed.

Police reason that it is because of the fear as these gruesome killings were undertaken by militants of Hizb-ul Mujahideen.

RIK Exhibition/Seminar on Terrorism - WUZMAL ...terror strikes!

Panjab University Campus Students Council

Jhankaar '09

in association with

ROOTS IN KASHMIR

present

WUZMAL ..terror strikes

(Click on the poster to enlarge)

Screening of a documentary and an audio-video presentation followed by a panel discussion. The eminent participanets would be:

• Mr. P.C. Dogra, Retd. DIG - BSF (served as IG - BSF in 1990)
• Mr. Ronki Ram, Dean, Political Science Department, Panjab University
• Mr. Rahul Pandita, well-known writer and journalist

Moderated by Rashneek Kher

Venue: English Auditorium, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Date: 7th March '09 Time: 4pm onwards.

A two day Photo-Exhibition on Terrorism (6th and 7th March '09)
Venue: Student Centre (Stu C), Panjab University, Chandigarh

For more info: Bhawick Jalali: +91-9876678558

Only a Name

"Nund Rishi-caught in the names "

What is in a name.Well,everything, if you believe the Kashmiri “mainstream” politicians. The recently inaugurated Srinagar International Airport is caught in the name calling business.It might sound strange to most of us that a name should make so much a difference. But if we do believe Kashmiri Politicians, yes the elected ones, it is important, actually imperative to rechristen(oops Re-Islamize) it to Sheikh-ul-Alam International Airport.Sheikh-ul-Alam,the much named Saint of the 14th Century was a great saint, no questions about that. It he is he who sang to the glory of Shiva and called Lalleshwari(the Saivate Yogini and Poet) an Avatar(re-incarnation of God).The great man was critical of the clergy irrespective of their religion and thus was a greatly respected saint in his time and till this day lives in our memory as a poignant reminder of whatever sainthood means.

He was born in a family where they earned their livelihood by stealing.He shunned that path and took to the unknown.He lived the life on ascetic and a true vegetarian.For 11 years the great saint survived on milk and leaves that fell of the ground.Such was the piety associated with the saint.He was thus called Nund Rishi.

And then Politics took over.

The kings, who were obviously scared that this might mean end of the Wahhabi brand of Islam that they were spreading, appropriated him. He was called the Alambardar(Flag bearer) of Kashmir. It is very hard to know who first called the great man Sheikh-ul-Alam(The Ulema of the World).Whoever did it sowed the seeds of discontent and obviously Politics.The great saint was Islamized to ensure that what could not be accomplished by sword shall be accomplished by spirituality. The saint was Islamized.

The State Legislative Assembly and Council both passed resolutions to re-christen the Airport.The Minister was quoted as saying that this was done keeping in mind the sentiments of the people One wonders if the people of Kashmir also wish to change the name of Srinagar International Airport to The Sheikh-ul-Alam International Airport or do they think otherwise.I remember vividly how people had shouted ”Charar Bane Hane Hane,Mastgul Kate Bane” - Chrar,the shrine of Nund Rishi can be made all over again,but there isn’t another Mastgul,when Mast Gul(the dreaded terrorist) burned the revered saint’s shrine to escape from the security forces who surrounded the shrine.Do these very people, who almost rejoiced at the burning down of his shrine, want to name the Airport after him or is there more to it.Do these sick people , who then cheered Mast-Gul and denigrated Nund Rishi even care about the true saint?

The truth is that name Srinagar doesn’t go down well with the Islamized nature of the Valley.They cannot digest the fact that Srinagar(Laxmi’s Nagar) is the name of the land which is now cleaned of the Hindus who worship the mother-goddess.The truth is that they are already call the Hari Parvat( the hill of Sharika) the Kohi-Maran(the mound of the dead).The Truth is that they are uncomfortable about their Hindu Past, which no matter they do, is stuck to them-in their language, their rituals, their ways of life.

(The writer is the Co-Founder of Roots in Kashmir.He can be reached at rashneek@gmail.com)

Snow

Mummy! It is snowing! I cried.

Yes, it was just like that fairy tale.

Just like that dream.

The picture had indeed frozen.

Little snowy pearls in front of the great green conifer whirls.

With frozen snow islands at the tree feet

and the big brown mountain beneath.

They stopped and smiled,

Dazed perhaps by their own beauty.

I stood there too, in open mouthed wonder,

Thanking the Lord.

I had finally been blessed.

Blessed, as I saw the first real falling snow of my life.

As I saw the true colours of my land, for once in my life.

So whats the big deal, you may say.

When a Kashmiri sees falling snow 13 years after she is born, it is big deal.

When a Kashmiri sees that snow from the window of a hotel room and not her own doorstep, it is a big deal.

When a Kashmiri is as much a tourist in Kashmir as a Canadian, it is a big deal.

And when the snow that should have been the most routine part of your life comes as an out-of-world-surprise, you wonder what else you must have lost.

What other parts of you lie dead and buried in that soil.

The war against my identity seemed to have won;

I will always be an incomplete soul.

But the missing parts, ironically, have also been my link.

Because though today I don’t own an inch of land in my land, as long as that soil has my dead remains, Kashmir will be mine and I shall live.

- Radhika Koul is a high school student here in New Delhi. She can be reached at radhika.koul@gmail.com

Governance and rebellion

Nepal's maoist-rebel-turned-PM says that heading a rebellion was easier than governing the country.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/being-a-rebel-is-easier-than-governing-says-.../400506/

The man who led a decade long civil unrest hiding in the forests and terrorising opponents has accepted this humble fact. With guns on your side and no accountability and of course the halo of a hero surrounding you it is so much easier to quell all and any kind of opposition. But governing, even a country the size of Nepal is a mean task. The day to day squabbles of what is now succinctly described as bijli-sadak-paani may seem as boring and unexciting and actually bourgoise to some, but nothing but love for your country can make one do this task efficiently.

Perhaps, our separatist friends can take a clue from his troubles. For more than 60 years now, India has ploughed on to give some semblance of administration and governance to the troubled region, getting a train to its icy heights is just the latest feather in the cap. If you factor in the blatant hate and disregard for any form of Indian authority in Kashmir, then however weak a governance India has provided to an unthanking public, the fact remains that it still has.

One may argue that some semblance of governance even the British gave to India, and that is true! In fact, many of our present day administrative systems come from the Britishers, but they looted our resources in return while India has done no such thing to Kashmir, if anything India has painstakingly assured that Kashmir's riches remain within the region itself, even incurring the anger of the rest of the country.

Boycott the boycotters....

As figures for the first two phases of polling poured in, gloom must have descended on the faces of the separatists. Kashmiris have in a way shown them what they want. In an year where "the Kashmir Experts", the liberal left columnists, half baked journalists and jesters like Jug Suraiya had told us, it is all over for India, the people of Kashmir have just announced their belief in Indian democracy. Huge queues at the polling booths may just show the direction of the wind.

With rabble rousers like Yasin Malik, Bitta Karate and their ilk firmly in where they belong to, the polls so far have been almost bereft of any violence.

The most amazing feature of these polls is the defiance of an ordinary Kashmiri.The courage and resilience that the Kashmiris have shown against the army of self styled commanders of Jihad.It is about time that Sajjad Lone(the cry baby),Mirwaiz(what happened to his Al Umar Mujahideen) and Syed Ali Shah Geelani(May he get well soon) hide their faces for who knows what ordinary Kashmiris have on their mind next.

"I am voting for peace. Democracy should grow in Kashmir valley. My vote is to defeat the separatists and Hurriyat voices in Kashmir and strengthen nationalist leadership," said Omarkar Nath of tulmulla village of Ganderbal segment.

A cartoon on 'J&K Elections' which appeared in 'The Hindu' newspaper on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008.

An elderly Kashmiri woman voter displays her ink-marked finger after she cast her vote during the second phase of local elections in Lar, 35 km (21 miles) east of Srinagar November 23, 2008. (Reuters Photo)

Mehtab Wani, an elderly Kashmiri woman, displays her voter identity card as she stands in a queue to cast vote outside a polling station in Lar, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Srinagar, India, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008. (AP Photo)

Jalal-Ud-Din, a physically challenged man, is carried by an unidentified relative after casting his vote in Benhama, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Srinagar, India, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008. (AP Photo)

Bashir Ahmed, a physically challenged man leaves polling station after casting his vote in Barsoo, some 28 kilometers (17 miles) north of Srinagar, India, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008. (AP Photo)

Lawyers or separatists? - Hindustan Times

Aurangzeb Naqshbandi, Hindustan Times

There is an unusual addition to the list of separatist organisations in J&K — the Kashmir Bar Association (KBA).

According to the Union Home Ministry, the Bar is one of 49 separatist organisations currently operating in the state. This disclosure was made in response to a Right to Information application filed by Aditya Raj Kaul, a Kashmiri Pandit youth activist.

The Bar has questioned the government’s decision. It says its objectives are apolitical and, hence, it cannot be categorised as a separatist organisation. “The KBA is a body of lawyers practising in the J&K High Court. The advocate general, government advocates, public prosecutors and standing counsels for various government departments, public sector undertakings and banks are its members,” said its president Mian Abdul Qayoom.

The high court gives licenses to lawyers after verifying their antecedents and after the police have certified they aren't involved in illegal activities. “The license can be cancelled if a member is found guilty of professional misconduct,” he added.

What may have prompted the government to make this categorisation is the fact that the KBA constitution calls for finding ways to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the people. But Qayoom finds nothing wrong in this. “When India and Pakistan are engaged in negotiations on Kashmir, why can’t the KBA or its members strive for resolution of the contentious issue?”

Legal experts said the government should clarify. “Any group whose objective is to enable J&K to secede from India can be called a separatist organisation. We don’t know the objectives of the KBA,” said former law minister Shanti Bhushan.

Qayoom said it was the professional duty of Bar members to provide legal aid to those (read militants) who approach them. “By doing so, they can’t be said to have indulged in any illegal act.”

He also rubbished charges that the KBA prevented lawyers from pleading the cases of accused in the Srinagar sex scandal involving ministers, legislators and police officers. “We didn’t pass any resolution, neither did we stop any member from representing the accused. The decision was left to the lawyers.”

Link - http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=9fd22615-efc7-4395-9e82-d8b23d786a15&&Headline=Lawyers+or+separatists%3f

Response to - letters@hindustantimes.com

'Roots In Kashmir' supports protest against terrorist S.A.R. Geelani

Kashmiri group backs DUSU

Staff Reporter
The Hindu

NEW DELHI: “Roots in Kashmir”, an initiative of Kashmiri Hindu youth, came out in support of the Delhi University Students’ Union on Saturday in its protest against S.A.R. Geelani, the Zakir Husain College lecturer who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in the infamous Parliament attack case.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists had ransacked the Arts Faculty building on the North Campus of Delhi University on Thursday when a seminar to be chaired by Mr. Geelani was in progress. While the protest was on, DUSU president Nupur Sharma had “requested” Mr. Geelani to leave the venue.

“The public meeting organised by the University Community to debate ‘Communalism: Rhetoric and Reality’ was in reality on so-called ‘Hindu Fascism and Terrorism’. This was clearly mentioned in pamphlets distributed at the gathering,” said Aditya Raj Kaul, a youth activist and coordinator of “Roots in Kashmir”, on Saturday.

“We call upon the conscience of Vice-Chancellor Deepak Pental to investigate the reality behind this propaganda meeting organised by some vested interests to provoke members of the student community of a certain religion. It may be noted that one of the main accused in the Parliament attack case, Mr. Geelani, has not been declared completely innocent by the Supreme Court. He had been released on ‘technical grounds’,” read a statement from the organisation.

Link - http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110957000300.htm

DUSU President Nupur Sharma persuading S.A.R. Geelani to leave the venue.

Police clashing with ABVP activists.

SFI & AISA Goons get violent in the seminar at Law Faculty. (In picture Taslima Chisti of JNU)

DU allows 'seminar' blasting Govt; Geelani is star speaker

Staff Reporter | New Delhi

The Daily Pioneer

Link - http://www.dailypioneer.com/132900/DU-allows-%E2%80%98seminar%E2%80%99-blasting-Govt;-Geelani-is-star-speaker.html

Parliament attack accused incites youth to end 'fascism' in India, take on ABVP 'goons'

Under heavy police bandobast, the Delhi University (DU) on Thursday facilitated an "interactive session" where venom was spewed on the Government's counter-terrorism initiatives and a known anti-national — SAR Geelani, accused in the Parliament attack case — was hero-worshipped.

Addressing a gathering of about 50 students and teachers at the Arts Faculty seminar hall, Geelani said the Batla House encounter was stage-managed by Delhi Police. He said that different parameters were being applied in the handling of Islamic terrorism and the so-called Hindu terrorism. Geelani was speaking on 'Communalism, Fascism and Democracy — Rhetoric and Reality', organised by a barely-known campus group called University Community.

"There is no democracy in India. The Government, in the name of national security and war against terrorism, is targeting select people and letting others go scotfree. There is a huge difference in the way the Government deals with the so-called Islamic terrorism and those spread by Hindu extremists. Aur zyaada janne ke liye aap baad mein miliye (Meet me later for further explanations)," said Geelani, who was an accused in the 2003 Parliament attack case and was later comforted by the Supreme Court. He said that fascism and prejudice had crept into the four pillars of democracy in India. "Even the Chief Justice of India has been accused of corruption," he said.

About 50 persons, including some teachers from different departments of DU, participated in the talk. Amid slogans like "Civil Liberties Long Live" and "Hindu goons wapas jao", the speakers -- including two working journalists and a professor from the Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia, Nehsat Quaiser -- professed the cases of banned Muslim group, the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and the likes of Afzal Guru.

Talking about the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists opposing the branding of Hindu groups as terrorists, Geelani said, "Inquilab comes from the youth. You should not fear these goons and end this fascism."

Another speaker said the Malegaon blasts accused, Pragya Singh Thakur, was not a sadhvi but the face of Sangh terror. University sources said a teacher from the Department of English had booked the hall for organising 'a talk'. University officials said they were not informed of the topic and that Geelani was supposed to deliver a lecture. University Proctor Gurmeet Singh even called the organisers repeatedly, asking them to cancel their talk in view of the protests incited by Geelani's and others' views. The meeting, however, went on.

The ABVP members, on the other hand, demonstrated outside the seminar room and shouted slogans, 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'. An activist even managed to reach the dais and spit on Geelani's face, saying 'shame, shame'. The ABVP activists then damaged some windows, doors, chairs and the microphone to disrupt the meeting. However, the meeting continued despite the disturbance. Later, police arrested some ABVP activists.

Exclusive Pics Courtesy - Aditya Raj Kaul

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani...

"Hum Pakistan hain, Pakistan hamara hai"

..So goes Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the grand old man of the Kashmiri seperatists struggle. But perhaps now, after his fifth operation, he will have to add 'par mera pacemaker hindustani hai'.

Mr Geelani recently had an operation in Delhi's Escorts hospital to have his pacemaker replaced. There can be little doubt as to who funded this operation in this top hospital of the Indian capital where not many of the cities residents itself would think of getting admitted due to the costs involved.

An artificial pacemaker regulates the heartbeat when the heart is unable to do it itself because of some reason.

Funny, because that seems the role of the Indian govt in the Kashmir struggle. India's various unwise decisions and refusal to learn from the mistakes of the past have often regulated the Kashmir struggle and helped it to grow.

So yes, perhaps Mr. Geelani is right in getting his pacemaker from India, after all the unwise decisions of the same govt have been regulated the heartbeat of the Kashmir struggle without which this so called struggle would have died out long ago.

Our only solace - atleast now Mr Geelani can also rightfully state - Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani!
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Related Post -

Geelani's shit and Hindu "hit"

There you go again, Mr.President!!

by Pooja Shali

Asif Ali Zardari seems to be creating one storm after another. As if his extremely vocal appreciation of Sarah Palin’s beauty was not enough, there appeared one more explosion from the late Benazir Bhutto’s husband. The recent one, however, is more dramatic and exclusive. In an interview to Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal, Zardari confessed to the active presence of militant Islamic groups in J&K (according to him within the Indian occupied border). He elaborated by referring to them as ‘terrorists’ and continued to say that they are not ‘freedom fighters’ as Musharraf must have liked.

As the broadcast and print media began to flash these exclusive words, our countrymen were stunned. Coming from a Pakistani President, predecessors of whom have supported the absurd so-called freedom struggle, this was an uncanny moment.

The defence minister of Pakistan (on Times Now) expressed shock at this statement, and tried to cover up the matter stating that the president was misconstrued. So was it really a preposterous blunder by Zardari? Or the leadership of Pakistan has decided to finally withdraw its support to the ongoing terrorism in Kashmir? Or was it just another well planned political move?

The author would like to believe that it’s all three of the above. Pakistan has thought and rethought its stand on Kashmir. The upheaval that their government has supported for decades in Kashmir, which ruined a million lives, has begun to haunt them now in the global arena. While its favourite neighbour is all set to sign a nuclear deal, Pakistan is busy trying to hide its inner turmoil that has also paralysed its borders. Constant references to terrorism in India supported by the ISI, became too much of a burden for its leadership. The inability to counter such claims has also unwrapped Pakistan’s insecure present and uncertain future. Perhaps, it was obvious that Zardari came out to be an authority against terrorism in the valley as opposed to supporting it. Whether or not he meant his words, is a different game altogether.

The Pakistani government weighed too much of its integrity on Kashmir, but failed miserably to convince the world that it was a fair deal. They seemed to have realised the rickety platform on which Pakistan currently stands. Expanding space for Kashmir will only push them into murky waters. For a while it shall be a wise standpoint for Pakistan to depart from their pretentious adoration of the valley and concentrate on its inner advancement.

PPP might try to clarify his stance by distinguishing terrorism and Kashmir Liberation Movement as two separate entities, but the debacle has been witnessed. The smouldering divide between Muslim separatists and Pakistani leadership is unbolted for the world to see.

Going by the current scenario in valley where ‘Yahan chalo’ and ‘Wahan chalo’ movements are in vogue, the isolation of separatists is visible. A Frankenstein they created against non-Muslims in Kashmir has today re-emerged to attack their own side, and certainly with a more monstrous outline.

As for Zardari, if he tries to clarify his words anymore, I too shall have a small advice for him- “Mr.President, the sooner you try and understand the ideology of Pakistani leadership the better it shall be for your throne”.

Truth Truimphs at Last......

Demonstrators dance during victory celebrations in Jammu August 31, 2008. Hindus in Indian Kashmir called off their two-month protest after the government allowed them temporary use of land at the centre of a religious row for an annual pilgrimage, officials said on Sunday.REUTERS/Amit Gupta

Demonstrators hold India's national flags during the victory celebrations procession in Jammu August 31, 2008. Hindus in Indian Kashmir called off their two-month protest after the government allowed them temporary use of land at the centre of a religious row for an annual pilgrimage, officials said on Sunday.REUTERS/Amit Gupta

Demonstrators shout during victory celebrations in Jammu August 31, 2008. Hindus in Indian Kashmir called off their two-month protest after the government allowed them temporary use of land at the centre of a religious row for an annual pilgrimage, officials said on Sunday.REUTERS/Amit Gupta

A child joins Hindu protestors who celebrate in Jammu, India, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008. Hindus on Sunday suspended their two-month-old protest over allotment of land to a Hindu trust to build facilities for pilgrims in the Indian portion of Kashmir, which triggered some of the worst violence in the region in more than a decade, officials said.(AP Photo/Channi Anand)

‘Azadi Bara-e-Islam’ (freedom through Islam)

These were the words of Syed Ali Shah Geelani....and the crowd shouted in unison....

"Pakistan se rishta kya, la illaha illalla", "Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan", "Yehan kya chalega: Nizaam-e-Mustafa" besides the familiar "Ham kya chahte: Azadi".

AND OUR FRIENDS IN THE MEDIA ESPECIALLY THE ENGLISH MEDIA CALL THIS A SECULAR MOVEMENT...IT IS TIME FOR THEM TO HIDE THEIR FACES...LEST THEY WANT TO SHAME THEMSELVES...

This is what he told a gathering of some 20000 people at Srinagar yesterday...

"We are demanding from Pakistan’s rulers, political leadership and Pakistan’s people that Pakistan had been created for the sake of Islam and it should be used only for Islam. Socialism, secularism and America’s world order cannot work there. Only Islam must work there,” he said. “Through the relationship of Islam, we are all Pakistanis and Pakistan is ours”. Then he shouted: “Hum Pakistani hain. Pakistan hamara hai (We are Pakistani and Pakistan is ours).”

Yet strangely the Indian Media wants us not to look at it through the prism of communal politics.A snake with open fangs and we are supposed to worship him.

The Kashmiri Muslims have always been the most communal ,fanatic and barbaric people to have existed on this earth.Yet in a strange way our media loves to call their fanaticism,the voice of the people.They destroy temples and the media looks the other way.Yasin Malik is a darling of the Indian Media although all of them know he has raped,killed and kidnapped.

Dont forget Bitta Karate was received to a hero's welcome by Kashmiri Muslims.Call them secular at your peril.Today it is us,tomorrow it will be you.It is time for the "secular" media to wake up befor their homes become targets of Islamic fanaticism because this is what the Koran says .

"Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idolatry is worse than carnage. . . . [I]f they attack you put them to the sword. Thus shall the unbelievers be rewarded: but if they desist, God is forgiving and merciful. Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme. But if they desist, fight none except the evil-doers"(2:190–93)."

The letter from Indian Mujahideen(the bombers of Jaipur,Ahmedabad and Banglore) to the press had this verse as a justification for doing what they were doing.

A Pattern of Religious Cleansing

One Ajaz Ahmed, a regular visitor to our blog had mentioned that Syed Ali Hamdani or Shah-i-Hamadan as he is called by Kashmiri Muslims had defeated Hindus in an argument and thus his mosque was errected where a Kali Temple existed.Well History has a different take on the events.I am qouting mostly from Muslim Historians so as to prove how proud they were at the annihilation of the glorious Hindu History of Kashmir.

The purpose is not just to answer our friend Ajaz but also to let people know the truth.It will also prove how the policy of subjugation of the native Hindu popluation at the hands of Invading Islamic Zealots is a continous process of creating Darul Harb to Darul Islam and how this whole facade of ecology and demographic change is only a ploy to hide the wolf of Pan Islamization in the garb of a Green Sheep.

Most of the Muslim rulers destroyed temples thinking that they were doing a righteous act and were promoting Shariah by eliminating infidels(Kafir’s).Many thought that they were emulating Mohammed who also broke the idols of Kabba(a pagan place of worship then and a mosque now) .Iconoclasm in Kashmir was endorsed by the Amirs of the day,whether general Muslims supported it or not can be a matter of debate .There are examples galore to prove this point.In order to put this in perspective I am giving some references.

From Bahristan-i-Shahi“Sultan Shihabu'd-Din addressed himself to such works as would help him get peace in the world hereafter. He arranged a tomb and a burial place for himself to be used after his death. Towards the fag end of his life, he was infused with a zeal for demolishing idol-houses and destroying the temples and idols of the infidels. He destroyed the massive temple at Beejeh Belareh [31] (Bijbehara). He had designs to destroy all the temples and put an end to the entire community of the infidels.[32] ““Again it needs to be recorded that for some of the time which the holy Amir spent in Kashmir he lived in a sarai at 'Alau'd-Din Pora. At the site where his khanqah was built, there existed a small temple which was demolished and converted into an estrade on which he offered namaz (prayer) five times a day and recited portions of the Qur'an morning and evening. Sultan Qutbu'd-Din occasionally attended these congregational prayers.”“ [It may be recorded] that the temples of idol-worshippers, which had been destroyed and razed to the ground by the religious-minded and justice-loving Sultan Sikandar- God bless his grave and bless him-had been rebuilt and rehabilitated by Zainu'l 'Abidin. He had permitted idolators and polytheists to revive the practices of infidelity and they had propagated heresy (kufr) and false religion (din-i batil). With the support of some more kings,[96] the infidels had flourished day after day. But with the support and authority of Malik Musa Raina, Amir Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad undertook a wholesale destruction of all those idol-houses [97] as well as the total ruination of the very foundation of infidelity and disbelief. On the site of every idol-house he destroyed, he ordered the construction of a mosque for offering prayers after the Islamic manner.”The idolatory and heresy which had existed prior to his coming to this place were effectively replaced by his preaching and propagation of Islamic laws and practices. He brought honour to all the infidels and heretics (zandiqa) of Kashmir by admitting them to the Islamic faith and bestowed upon them many kinds of rewards and benefactions. It is publicly known as well as emphatically related that during his life-time, with the virtuous efforts and elaborate arrangements made by the fortunate Malik Musa Raina, twenty-four thousand families of staunch infidels and stubborn heretics were ennobled by being converted to the Islamic faith. [99] It is difficult to compute the number of people who had hitherto indulged in corrupt practices of a wrong (false) faith and dissent and were put on the right track under the proper guidance of Mir Shamsu'd-Din 'Iraqi .[99]In fact the transmitter of (God's) grace (Mir Shams 'Iraqi) conferred favours upon the righteous Malik Musa Raina and gave him blessings which enabled him to fulfill that cherished task. Indeed, fortunate is one who has been able to become the recipient of such special consideration at the hands of a highly venerable and elderly person like him (Amir Shamsu'd-Din). After Sultan Sikandar-God's peace be upon him-no one among the Muslims who wielded authority over this country rendered as much service to Islam by its propagation and advancement as Malik Musa Raina did. Nobody was able to make as organized an effort as he did towards the advancement and furtherence of the Muhammadan religion.
Please look at how the kings viewed their acts.One thought he would get peace by destroying temples.Sultan Sikander has been defined as religious minded and justice loving by the historians of the day while in no case has Kalhana supported or even condoned breaking of religious places.He heaped scorn on kings who resorted to this.Now that’s the difference. While Muslim Kings, their Amirs and even most Muslim Historians thought that the King was indulging in act of religious righteousness, kings belonging to other faiths had no such grandiose megalomania of reaching heaven (where houris would await them) by resorting to such acts. It makes an important reading into the mindset of the Muslim rulers.They clearly saw a holy purpose of converting “people of false faiths” like Hindus,Buddhists,Jainas and other heterodox religions to the only “true religion”.In their understanding of Islam they were doing great acts and their Amirs and most Historians of that period(especially the foreign historians who came with them ) supported this sickness unlike Kalhana who outrightly condemned these acts. Read the Last line of my reference from the Bharistan-i-ShahiNobody was able to make as organized an effort as he did towards the advancement and furtherence of the Muhammadan religion.
Here we are.The purpose is clear “Advancement and Furtherance of the Mohammedan Religion”.
Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami For details of forcible conversion of Hindus to Islam and their massacre in case they refused to be converted, see Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami; pp. 178-80. One significant detail is that three kharwars (one kharwar is approximately equal to eighty kilograms) of Hindu ceremonial thread (zunnar) were burnt by Sultan Sikandar. (Tarikh-i-Hasan Khuihami, Pir Ghulam Hasan, Vol II, RPD,* Srinagar 1954.) Other Sources for Sikander Butshikan aloneThis is what historians (mostly Muslims) have to say."He [Sikandar] prohibited all types of frugal games. Nobody dared to commit acts which were prohibited by the Sharia. The Sultăn was constantly busy in annihilating the infidels and destroyed most of the temples..." (Haidar Malik Chădurăh: Tărîkh-i-Kashmîr; edited and translated into English by Razia Bano, Delhi, 1991, p. 55.)"[He] strove to destroy the idols and temples of the infidels. He got demolished the famous temple of Mahădeva at Bahrăre. The temple was dug out of its foundation and the hole (that remained) reached the water table. Another temple at Jagdar was also demolished… Răjă Alamădat had got a big temple constructed at Sinpur. (...) The temple was destroyed [by Sikandar]." (Khwăjah Nizămu’d- Dîn Ahmad bin Muhammad Muqîm al-Harbî: Tabqăt-i-Akbarî translated by B. De, Calcutta, 1973)"Sikander burnt all books the same way as fire burns hay". "All the scintillating works faced destruction in the same manner that lotus flowers face with the onset of frosty winter." (Srivara, Zaina Ra-jtarangini). This I am giving more for its poetic value rather than what it says.Also please do pay attention to the following
"At the behest of Shams Iraqi, Musa Raina had ordered 1500 to 2000 infidels to be brought to his door-steps every day by his followers. They would remove their sacred threads, administer Kalima to them, circumcise them and thrust lumps of beef into their mouths,'' mentions Tohfatul Ahbab.
Role of so-called Sufis:
While no one can deny the fact that Kashmir was greatly influenced by Sufism and has produced some great Sufi saints and mystic poets(both Hindus and Muslims),we must stay clear of attaching a Sufi tag to every Muslim Godman.On one hand we have the great Sufi Tradition of Nund Rishi,Shams Faqir,Ahmed batwario,Rahim Saab,Swoch Kral,Prakesh Ram Kurigami,Govind Kaul,Ahmed Dar, on the other we have self styled god-men like Bul Bul Shah and Syed Ali Hamdani on whom this label of Sufi is stuck to make them more palatable to the larger masses.Syed Ali Hamdani or Shah-I Hamdan as he is popularly called by Kashmiri Muslims is widely regarded as the man responsible for conversion of Kashmiris to Islam.As we already know that the Shah-i-Hamadan mosque was built after demolishing a Kali temple(and there are enough historical records to prove that, apart from the fact that to this day Pandits perform prayers alongside the converted structure).

That not-withstanding I would like to inform the readers that before Shah-i-Hamadan left Kashmir he ordered the king to impose the following sanctions on Non-Muslims.I am enumerating them for your reading please.

1) The Hindus will not construct any new temples under the rule of Muslims.

2) They will not repair old temples fallen into ruins.

3) They will respect Muslims.

4) They will not dress like Muslims.

5) They will not ride a horse with saddle & bridle

6) They will not put on a ring.

7) They will not carry swords or bows & arrows.

8) They will not adopt Muslim names

9) They will not harbour spies or act as spies

10) If any relation of their’s wants to embrace Islam, they will not oppose it.

11) If a Muslim comes to attend a Hindu meeting he will be respectfully received.

12) They will receive Muslim travelers into their houses & provide them hospitality.

13) They will not prevent Muslim travelers from staying in their temples & shrines.

14) They will not mourn their dead loudly.

15) They will not buy Muslim slaves.

16) They will not build houses in neighbourhood of Muslims.

17) They will not sell intoxicating drinks.

18) They will not carry their dead near the grave-yards of Muslims.

19) They will not openly practice their customs & usages among Muslims.

20) They will not give up their traditional dress so that they can be distinguished from Muslims.

In the end the fiat in the form of an advice dictated if any Hindu dares to flout any of conditions, he should be first looted and then possession of his body is halal(Zakhiratul- Muluk).(Source:Dr.Qayoom Rafiquee’s doctoral thesis titled”Sufism in Kashmir”)In case this is not enough proof for anybody’s flight of fancy which makes him believe that Islam spread peacefully here are some examples from the same thesis.If this isn’t persecution in the name of religion then I wonder what is.

Writes Dr. Qayoom Rafiquee, “Mir Mohammad was not ready to give the status of Zimmis to the Hindus of Kashmir and treated them as kafirs who were not obedient to Islam, but were at war with it”.Sufism in Kashmir, P-101

Again to quote Rafiquee, ‘the medieval Muslim sources inform us emphatically that infidelity was uprooted from Kashmir through the influence of Mir Mohammad’.Sufism in Kashmir 101.

And sadly some of us have the cheek to say Islam in Kashmir spread through divinity and personal example of missionaries.This should put to rest any imaginative thought processes of Islam spreading in Kashmir through “divine incarnation of Dervishes and examples set by missionaries”.If someone still wants to stick to his point then I hope the same divinity that dawned on our forefathers in Kashmir dawns on him too.

For post 1989 I dont have to resort to books of History but thankfully we have pictures of desecrated Hindu Temples.There are some on this blog itself.Here is a link in case you wish to get a complete update.