KASHMIR IN MY HEART

Its about the plight of my kashmir...my motherland

About Me

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Pandit Chaman Lal Gadoo Co-Chairman, JOINT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE Chairman, VIDYA GAURI GADOO RESEARCH CENTRE Email: cl.gadoo@gmail.com Blog: clgadoo.blogspot.com

Saturday, April 11, 2020


                                       CHAPTER IV
               UNTOLD STORY OF KASHMIRI PANDITS                   
                           VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
        The political content of the terrorist violence has a direct effect on human rights as it involves militants' strategies which cannot but infringe the principles which form the basis of human rights. These strategies include:
1. Liquidation of the Indian support structures in the state, involving elimination of the people of all communities including Muslims who constitute such support structures; 2. Suppression of all political dissent and opposition by fear,
3. Oppression and mental torture of people who do not support terrorism;
4. Liquidation of civil population which extends help to security forces in their operations against terrorists;   5. Communalization of the society aimed to suppress opinion opposed to the secession of the state; 6. Conduct of military operations by the terrorists against the security forces of the state in violation of the laws of war.
           The second major dimension of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is the terrorists' aim to exterminate Hindu population in the Kashmir valley because Hindus do not accept the secession of the state from India and its annexation to Pakistan nor do they accept to be governed by the authority which derives its sanction from the law and precedent of Islam. The Hindus have always supported accession of the state to India. They have, undeniably, formed the most powerful support base for India in Kashmir. Hindus in the valley rose united against the invasion of the state in 1947, and fought shoulder to shoulder with the Indian soldiers against the infiltrators from Pakistan in 1965. They were always in the forefront of the struggle against secessionism, communalism, fundamentalism and the various movements for annexation of the state to Pakistan.
In the present turmoil the strategies used in the terrorist operations against the Hindus in Kashmir include:   1. The extermination of Hindus;
2. Subjection of Hindus to brutal torture to instill fear among them in order to achieve their submission to the terrorists and their exodus from Kashmir;
3. Flushing out such Hindus who refuse to submit to the terrorist dictates, by force, fear of death, fear of conversion and criminal assault on their women;
4. Destruction of the residential houses of the Hindus who migrate and the appropriation of their business establishments to ensure that they do not return;
5. Attachment of their landed property;
6. Destruction of the social base of the Hindus by desecration and destruction of their places of worship, shrines and temples;
7. Appropriation of the property of the Hindu shrines and its attachment to the Muslim religious endowments;
8. Declaration of a religious crusade against the Hindus.
(Human Rights Violations in Kashmir by Dr. M. K. Teng, & C. L. Gadoo)
          SYMPOSIUM ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION IN KASHMIR
                        HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION IN KASHMIR
            On 28th Oct. 1993, a symposium on ‘Human Rights Violations in Kashmir’ was organized by Kashmiri Samiti, at Himachal Bhavan, New Delhi. During the function, a booklet written by Dr.M.K.Teng and C.L. Gadoo was released by Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It contained details of Kashmiri Pandit genocide in detail. The work was appreciated by Sh. Vajpayee and he personally distributed the booklet on “Human Rights Violations in Kashmir” at an important event at UNHRC session in Geneva during March 1994. Prior, on return of Sh. Vajpayee from Vienna after attending Human Rights meet, he advised to register as NGO with UN and offered his help; even at a later date he asked Sahani ji, to remind.
             ‘We hold no brief for any one violating human rights anywhere. All we submit is that the small and helpless community of Kashmiri Pandits, along with Kashmiris of other communities suffering for their belief in secularism, nationalism and democracy, are the worst victims of human rights violations in
Kashmir….. The terrorist violence unleashed in Jammu and Kashmir by various terrorist organizations and the state of Pakistan, Is by itself a violation of human rights. The Muslim crusade which seeks to exterminate the religious and ethnic minorities In Jammu and Kashmir and establish the primacy of Islam in the government and the society of the state, contravenes the principle of the due process of law which is the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Political terrorism, whatever its Ideology and objectives, is a crime against International Law, a crime against humanity, a crime against the law of war and a crime against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’.
(Human Rights Violations in Kashmir by Dr. M. K. Teng, C. L. Gadoo) 
         
 (LtoR) Sh. C.L.Gadoo, president Kashmri Samiti, Sh A.B.Vajpayee, Sh. S.L. Shakdhar, former chief election commissioner, Dr. Hari Ohm (Jammu),              Dr. M.K.Teng (Jammu).




                         
 REFUGEES IN OWN COUNTRY!
            Abandoned by the state to which they have demonstrated their allegiance, Kashmiri Hindus occupy the paradoxical position of refugees in their own country.
This discourse claims that the salvation of the Indian nation can only be achieved
through the return of the Kashmiri Hindus to their homeland. The eventual return
of the community members to their homes emerges as a patriotic imperative to
preserve the honor and dignity of the nation. This return requires a radical transformation in the national vision of India and the position of Kashmir Valley within it. Once this radical transformation occurs, the community will be able “to fulfill the sacred task of securing the integrity of India which has been our historical role in the face of continuing oppression earlier and especially since Independence” (Munshi 1991).
(International Journal of Hindu Studies by Haley Duschinski, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Ohio University, Athen




                      KASHMIRI SAMITI PROTESTS AGAIST US REMARKS    
     INDIAN EXPRESS REPORTS                   PIONEER REPORTS
                                                Nov. 17, 1993



UNTOLD STORY OF KASHMIRI PANDITS CONTINUES;

               The Jihad which Pakistan launched in Kashmir in 1990, to liberate Jammu and Kashmir from the Indian hold, mounted its first attack on the Hindus in Kashmir. The terrorist assault on the Hindus in Kashmir commenced in the fall of 1989, and by the summer of 1990, more than seven hundred of them had been assassinated in cold blood. Most of the victims were innocent people who lived in poverty and persecution in the Muslim dominated constitutional organization of the State. Among those killed were people from all section of the Hindu Society; teachers, lawyers, political activists, media men, intellectuals, men of small means, young women and boys. The massacre of the Hindus was accompanied by a widespread campaign of intimidation and threat to drive out the Hindus from the Kashmir province, burn their temples and religious shrines and homes and loot their property. By the end of the year 1990, the whole community of the Hindus in the Kashmir province was driven out of their homes and hearths. For the last two decades, during which the terrorist violence in the State has continued unabated, the Hindus have been living in exile in improvised refugee camps in Jammu and elsewhere in the country.’       (Bitter Truth by Dr. M.K.Teng and C.L.Gadoo)     


    
                 
 DESTRUCTION OF TEMPLES IN KASHMIR  
      “Laltaditya, 761 A.D., founded the Karkota Empire of Kashmir. He extended his power into the upper Punjab in the south and west of India and western Tibet in the north. He built many magnificent temples in Kashmir, the most imposing of them being the temple of Martand. After him, king Avantivarman built two temples, Avanti-Swamin dedicated to Vishnu, and Avanti-Swara dedicated to Shiva. His son Sankara Varman built two elegant temples at Pattan, both dedicated to Shiva. During the reign of the Muslim Sultan Sikandar, known as the iconoclast, most of the Hindu temples were destroyed. The temple of Martand was reduced to ruins. The task of destroying the remaining temples was accomplished by Sikander’s successors. The destruction of the Hindu temples in Kashmir continued unchecked during the Chak rule, which followed the Shahmiri Sultanate, the rule of the Mughals, who wrested Kashmir from the Chaks and the Durrain Pathans, who followed the Mughals.”
                    Corroborating the above account, Walter R Lawrence, a British Revenue official of the Government of India, who wrote extensively on the Kashmir, writes,  “After destroying most of their temples, Sikandar turned his attention to the people who worshipped there and he offered them three choices: death, conversion or exile. Tradition affirms that only eleven families of the Hindus were left alive in Kashmir.”        
            The temple of Tarapida, built by the Hindu king Tarapida and was situated close to the present Nawhatta crossing in Srinagar. The temple was also demolished during the reign of Sikander. On its ruins was built the Jamia Masjid in 1407AD. After the destruction of the Tarapida temple and the construction of the Jamia Masjid over its ruins, the Sadbhava Sri temple situated to west of Masjid was converted into a Ziarat, which was later named Ziarat Pir Haji Mohamad. 
 (Kashmir—Hindu Shrines by Chanman Lal Gadoo)   
            
                                                Ruins of Martand Sun Temple                                                                                                               
           DESTRUCTION OF TEMPLES IN KASHMIR, Continued….
SIKANDER‘but-shiken’----the ICONOCLOST
               During the reign of Sikander, the highly venerated shrine of Kali Shuri, in the heart of Srinagar, situated close to the Zaina Kadal Bridge, on the `eastern bank of the river Jhelum, was demolished. A Muslim shrine, the Khanquah Maula was built over the plinth of the temple. The locality around the Khanqah is now known as Kalashpur---a corruption of Kali Shuri Pore. On the western bank of the river, opposite the Kali Shuri temple, were two temples, Zeshthesa Bhairov and Vishaksera Bhairov. Both the temples were demolished and turned into Muslim graveyards. The temple of Vikramishvera, situated close to Vicharnag was destroyed during the reign of Sikander. The temple was built by king Vikramaditya. The stone slabs of the temple were used to build a mosque nearby. The temple of Tribhawana Swamin, which was also located in Srinagar, was also demolished during the reign of Sikander. The temple was constructed by the Hindu king Chandrapida. The surrounding garden of the temple was converted into a graveyard. Sikander ordered the temples in South Kashmir to be demolished and he went up to the Lidder valley with the intention of supervising the demolition of the temples there. He proposed to go to defile the cave temple of Amarnath as well. On reaching Ganeshbal, he ordered the image of Lord Ganesha, standing in the middle of Lambodhari (Lidder River), to be broken. Legend has it that when the knee of the idol of Ganesha was struck, blood spouted out.  Sikender was frightened and he turned back. (Kashmir—Hindu Shrines by C.L. Gadoo)
           
              
 NATIONAL MEDIA REPORTS






                 NATIONAL MEDIA REPORTS
                                     
                         CONVERSION OF KASHMIRI HINDUS
            The author of Tohafatul-Ahbab narrates, Amir Shams-ud-Din Iraqi carried his campaign of conversion to every village and every Hindu home; “when Araki accomplished mission of converting people and training and guiding them in the new faith, he addressed the task of converting and guiding womenfolk. Pious, puritanical and honest and trustworthy dervishes (retainale of the Sufis) and Sufis were selected and the task assigned to them. They were sent to all villages, localities and towns. Infact, they reached each and every house. When they came to a homestead, they would get hold of the cow belonging to the house keeper, kill it and sit down to eat beef in the company of the womenfolk and family members. Along with this they administered the recitation of Kilma to the womenfolk of the household and taught them the basics of Islam. Distinguished vice-regents and sincere dervishes would enter the house of the aristocrats and the elite, in order to administer Kalima to them and make them eat beef.”
             The persecution of the Hindus continued after the Sultanate ended and the Shia Chak rulers rose to the throne of the Hindu kingdom. The Mughals, who followed the Chaks, were expected to bring little respite to the Hindus. But they followed the persecution of the Hindus with greater zeal. The Mughal Governors appointed to rule Kashmir were rapacious, corrupt and religiously as begotten as their predecessors were. The Afghan Pathans, who ended the Mughal rule over Kashmir, were the worst and virtually decimated whoever of the community of the Hindus had still survived, and whatever was left out of their religious heritage. The Hindus who were forced to flee their land suffered dispersion in India, the whole of which was now well under the heels of the Muslim rule.
 (Kashmir---Hindu Religious Culture by Chaman Lal Gadoo)

Protest Rally by members of Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi    
                    Genocide & Human Rights Violation in Kashmir
          The induction of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan is its third attempt to cut off Jammu and Kashmir from India and annex it to its territories. In October 1947, Pakistan sent thousands of armed forces and irregular commandos (Kabalis) into the State to annex it. Were it not for the heroic resistance of the state troops led by the Chief of the Army Staff of the State, Brigadier Rajender Singh, who resisted the advance of invading forces till the State acceded to India and the Indian troops joined the battle, the story of the State would have been different. About forty thousand Hindus and Sikhs were slaughtered by the invading hordes in the territories of the State overrun by them. Hundreds of thousands of them were uprooted and displaced. That story is still untold. In 1965, Pakistan inducted thousands of its trained commandos in the garb of local Muslims into the State to unleash a Muslim rebellion against India. The infiltrators spread all over the valley and penetrated into Srinagar. The prompt military action taken by Government of India, the infiltrators sneaked back to Pakistan after war broke out between the two countries. The present terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir is the third attempt by Pakistan to break up India and annex Jammu and Kashmir. This time the technique of military intervention is different; the flanks of terrorist organizations are recruited from the local Muslim population and after being trained and armed in Pakistan are re-inducted into the State, to carry on the Islamic crusade, Jihad, against India. Large numbers of armed commandos consisting of personnel of the army and intelligence services of Pakistan, and the various troop formations raised in the occupied territories of so-called Azad Kashmir have also been inducted into the State to help the terrorist elements.
          The consolidation of the pan-Islamic fundamentalism and its militarization in South Asia has been effectively used by Pakistan to export Islamic revolution to Jammu and Kashmir. Once the Jihad or the Islamic crusade for the liberation of the State triumphs, Jammu and Kashmir will as a part of the fundamental unity of the Muslims, join the Muslim nation of Pakistan. That is the reason why Pakistan projected Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in the first phase of terrorism in Kashmir, ostensibly to create an impression that the Muslims have launched an armed struggle in the State to liberate it from India. The truth is that Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front was sponsored by Pakistan to impart a more militant direction to demand for plebiscite in the State. It received arms and funds from intelligence agencies of Pakistan and always acted under the instructions of the intelligence services of that country. Once the terrorist violence in the state spread, Pakistan inducted the more powerful terrorist flanks into the state, like the Hizbul Mujahidin, the militant outfit of Jamaat-i-Islami, Al Badar, exclusively entrusted with the task of liquidating the Hindus, and the other terrorist organizations like Al Umar, Allah Tigers, Janbaz Force, Hizb Ullah and several other terrorist groups all committed to the accession of the state to Pakistan.
Mass Massacres
           The terrorist violence in Kashmir has involved in genocide of Hindus, destruction of their property, discretion of their temples, and their exodus from Kashmir. The terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir, on a well designed pattern, has led to several consequences which are inextricably interlinked with the violation of human rights. The pattern in which terrorism has manifested itself in Jammu and Kashmir has several aspects, some of which are characteristically original to the political violence unleashed by the various terrorist organizations and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. These aspects are;    (a) mass massacre;    (b) genocide of Hindus and (c) atrocities committed by terrorists.
            In Jammu and Kashmir terrorism has involved the liquidation of thousands of people, including the Hindus, the Muslims, the security personnel and the strategic staff of the State government and other administrative bodies.
The main targets of terrorist violence in Kashmir have been;
1. the Hindus;   The Hindus of Kashmir have been killed in large numbers irrespective of their age, profession and political commitments. 2. the Muslims opposed to secession, 3. Hindu employees of the State government, the government of India posted in the State, Hindu technical staff of Government of India installations of communications, police, radio and television, Hindu technical staff of the industrial corporations and the Hindu personnel of the security organizations of the state as well as the personnel of the Central paramilitary forces deployed in the State.
              Terrorism has taken a very heavy toll of the personnel of the security organizations of the State. A fairly large numbers of the personnel of the para-military forces and the Indian army have been killed in the hit and run guerrilla attacks mounted on them by terrorists. The attacks have involved sudden assaults on para-military pickets in civil areas, ambush of army and para-military convoys, mine blasts, rocket and bomb blasts on police stations and other security installations. The terrorist organizations in the State and those operating from Pakistan have unleashed an organized campaign to exterminate the Hindus in Kashmir. Besides the obligation to prosecute a religious war against them, terrorists have sought to achieve several tactical advantages in eliminating Hindus. Hindus used to form a vital and powerful base for India in Kashmir. They have fought the secessionist movements in the State with their bare teeth. They alone have resisted the onslaught of the pan-Islamic fundamentalism as well as the Islamization of the Government and the society in the State. They have always been instrumental in keeping the feedback channels of Government of India open and maintaining a regular and uninterrupted flow of information to its agencies.
                               GENOCIDE OF HINDUS
               Genocide is the destruction in whole or in part of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution on 11th December, 1946, declaring genocide a crime under International Law.
            A convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide adopted by the General Assembly came into effect on 12th January, 1951. The Convention proclaims genocide as a crime against International Law. The Convention lists destruction of an ethnic, racial or religious group as genocide. Specifically, genocide includes: 1. Killing members of a community or a group because of their affiliations; 2. Causing bodily or mental harm to the members of a community or a group; 3. Deliberately inflicting conditions on the community or the group to bring about its physical destruction; 4. Imposing measures to prevent births in the community or the group; 5. Forcibly transferring children from one group to another…….The terrorist organizations in the State and those operating from Pakistan have unleashed an organized campaign to exterminate the Hindus in Kashmir. Besides the obligation to prosecute a religious war against them, terrorists have sought to achieve several tactical advantages in eliminating Hindus. Hindus used to form a vital and powerful base for India in Kashmir. They have fought the secessionist movements in the State with their bare teeth. They alone have resisted the onslaught of the pan-Islamic fundamentalism as well as the Islamization of the Government and the society in the State.
 (Human Rights Violations In Kashmir by Dr. M. K. Teng, C. L. Gadoo)



      

WANDHAMA MASSACRE (Photo Courtesy Koshur Samachar)  


               
 
                 THE MILITANCY AND THE MIGRATION

                  In 1989, Kashmiris, feeling themselves increasingly frustrated with longstanding patterns of misgovernment in the region, took to the streets in Srinagar and other towns in Kashmir Valley in an open revolt against Indian state rule. This popular campaign identified its objective as self determination on the basis of Kashmiri regional identity; however, an explicitly religious tone gained prominence in the early nineties, as groups supporting accession to Pakistan rose to ascendancy and marginalized secessionist organizations (Sikand 2004). (International Journal of Hindu Studies by Haley Duschinski, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Ohio University, Athens)




            THE MILITANCY AND THE MIGRATION Continued
           Kashmiri Hindus felt an increasing sense of vulnerability and insecurity in response to what they perceived as a threatening atmosphere in the region (Behera 2000; Evans 2002).
              These feelings were exacerbated by a series of actions directed against their community, including attacks on prominent Kashmiri Hindu politicians and advocates, displays of hit lists with the names of specific Kashmiri Hindu individuals, and acts of violence in Hindu localities in Srinagar and elsewhere in the region. Community members were particularly affected by the selective killings of prominent community members, such as high profile politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, and judges. Two Srinagar based newspapers, Al Safa and Srinagar Times, carried direct threats in April 1990, ordering Kashmiri Hindus to   leave the Valley or be killed. More than 100,000 individuals left the region in a few months, and the rest followed sporadically over the following decade. (International Journal of Hindu Studies by Haley Duschinski, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Ohio University, Athens)

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