Ethnic Cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits: The Nastiest Fascia Of Islamic Terrorism

By Dipin Damodharan – Views Journal

On this January 19 (2011), Kashmiri Pandits complete 22nd year of their forced exile. The story of Kashmiri Pandits, an ethnic group who have become refuges in their own land, is not-only one of the tear-jerking ones in independent India but also a mistreated one by the so-called secular government of the country.

We heard about human rights violations confronted the Jews from Adolf Hitler, human rights violations in Palestine, human rights violations by the Lord Resistance Army of Uganda, violations in many countries like Sri Lanka, Iran, Brazil, China…

When a communal riot was broke out in Gujarat (India) in 2002, as an upshot of the killing of 59 Hindu Saints in Sabarmati Express (Godhra train carnage), many Muslims had also lost their life. All human rights organizations across the globe made use of this incident to affront India in front of the world. But they never speak on the genocide, the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley; they have a culpable silence on the human rights violations executing by the Islamic terrorists tutored by Pakistan.

After the end of 1989, over four lakh Kashmiri Pandits, constituting 99% of the total population of Hindus, living in Muslim best part area of the Kashmir, were grudgingly pushed out of the valley by the Islamic terrorists.

They have been forced to live the life of exiles in their own country, outside their homeland, by unleashing an organized campaign of terror, murder, loot and arson. Genocide of Kashmiri Pandits has reached at its zenith with Muslim terrorism succeeding in cleansing the valley of this ancient ethno-religious Kashmiri Pandits community.

With the completion of 22nd year of their forced exile, this peace loving, culturally well heeled community with a history of more than 5000 years is fighting a harsh battle to save itself from becoming extinct as a distinct race and culture.

The exodus took place on January 19 th of I989. On that day the loudspeakers of mosques in Kashmir blasted out a message as a threat: Pandits leave the valley, leaving behind your women. We want Pakistan, without Kashmiri Pandits. Despite of some organizations, the entire country then stood like silent spectators of this brazen event.

The massacres of Pandits were vicious, barbaric and inhuman. Killing of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists evidently portrays zealous sadism. All victims have been subjected to extreme torture and terror.

Torture deaths have been brought about by such inhuman practices as strangulation by using steel wires, hanging, branding with hot irons, burning alive, lynching, bleeding to death. Besides these, terrorists have frequently coddled in barbaric acts like performing death dances after killing their target.
Many a time, dead bodies were not even allowed to be properly cremated.

For our so-called secular media/human rights organizations, these brutal actions have nothing to do with human rights violations. The so-called cultural celebrity of India, Arundati Roy, has raised voice against the government for the Military action against Islamic terrorists in Kashmir; she had spent days with the Maoist terrorists.

But she is keeping mum on the atrocities of terrorists and even shows courage to support Kashmir movement. A person like her never knows the feeling of real patriots and oppressed class.
Every one forgets the fact that terrorism in Kashmir is an ideological struggle with specified political commitments which are fundamentalist and communal in character.

Terrorist violence is aimed at achieving the disentanglement of the state of Jammu and Kashmir from India and its annexation to Pakistan. It is the continuation of the Islamic fundamentalist struggle for the homeland of Pakistan which claims Jammu and Kashmir on account of its Muslim majority character.
To attain this goal, the terrorists are continuously destroying the educational, cultural and religious institutions of Kashmiri Pandits.

Killing of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists clearly depicts extreme sadism. But the great tragedy is that the Government of India and the Jammu Kashmir State Government have utterly failed to protect the Kashmiri Pandits against Islamic terrorism.

Ethnic cleansing of Pandits from Kashmir valley is the crucial failure of Indian state to uphold its commitments to people of India as enshrined in Indian constitution which provides right to live with dignity and honour to every citizen irrespective of caste, creed, religion or color.

International human rights organizations like Amnesty International, Asia Watch and others have yet to take proper cognizance of the genocide perpetrated on Kashmiri Pandits. Even the representatives of the United nations or other organizations have so far failed to visit the camps in Jammu, Delhi and other parts of India, where thousands of families are putting up for several years.

The international community views the violence in Kashmir as a Freedom Struggle. But remember, terrorist violence in the valley is not a Freedom Struggle at all. Terrorist violence cannot be justified on the ground of its political and ideological motivations or value basis.

Cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir is a clear testimony of this fact. There is no freedom which impinges upon freedom. There can be no equality which leads to inequality.

Gradual extinction of a civilized community with an ancient culture is yet to quaver the conscience of the world. I request my fellow human beings to take up this issue and bring it to the fore.

Write to Dipin at [email protected] or [email protected]

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