Website:www.panunkashmir.org Email: [email protected]

Wishing our readers a Happy New Year & A Happy Republic Day Long Live The Republic of India Let Truth Prevail

JKENG 00333/26/AL/TC/94 JK No: 1213/18 Regd. JK-219/2009-2011

Vol. 16-17, No: 12-1 „ , January, 2012 „ Pages 20 Price Rs. 20/- COVER STORY

„ EDITORIAL 20th Anniversary of Homeland Day Celeberated The Margadarshan KS Correspondent Press-club dotted with these Muthi. Asvaghosha, Abhinavgupta, Resolve...... Pg 3 colourful caps and the Pt. Shailendra Aima, Vice- Khshemendra, Nagarjuna, JAMMU, Dec 28: With the National Flags carried by the Chairman of Panun Vasubandhu, Asanga, news of Homeland Day cele- Rallyists and the Anna sup- , set the tone of the Dharmakirti, Padmasa- „ MEDIA INTERACTION brations pouring in from all porters, looked all gay as if day. In his inaugural mbhava, Kalhan, Bilhana, ...... Pg 4 across the country and the celebrating the address he emphasised on Bana, Ananga, and hundreds world, the celebrations in Independence Day. And the relevance and rationale of others from Yogini Jammu marked day long the Rallyists did pledge to of the vision of the Panun Lalleshawari to Ahad „ PERSPECTIVE programmes that involved launch the second phase of Kashmir Homeland. In a Zargar, Shamas Faqir and men women and youth of the the struggle for India’s thought provoking address to Waz Mehmud. Mr. Aima Return of the Hindus to exiled Kashmiri community. Independence. the Rallyists, Sh. Aima remi- expressed great hope that Kashmir...... Pg 5 At Press Club Jammu, the The proceedings on the nisced about the ordeal of with the realization of Panun exiles from Kashmir were occasion started with a pub- 1989-90 and narrated how Kashmir, these ideas would joined in by their supporters lic oath taken by all the par- several events, marathon be further explored, inter- „ ANALYSIS from Jammu in taking the ticipants to rededicate their interactions and intra-com- preted, discovered, reinvent- pledge for working towards lives and the lives of their munity dialogue lead to the ed and reconstructed in mod- Operation Geronimo...... Pg 6 realization of Panun progeny to the sacred cause creation of Panun Kashmir. ern day Kashmir, to the ben- Kashmir. On the occasion of establishing Panun The Margadarshan efit of not only but „ THE PLACE VALUE the members of Panun Kashmir Homeland in Resolution of 28th also to the benefit of the Kashmir who had gathered to the North December, 1991 was a culmi- entire humanity. Interactional Potential in hundreds, also expressed and East of River Jehlum. nation of all these interac- Dr Ajay Chrungoo, their solidarity with the anti- Sh. Mahesh KouI a budding tions and a massive brain- Chairman of Panun of a Place...... Pg 7 corruption crusade of Anna young scholar of Jammu storming. He called this Kashmir, concluded the Hazare for a strong Lokpal. University conducted the culmination as a rebirth of deliberations by describing „ MEDIA SCAN People in big numbers joined proceedings. Speakers from the Kashmiri Pandits and the Homeland Day on the celebrations from Camps and the non-camp congratulated the communi- December 28, as the day of Jamu & Kashimr in the ty on its true revelation - the words of Padgaonkar.....Pg 9 20thBirthday. From Margdarshan , for all Panun Kashmir Kashmiri Hindus. He said stand-point, Aima that on December 28 1991 „ CULTURE stated, this rebirth is Kashmiri Hindu representa- the beginning of a tives from all organizations Sanskrit Kashmir, renaissance; that and walks of life adopted the Kashmiri Pandits & the would reinvent the resolve to reclaim Panun philosophy, values, Kashmir in an area north Caste Reality...... Pg 10 art, literature, aes- and east of river Jehlum as a thetics and tradition Homeland for all Kashmiri of Kashmir – a tradi- Hindus as the only possible „ BOOK REVIEW tion that finds its way of reversing the geno- ...... Pg 13 expression in the cide perpetrated on them. seminal ideas and Since then the Homeland has works of Panini, become the heart-throb of „ REJOINDER Patanjali, Bhasa, Kashmiri Hindus. Homeland Kalidasa, Bhav- Natasha Koul on people abhuti, Kumarjiva, (Contd.on Page 4) of J&K and their aspirations...... Pg 15 areas spoke on the Nagrota, Jagati and Muthi occasion highlighting „ CONCERN Camps, as well as from non- the importance of the Save the Heritage for camp localities of the city. day and the need to The Rallyists raising slogans intensify the struggle. Posterity...... Pg 17 of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and Those who spoke on “Homeland-Homeland” were the occasion were Sh also seen breaking into the Shailendra Aima, Vice „ BLOG NEWS chants of “Bhrashtachaar Chairman of Panun An MP earns 104 times mitainge, Desh ko Kashmir and Editor of bachaenge”. Kashmir Sentinel. more than an average The saffron headscarves Sh PL Dhar, President and the white Gandhi-caps of Nagrota Camp, Indian...... Pg 17 worn by the Panun Sh.S. L. Pandita, Kishmiris carried the motifs leader of the Jagati „ CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS of Panun Kashmir Tenement Committee Homeland, and spruced up and Sh P L Raina, ...... Pg 2, 18,19 the event lending it a unique representative from flavour and colour. The January 2012 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 2 We publish the ‘Chronology of Events’ from April 18, 2011 to May 31, 2011 that had not been published in the last issue inadvertently. --Editor

April 18: A major tragedy was averted as a RDX filled pres- civilian was killed and seven others injured as ter- cease-fire in Arnia sector. India has started to sure cooker was detected and defused at Bhati rorists tried to target an Army Commandant with develop air defence system in which an enemy mis- Dhar, Nendhar while an Army Jawan was injured car bomb at . A youth was killed in fir- sile can be shot at a distance of 5000 KMs. in a mine blast at Kantar, Mendhar.Interlocutors ing range in . Two terrorist and three sym- May 16: An Let terrorist was killed in . Alert was started their deliberations with academicians and pathizers were arrested and arms and ammunition sounded in Mendhar as land mines exploded in fire intelligentsia at an RTC at . recovered from possession in North Kashmir. GOC on LoC.Padgaonkar opposed division of J&K while April 19: A terrorist was arrested in .LeT and HM 15 Corps said that militants would try to increase Governor said that strike calls lead to problems. have reportedly shifted to mountains.Interlocutors their infiltration attempts in next two months. May 17: Terrorists gunned down a cop in Sopore, shot at a conclude RTC.Ramjethmalani led committee is to India expressed its deep concern over terrorists Panch in and attacked the residence of revive talks with sepratists. briefed finding sanctuary deep inside Pakistan. former Minister Usman Majeed Wani at PM, HM and UPA chairperson about security and May 3: An Army jawan was killed in an accidental blast in . Four persons including three terrorists political situation in the state. R S Pura. Pak terrorist Tanveer Ahamed who had were arrested for drug peddling in North Kashmir. April 20: Two OGWs of HM were held in . NIA is to been impersonating as Zaman Shah was reported- Two Jammu criminals were held in Delhi. A cabi- probe Geelani linked Hawala case.Hurriyat leader ly in touch with terrorists of other states and used net sub committee is set to make amendments to A G Bhat was suspended from the organization as 100 SIM cards to inter-act with terrorists. Principal Sageer Committee Report. he met interlocutors in Srinager.Army Chief visit- Secessions judge awarded death sentence May 18: 10 OGWs were arrested in . A boy, Waheed ed Leh and reviewed security scenario while IAF is to two terrorists for killing a police informer in Ahamed who was kidnapped by terrorists when he to deploy fighters along Pak border.PoK PM sug- 2002. The US said that Laden had support system was just six years old returned to his house in gested that LoC should be converted as the line of in Pakistan. Mendhar from a Madrassa after nine years. commerce.BJP suspended seven MLAs in the cross- May 4: An Army major was killed in a grenade blast while Padgaonkar said that they are working with the voting case. practicing in Rajouri. Army Chief said that Indian government to ensure peace. April 21: Two LeT terrorists were killed in an operation in forces are competent enough to carry out May 20: Police recovered a body in bafliaz believed to be of Kishtwar.explosives were recovered from a Abbotabad like operation. The US hopes to unravel the terrorist Huzefa while a terrorist of LeT was Panchayat Ghar at Khari, and three Osama’s links with help of decoding discs and arrested in Kishtwar.Two persons were arrested in Hawala operatives including two government DVDs. Baramulla and arms and ammunition was recov- employees were arrested in Banihal and Rs 1.99 May 5: Geelani was put uncer house arrest as he was to lead ered from their possession. Authorities are not to Lakh hawala money was recovered from their pos- funeral prayers in absentia for ladewn at allow hurriyat rally. AK Antony said that China- session. Hill Council and VDCs’ issue dominated Batmaloo. Army lodged protest on hotline as Pak ties are a cause of concerned claimed that vio- during interlocutors’ visit to Doda .Omar Abdullah Pakistan fired RPG and MMG’s to give cover to the lence is down and situation is improving in J&K. asked sepratists to come forward like Ansari. 108 intruders. Northern Command Chief said that deci- May 21: Curfew like restrictions was imposed and hurriyat villagers, shifted during Pak shelling in , sion on operations across LoC vests with the GoI. leaders put under house arrest to foil rally on the have been relocated. May 6: police busted a hawala racket and arrested death anniversary of A G Lone. A terrorist hideout April 22: Police-terrorist nexus was unearthed as two cops, three operatives of terrorists. A terrorist hideout was busted in Rajouri. P Chidambaram said that A TA Jawan were held with Pak made pistols in was busted and arms and ammunition recovered in we are living in troubled neighbourhood. Northern Mendhar while one another was reported to be at , . Explosives haul was recovered Command Major General is to lea a military team large.A cop was killed in firing in Kupwara. A VDC in Arnas, . A VDC member gunned down his to China. member committed suicide in Rajouri. Sepratists son in Rajouri. 13 IM terrorists were charge sheet- May 22: Two OGWs of LeT including the brother of LeT com- staged another sit-in against the killing of the cler- ed in 2008 serial blasts in Delhi. mander Hurera were arrested while taking ration ic.HCand strengthening VDCs dominated at May 7: Three terrorists were reportedly holed up in and other material for terrorists. Mirwaiz said that Kishtwar also. Succumbing to pressure, centre while one more managed his escape in Hurriyat was ready for negotiated settlement. PM extended relaxation to entire J&K.Indian envoy to Mendhar.Border projects in Ladakh are to match said that J&K is moving towards peace and harmo- Pak said that Pakistan should address India’s con- projects of China. The US released rare video of ny. cerns. Osama. May 23: An LeT terrorist was killed and three others April 23: Interlocutors review situation with Governor and May 8: A big arms and explosives haul including 12 AK rifles trapped in an encounter in Poonch.RDX and CM while centre distanced itself from Jethmalani were recovered in Kupwara.Three terrorists grenade haul was recovered in Banihal. Sonia led Kashmir Panel. escaped in Bafliaz. A govt. official and local wife of Gandhi said that there will be no compromise on April 24: Two top LeT terrorists Moosa and Zulqarnain wee the Pok terrorist, who masterminded car last and terror but the talks with Pakistan will continue. P killed in an encounter in banihal.. A Jawan was stayed near city for four years, were arrested. Chidambaram said that careful vigil is being kept killed in an encounter in Gool while two infiltration Geelani called for strike on May 14 for release of along the borders to foil intrusions. bids were foiled in Poonch. A woman SPO and her political prisoners and youth. May 24: Search for three terrorists was launched in husband were arrested in Mendhar for their May 9: Four more were arrested in car bomb blast . Arms have been recovered from the involvement in arms racket. Terrorists short dead a case.Omar Abdullah said that Osama’s death will slain terrorists while hunt was on for other three man in , Pattan. Interlocutors said that peo- not derail Indo-Pak dialogue. A KP woman Asha terrorists in Poonch who managed their escape. ISI ple’s aspirations cannot be held hostage to Jee was elected as a Panch in Wussan, kunzar. and LeT helped Headley in executing Mumbai sepratists and claimed that most of the people want Police claimed to have busted a module responsible attacks and his handlers wanted to kill Bal change in the status-quo and empowerment of all for issuing SIM cards to terrorists as the terrorists Thackrey. the regions.PM commands high turnout in are using six to eight mobile phones. SC stayed May 25: An LeT terrorist was killed, another injured and a Panchayat elections in J&K. Ayodha verdict. female associate held in . A terrorist April 25: Two cops were killed by terrorists outside Nowgam May 10: Plot to revive militancy was unearthed as five ter- was killed in Handwara.Omar Abdullah said that Police Station.Steps to tackle summer-unrest were rorists were arrested in Pattan and three AKs and 30 to 40 militants have entered J&K but added that discussed as Omar Abdullah discussed situation other ammunition recovered from their possession. there was no alternative to talks with Pakistan. Headley wanted an assignment in Kashmir after with the top brass. An SPO gunned down his wife and brother-in-law his training. April 27: Principal Secession Judge Udhampur awarded life in Ramban. Terrorists shot at and injured a May 26: JeM terrorist Qari Zubair and his associate were imprisonment to three HM terrorists. Fresh guide- Sarpanch candidate in Sopore. India asked killed in an encounter at Kellar, Pulwama while lines have been issued as MHA approves SOP to Pakistan to disclose whereabouts of Dawood one more terrorist ws killed in Handwara deal with protests. Ibrahim. encounter. said that Kashmir sit- April 28: An SRTC driver injured in Baramulla in stone-pelt- May 11: An explosives haul was recovered in Pulwama. uation should satisfy all. SFC has made serious rec- ing while ferrying polling staff on 25th April suc- Police claimed to have solved car-blast case and ommendations for Jammu, Kashmir and ladakh cumbed to his injuries. Tension gripped arrested a govt. employee while hunt was launched regions. Headely said that Pak Navy man was pres- as staged a dharna against alleged for the PoK terrorist. MoS Defence reviewed securi- ent with ISI’s Iqbal during meeting. arrest of a youth. A JCO was among four killed as ty situation in a meeting in Northrrn Command. May 27: Two foreign terrorists were killed in an encounter a Jawan ran amok at an RR camp in . Salahudin and Neeta are among 50 most wanted inn Sopore. A major intrusion bid was foiled in Pakistan agreed to non-discriminatory trade with fugitives in Pakistan. Pak govt. paid 135,000 Ramgarh sector. P Chidambaram said that terror India. J&K has sought 65 additional companies for pounds to a British parliamentarian George infrastructure is flourishing in Pakistan while Amarnath Yatra. Gallowy to promote Kashmiri cause. In its favour. Hillary Clinton asked Pakistan tomtake decisive April 29: Protesters were cane charged and dispersed in Nawaz Sharief demanded probe into Osama deba- steps to flush out al-Qaeda. Arun Jaitley said that Maisuma. P Chidambaram said that there is no cle. UPA is soft on terrorism while BJP is to write to reason for civilian unrest this summer and added May 12: Geelani has been barred feom holding public rally Pm on Ladakh demands. that new SOPs will tackle protests in J&K. Pak ter- in apprehending violence. State govern- May 28: Terrorists shot dead a father-son duo in Kupwara. rorist, planted by HM, took agencies for a ride and ment today extended compensation benefits to Two stone-pelters were arrested in . An married a Rajouri girl. slain surrendered terorists’ families. PM ruled out LeT hideout was busted in Kishtwar.Pakistan April 30: Terrorists shot dead a civilian in Sopore. One per- US-type operation in Pak. returned two Poonch boys after a month. PM said son was killed, four injured and 16 arrested as May 13: An Army Jawan was killed in an ambush in Lolab. that terror machine equally hurting Pakistan and it is time for action against jehadi groups. clashes broke out between the supporters and More youth arrested under PSA are to be released May 29: A youth was killed when a shell exploded in firing rivals of Jamait-e-Ahilhadees. Pak terrorist’s free as government finalises strategy for summer and range in .Omar Abdullah said that we will movement for eight years has been described fail- Amarnath Yatra. EU delegation on visit to J&K deal with the infiltrators. ure of intelligence agencies. Two yoyth crossed over said that EU is not to interfere in Kashmir. India is May 30: An intrusion bid was foiled and a guide killed while to PoK in Mandi, Poonch. to give data to Pakistan on Wullar. four infiltrators retrieved in samba ssector. India May 1: A contractor was among two LeT ultras held in May 14: A BSF Jawan was killed in Pak firing in Arnia sec- and Pakistan discussed Saichan. Poonch and ammunition haul was recovered from a tor. EU refused to meet Geelani and KBA. GOC May 31: A terrorist hideout was busted in Sopore and huge hideout on their disclosures. LeT and HM used Northern Command described Chinese presence in cache of arms and ammunition including six AKs females on both the sides of LoC for smuggling of PoK a cause of concern and added that Pak may and 13 Pistols were recovered. Two IEDs were arms and used Bhati Dhar as the dumping ground. push more ultras after the killing of Osama. He seized in Kishtwar. Both sides agreed to carry taks May 2: World’s most wanted terrorist Osama bin laden was said that the Army has given its response on though there was no agreement on Saichan. The killed in an operation by the US in Abottabad, AFSPA. US said that Pak is home to militants targeting yards away from Military Academy, in Pakistan. A May 15: BSF lodged protest as Pakistan again violated Kashmir. January 2012 3 EDITORIAL The Margadarshan Resolve

WENTY years have passed Persons); and that would have also “internally displaced” for people who hands with the Jagati inmates and since the exiled Pandits in 1991 enjoined upon the governments in have migrated from far-flung areas of launched a mass protest against bad Tunanimously adopted the his- Srinagar and Delhi certain responsi- the valley to Srinagar and other dis- management and corrupt practices of torical Homeland Resolution, bilities viz. a viz. treatment to the trict head quarters (and not the the Relief Organization. They have demanding the political reorganiza- exiled community and the component Kashmiri Pandits who actually are shown their resolve and spoken from tion of the State of Jammu & Kashmir and conditions of Relief, and their the IDPs but are being treated as Panun Kashmir platform in demand- so as to facilitate the creation of Return and Rehabilitation. As IDPs, “migrants”); and these migrants too ing their legitimate share in the Panun Kashmir, a Homeland for all the exiles in fact would be entitled to have been bracketed with the exiled Kashmir Valley, and in being comrade those who have been forced out of special rights and privileges, under Kashmiri Pandits for benefits under in arms. It is an exemplary display of Kashmir on the pain of death and the UN Charters and Resolutions, and the PMs package. Unity among the community cadres destruction. This Homeland, the no coercion could be imposed upon The State government has devised and organizations. Resolution demanded, be placed them. It is primarily this set of machinations that tantamount to Today, the Margadarshan Resolve under a , comprising responsibilities that the Indian Union coercive tactics and harassment of the has become a guiding factor of the the Northern and Eastern regions of and the State of Jammu & Kashmir displaced victims. It has framed community’s resolute determination River Vitasta (Jhelum), and be gov- do not want to own; neither do they ridiculous and illegal service rules for for pursuing its legitimate rights as erned by the unhindered flow of the want the exiled Pandits to be provided the Pandit recruits to government Internally Displaced Persons, and Constitution of India. The Resolution any immunity against the coercive jobs. After a resolute dithering the envisages their return and rehabilita- also envisaged a state-hood for arm twisting. State government agreed to provide tion in an internationally accepted and another Union It seems that the UPA Government around 1800 (but in reality only a lit- frame-work under the UN charter and Territory for Ladakh Region. and its coalition partner in J&K have tle above 1200) government jobs to covenants. Kashmiri Pandits of all In December 2011, the Union accepted Jammu and Kashmir as a ‘Kashmiri Migrants ‘out of a total of hues are gathering and galvanizing as Minister of State for Home, Jitendra sphere of Islamic influence, conceding 3000 jobs whose financial burden a unified mass and articulating their Singh told the Lok Sabha that a it morally as an extension of the Af- would be borne exclusively by the aspirations for Panun Kashmir - a “package of 1,618 crore rupees was Pak region, but territorially keeping it Central government, under the PM’s geo-political dispensation in a politi- sanctioned for return and rehabilita- a part of India, as a corridor cutting package. After accepting the Prime cally reorganized State of Jammu and tion of Kashmiri migrants in the val- into the Pamirs and Sinkiang on one Minister’s Package for the ‘Kashmiri Kashmir. With Ladakhis and ley in 2008. But so far no family has hand, and the Indian heartland on the Migrants’ the state government Jammuites also determined to claim returned.” He also informed that of other. To make this unholy arrange- refused to fulfill its part of the their legitimate share in any future this amount, about Rupees 22.89 ment acceptable to Indian masses, the employment package and declared resolution of the Kashmir problem, its crores were spent on (non-existent) entire design needs a camouflage of such recruitments as against the fructification appears not a distant transit camps. But he did not explain secularism. What else than a token provisions of the State Constitution. dream but a possible reality. why the displaced families had return of the exiled Pandits to the Then by linking this employment The time is ripe for the powers that spurned this economic package meant Valley to provide the stamp of a package to terms of return and delink- be to review the Kashmir Policy that to attract their return, nor did he deceptive Secularism. And in order to ing it from all factors which led to the has so far yielded only adverse results make any mention of Rs. 400 Crores facilitate this coerced token return, cleansing of Hindus from Valley, the and caused further alienation. This spent in the name of the so-called the UPA Government announced a jobs were provided only to those can- policy has pushed the State of Jammu Jagati Township. disguised and misplaced 1618 Crore didates who had agreed to return to and Kashmir and its problems into In the twenty two years of the exile “Prime Minister’s Package on Return the Kashmir valley with a written labyrinthine morass that needs a bold and ethno-religious cleansing of and Rehabilitation of Migrants”. undertaking to the state government and decisive initiative to extricate it Kashmiri Pandits from their habitat It is misleading and a misnomer to with an assurance to stay put in the from the present mess. Overwhelmed of thousands of years, the State and call it a package for the Kashmiri Valley under all circumstances come by the violent eruptions, terrorist the Central Governments, have Pandits, as the Parliament was what may. To seek such an undertak- blackmail and competitive communal shown no commitment in resolving informed. A closer look at the phras- ing is not only discriminatory and ille- politics, the Union of India is consid- the issues confronting this communi- ing of the package reveals that it is gal, but in fact a coercive measure. ering options like greater autonomy ty. Only a lip service and a lack of a wrapped in subtle jargon, making sev- Denial of genocide and refouling of the and self-rule to resolve the Kashmir humanistic component form the insti- eral categories of affected people as victims is glaring in this entire enter- imbroglio. Such options not only tend tutional approach towards the exiles. claimants to PM’s largesse. For exam- prise. to embolden separatist tendencies and This has made the Pandits skeptical ple, the refugees of 1947 from present But kudos to Kashmiri Pandits and strengthen communal stridency in the about the very intentions of the politi- PoK, have been bracketed with the the Panun Kashmir! They have State; it also involves a malevolent cal establishment, which instead of internally displaced persons from despite all odds stood their ground engagement with Pakistan as a party. applying balm on their festering sours Kashmir and made partners to the firmly. In fact, the entire community Contrary to this, the Margadarshan of disappointment and dejection, has package. They are victims of the holo- has shown a resolute determination in Resolution is a significant and con- created a nexus of Relief Agencies and caust of the partition of 1947 and spurning this Prime Minister’s eco- structive arrangement available, their agents who harass the victims deserve treatment at par with mil- nomic package since it ignores the which tends to meet the aspirations of eking out a living in the “migrant lions of other refugees. Kashmiri safety and security of the community; all the major stake-holders in the camps” and those who draw relief and Pandits on the other hand have been it completely obfuscates the issue of State of Jammu & Kashmir; it is also ration from these agencies. The subjected to ethnic cleansing, where a their political empowerment; it dis- a strategy that would exclude bureaucratic-political nexus draws secular and democratic State misses protection and preservation of Pakistan and Pakistan sponsored huge funds in the name of Relief and absolutely failed to protect them. their shrines and properties; and it has no qualms in squandering the Likewise, the widows of the victims of has no provision for their compact interest groups, marginalize them same in the scandalous projects like violence in J&K are also categorized rehabilitation. Why should Pandits and render them irrelevant. It strives Jagati, where mega corruption is like- as a group entitled to a share in PM’s feel enthused for such a misplaced to give secular nation building prece- ly to be unearthed, if investigated by Package. The advocacy groups in and misconceived package that has dence over communal politics in an independent agency. Kashmir claim that more than a lakh nothing to offer to the victims in terms Jammu and Kashmir. Let the policy Not content with this brazen display of people were killed during the vio- of reversing their genocide and ethno- makers engage with Panun Kashmir of corruption, the state agencies have lence in Kashmir. This number is religious cleansing? In the Apex and other regional groups in the also deployed devious methods of coer- apart from the Kashmiri Pandits who Committee formed by the Relief State, as also with advocacy groups, cion, ignoring the nation’s commit- were martyred during the Islamic Organization and that gives no room academics and political parties in an ment to international precedence and Jihadist violence. As such the widows to Panun Kashmir, the members inter-regional dialogue to ascertain covenants. The exiled Hindus are cat- of these one lakh victims are also enti- showed exemplary courage in dismiss- their opinion on power sharing, decen- egorized as “migrants”. The circum- tled to a share of what is being show- ing this plan and expressing their dis- tralization of power and empower- stances and conditions of their exodus cased as a “Package for Pandits.” approval of the coercive policy of the ment of the people and regions to should have placed them in the cate- The State government has played government. In fact many of the device modalities for the political re- gory of “IDPs” (Internally Displaced another trick by ascribing the term members of Apex Committee joined organization of Jammu and Kashmir. ism and irresponsible and indifferent govern- fixed thinking. Good will & achievements are cap- Message ments, I am sure that the time will come soon ital, character and morals. Friends our general I send my sincerest and heartfelt greetings to when they will return to their homeland to pur- reserve, values and behaviour our goodwill. the Community and the Panun sue their traditional way of life to take Patience is interest earned. Love our dividend. Kashmir activists on the advent of New Year Bharatvarsh to a great glory with the prosperity Children our bonus issues. Education is brand. 2012. It goes without saying that Kashmir is the of all. Knowledge is our investment. Profit & Loss is Homeland of Pandits who are Saraswat A word for Panun Kashmir Activists ? Karma earned, before final assessment death. Brahmans and no power on earth can deny them Birth is our opening balance, death is our clos- Balance your sheet. what is legitimately theirs. ing balance. Prejudice views are our liabilities, Great leaders make people to believe in them. Despite all their travails today and the suffer- creative ideas and good deeds are assets. Heart is --Sh. O.N. Trisal, Bangalore. ing heaped upon them by forces of fundamental- our current asset, soul, our fixed asset, brain is January 2012 MEDIA INTERACTION 4 Press Brief of the statement issued during the press conference addressed jointly by Panun Kashmir Chairman Dr Ajay Chrungoo, Chairman of Advisory Committee of Panun Rs 318 ticket to terror? Shibanandabasu Kashmir Dr M K Teng and Sh Jagan Koul, Chairman of the Diversity USA, a national dem- LL it takes for a cross-border terrorist to ocratic THINK TANK for minority affairs in USA on 21-11-2011 at Jammu. travel from Bangladesh to Sealdah rail- Away station in the heart of Kolkata is Rs 318. anun Kashmir and According to recent state government Diversity USA Intelligence reports accessed by The Statesman, Pexchanged and illegal immigrants, including certain suspected shared views on the terrorists named in the report, pay a mere Rs 18 state of affairs in Jammu to enter Bongaon, a border village in India, and Kashmir in the light through Benapole in Bangladesh. In Bongaon, of happenings in the illegal immigrants pay another Rs 300 to Pakistan and reach Sealdah station. Afghanistan as also the Suspected terrorists from the Pakistan-based plight of internally dis- militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahiddin are using placed Kashmiri Hindus. this “safe route” to enter India, paying the fee to Both are of the view that touts who safely transport the handling of affairs in them to their destina- NEWS the state by Government tions. From Sealdah, of India has been dis- these individuals can eas- gusting. ily travel anywhere else in the country. Government of India is “They disperse to various parts, including fast squandering the his- Rajasthan, Punjab and Assam,” says the report. toric opportunity of a “But most of these trespassers prefer to go to very favorable interna- Malda town first.” A senior intelligence official tional environment and said: “Before venturing out to the rest of the Islamist formations, as Organisation created for prodding of both the sep- country it is easy for the suspected terrorists to the consequent aware- well as their leadership ameliorating the plight aratist establishment as ness that Pakistani find a hideout in Malda. Also, it is easy to enter in the state, as legiti- of internally displaced well as the government. rural Malda via Kolkata after carrying out ter- State is the epicenter of mate political forces who Kashmiri Hindus has Both Panun Kashmir International terrorism. rorist activities elsewhere in the country.” can deliver peace. This been gradually turned and Diversity USA will Reports that terrorists use Kolkata as a tran- Instead of strengthening entire approach is into political department pool their efforts to bring the national position in sit route are nothing new. Back in 2010, shameful and also dan- to generate dismay, dis- to the light of the world the state and dealing a Calcutta High Court, worried about the security gerous. array, and desperation at large that the sepa- decisive blow to Islamist of the general public in West Bengal, expressed The Government of amongst Kashmiri ratist campaign in the separatism in the state, concerns that the state was becoming a “safe India has not embarked Hindus living outside Kashmir valley is haven for terrorists.” Government of India upon a process of return Kashmir valley. This seems to be engaged in a becoming the epicenter According to Intelligence experts, more than of internally displaced organization has also of terrorism in India. 74 “terror masterminds” from Bangladesh are process of granting cru- Kashmiri Hindus by become a symbol of cor- Both Panun Kashmir hiding in and operate from various Indian cities. cial concessions to addressing the critical ruption. Pakistan as well as and Diversity USA will Interpol has already issued arrest warrants for issue of the reversal of most of them. Separatist constituency The small numbers of also make the world their Genocide .It has Central Intelligence agencies have received in Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri Hindus who aware about the fraud instead unleashed a poli- specific information, the official said, that The government of have returned are in an being perpetrated of cy of their abandonment absconding Bangladesh terrorists, including India as well as the state atmosphere where free- Kashmiri Hindus in the to hand them over and Fateh Ali, Kamrul Hassan, Kala Jahangir and government are involved dom of expression is seri- name of return policy submit to the political JabbarMunna, have established links with sep- in recognizing and ously curtailed. They and dangers to their life, order as is existing now aratist and jihadist groups in Jammu and engaging the most com- have to keep silent for dignity and cultural in the valley. Kashmir. munal and radical safety and listen to the identity. The Relief --(Courtesy: The net) 20th Anniversary of Homeland Day Celeberated

(From Page 1) has been converted into an arm of coercion to modulate of Panun Kashmir is a vision and control the opinion of of our future and the pedestal Kashmiri Hindus living in of our liberation from the exile. He complimented the ongoing tyranny. camp dwellers for having Dr. Chrungoo further stated risen against the corruption that Panun Kashmir is the and harassment despite beginning of the Resolve to intimidations and threats save a civilization under from the government. He also attack and to reclaim its congratulated the members of glory. Referring to the con- the community for spurning temporary times he stated the various allurements that an unholy alliance seems offered by the government to to have fructified between a toe its line to return to an Islamized Kashmir. While CONTINUATION concluding his address, he warned the State and the section of the government in Central Governments of the the Centre and the State and imminent dangers posed by the radical communal estab- the fragile and volatile securi- lishment operating in ty environment in the Kashmir. The protection and Kashmir valley, POK and the respect conferred to the most Pakistan. radical and communal leader- Later, Dr. Chrungoo also ship in Kashmir valley is a addressed the members of policy of suicide pursued. ‘’ He India against Corruption and said the government is perpet- assured Panun Kashmir’s full uating corruption in running support in making a corrup- the Relief Organisation to tion free India. create a pliable leadership to Sh BLKoul Coordinator of work against the interests of the Prog. Concluded the pro- the community and the nation gramme with vote of thanks. . The Relief Organisation January 2012 PERSPECTIVE 5 Return of the Hindus to Kashmir-II

ugly face of the Muslim communalism and political oppression of the been drastically changed by the Jehad. in Jammu and Kashmir. Deliberate Muslims. The Jehadi regimes told the The Hindus of Kashmir were driven attempts were always made to provide Indian people and the world around, out on the point of the gun because of cover to the growth of the Muslim fun- that the Muslim Jehad was aimed to their resistance to the Muslim sepa- damentalist and secessionist move- liberate the State from the occupation ratist movements in the State. Their ments in the State, right from the time army of India, which was stationed in opposition to the Muslim Jehad its accession to India. The various the State illegally. The Jehadi regimes assumed nation-wide proportions dur- forms of the Muslim communalism and the Muslim separatist organisa- ing the last two decades of their exile. and separatism which ravaged the life tions denied that the militant opera- They will hardly find it easy to come to in the State, during the last four tions and the Muslim upsurge were in terms with the conditions that prevail decades and which imparted to the any way related to any political dis- in Kashmir, while the religious war secessionist movements in the State, trust, economic deprivation or the continues unabated. It may not be out their ideological content and tactical alienation of the Muslims. They made of place to mention here that the over- direction, were camouflaged under the it clear in unmistakable terms that ground political outfits of the Jehadi By Dr. M.K. Teng banners of sub-national autonomy, the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir war groups and the militant flanks, regional identity and even secularism. had commenced the Jehad in Kashmir including the various factions of the Largely, perceptional aberrations, to liberate State from the "illegal occu- Hurriyat conference, have offered to FTER the Hindus were driven misplaced notions, and subterfuge, pation of the Indian army" and unite it accept the return of the Hindus and at Aout of Kashmir in 1990, their characterised the official as well as the with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. the same-time expressed their hope return to their homes was never under non-official responses to the upheavals A part of the truth was told by the that after their return the Hindus will the consideration of the people who which rocked the State from time to leaders of the mainstream political join their Muslim brethren in their ruled India. The Indian leaders never time. More often, the real issues, con- parties: the National Conference, and struggle for their liberation from had the courage to deny Pakistan and fronting the State were overlooked by the Peoples Democratic Party, who India. the Muslim separatist forces, the deliberate design and political had ruled the State, before the onset of Changed Milieu: claim they lay to Jammu and The war of liberation, which the Kashmir, on the basis of the Muslim he uprootment of the Hindus from their homes in Hindus are expected to join on their majority composition of its population. Kashmir, was one of the major displacements of people return apart, the Jehad has upturned Nor did they possess the resolution to the whole social milieu of which the fight against the religious war, in the aftermath of the second world war, in which a Hindus formed a part, when they were Pakistan and the Jehadi war groups, T cast overboard. The decades of the operating inside as well as outside the whole community was torn off from its roots. The White religious war has dissolved the mutu- State, waged to unite it with Pakistan. ally accepted rules which ensured the The Indian political class assumed Paper on Kashmir notes : "Like the other tradition bound, endoga- stability of the inter-community rela- complete silence over the death and mous and native people, the Hindus in Kashmir with an incredibly tions in the State and brought about devastation the Jehad wrought in imperceptible and drastic changes in Kashmir and, in fact, spared no efforts long history, extending to pre-historic, proto-Aryan, later the social organisation in Kashmir. to camouflage the genocide of the First the ethnic cleansing of the Hindus and their ethnic cleansing in Stone Age Culture, formed an independent part of the cultur- Hindus in Kashmir has dissolved the Kashmir and the Muslim majority dis- pluri-cultural social organisation of tricts of the Jammu province. The al identity of the State and its personality. Kashmir. The demographic align- stray references, the Indian leaders ments which existed in Kashmir made on the return of the Hindus to interest, a policy which in the long run the militant violence as well as after before the onset of the Jehad formed their homes and hearths, "with honour operated to help the secessionist forces it. Without mincing words, they the basis of its multi-religious social and dignity" were a part of the propa- to consolidate the ranks and their hold accepted that the Muslim unrest in organisation. In the tradition-bound ganda aimed to minimise the impact of on the people in the State". No sooner the State and the Muslim struggle societies of the former colonial peoples, the displacement of the Hindus in the the Jehad commenced in Kashmir, a were an expression of the peoples demographic alignments have been State and contain its effect. Behind mild goose chase began in search of desire to seek a settlement of the found to play a major role in determin- the scene, the Indian political class scapegoats to camouflage the forces Central issue which underlined the ing the inter-community relations in tried frantically, to negotiate peace which were involved in the upheaval, Kashmir dispute. They gave ample their social cultures. The social culture with the Muslim separatist flanks the State faced. "Even after wide- expression to their opinions stating of Kashmir has assumed a dominantly inside the State and their Jehadi men- spread militant violence struck that so long the Muslim quest for a Islamic expression. No wonder, there- tors outside the State. Negotiations for Kashmir in 1989," the White Paper on separate freedom which was not sub- fore, that during the last several years peace with the Jehadi war groups, who Kashmir noted : "and thousands of ject to the secular imperatives of the the Kashmiri Pandits who have been were later joined by Pakistan, left innocent people were killed in cold Constitution of India and so long a set- going on a pilgrimage to the shrine of hardly any space for the return of the blood alongwith hundreds of the tlement of the Kashmir dispute Khir-Bhawani in Tulamulla on the Hindus to Kashmir, who had been Indian security personnel and the between India and Pakistan and the outskirts of Srinagar, on Zeshta- driven out by the Jehad for having whole community of the Hindus in Muslims of the State was not found, Ashtami, have been greeted at the harmed the cause of the freedom of the Kashmir was driven out of the Valley, Muslim distrust would not end. gate of the shrine by a crowd of Muslims of the State. the disinformation campaign contin- A part of the truth, however, is still Tablighi Muslim volunteers, who dis- The Indian Government and the ued to cloud the real dangers the ter- concealed. The story of the genocide of tributed Islamic literature among the State Government never made their rorist violence posed to the nation. the Hindus, their ethnic extermina- pilgrims. stand clear on the genocide of the Indeed efforts still continue to be tion and how they were used as the Secondly, the fundamentalisation of Hindus and the exodus forced upon made to side track the basic problems scapegoats for the failings of the the Muslim society in Kashmir-a them by the Jehad. They did not make of terrorism and secessionism and the Indian political class in dealing with process which continued for nearly a their stand clear on the reversal of the role of the militarised Muslim funda- the Jehad, is yet to be told. The part of decade, before the onset of the terror- genocide, which formed the precedent mentalist forces in the whole bloody the untold truth is closely linked with ist violence in the State in 1990, has condition for the return of the Hindus drama enacted in the State and divert the return of the Hindus to their led to the regimentation of the large to their homes. In fact the Indian the attention of the Indian people to homes and hearts. The Indian political sections of the Muslim society in Government never made any formal trivial concerns, which have no bear- class is hiding the truth of what the Kashmir on the basis of their ideologi- commitment in respect of the return of ing on the developments there." Jehad has wrought in Kashmir during cal commitment to the Islamisation of the Hindus to their homes and made The disinformation campaign suc- the last two decades. The Indian the State. Most of the regimented sec- no concrete proposals for their rehabil- ceeded only partially to provide a Government has never mustered up tions of the Muslim society are militar- itation. smokescrean to what the Jehad courage to stand up to the Jehad. The ily responsive. Disinformation Campaign : wrought in Kashmir and the Muslim Indian politica class is still following Thirdly, the regimentation of the The Indian political class launched a majority districts of the Jammu its own plans to use the Hindus in Muslim outlook has severely impaired widespread dis-information campaign province. Jammu and Kashmir as a buffer in the secular character of the social and to camouflage the portent of the ter- A part of the truth of what had hap- between the Indian segment and the political institutions in the State. rorist violence and to conceal the real pened in Kashmir was, actually, war of subversion the Jehadi regimes Suppression of all dissent in the purpose of the Jihad in Jammu and revealed by the Jehadi regimes them- are waging in the State. The double- Muslim society in Kashmir, which the Kashmir. The White Paper on selves and their overground separatist speak of the Indian political class on materialisation of the Muslim sepa- Kashmir issued by the Joint Human outfits like the Hurriyat Conference. the return of the Hindus to Kashmir, ratist movements led to, has increased Rights Committee, Delhi, noted : "All The Indian political class had ascribed is bound to do them more harm. the acceptability of the Islamisation of over the post-independent era, inces- the militant violence to alienation of The truth is that the security envi- all political and social institutions in sant efforts were always made by the the Muslim youth, brought about by ronment in the Kashmir province is the State. Many of the militant State Government and the the Indian misrule in the State which severely strained and the social cul- Government of India, to conceal the had led to the economic deprivation ture of the Muslim community has (Contd. on Page 8) January 2012 ANALYSIS 6

By Lt. General PC Katoch, the raiders. One of them PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SC was Osama Bin Laden who (Retd)* Operation Geronimo was found in his living room on the third floor. He INTRODUCTION reportedly resisted and was PERATION global hunt for this most Significantly, satellite cue of 1980 in Iran and the Any operational plan has shot in the head. 40 min- OGeronimo conduct- wanted terrorist. imagery / aerial photo- 1993 disastrous operation a number of options and utes taken for the raid ed deep inside Pakistan Information and intelli- graphs with CIA, US DoD in Somalia. Amidst stories sensitive operation like included time required to on 02 May 2011 by US gence were both elusive and GeoEye show this area of Osama having been Geronimo requires that search the sprawling man- Navy Seals will go down with Pakistan having been empty with no construction betrayed by Ayman al these be weighed very care- sion, collecting the intelli- as a remarkable opera- forced into the GWOT in 2003. So, what was the Zawahiri (Al Qaeda fully. The options in this gence treasures of electron- tion in annals of the US rather than submit to the ISI raiding in 2003? Only Number 2) and Amal case were three; a joint raid ic equipment, laptops, hard Special Forces (USSF) alternative of being the boundary wall came up (Osama’s Yemeni wife), the in conjunction with ISI / drives, tapes, USBs, history notwithstanding “bombed into stone age”. In in 2004 and construction of US must have ensured syn- SSG with actual target uploading pictures of speculations of a US-Pak 1998, the US launched a the mansion began in 2005 ergising of ‘all sources’ over- given to Pakistan last Osama for confirmation of understanding to sacri- cruise missile attack perhaps under the watchful lapping and overwhelming minute, an overwhelming identity and destroying fice bin Laden, facilitat- against an Al Qaeda camp, eye of the ISI / Musharraf intelligence - human, sig- air strike by B-2 bombers electronic and sensitive ing the US withdrawal having tracked bin Laden himself Houses in close nal, open sources, imagery, and a heliborne raid by the parts of the MH-60M Black from Af-Pak and boost- through his satellite phone. proximity of the boundary technical, geospatial and USSF. The first option was Hawk that had stalled. ing President Obama’s It could be providence or a wall (missing in the 2004) technical. CIA already had more theoretical consider- Though Osama’s body was ratings for re-election. A tip off that Osama switched may well have been con- some 3000 strong Counter ing doubts of ISI sincerity. identified by one of his viewpoint circulating off his phone in the nick of structed to house Al Terrorism Pursuit Teams A bombing run by B-2 wives, his photograph was the web even posits time, moved away and was Qaeda/Taliban cadres. (CTPTs) deployed in Af-Pak bombers could obliterate uploaded to analysts back Osama having died six saved by the skin of his The fact that a mansion region crucial for HUMINT even the post operation in the US. The CIA con- months back, his body teeth, the corollary being on a plot measuring 2508 and vital to guide ‘Predator’ proof of Osama’s death, firmed Osama had been preserved in Tarbela that two of the unexploded square metres came up strikes on Al Qaeda and especially since the killed by feeding the photo- and Seals taking 40 min- cruise missiles were spirit- within 700 metres of Taliban. The US must have assessed requirement for graph to a facial recognition utes at Osama’s safe- ed away to China courtesy Pakistan Military Academy deployed intelligence opera- effective bombing was 32 x programme and by match- house because a IS1 and the Chinese having (PMA), Kakul, adjacent to a tives and Special Forces 2000 pound bombs. ing DNA with Osama’s sis- Pakistani helicopter had mastered reverse engineer- cantonment housing three deep inside Pakistan with- Therefore, the third option ter who had died two years to fly in Osama’s body ing, produced their own regimental centres includ- out taking ISI into confi- of a heliborne raid by USSF earlier. President Obama from Tarbela. The whole cruise missile in no time. ing the Frontier Force dence. Raymond Davis him- was considered the best and and his national security truth may never come Over the years, there were Regiment and housed bin self was a CIA operative. adopted. team watched the entire out considering close US operation live via satellite - Special Forces (USSF)- an example of battlefield SSG ties, long standing transparency flashed by CIA-ISI relations albeit news channels around the with mutual suspicion, world. the recent Raymond Analysis Davis affair, divergent Geronimo was undoubt- Pakistan and US claims edly a flawless operation, post Geronimo and even meeting all the require- facade of resignation by ments of a successful Shuja Pasha (DG ISI) Special Forces mission - knowing fully well it intelligence, planning, would not be accepted rehearsals, stealth, sur- by Prime Minister prise, speed of execution, Gilani, survivability of optimising technology, no Pak politicians being collateral damage and no courtesy blessings of ISI- Watching: President Obama was joined by Vice-President Joe Biden, casualty to own side. It was Military. Remember fee- left, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, second right, counterterrorism a fine example of employ- Bin Laden's lair: The compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was half a mile chief John Brennan, standing behind Mrs Clinton, Defense Secretary ment of Special Forces ble effort of President from a military academy. If it had been hit in an air strike there would likely Bob Gates, right, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen effort at low and precisely Zardari to bring the ISI have been civilian casualties and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon (both back left) under the Ministry of calculated levels to achieve Interior, words he was strategic effects, major fall- made to swallow within a couple of sightings of bin Laden for perhaps six long The main lead came up over US Navy Seal Team Six outs being: 24 hours? David Ignatius Laden but he managed to years without knowledge of a year ago when a ‘trusted chosen for the operation (a) Focussing world wrote in Time magazine evade capture / death. In the ISI and Pakistan courier’ of Osama was had the advantage of train- attention on Pakistan being dated 23 May 2011, February 2011, Al Qaeda Military is hardly accept- tracked down in Peshawar. ing extensively on life sized home to terrorist leaders “When I asked top CIA declared they had thwarted able. Though without inter- While bits of intelligence model of the target in a especially of Al Qaeda and and military officials an assassination attempt net and telephone connec- from thousands of interro- training facility back home Taliban. what the intelligence on Osama a month ago by tions, USBs containing e- gations from prisoners and in the US. As in all Special (b) Messaging showed about ISI activi- US forces using a device mails for Osama were regu- captives collected, eaves- Forces operations, the Seal Pakistan that there was a ties, they would become that could send, signals to larly brought to the house dropping on telephone calls Team was quarantined and limit beyond which the US visibly angry. They satellites to locate and and replies taken back in and e-mails of the ‘trusted not told during the would not tolerate ISIs would say ... see the dou- guide air strikes. “The Al- similar fashion. Osama was courier’ with contacts rehearsals what the actual duplicity in GWOT despite ble dealing ... how US Qaida leadership is proud either getting medical ‘inside Pakistan’ coupled target was and whether dependence on land route intelligence is passed on of its technical wing which treatment at PMA Kakul or with constant satellite sur- they were training for a live via Pakistan to sustain US/ to Haqqani network”. In used its expertise to discov- had doctors visiting him. veillance of the Abbotabad operation and when such ISAF forces in Afghanistan. all probability, the USA er a 5 mm chip fixed in a The likes of Hamid Gul and mansion provided hard an operation would go, in. if (c) Heightening could not trust ISI on Universal Serial Bus (USB) ISI contacts too would have intelligence for conceiving at all. This is standard pro- internal debate in Pakistan this one despite the fact that was meant to reach been visitors. The design of Operation Geronimo, vital cedure and the actual tar- on capability of ISI in pro- that the US-Pakistan our leader for an inter- the mansion itself is typical piece of intelligence being get must have been told to tecting the country and mutual dependency in view”, the statement said. of a ‘safe house’ designed by when the ‘trusted courier’ them either after arriving complicity in sheltering ter- terms of strategic and According to them, a man ISI to provide maximum was spotted driving himself at the transit base at rorist leaders - help gener- security values will who called himself David security, considering the into Osama’s Abbotabad Jalalbad in Afghanistan or ate public opinion to remain critical at least Noshkay, posing as a US various security walls deny- compound. One cannot say even after having taken off strengthen democracy. till the US presence in journalist wanted to inter- ing outsider observation, the mansion was not kept from Jalalabad for Osama’s (d) Delivering anoth- Afghanistan, unless a view bin Laden and having privacy wall on the third under surveillance from mansion. er blow to a weakened Al major event like 9/11 been refused had sent a floor living of Osama, limit- ground. If indeed there was The raiding party con- Qaeda. recurs. It is for this rea- USB with his questions, ed opaque windows and a mole inside the house, sisted of 79 Seals in four Aftermath - Pakistan son that despite giving requesting the interview to large killing zones on the then there had to be an out- helicopters, catering for Post Geronimo, musings $20 billion to Pakistan be recorded on camera and western and eastern ends side contact who himself possible firefight and 100 within Pakistan are on fol- for counter terrorism saved on the USB. to trap intruders. visited the mansion or com- per cent back up. The route lowing lines since 9/11, the US has Abbottabad Compound Intelligence municated through a deliv- taken was hugging the hills If we did not know hardly received sincere When Benazir Bhutto An operation like ery boy though such and over the Tarbela river, Osama was in Pakistan, and appropriate said in 2007 that Osama Geronimo cannot be under- arrangements are fraught approaching the target then we are a ‘failed state’ response for something was in Musharraf’s back- taken purely on TECHINT with danger. In such a from the north. The night and if we knew Osama was which is seriously being yard, she was not lying. even though Leon Panetta, covert operation little can was moonless and the in Pakistan then we are a questioned by the US cit- Post Geronimo, an ISI Director CIA claimed the be left to chance. Excellent raiders arrived at the tar- ‘rogue state’. Shahid Saeed izenry. spokesman told BBC’s US was not sure whether coverage of the target area get just past midnight on 02 tweeted, “I am, for not a Osama bin Laden Owen Bennett-Jones in Osama was present. If the provided a 3D model of the May 2011, in pitch black single moment, arguing we Post 9/11, when USA Islamabad that the said US was not 200 per cent mansion, enabling building darkness. should have shot down the declared war on Al Qaeda, compound in Abbottabad sure about Osama’s pres- of a life sized replica of the 24 Seals descended on Americans. I for one believe Osama bin Laden was pri- was raided in 2003 and the ence, the raid would never target area. the compound. Five occu- they did the right thing. For ority one target. CIA opera- compound was not on ISI have gone in especially Planning, Rehearsal pants of the mansion were all we know, it was the tives and USSF launched a radar thereafter. after the failed hostage res- and Execution killed with no casualties to (Contd. on Page 8) January 2012 THE PLACE VALUE 7 Interactional Potential of a Place

things, social objects are our rel- the muslim character of the ‘Vitasta’ aka ‘Jehlum’ has been ness the great mystic poet Ahad atives, poets, sages and spiritual script the interactional past of treated. ‘Vitasta’ is a sacred Zargar makes the statement of people. Abstract objects are our the people and place was reject- river about which it has been his transcendence in very daring philosophies and moral princi- ed. This shows that place erod- said, “Sati Devi nadi bhootwa ideological terms: pals. All these form the basis of ing forces were at work at that Kashmirayam vinirgatah” , i.e. Safri mehmoodas dovnus our interaction; constitute our point of time as well. That place mother Goddess ‘Sati’ became a tan past, present and the interactive is not important for these forces, river and flowed through Kufru islamu nish shruts potential of the place we live in. islamisation is. This process Kashmir. Vitasta is mother gav me man. Out of these objects some exposes an important proselytiz- Goddess ‘Sati’ herself and Vucch ahad zargaran emerge above others and play ing strategy. ‘Nastaliq’ has noth- imparts a sacred meaning to the doun kuni zaath an important part in establish- ing to do with the interactive site that is Kashmir. Again Pamoposhu manzu gayi ing the meanings of a place. past of Kashmir. It does not ‘Vitasta’ is replaced with the padu kaaynaath. These are poets, sages and mys- carry the consciousness of word ‘Jehlum’—no sanctity, no (during my spiritual journey tics. These form a large part of Kashmir as a place. It is associ- rootedness in the preceding my soul was rendered pure of By Dileep Kumar Kaul the interactions of the people ated with some other place. interactive past of Kashmir. blasphemy and . I saw living on the site. No need to say Thus while proselytizing the This shows a thorough process both belonging to the same that every Vaakh of Lalded is consciousness of another place is of manipulation of objects in the creed i.e. encouraging dualism. site attains meaning and taken as a mantra and listened imposed so that the local place interactive past of Kashmir, This universe was created out of becomes a place when to with a feeling that one may be consciousness remains sub- replacing them with alien con- a lotus) people become emotional- A spiritually liberated. Take servient to it. Adoption of texts or nomenclatures so that Such things could be written ly attached with it. Such emo- Ghulam Ahmad Mehjoor. His ‘Nastaliq’ as the state script of Kashmir as a place slowly loses in Kashmir only. Ahad Zargar’s tional ties are cause primarily poems are listened with emotion J&K was not a small happening. its significance and way is thought, like Lalded takes us to through past experiences or and reverence. Such is the case It was aimed at breaking the cleared for proselytization. It is eternity. The terminology he memories that are associated with many other poets and mys- continuity of meaning of a strange kind of violence of uses goes back to times imme- with a site. When we talk about tics. The poems and their cre- Kashmir as a place about which nomenclature to ensure that the morial in our interactional past. a place many memories and ators are important objects in ‘Mehjoor’ was so concerned. This sacred cultural meanings of the As such a thought would give emotions are recalled. These the environment of a site. They was an attack on our interactive objects present in the environ- rise to such interactional poten- memories and emotions may encode spiritual energies associ- past. Sharda was a product of ment of a place are destroyed tial of Kashmir which would remain dormant amid the daily ehjoor was not an ordinary poet. His intense attachment with the natural envi- Mronment of Kashmir is known by one and all. He had an understanding of ancient culture of Kashmir and revered it. This is evident from the fact that many years back when the official script of the was being decided Mehjoor had sug- gested Sharda. He understood that only this script expresses the ancientness of Kashmiris as people. He comprehended it as the key element of their interactional past. And what could happen to such thinking. His proposal was rejected and Nastaliq was decided for. Why? Because it has a Muslim character. For the muslim character of the script the interactional past of the people and place was rejected. This shows that place eroding forces were at work at that point of time as well. Gh. Ahmad Mehjoor Ahad Zargar

ated with a site, which are sig- the interactions of our ancestors and decimated and are lost in have no place for any dualisms struggles of our lives but are nificant to make it into a place. that defined our place. Nastaliq some remote corner of the con- he was subjected to fatwas more recalled nevertheless, off and The site taken from the point of was the product of an alien place sciousness of the people living in than once and he, as he had on. These experiences or memo- view of its physical existence is and it was imposed. The local the place, thus eroding their been always, remained unde- ries are recalled in the present also an object and a poem, or place consciousness that place consciousness. terred. and lead to future experiences any other thought for that mat- ensured the continuity of mean- Not only these non human As such a personality as that are imagined and anticipat- ter comes into existence through ing of Kashmir as a place was mother figures, but the human Lalded could not be given a dif- ed to be possible within that interaction between all these eroded. Sharda remained con- mother figure of Kashmir, ferent name to change her con- place. As the past experiences objects and then become a part fined to horoscopes and was for- “Lalded” also, gets the same text narratives were built result from interactions among of our interactive past. Same is gotten. It was another step treatment. Our interactional around her to prove that she people, and their interactions the case with sites within sites. towards cultural dementia and past cannot be possible without had converted to Islam. Such with the site, its environment, There may be such sites that ultimately, a cultural neurosis. her. She was the result of the attempts failed because natural and man made. All impart meaning to the site with- Physical/ecological objects culmination of traditions of spir- Kashmiri mystics and scholars these interactions, with and in which they are situated. were also given the same treat- ituality and poetry and with her opposed such lies and these nar- within the site, result in a set of Amarnath is such a site, the ment. Take the grand ‘Booni’ the began a new tradition of both. ratives were rendered meaning- expectations for future interac- contribution of which towards sacred tree which was chris- That way she as a single person- less. But the ‘Lalded tions within the site. Thus sets imparting meaning to Kashmir tened “Chinar”. Booni is a femi- ality represents the ethos of Consciousness’ remained as a in the continuity of meaning for and making it a place is signifi- nine word and the tree has been Kashmir which truly can be core element of the interactional the site, and all that happened cant. It is a very important site considered motherlike in termed as ‘Lalded past that constitutes the place within it that lead to its mean- of interaction from times imme- Kashmir. But it was named Consciousness”. This fact is consciousness of Kashmir. If we ing and made it a place. This morial. “Chinar” as during autumn its acknowledged by all significant take the discourse of continuity of meaning when Mehjoor was not an ordinary leaves become so red that they mystics. The core idea behind ‘’ that too, is a place internalized by the people living poet. His intense attachment appear like fire. This word deci- Lalded Consciousness is tran- discourse attempting to confine on that site forms a sizeable por- with the natural environment of mates the original cultural scending all dualisms. It is this Kashmir just to a socio-political tions of their identity and Kashmir is known by one and meaning of the object. The concept of transcendence that concept of religious tolerance, strengthens their self esteem. all. He had an understanding of sacred meaning is changed into has driven sages and mystics of the most general example of As the past experiences are ancient culture of Kashmir and a very mundane meaning based Kashmir from times immemori- which is that a Muslim king interactional, so is the present, revered it. This is evident from on mere appearance, that too, in al. Lalded had transcended all Badshah brought back those the interactions in the present the fact that many years back a particular season. The sacred dulalisms through “”: Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmir owe a lot to them and the future when the official script of the meaning of such ecological enti- Gagan tsuy bootal tsuy who were hounded out during experiences that are imagined Kashmiri Language was being ties contributes towards the Tsuy dyen, pawan tu raath. his time and that of his prede- and expected in this present decided Mehjoor had suggested meaning of the whole place. The Arg tsandun posh ponya cessors. Here also the Muslim constitute the interactive poten- Sharda. He understood that interaction of tsuy, King is glorified and the tial of a place, in simpler terms, only this script expresses the ‘Booni’ with the people of Soruy tsuy tu lagizi kyah. Kashmiri Pandit doctor who the possibilities we see for our- ancientness of Kashmiris as Kashmir is well known and its (you are the sky and the earth made him to do this is kept sub- selves and the place. people. He comprehended it as leaves have been used in rituals. day, breeze and night are servient to the persona of the At every point of time there the key element of their interac- When the sacred meaning is you Muslim king. Shirya Bhatt was are some objects present in the tional past. And what could hap- made to regress into just mun- offerings, sandal, flowers and a Kashmiri pandit who as a doc- environment of a site. These pen to such thinking. His pro- dane meaning, it again breaks water are you, tor treated even the enemy of objects may be physical, social posal was rejected and Nastaliq the continuity of the meaning of you are everything, so what is his community without any mal- or abstract. Physical objects was decided for. Why? Because the place and leads to cultural there to offer you.) ice is a brilliant example of what may be natural or man made it has a Muslim character. For dementia. In the same way river True to this Lalded conscious- (Contd. on Page 14) January 2012 CONTINUATION 8 (From Page 6) having been given advance information of Pakistan. Our Special Forces come into Seals. Indications suggest the MH-60M the raid. This need not be the case. The focus periodically when operations like Black Hawk has greater radar and acoustic nightmare we have, that some sympathetic sound of low flying helicopters on a pitch Geronimo occur. There are calls for revisit- stealth. Delivering his posture statement group in our very forces protected the most dark night is so misleading that it creates ing our Special Forces but the end result is on 03 March 2011, Admiral Olsen, wanted man on Earth”. In immediate after- the mirage of an omni-directional attack. only unwarranted expansion in complete Commander SOCOM had stated, “We are math of the raid, an ISI spokesman told Earmarking a reaction team from a close by disregard to global norms. The annual fielding the first of 72 planned MH-60M as BBC that ISI had shared all information of garrison implied more and more people expansion rate in Special Operations part of our capitalization of MH-60 K/L the compound with the CIA since 2009. knowing someone important was in the Command (SOCOM) is 3.5 per cent albeit platforms”. Additionally, the flight route Whether true or not, it surely evoked reper- compound. Can you imagine the ISI risking for 2012, a special sanction is being sought was obviously chosen intelligently through cussion from Al Qaeda-Taliban resulting in this with troops turn over and requirement to hike it to 4.12 per cent due to increased gaps in radar coverage hugging the hills, the 22-23 May attack on PNS Mehran in of rehearsals? One thing is certain that commitments. This growth rate is despite which would obviously be known to the US. Karachi causing much damage including having eluded the US for a decade, compla- USSF deployment in over 85 countries. In Conclusion the destruction of two PC3 Orions. Security cency must have set in with the US hunting sharp contrast, our Army Special Forces India should not be lulled by elimination experts now question the safety of missiles along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border expanded by 110 per cent during the period of Osama Bin Laden. Having sponsored ter- and nukes of Pakistan. This notwithstand- while Osama enjoyed 2000 to 2003. This rorism in India for over two decades, ing, for Pakistan to change its jihadi strat- the comfort of his lux- year, we have raised Pakistan is becoming more and more jingo- egy is not going to be easy with the ISI- Operation Geronimo urious mansion in the eighth Special istic, increasing her nuclear toys, tacit Military combine having infiltrated into urban surroundings. This is perhaps the Forces unit, causing a manpower shortage Chinese support to her jihadi policies and every sector of Pakistani governance. reason that the developers and occupants of of 80-90 personnel in all Special Forces impending US withdrawal from Post Geronimo, Pasha warned India that the mansion never thought of developing units. Already, India’s Special Forces are at Afghanistan. Her obsession of installing a any Abbottbad-like attack would invite escape tunnel (s) that could have helped par in numbers with SOCOM, considering Pakistan favoured regime in Afghanistan befitting response from Pakistan, targets evade capture and death, utilising them the 2/3rd strength of SOCOM is ‘in support’ and kicking Indians out is unlikely to inside India having been identified, recon- moment helicopter noises were heard. role comprising civilians and military recede. The thousand cut policy of Pakistan noitered and rehearsed. Pasha was obvi- Talking of reaction, how deep inside India which are not Special Forces. We need to is going to multiply much more with insti- ously referring to ground work done by ter- was the Purulia drop? Did we scramble any define a National Strategy for Employment tutionalised radicalisation in Pakistan, rorists like David Headley and Tahawwur aircraft? How many hours after the terror- of Special Forces and integrate and consol- especially in urban areas, which according Rana. MK Dhar, former Joint Director IB, ist strike during 26/11 did we react and idate our Special Forces. Unless we want to to an opinion published in Daily Times of writes in his book ‘Open Secrets’, “Way how do we rate the eventual clean up - tak- continue suffering from Pakistan’s ‘1000 Karachi dated 11 May 2009 is “ ...a mon- back in 1992-93...... the process of ‘trans- ing 60 hours to clear a couple of terrorists? cut policy’, we must develop a deterrent to strous experiment in brainwashing and on planting armed modules’ in the heartland As it happened after the attack on the irregular war thrust upon us. We need a par with, if not worse than, Nazi of India had started taking cognisable Parliament and 26/11, the Indian media to build overt publicised capabilities and Germany’s eugenics”. Dr Marc Faber, shape. Some of these cells were identified went in a tizzy on whether our Special deniable covert capabilities with Special author of Gloom, Boom and Doom writes, in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Forces could undertake a similar raid like Forces in the lead. We should also have the “India continues to be ambivalent about Pradesh, Delhi, Kota/Ajmer region of the US Navy Seals. The answer is yes pro- will to selectively demonstrate this deter- power, it has failed to develop a strategic Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra vided’our boys could be landed in the same rence in order to establish its credibility. agenda commensurate with its growing Pradesh, and Kerala. The Student Islamic compound but could they have been landed We should heed Chanakya who said, “Do economic and military capabilities ... Movement of India (SIMI) had already there? Answer to the second question is not be very upright in your dealings for you throughout history, India has failed to mas- started deputing Volunteers’ to Pakistan ‘no’, in the absence of national will and our would see by going to the forest that ter the creation, deployment and use of its for training along with the mujahideen, inability to revive the concept of HUMINT straight trees are cut down while crooked military instruments in support of its Taliban and Al Qaeda cadres”. So where is that was throttled during Prime Minister ones are left standing”. Advantages of joint national objectives”. India needs to gear up the problem in identifying, reconnoitering Gujral’s time. Notwithstanding this, covert training / joint operations of our Special for much harsher times. and rehearsing targets in India? actions to take out the wanted terrorist are Forces with counterparts like the USSF --Source: Journl of the United Service Aftermath - India possible provided we have the will. There require little elaboration and should be Institution of India.) Lack of reaction to the Geronimo raid by are many ways that covert and incognito exploited. *(The author is a Retd. Army Gen. military garrisons located close by, is being operations can be conducted and it is all the There was considerable inquisitiveness and a prolific writer on the militancy construed by a cross section of our security easier when the targets move freely in about the ‘stealth’ helicopter used by the and security isses). experts as proof of ISI-Pakistan Military

(From Page 5) snapped their history. Return of the Hindus to Kashmir-II Today the Hindus of regimes and in fact all the Kashmir are a displaced peo- Jehadi structures openly reject they conceived of a settlement Indian Government and the trol of both India and ple, torn from their social and secularism as a basis of all with Pakistan or the Muslims various Muslim separatist as Pakistan. state activity and governance cultural moorings, scattered in of the State. well as mainstream political The "peace-process is still in a state of diaspora, which and instead insist upon the Peace Process : regular reorganisation of the organisations and outfits progress. But the Indian polit- threatens them with the loss of A discussion on what consti- State and society in accor- inside the State. Interestingly ical class has given no indica- their identity. Nearly, half the tutes the Kashmir dispute is dance with the precept and Pakistan has made its position tion of how it will graft the people of the community are precedent of Islam. The pro- outside the scope of this paper. clear in unmistakable terms, return of the Hindu refugees to living around the subsistence tagonists of the Islamic order Suffice it to say here that the that it will accept a settlement Kashmir to the commitments level, in refugee camps in vari- of the society and government Indian political class recognis- on Kashmir dispute which is it has given to Pakistan and ous parts of the country. have claimed that the Islamic es Kashmir dispute to be what approved by the Muslims of the Muslims of the State in Ever since the commence- religious injunction provided Pakistan and the Muslim sep- the State. The Muslims in respect of the settlement of the ment of their exile, the Hindus for the protection of the peo- aratist flanks in Jammu and Jammu and Kashmir have also dispute over Jammu and of Kashmir have been waiting Kashmir construe it to be. The ples who do not profess Islam made their stand clear that Kashmir. to return to the land of their Indian Government has, in and the other minorities. Some they will agree to a settlement Road Ahead : birth, reiterating their resolve, principle accepted the on Kashmir, which is accept- of the Hurriyat conference The uprootment of the from time to time, to go back to Kashmir dispute to be the able to Pakistan. leaders have accepted without Hindus from their homes in their homes and hearths. The expression of the claim- The "peace-process" has hesitation that secularism has Kashmir, was one of the major Hindus were driven out of no place in the Islamic order of Pakistan lays to Jammu and largely revolved round the displacements of people in the Kashmir on the basis of the claim Pakistan has laid to the their homes by a religious war, the society and government as aftermath of the second world 'which brought them death it conflicted with the impera- Muslims majority composition Muslim majority regions of the war, in which a whole commu- and attacked their faith. The tives of authority which draws of its population as well as the State : the province of nity was torn off from its roots. their sanction from Muslim claim made by the Muslims of Kashmir, the Muslim majority political class of India is yet to The White Paper on Kashmir accept that the delegitimisa- religion. Jammu and Kashmir, to a sep- districts of the Jammu notes : "Like the other tradi- arate freedom, to which the province and the Kargil dis- tion of the religious war is a It is difficult to conclude that tion bound, endogamous and precedent condition for the entitled trict of the Ladakh region, as a native people, the Hindus in the Indian leaders are not able them on the basis of the ratio baseline for a settlement of the reversal of their genocide and to realise the risks in sending Kashmir with an incredibly of their population in the Kashmir dispute. The two their return. back the Hindus to Kashmir in long history, extending to pre- State. The negotiations for a countries came close to the The Hindus have as sacro- a situation of conflict. The historic, proto-Aryan, later settlement of the Kashmir dis- acceptance of the reorganisa- sanct a territorial right in truth is that the Indian politi- Stone Age Culture, formed an pute, which were originally tion of the Muslim majority Kashmir as their Muslim com- cal class follows a measured independent part of the cultur- initiated by the Indian regions of the State into a sep- patriots have. The claim made policy, in regard to Jammu and al identity of the State and its Kashmir, which does not Government and which have arate sphere of Muslim power by Pakistan to Jammu and now assumed the brand name placed in between the two personality. Because of their Kashmir State on the basis of underline the return of the endocrine cultural patterns, Hindu refugees to their homes. "political process", underline a countries under some form of a the Muslim majority composi- quest for an agreement which protectorate. The Manmohan local ritual structures, blended tion of its population and the The Indian political class seeks with the Vedic religious pre- to graft the return of the India seeks to reach with Singh-Musharaff proposals, on claim made by the Muslim sep- Pakistan and the Muslims of which the two countries are cept and practice and their aratist flanks inside the State Hindu refugees to their homes pride in Sanskrit civilisation, to an overall settlement on the the State. reported to have come to an for a separate freedom, do not they had a deep sense of Kashmir dispute with The "peace-process" has been agreement, underlined the in any respect prejudice the Pakistan and the Muslims of carried at many levels : reorganisation of the Muslim attachment and belonging to territorial rights, the Hindus Jammu and Kashmir. Had it between the two governments majority regions of the State their land, which they claim in Kashmir. been otherwise, the Indian of India and Pakistan, back- into a separate political struc- addressed in their worship as Government would have channel diplomacy, third ture, which was based upon the 'Mother, who had given *(The author is the opened talks with the Hindu power mediation and the nego- the territory of India, but them birth". The displacement Chairman of Panun refugees of Kashmir, before tiations carried on between the placed under the political con- of the Hindus has thus Kashmir advisory). January 2012 MEDIA SCAN 9 Jammu & Kashmir in the words of Padgaonkar

By Rustam them. If the people of Jammu elected one They are like . They have rich lit- aratist leader, but none of them replied. MLA at the rate of one per 100,000 vot- erature. They are culturally very rich. Now when people say that we didn’t Inter-Regional Relations ers, the people of Kashmir elected one They live and co-exist peacefully because meet them my response would be that MLA at the rate of one per 85,000 voters. they are Dogras who do not discriminate they should ask the separatists, and not NTERLOCUTORS on Jammu and It meant that the people of Kashmir had between Hindus and Muslims. They call us. We tried our level best but with no IKashmir DileepPadgaonkar, Radha seven seats more in the assembly as themselves Rajputs. Besides, they feel result. I also know why didn’t the sepa- Kumar and MM Ansari submitted their compared to the people of Jammu proud of this fact. The people of the coun- ratists talk to us? In my view they didn’t report to Union Home Minister P province, although the population of this try do not know all this. We have dis- come forward for discussions because Chidambaram on October 12, 2011. The province was almost equal to that of the cussed in detail this aspect of the state’s whatever they do they do it as per the report has not been made public so far. Valley. They also complained that it was demographic profile and diversity in our wishes of Pakistan. Those who came for- Hence, one cannot say what exactly the the people of Kashmir who had occupied report because I believe that each and ward for negotiations without the con- report contains. However, one can say the bulk of positions in the vital service every socio-cultural group in the state currence of or at the behest of Pakistan with some authority about what sector. The share of the people of Jammu must get the right to preserve its identi- they were murdered. Last year, Abdul Padgaonkar thinks about Jammu & province and Ladakh region in the public ty, culture and heritage”. GaniBhat candidly acknowledged that Kashmir and the nature of the problem services was very inadequate and negli- “Yes, we also focused our attention on we had leveled serious charges against the nation has been facing in the state gible. Not just this, it was the Kashmir Kashmiriat. Once upon a time it meant the Indian army, including the charge of since decades. It would be appropriate to province which always got more funds something great; people professing dif- murder, but those were false charges. quote him verbatim to put things in per- for developmental activities and creating ferent faiths and belonging to different The Kashmiris had killed them (sepa- spective. infrastructure. The people of Jammu and cultures lived together. But I have come ratists). Then the brother of Bhat Sahib What he says about Jammu & Ladakh always got only crumbs. The to believe that it has become a story of was shot dead. Lone brothers’ father was Kashmir reads like this: “Our experience people of Jammu and Ladakh were the past. The Kashmiriat stands consid- shot dead. ’s was that the people across the state were extremely angry with Kashmir. There erably eroded. It is now confined to only father was shot dead. They were shot not satisfied. They had suffered and the existed in Jammu and Ladakh anti- a few pockets in the Valley. All this hap- dead because they were willing to talk reasons were different in different Kashmiri sentiment. This was the inter- pened because Islam in the Valley has with India. So, there exists fear in the regions. One of the main reasons for the nal situation in the state. It was said become reactionary. The number of valley. That’s the reason the Kashmiri unrest among the youth was the acute again and again that the inter-regional Wahabis and the Salafis has increased in separatists didn’t talk with us. They will employment problem. Youth were not bitterness would continue to dot the the Valley manifold. This has resulted in not talk unless they are asked by getting jobs. That was the reason they state’s political scene unless there was the erosion of Kashmiriat and rise of Pakistan to do so”. were turning towards militants”. decentralization of the state power”. extremism and fundamentalism. Hence, “There is no truth in it. We have “When we tried to find what the peo- I do not consider Kashmiriat as an nowhere used the term autonomy in our ple’s political aspirations were, we found Diversity, Kashmiriat, important factor that could be consid- report. Only four persons know what the people inhabiting different regions of ered while devising a solution to the lays embodied in our report. I, my two the state had different and mutually Corruption, Weak Govt Kashmir issue”. colleagues and Home Minister P exclusive political perceptions and aspi- “The Government of Jammu & Chidambaram know what is there in the rations. The people of the Valley had dif- “The third angle relates to the Kashmir is very weak. We all know that report. I once again repeat that we have ferent political perceptions, whereas the Pakistan-occupied-Jammu & Kashmir. Jammu & Kashmir gets 90 per cent nowhere used the term autonomy in our people of Jammu and Ladakh had alto- The has divided many money from the Centre for developmen- report. Look we have not talked of three gether different political perceptions. families. Both sides have mountains. tal and other activities. But it cannot uti- regional councils, one each for Jammu, Their standpoints were altogether differ- Gujjars inhabit these areas. Take, for lize these funds on time. This happens Kashmir and Ladakh. It was Sheikh ent. Not just this, the people of Kargil example, Gilgit. The relatives and ances- because the government doesn’t have the Abdullah who had talked of something had political perceptions different from tors of the people of Gilgit lived, and con- required system and administrative like this with Jawaharlal Nehru. those of the people of Leh. Similarly, the tinue to live, in Baluchistan. POJK, apparatus. As for corruption, it is every- Thereafter, this issue was discussed political thinking of the people of the which people on other side call Azad where in the country. But in Jammu & thrice. Reports were also produced on Muslim-majority districts in Jammu Kashmir, doesn’t house Kashmiri-speak- Kashmir corruption is deep-rooted and is the issue, but no decision was taken on province was different from those of the ing people. The population of ethnic of different type. There is . We any of the reports. BalrajPuri has people of Jammu city. How should one Kashmiris in POJK is not even one per have never seen such houses in the coun- worked extensively on this subject. We tackle all these diversities and satisfy all cent. We have to take cognizance of this try as we saw near and around Dal Lake. met with him in Jammu a number of the interests? This was the fundamental demographic profile of the region also. The question arises from where the times and I can share with you that we issue before us. I think a way could be Because in 1994 the Indian Parliament money came? There is no industry in the were deeply influenced by him”. found out of the report we had submit- had adopted a resolution which said the valley. There are no big factories in “I will tell you that Jammu and ted”. only issue that still remained to be Kashmir. Yes, there is carpet industry, Kashmir is a very difficult problem. If “I view the issues facing the state from resolved between India and Pakistan dry fruit there. There are also people this problem is to be surmounted, then three angles. One is the relations was the merger of POJK with India. who are engaged in the business of furni- the solution has to such as is based on between the centre and the state. We Thus, according to me, the Kashmir ture. But almost all the things are the three principles of dignity, justice know that the Instrument of Accession problem has three dimensions - Centre- imported from outside Kashmir. So, how and insaniyat. Such an approach can signed by Maharaja had State relations, internal is it that the people of Kashmir have help find a workable, durable and restricted the jurisdiction of New Delhi dimension/empowerment and Jammu & such purchasing capacity? The shops acceptable solution. The people who to just three subjects (read defence, for- Kashmir and POJK”. and malls are full of costly goods. This inhabit different regions like Jammu, eign affairs and communication) as far “We have been committing a grave means only one thing - rampant corrup- Kashmir and Ladakh need to be given as Jammu & Kashmir was concerned mistake since six decades and the mis- tion. We know that the people of Kerala these three things. We have dealt with and the rest of the subjects were under take is that we are looking at the have a tremendous purchasing capacity. this aspect in great details in our report”. the ambit of the state government. But Kashmir issue the way the people of the At the same time, we know the reasons “You would find that the most serious in course of time New Delhi eroded the Valley want. I agree that the Valley has for this. The reason is that the people of problem in the state is the problem of the internal autonomy the state enjoyed witnessed more terror-related incidents. Kerala go to the Gulf countries, work displaced Kashmiri Pandits. I do not under Article 370 of the Indian Many people have lost their lives there. their and send money to their families. want to use strong words, but it is high- Constitution and brought the state But it is also true that all the chief min- But this is not true of Kashmir Valley ly regrettable that New Delhi and the under the ambit of several central laws. isters of the state, barring GhulamNabi and yet the people of Kashmir have media have totally ignored them. They The Government of India also applied Azad, have been from the Valley. The become so rich that they can buy highly are very sad and disappointed. They are various schedules of the Indian militant outfits are also Kashmir based. costly goods. It is clear that the state feeling abandoned. They were forced to Constitution to the state. Article 370 had That is why the media and other people government is weak and corruption at its flee from the Valley. Their new genera- envisaged for the state a very special sta- focused their attention on the Valley zenith. This has led to dissatisfaction tion is born in unlivable tenements and tus and the purpose was to enable the alone. The result of this approach was among the people of Kashmir in a sense. this new generation doesn’t know any- state to preserve and promote its distinct the neglect of Ladakh and Jammu They say that India does pump into thing about Kashmir. This is a sad identity. The application of the central province. So, when we talk of diversity Kashmir money but it doesn’t ensure reflection on the situation. Not even a laws and the various schedules of the we talk of the various aspects of the that the money reaches the right people. single political party ever raised the Indian constitution caused dissatisfac- state’s diversity and complexity. We talk It is the misuse of the Indian money issue of Kashmiri Pandits in the tion among the people of the Valley (read of diversity in terms of language. At least which has led to the alienation from New Parliament because they constitute a ), they got alienated eight languages are spoken in the state. Delhi”. microscopic minority, which has no vote- from India. But the people of Jammu and There is cultural diversity. There is one bank.” Ladakh felt jubilant. They accepted the more important thing. People say that Autonomy, Separatists, Pakistan, “We have said that our report should central laws and central institutions Jammu & Kashmir is a Muslim-majority be brought in the public domain as soon very cheerfully because they were for state. It’s true in a sense. But this does- Jammu & Kashmiri Hindus as possible. We have been told that it their full integration into India”. n’t mean that the Muslim population is would be done soon. First the Home “I had said during my first visit to Minister would meet the Prime Minister “The other was that there were inter- homogeneous. It is not. The first differ- Kashmir that we would want to meet regional tensions and animosities. For ence is that the state houses Sunnis and and discuss with him the report. separatists. We would want to talk with Thereafter, there would be an all-party example, the people of Jammu and Shiite Muslims. The Muslims who them. They should tell when and where Ladakh hate the people of Kashmir (read inhabit the areas adjoining the Line of meeting, where the report would be dis- we should we meet and with what condi- cussed. Their views would be ascer- Kashmiri Muslims) from the core of their Control are ethnically different. They tions? But they didn’t respond, despite heart. They complained that Kashmir are Gujjars, Bakerwals, Paharis and so tained. Thereafter the government our repeated suggestions to this effect. would proceed further after taking into and the people of Kashmir (read on. They speak different languages. Then, they told us to invite them formal- Kashmiri ruling elite) had consistently Their culture is different from that of the ly. We sent letters to each and every sep- followed a policy of discrimination with Muslims who inhabit the Valley proper. (Contd. on Page 14) January 2012 CULTURE 10 Sanskrit Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits and the Caste Reality

and are manifestly visible in ethnic cleansing in Kashmir. In everyone who articulate griev- social and political. In fact, the our prayers, hymns, thoughts their bitterness, they went on to ances / welfare objectives of this rights of Kashmiri Pandits are and actions even today and denounce Kashmiri Pandits for or that community which is a special and privileged since Shailendra Aima make us proud of our Sanskrit being Brahmins – the so-called victim or is perceived to be so. these are not merely a set of heritage and roots. This unique elite and the powerful of the Submitting grievance ‘in normal rights but special OMETIME back, a dis- period in India’s cultural and Hindu social hierarchy. itself’ is not communal. How Rights, under the aegis of the cussion ensued at a web civilizational context can’t be Perhaps, the intent has been to can speaking of the welfare of UN and other International Sportal about Kashmiri treated just a continuum of the tell the Pandits that they have one’s community be communal, Human Rights/Refugee and Pandits, the Sanskrit roots of “Vedic period”. We believe that received back what they had especially when the perception IDP Provisions. Kashmiri Culture and this unique period in India’s wreaked upon others in the is that the Kashmiri Pandit It is a well established that Pluralism. It was amazing that cultural and civilizational con- past. It is therefore quite evi- community has been subjected Kashmiri Hindu sages and some Kashmiri compatriots, text should in fact be treated as dent that these critics are part to discrimination, murders, scholars played a significant now resident outside in the US a leap above the “Vedic period” of a campaign to vilify and plunder by the ‘other’ communi- role in Sanskritization of the and the Middle East became and hence is referred to by malign the Kashmiri Hindus. ty by creating fear and through Himalayas and the trans- highly volatile and denounced Panun Kashmir as the period of These critics seem to have killings and through political or Himalayan regions in central the Sanskrit heritage and tried “Sanskrit Civilization”. I don’t joined those who have been ideological intimidation, and Asia and South East Asia. That to demonize the Pandits, for find any coherent, logical and spreading lies and concocting has been forced to abandon its the millennium and a half, from being the “Brahmins - the pow- cogent reason for these critics to distortions about Kashmiri habitat and to live in exile as the reign of Mauryas up to the erful elite of the Hindu social find the term “Sanskrit Pandits in order to down play refugees/ internally displaced establishment of the Muslim hierarchy”, who were charged of Civilization” so offensive, abom- their pain and ignominy, the persons; to put it rather in a Rule in the Indian sub-conti- perpetrating the “ugly reality of inable or abysmal, as they geo-political import of their perspective “cleansed ethnical- nent, was a period of Sanskrit social stratification developed would like it to be. mass exodus and ethnic cleans- ly?” It’s possible that through it proliferation and a proliferation along the lines of Caste and In fact this discussion started ing from their habitat. some kind of communal narra- of philosophy, poetics, litera- Jati” for thousands of years. when I posted a note while So, while keeping all these tive can be built; but there is a ture, drama, aesthetics, linguis- On October 17, 2011, I posted refuting the charges of commu- aspects in mind, I wrote back to world of difference between tics and great arts, to which the on the same web portal a com- nalism and separatism leveled the main ideologue of this ‘can’ and ‘is.’ For in that case Hindus of Kashmir contributed prehensive document, “The against Panun Kashmir. My denunciation, who happens to you are closing the doors on immensely. To quote from Dr. Sanskrit Himalayas” written by note, “Panun Kashmir and be a teacher of historic linguis- expression for justice on all dis- Shashishekhar Toshkhani: Dr. Shashihekhar Toshkhani Pluralism”, was a political artic- tics in a University in the US. criminated communities of not “With the Silk Route strad- who developed it after I posted ulation of Panun Kashmir’s The issues mentioned by her just India but of the world. dling the Himalayas virtual- him about these accusing and stand on the issue of Pluralism and on which she focuses her The critic further avers that ly becoming the Sutra Route, demonizing charges by a section and Kashmiri Pandits, which denunciation of Panun Kashmir the statement “We also main- the Central Asian regions of Kashmiri diaspora. I am so these critics detested. It became and Pluralism are therefore tain that it is because of us – the soaked in the wisdom of grateful to Dr. Toshkhani for quite obvious that one of the derived from her amazing abili- Kashmiri Hindus, that Sanskrit Sutras that trans- bringing to light some hitherto critics lost her cool when I made ty to interpret or misinterpret Himalayas have been mitted the sophisticated val- unknown facts that had been some references about conver- linguistics and historicism. I Sanskritized” is a highly loaded ues and subtle abstractions consigned to antiquity. sions in Kashmir by a Shiite have dwelled upon all these one, loaded with the sense of of the Mahayana philosophy. The discerning readers and Sufi, Mir Shamasuddin Araki or issues, but for present let’s look pride and superiority of a cer- The intercultural exchanges students of history would Iraqi (as different historians at her understanding of the tain minority group”. I don’t began right from the time of appreciate that the millennium have referred to him) who had terms “communal and commu- understand whether the critics King Ashoka and bestowed and a half, which begins with managed to convert a signifi- nalism”. have a problem with the notion upon these regions a lumi- the Muaryas and ends with the cant number of Kashmir’s What is COMMUNAL? As of SANSKRIT CIVILIZATION nous worldview with two establishment of the Delhi Hindu population to the Shi’a per these critics, any objective or with a sense of “pride and places in particular emerg- Sultanate, was a glorious period sect during the reign of Fateh centered on the welfare of a par- superiority” of a certain ing as great centers of of Sanskritic proliferation in Shah(1496–1505). These con- ticular community is commu- MINORITY GROUP (the Sanskrit learning – Khotan arts, literature, spirituality, versions were made using force nal. This is not a negative con- KASHMIRI PANDITS)? It and Kucha. Khotan, the poetics, aesthetics, linguistics, as described in the Persian book notation, at all. In fact, such an seems they have a problem with Land of Jade, had an inti- drama, philosophy, , ‘Bharistan -e-shahi’ written interpretation is rooted in the both. Though it may not appear mate relationship with Sankhya, Mimamsa and criti- during those times, as also in concept of communes – collec- very pertinent why do they at China. With Khotanese cism. It was a unique period in ‘Tohfaful Ahabab’. In fact as tive living and/or closeness all talk about “a sense of pride scholars acquiring a pro- Indian history that saw to the mentioned in these chronicles, shared together by individuals. and superiority of a certain found knowledge of development of both classical in one single instance, 960 Communal in the context of minority group”? A little into it Buddhist texts and Sanskrit and folk traditions; the Sanskrit Kashmiri Hindus who resisted community life or closeness of and one would understand the language, it played a crucial language and the regional conversion were slaughtered individuals in a group or shared entire import of it. As one would role in the onward transmis- dialects; and the growth of the under his guidance. This men- living/ experiences is not a con- notice in the original note, I sion and translation of central as well as regional pow- tion to Mir Shamasuddin Araki temptuous term. Communal is write: “… we maintain that important Buddhist ers. This period was a period of infuriated her; and as I now negative when it is interpreted we are Hindus. We also Sanskrit sutras like the immense development of the understand, she holds Mir in the context of communalism - maintain that it is because Suvarnaprabhasotama, Indian mind, its knowledge sys- Shamasuddin Araqi in high a matter of disagreements lead- of us – the Kashmiri Hindus, Prajnaparmita, Saddh- tems, its technology, its esteem. This is a tragedy in ing to conflicts within a larger that Himalayas have been arma-Pundarika and Universities and educational Kashmir, where somebody’s society where these disagree- Sanskritized. It is the Avatamshaka. It fell finally institutions, as well as of freedom fighter is another’s ter- ments arise because the units of Hindus of Kashmir who to the Islamic onslaught of expanding trade and prosperity. rorist. the larger community tend to played a decisive role in car- the Karkhanid rulers of After my protracted interac- individuation of their inter- rying the Sanskrit civiliza- Kashgar in 1006 after 40 Vaishanavism, Shaivism, tions and attempts to under- ests/objectives/aspirations as tion to Trans-Himalayan years of bloody war. Budhism, Tantra and Monism stand the real content and opposed to the interests/objec- regions, in China and Kashmir itself was known as brought about an avalanche of motives behind this denuncia- tives/aspirations of the other Central Asia”. Kashi of Central Asia for Bhakti – an unprecedented tion, I came to this conclusion communities and converting The critic adds here the being a great centre of spiritual activity that paved that these critics were trying to these differences into conflicts. phrase “a certain minority Sanskrit learning before it way for its manifestations in project Panun Kashmir as a If this interpretation of commu- group”. What was the impend- was over-run by Islam. devotional poetry, a hunger for parallel to the Azaadi mongers. nal as presented by the critics is ing need to invent such a Works of Sanskrit litera- personalizing man-God rela- They wanted to project that the adhered to, then all such organ- phrase? To me it appears that tures have been abundantly tionship and growth and devel- Kashmiri Pandits had no right izations and movements, who it was a reminder to the Pandits discovered from Turfan, Dun opment of regional languages to claim themselves to belong to speak up for, stand up to and of Kashmir that “remember you Huang and Khotan, includ- across the sub-continent. any different class, ideology or work for the amelioration of the are a minority group”? Now, is ing fragments of Sanskrit Kashmir was in the forefront thought process; and that the victim communities around the the notion of minority a handi- agamas and plays and of these developments and Kashmiri Pandits had rather globe should be called commu- cap – some sort of emaciation, a kavyas of Ashvaghosha”. made its unique contribution to been more oppressive during nal. Then all those speaking for weakness? Being a minority If the Hindus of Kashmir Indian culture and way of life. thousands of years (for, as women’s rights are communal, does not make the rights of the believe that Sanskrit civiliza- It shall be very relevant to state alleged, they had been responsi- those fighting for the rights of Kashmiri Pandits, both legal tion forms a significant part of that these aspects of unique- ble for imposing the ugly reality Palestinians are communal; the and moral, either redundant or their heritage, how is that ness of Kashmir’s contribution of caste and Jati), than those Sacchar Commission’s findings infructuous in Kashmir; nor wrong? A pride in one’s past and to the Indian civilization still who are the perpetrators of and mandate are communal; does that render them irrele- mould the minds of Kashmiris iconoclasm, proselytization and and so are probably anyone and vant in Kashmir’s context - (Contd. on Page 11) January 2012 CULTURE 11

(From Page 10) this system, each varna (caste) heritage is not a disadvantage, Sanskrit Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits and the Caste Reality was ideally associated with one kind of occupation – the but it definitely brings out ones (posted by me on October 17, Shashishekhar Toshkhani and “pious” or “noble”. It also has Brahmans pursued knowledge relevance, especially when one 2011) on the subject, it has Ajay Mitra Shastri to prepare a the meaning of “liberal” or “wor- and performed priestly func- is down and out after being vic- become important that coherent and connected account thy” in some hymns of Rigveda tions, the rajanyas or timized and pushed into exile. attempts at juxtaposing of ancient Kashmir’s social and (RV 4. 26. 2 and 2. 11.18); the Kshatriyas were holders of tem- It motivates one to reclaim her Sanskrit with “the ugly reality cultural life. Yet the field of term has actually been used poral power and warriors, the lost habitat with a purpose to of social stratification developed investigation is so vast, and the more in Buddhist texts as an Vaishyas were engaged in pro- re-establish the long cherished along the lines of Caste and available evidence so limited, honorific than in Vedic litera- duction wealth through trade values of humanism, catholicity Jati” are thoroughly examined that there still remain large ture. In later literature also the and agriculture and the and pluralism; and to reinvent and also put in a perspective. areas which are unexplored and generalized meaning of the Shudras engaged in labour and the aesthetics and arts that What in fact do the critics unlimited. word ‘arya’ tends to be ‘noble’ or menial work. But the meaning have not just been abandoned imply? They presume that by Varna Vyavasthaa has been ‘pious’ or else ‘a freeman’. of the categories changed in but comprehensively demol- juxtaposing Panun Kashmir’s an integral part of Hindu social Another work that is consid- accordance with reference to the ished in today’s Kashmir. notion/belief of a Sanskrit life since ancient times. In the ered an important source for conceptual order of We expected these critics to Civilization with the “ugly real- Rig Veda, which is the oldest ancient sociological, political and to its empirical order as empathize with the Hindu ity of Caste and Jati”, they surviving record of human writ- and historical studies in India is numerous occupations emerged predicament and encourage us would succeed to bring down ing, there are verses in a hymn the Manu Smriti. Manu Smriti in later time irrespective of to articulate our rights and the so-called “pride and superi- called the Purusha Suktam. is one of the most heavily criti- social groupings. Thus the return plans; encourage us in ority” of the Kashmiri Pandits. Purusha Suktam is hymn cized of the scriptures of Brahmans did not confine re-affirming our faith in the val- I fail to understand their pur- 10.90 of the Rigveda, dedicated Hinduism, having been themselves to priestly functions ues of co-existence and plural- pose; is it to denounce Panun to the Purusha, the “Cosmic attacked by colonial scholars, but were also seers and poets, ism. But the utterances of these Kashmir’s claim to pluralism Being”. One version of the modern liberals, Hindu teachers, councillors and even critics clearly reflect that they and prove it flawed, or to Suktam has 16 verses, 15 in the reformists, feminists, agriculturists. In the have problem with Kashmiri denounce Kashmiri Pandits and anuubh meter, and the final Marxists and certain groups of Mahabharata we also find them Heritage and the faith of their claim to Sanskrit one in the triubh meter. traditional Hindus. Much of its giving lessons in the use of Kashmiri Hindus in pluralism? Civilization and pluralism; and Purusha is described as a criticism stems from its weapons to Kshatriya princes. Are they inimical to the possi- make them into the monsters, primeval gigantic person, from unknown authority, as some The Kshatriyas in turn were not bility of a new renaissance to the harbingers of a caste system whose body the world and the believe the text to be authorita- only administrators and war- enlighten the Kashmir of today? that emaciated humanistic varnas (socioeconomic classes) tive, but others do not. There is riors; they pursued knowledge Would they not like the seminal endeavors among the Hindus are built. He is described as also debate over whether the and learnt other skills as well, ideas and works of Panini, and paved way for a socio-polit- having a thousand heads and a text has suffered from later sometimes instructing even Patanjali, Bhasa, Kalidasa, ical dynamics that led to “prose- thousand feet. He emanated interpolations of verses. Brahmans in spiritual matters. Bhavabhuti, Kumarjiva, lytization drive that was con- Viraj, the female creative prin- The Manu Smriti was one of But soldiery was not limited to Asvaghosha, Abhinavgupta, ducted by the various invading ciple, from which he is reborn in the first Sanskrit texts studied Kshatriyas alone; other castes Khshemendra, Nagarjuna, Muslims much later in the turn before the world was made by the Europeans. It was first also were recruited to his army Vasubandhu, Asanga, time-depth (and) was facilitated out of his parts. translated into English by Sir by the ruler. The two lower Dharmakirti, Padmasambhava, if not motivated by such ugly The Suktam verses when William Jones. His version was castes constituted the mass of Shantideva, Vimalaksha, and unfortunate social stratifi- translated mean that “In the published in 1794. British non-Brahman householders Sanghabhuti, Punyatrata, cation.” The critics seem irked sacrifice of Purusha, the Vedic administrative requirements called vishah. Being farmers, Dharmayashas, Shakyash-rib- not so much by Panun Kashmir, chants were first created. The encouraged their interest in the traders and artisans, they were hadra, Ratnavajra, Kamal- but by the claim of Kashmiri horses and cows were born; the Dharmashastras, which they regarded as the “economic sup- ashila, Kalhan, Bilhana, Bana, Hindus to pluralism, which Brahmins emerged from believed to be legal codes. In port of the society”. In fact, the Ananga, and hundreds of others they vehemently try to estab- Purusha’s mouth, the fact, these were not codes of law line of distinction between the from Yogini Lalleshawari to lish as nothing more than a Kshatriyas from his arms, the but norms related to social obli- Vaishyas and Shudras was very Ahad Zargar, Shamas Faqir deliberate, systematic manifes- Vaishyas from his thighs, and gations and ritual require- thin and the two terms were vir- and Waz Mehmud, to be further tation of the caste-system that the Shudras from his feet. The ments. But the fact remains tually interchangeable. The explored, interpreted, discov- perpetrated inhumanity and Moon was born from his mind, that the text was never univer- Shudras subsumed several ered, reinvented and recon- oppression for centuries, much the Sun from his eyes, the heav- sally followed or acclaimed by occupational groups of artisans structed in modern day before even the advent of Islam ens from his skull. Indra and the vast majority of Indians in within the fold of their caste. Kashmir, and also to the benefit in India and the “so-called con- Agni emerged from his mouth”. their history; it came to the Basham in his book The of the entire humanity? versions” associated with it. This order of the varnas world’s attention through the Wonder That Was India sug- Well, may be the very idea of The critics have also tried to undoubtedly forms a hierarchy translation by Sir William gests that the jati system in its a renaissance might have a establish a case against the asserting the primacy of the Jones, who mistakenly has modern form developed very problem with an Islamist per- priestly class among Hindus, first two, but at the same time it exaggerated both its antiquity late perhaps not before 1000 spective of Kashmir, because namely the Brahmins. They is made clear that the society and its importance. It would be A.D. Vishnugupta Chanakya, that perspective is not inclu- aver that there is no “Sanskrit” consisting of the four orders is pertinent to point out that the the author of Arthashastra, sive. Well known author Arun civilization as such, but a super- held together by the principle of Manu Smriti is not the only civil never mentioned any social Shourie has aptly summed up imposed concept emerging from dharma or human values. As code followed by the Hindus. laws prevailing in the society this attitude in his book among the select social (and in a Dr. G.C.Pandey puts it, “Society There are civil codes of during the Mauryan Emperor ‘Eminent Historians’ in the fol- way political) class — the priv- was thus conceived as a hierar- Parashar, Yajnyavalka and Chandragupta’s reign. The lowing words: “In a word, both ileged priestly class (the chy in the true sense of the Brihasapti also, followed by Chinese scholar Hsuan Tsang corruption and evil are germane Brahmins). In fact, there is no word, i. e. in the sense of a soci- large sections of the Hindu pop- in the seventh century was not to Hinduism. Hinduism is “Sanskrit” language ……. but a ety governed in accordance with ulation. The tendency to jump aware of it. Brahminism. Brahminism is superimposed variety ….. delib- sacred principles, not in the at the Brahmin’s throat, though Megasthenes, the Greek that ‘ism’ which serves the erately constructed …… as if it sense of a society governed by some of the greatest social ambassador to India in the 4th interests of the Brahmins: these were a “sacred” language (refer priests.” Obviously, the hierar- reformers of India belonged to century BC, noted the existence interests can only be served by to the commendable attempts chy was socio-cultural and ethi- this community, springs not of seven classes, namely that of the exploitation and oppression by Hindu priests and grammar- cal and not at all ethnic. from any spirit of academic philosophers, peasants, herds- of people of lower castes. Hence ians to keep “Sanskrit” as What do actual facts say research but from irrational men, craftsmen and traders, Hinduism is essentially an unchanged through centuries, about the caste system and Jati hostility. soldiers, government officials arrangement for the exploita- — because it was the “God’s lan- whose “ugly face” so haunts the According to scholars like and councilors. These classes tion and oppression of the mass guage”. And then they make a critics? Well, according to Dr. Zimmer and Muir, the early were apparently Varnas, and of people.” And as for Islam, comparison of such attempts by G. C. Pandey, an international Vedic age was “wholly caste not separate Jatis. “Islam equals peace, brother- the Sanskrit grammarians with authority on ancient Indian his- free”. Even in the later Vedic Megasthenes, who visited the hood, the ascent towards the attempts by the Arabic tory and culture, “Race con- age when priesthood developed Maurya court at Pataliputra monotheism.” And therefore, liturgy. The critics perhaps sciousness in the modern sense within the caste system, the (Patna), also noted: “All Hindus “the aggression, the butchery, again presume that a case attaching itself to colour or relationship between different are free, and none of them is a the devastation committed by against the Hindu priestly class physical type was never a part caste categories was not simply slave. Further, they respect Islamic rulers is to be sani- (the Brahmins) shall automati- of the Indian consciousness”. linear with the Brahman at the both virtue and truth.” tized.” cally turn into a case against Nowhere in the ancient Indian top and the Shudra at the bot- Huen Tsang, the most famous These critics further go on to the Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) (Sanskrit) literature, he points tom. Sociologists of caste like of the Chinese Buddhist pil- claim that “Sanskrit” (‘civi- who too are Brahmins. out, has the term arya been M. N. Srinivas have pointed to grims who visited India in 7th lized’) civilization in fact is a It is pertinent here to talk used in the racial sense. The many complexities that arise century writes: “Though the hypothetical construct based on about the social structure of assumption of some Western particularly “in the analysis of Hindus are of a light tempera- the ugly reality of social stratifi- Kashmir before the advent of scholars that a branch of the the middle rungs of the hierar- ment, they are distinguished by cation developed along the lines Islam and to put into perspec- Indo- Aryans called themselves chy”. What the emergence of the straightforwardness and of Caste and Jati.” While the tive the caste-reality of “Arya” as a racial designation is the varna system accomplished honesty of their character. With critics stand adequately educat- Kashmir. On the basis of still only an unsubstantiated was to do away with the “partic- regard to riches, they never ed on the issue of Sanskrit extant source materials; pio- hypothesis with no basis in ularism” of primitive ethnic take anything unjustly; with Himalayas and the role played neering work of great value has facts related to Vedic language tribes and clans and conceive regard to justice, they make by Hindus of Kashmir towards been done in the recent decades and society. Sayana and other the society “as a universal even excessive concessions. its Sanskritization by the schol- by erudite scholars like Dr. Ved well-known Vedic commenta- order”. In the conceptual order- arly write-up of Dr. Toshakhani Kumari Ghai, Dr. S.C. Ray, Dr. tors interpret the term arya as ing of social categories under (Contd. on Page 12) January 2012 CULTURE 12

(From Page 11) Caste is a European innova- Sanskrit Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits and the Caste Reality tion having no semblance in Truthfulness is the distinguish- Vedic culture. Jaati means a ing feature of their administra- fication. Thus in common usage, to Kautilya’s Arthashastra. The theoretically supposed to adopt. classification based on source of tion.” we call even different communi- evidence of Megasthenes, who Thus, as pointed out by Pande, origin. Nyaya Sutra states Al-Idrisi a Spanish born ties as different ‘Jaati’. However declared, that “all Indians are the Dasabrahmana Jataka “Samaanaprasavaatmika Muslim geographer in the 11th that is merely convenience of free and not one of them is a mentions ten kinds of Jaatih” or those having similar century visited India and usage. In reality, all humans slave”, is also important in this Brahmans engaged in diverse birth source form a Jaati. The reported in his journal that form one single Jaati. context. Megasthenes professions. The Shantiparvan two words commonly considered “Hindus are naturally inclined The fission of castes into a describes seven social classes as of the Mahabharata also speaks to mean ‘caste’ is Jaati and to justice and never depart from multiplicity of hereditary jatis distinct from the conventional of several varieties of Varna. However the truth is it in their actions.” In the 13th occurred, according to the noted four castes that constituted the Brahmans. Undoubtedly, the that, all the three mean com- century, Marco Polo described socio-anthropologist Veena Das, Indian society in his times. Brahmans took up diverse pro- pletely different things. In fact, Brahmins he encountered “as due to “a variety of reasons such An important point to note fessions like medicine, trade, as a response to historical the most truthful, for they as occupational diversification”. with regard to the rise of the agriculture, astrology and also events one might credit the would not tell a lie for anything A jati, she explains, “is identi- jatis is that they were worked as the king’s council- emergence of the modern jati on earth.” A few decades later fied by a combination of three autonomous units based on lors, ministers, officials and system to the next fundamental Friar Jordanus emphasized principles of organisation viz. “functional specialization”. The even soldiers, besides specializ- changes in the Indian polity that the people of Lesser India descent, locality and cult”. The reason why there were numer- ing in various branches of that occurred with the inva- (South and Western) “are true basic question is that of identifi- ous jatis when there were only knowledge, teaching and per- sions from the West Asia and in speech and eminent in jus- cation of the jatis and the rela- four theoretical castes is attrib- forming religious rites. the European adventurism. tice.” tions of jatis, Brahmans and uted by early social thinkers to This occupational diversity These critics when confronted Abu Rihan Muhammad bin others, at the empirical level a mixture of the varnas or among different social groups by Dr. Ramesh Tamiri, respond- Alberuni, who accompanied within the caste system. And it castes resulting from intermar- can be attributed to the changes ed to his queries and comments Mahmud Ghazani to India in is here that there an undue riage. The phenomenon of brought about by the growth of with vehemence and derision, the 12th century, spent several emphasis is laid on the princi- inter-caste marriage was so town-life, trade, industry, polit- as if these were coming from a years here and studied Sanskrit ple of hierarchy ignoring the prevalent that it led to the ical activity several other fac- person inferior to them. In fact, besides astronomy and mathe- meanings associated with the development of the concept of tors. The formation of the one critic remarked: “I have bet- matics. He wrote extensively on different conceptual categories. varnasankara in the mahajanapadas or geographi- ter things to do than explain to India and its many aspects. He It has to be noted that while the Dharmashastras and the cally large republics and the ill-informed people how they are describes the traditional divi- jatis proliferated with their own Smritis. Admitting to the fact of emergence of the community of wrong.” The way this critic, sion of Hindu society along the customs and usages, a sem- intermixture of jatis through influential shramanas or with her over-inflated ego, has four Varnas and the Antyaja - blance of the original ideal was marriage, Manu gives a Buddhist ascetics were also reacted to Dr. Ramesh Taimiri’s who are not reckoned in any still preserved with respect to detailed description of the prog- important aspects of the post- views on the history of the caste caste; but makes no mention of the varnas that subsumed eny of anuloma (mother being Vedic and early medieval social system, pouring scorn and any oppression of low caste by them. It has also to be noted from lower varna) , pratiloma scene. The shramanas chal- ridicule on his arguments and the upper castes. “Much, howev- that a sharp difference of views (father being from lower varna) lenged the supremacy of the calling him “ill-informed”, er the four castes differ from on the social functions and sta- and doubly mixed castes, and Brahmans and their hereditary makes it evident that anything each other; they live together in tuses of caste categories speaks of the anomalous situa- position and disregarded all related to India’s ancient past the same towns and villages, between “Brahmanical and non- tion arising due to their not fit- caste distinctions, their patrons and its cultural and intellectual mixed together in the same Brahmanical thinkers contin- ting into the conventional caste drawn from all sections of the traditions is an anathema to houses and lodgings. The ued into classical time”. scheme. society – the Kshatriya clans- her. The boot so far as being “ill- Antyajas are divided into eight Though the Shudras were Although in the traditional men, agriculturists, Brahmans, informed” is concerned, howev- classes — formed into guilds - conceived as the servitors, this parlance the jatis may pay lip outcastes, servants, courtesans, er, seems to be on the other foot. according to their professions description did not exactly cor- service to the Brahmin as an criminals, rich traders, affluent It is the critic, who despite who freely intermarry with respond to reality, for Shudras intermediary to the gods when craftsmen etc. The point to be assuming the expertise of a each other except with the were clearly neither “non- it comes to ritual, each caste understood here is that the social anthropologist is fuller, shoemaker and the weav- Aryans, nor outcastes nor considers itself to be the high- Brahmans did not wield any appallingly ignorant of the con- er. They live near the villages slaves, nor lawless labourers est. If the Brahmins were to be excessive influence over the ceptual and empirical aspects of and towns of the four castes but produced through expropriation accepted as the highest caste social dynamics of pre-modern Indian (Hindu) social reality. outside of them”. of property”. “Servitude did not then other castes would have no India to be declared the villains Nor does she seem to have stud- On the eating customs of the reflect their permanent situa- hesitation in giving their of the piece who suppressed the ied its cultural and epistemolog- four castes, Alberuni observed tion either occupationally or daughters to the Brahmins. But lower castes and non-Aryans. ical meanings. As her state- that “when eating together, legally”, says G. C. Pande. in reality they do not. The “How is it that the two ments show, she is just repeat- they form a group of their own There are numerous examples Rajputs consider the Brahmins Heroes of Sanskrit literature, ing the theoretical assumptions caste, one group not comprising from history showing Shudras to be other-worldly or plain beg- Ram and Krishna are shyam- of the Western colonial histori- a member of another caste. gaining upward social mobility gars; the traders consider the varna(dark skinned) and a ans and their followers of the Each person must have his own and acquiring higher social sta- Brahmins to be impractical; and great Hindu God, Shiva too is Marxist variety who stereotype food for himself and it is not tus or even political power. so on. In classical Sanskrit dark skinned? If the theory of the Hindu social categories allowed to eat the remains of What greater proof of this can plays the fool is always a the critics about Sanskrit peo- without any real knowledge of the meal. They don’t share food be than the fact that Brahmin. In other words, each ple is to be believed, then were their historicity. Hence, it has from the same plate as that Chandragupta Maurya, who different community has inter- Shiva, Ram, and Krishna lower become all the more mandatory which remains in the plate was the son of a Shudra mother, nalized a different outlook on caste or the non-caste (the out- on my part to write comprehen- becomes after the first eater has became emperor of India and life but these outlooks cannot be caste)? Were Valmiki and sively on the caste-reality viz. a taken part, the remains of the the mighty founder of the placed in any hierarchical Vyasa the liturgy or the viz. the Brahmins (the privi- meal”. Mauryan Empire due to untir- ordering. The internalized Brahmins, who forced a leged priestly class) in general An initial broad classification ing efforts of Chanakya, a images of the other must, by its Godhood upon the shudras and the Pandits of Kashmir, in of Jati made in earliest refer- Brahman? Both the authors of very nature, be a gross simplifi- (being dark skinned) just for particular. ences is 4-fold: Udbhija (coming the two great Indian Epics, cation and it will never conform exploiting them? Vyasa is also Therefore, now let us revert to out of ground like plants), Ramayana and Mahabharata, exactly to reality. Why is it that called Krishna Dvaipayana, the Nilamata Purana and its Andaja (coming out of eggs like Valmiki and Vyasa, were not the Sanskritic as well as the was grandfather to the reference to immigrant birds and reptiles), Pindaja Brahmans. Valmiki was a folk narrative in India has Kauravas and Pandavas. Their Brahmins who followed (mammals) and Ushmaj (repro- hunter and Vyasa the son of a mostly shown Brahmins as fathers, Dhritarashtra and Chandradeva and settled in ducing due to temperature and fisherwoman; yet is there any- daridras living in penury and Pandu, adopted as the sons of Kashmir. It is highly possible ambient conditions like virus, one more respected by the depending on alms? From Vichitravirya by the royal fami- that a bulk of them were from bacteria etc). Similarly, various Brahmans than they are? In Sudama to Narsi Mehta to ly, were fathered by him. He the Saraswati Valley who must animals like elephant, lion, rab- the Mahabharata, Vidura is Purander Das to Chaitanya to had a third son, Vidura, by a have decided to migrate to bits etc form different ‘Jaati’. In counted a Shudra, but at the Swami Ramkrishna, the Indian serving maid. Valmiki, it is Kashmir after the legendary same manner, entire humanity same time he is treated with lore is full of references to thou- believed was an unnamed high- river changed its course and forms one ‘Jaati’. A particular great respect by all for his wis- sands of these poor ubiquitous way robber who used to rob peo- finally dried up. There is a Jaati will have similar physical dom. There are also references Brahmins’ narratives, of those ple before killing them. Some strong tradition among characteristics, cannot change in Vedic literature to Shudras who lived in penury, never text versions of the Uttara Kashmiri Pandits that they are from one Jaati to another and being chosen as members of the wielded the sword or the wealth Khanda name him Valya Koli. Saraswat Brahmins, and the cannot cross-breed. Thus king’s council. In the and still commanded respect The legend states that when presence of a large number of according to Vedic connotations , we see Suyya, an and love and transformed the confronted with Narada, the words of Vedic origin in the (Purush Suktam) “Jaati” is cre- abandoned child brought up by face of the Indian society. robber had a realization and he Kashmiri language seems to ation of Ishwar or God. a Shudra woman, rising to The Brahmans themselves went into meditation for many confirm it. From accounts given Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya become King Avantivarman’s were fragmented into numerous years, so much so that ant-hills in the Nilamatapurana, and Shudra are no way differ- minister. The fact is that there sub-divisions, and among them grew around his body. Finally, a Rajatarangini and other early ent Jaatis because there is no is a wide divergence between too the priests “tended to divine voice declared his sources, they “appear to have difference in source of birth or social theory and social reality approximate to a professional penance successful, bestowing emerged as the dominant and even physical characteristics to so far as the caste system is con- guild”. It is clear from the him with the name “Valmiki”: highly respected social group in differentiate between them. cerned. For a detailed and true Buddhist literature that they “one born out of ant-hills” Kashmir, not just because they Later, word ‘Jaati’ started being picture of the society in ancient were engaged in a number of (Valmikam in Sanskrit means were associated with religious used to imply any kind of classi- India, it would be useful to refer professions which they were not Ant-hill)”. (Contd. on Page 16) January 2012 BOOK REVIEW 13

TITLE...... Curfewed Night AUTHOR...... Basharat Peer DATE OF PUBLICATION...... 2010 Curfewed Night PAGES...... 221 PUBLISHER...... Harper Publications, London Packed with facts and fiction, narrated in a locale of electrified human emotions father said repeatedly, were led loving Kashmiri’s he had no to have raped a number of vil- In the second part the author of by educated men. The young option but to bring the deterio- lage Women. It was just a prop- the Curfewed Night describes boy had to yield to the wishes of rating situation under control. aganda stunt by Pakistan. A his journey as a reporter of a his parents. He draws a pen pic- It goes to the credit of Mr. probe into the alleged rape inci- Delhi based newspaper through ture of the situation appering in Jagmohan that he retrieved the dents by the state authorities Prof. G.L. Jalali length and breadth of Kashmir, February 1990 in the valley, valley for the Indian-nation and brought the fact to limelight meeting a cross-section of the particularly in Srinagar. The let the flag of secularism flying that these charges leveled Kashmiris and noting their author says, “By February 1990 aloft on the ramparts of the Red against the Indian army were ITS racy prose is both lyrical reaction towards the militancy Kashmir was in the midst of a Fort. Had he remained as the totally false and fabricated. I and moving, subject matter that engulfed his homeland. full-blown rebellion against Governor of J&K state for some wonder how an impartial news- most poignant It describes So the book titled Curfewed India. Every evening we heard time more the history of the reporter was led away by this what a heaven it (Kashmir) Night is an anecdotal record of the news of more protests and strife-torn state would have propaganda stunt. His emotion- was and what a hell it is now the events seen through the deaths. Protests followed been decidedly different and al out burst on these fabricated - all man made. prism of a writer who, overtly or killings, and killings followed there would have been no crimes committed by the securi- It is an emotional tale of covertly, sympathizes with the protests. News came from Kashmir issue. Unfortunately, ty forces can be gauged from his mans' love for his land, the militants. It is a chronicle of Srinagar that hundreds of thou- some anti-national elements, own description ! “He sits at a pain of leaving home and events keenly observed by a sands of people had marched to emboldened by false media bus-stop watching for the bus to ultimately the joy of return young Muslim journalist who pray for independence at the propaganda by Pakistan take him to Kunnan Poshpora, grows up watching this charm- shrine of the patron saint of against Jagmohan, this vision- but when it arrives he just goes N the wake of the ongoing ing valley turning into a hotbed Kashmir, Nooruddin Rishi. All ary and ace-administrator was on sitting, listening to the Muslim insurgency in the of Muslim insurgency. over the state similar marches unceremoniously removed as sound of reviving engine, and Ierstwhile princely Indian Basharat Peer’s narrative to the shrines of Surfi saints Governor of the state. I, as watching the bus drive away. state of Jammu and Kashmir takes the reader into 1990s were launched. I joined a pro- reviewer of Mr. Basharat Peer’s For all the stories of suffering that broke out in 1989 a spute of when almost the whole of cession to the shrine of a much book Curfewed Night, am not he seeks out, there is one he books, dealing with the J&K Kashmir valley was overtaken revered Zain Shah Sahib at holding brief for the former cannot bring himself to look at insurgency, have flooded the very badly by Pak-sponsored Aishmuqam near my Governor Jagmohan, but stat- too closely.” world book market. These books militancy. The author was only school”(page 17). It is worth ing facts for the information of The author has no word to say were authored mostly by the 13 years old boy, reading in a mentioning that Saint Zain the author of the book who about the Chattisinghpora and persons living either outside village school when the Indian Shah was originally a Kashmiri appears to rely upon what for- the Wandhama carnages com- J&K or some foreign writers. army was fighting a tough gur- Brahman converted to Islam in mer militants and their sympa- mitted by the militants on non- There were a few Kashmir rila war with the Pakistan 15th century,. When Kashmir thizers have stated in their Muslim villagers. In authors who wrote copiously on trained militants. was ruled by some fanatic interviews with the author of Chattisinghpora village, situat- the Kashmir subject. Mr. Pakistan had never reconciled Muslim rulers, including the the book. ed close to Bashart Peer’s Basharat Peer, the author of with the Indian stand on infamous idol breaker Sikender His reference to the native village in Anantnag dis- Curfewed Night (under review) Kashmir. When General Zia- Butshekan. As admitted by the Gowkadal firings and killings tinct, over thirty- Sikhs were is one such author who has the UI-Haq came to power in a mil- author of the Curfewed Night, it needs to be discussed in the brutally killed, while twentyfive distinction of writing a reveal- itary coup against the demo- was a full-fledged revolt against light of volatile propaganda. On Kashmiri Pandits in ing book on the ongoing political cratically elected Bhutto India, provoked and abetted by page 15,the author say’s “One Wandhama village in turmoil in his native land - the Government, Pakistan started a Pakistan in collabration with protest march began from a Tehsil were gunned scenic valley of Kashmir. His proxy-war to grab Kashmir. It the Sunni Musllim Community. southern Srinagar area where down mercilessly and their book “Curfewed Night” is the started indoctrinating Kashmiri So, the so-called political move- my parents now live, passed the houses set on fire. A thirteen memoir of a young Kashmiri Muslim youth, giving them ment was no less short of a reli- city centre, , and year old Kashmiri Pandit boy Muslim Journalist who spent arms training at military camps gious movement aimed at seced- marched through the nearby was the lone survivor in this vil- his childhood and adolescent set up in PoK by Pakistan’s ing Kashmir from India on the Maisuma towards the shrine of lage where almost fifty Pandit years in the strife ridden infamous ISl. Thus started the “basis of two-nation theory, the a revered Sufi Saint of a few families lived prior to this bru- Kashmiri valley. Jihad in Kashmir. It burst forth sheet-anchor of the bloody miles ahead. Protesters were tal massacre of innocent Belonging to a well-to-do with vigor in 1990. The civilian Partition of the Indian subconti- crossing the dilapidated wooden Kashmiri Pandit Villagers. Muslim Peer (priestly) family, government in the valley was nent. It is on account of this Gawkadal Bridge in Maisuma Their burnt houses still remain Basharat’s father Mr.GA Peer almost subverted. That is what premises that former President when the Indian paramilitary, a living eye-witness to the is a serving bureaucrat (now Mr. Basharat Peer, the author of Pakistan,Ghulam Ishaq the Central Reserve Police atrocities perpetrated on the posted as Commissioner-cum- of the book the Curfewed Night Khan called the Kashmir issue Force, opened fire. More than Kashmiri Pandit Community. Education Secretary in J & K “unfinished agenda of fifty people were killed. It was There is just one stray refer- state).His mother serves as a under review, calls “Independence movement”. Partition”. To call the ongoing the first massacre in the ence to the forced mass exodus school teacher while his grand Jehad as Independence Kashmir valley. As the news of Kashmiri Pandits from the father is a retired head-master Even in his adolescence, he was swept by this “Freedom Movement by Mr.Basharat sank in, we all wept...? It was no land of their birth. The author of a Government Secondary Peer, the author of the doubt, a great tragedy. There went to attend his village school School. His upbringing was movement” which was in full bloom. Once it so happened that Curfewed Night, is sheer trav- was reliable intelligence reports one fine morning. He found no unlike that of other Muslim esty of truth and the distortion that some mischievous ele- Kashmiri Pandit teacher pres- boys in his native village, Seer he had to join a procession of “Freedom Fighters”, he felt of historical facts ments in the protest march ent in the school as all of them which is on way to valley’s His remarks about the former were bent upon raking up com- had fled the valley. Of course, internationally known tourist himself a part of “something Governor of Kashmir, munal riots by setting ablaze on he felt very sad and puzzled. spot. Gifted with rich imagina- larger’...... ”Fighting and dying”. Jagmohan are unwarranted way Hindu houses in nearby ‘The murders sent a wave of tion and deft of thought, Fired with a strong urge to Basharat Peer describes his vil- usher in an Isiamic order and to and condemnable in the light of Kashmiri Pandit localities, fear through the community lage environs-open paddy fields, overpower the enemies of their facts. ‘The night of January 20, including Ganpatyar, Habba and more than a hundred thou- neighboring mountains, rich so-called freedom, Basharat’s 1990 was long and sad. Before Kadal etc. That might have sand Pandits left Kashmiri flora and fauna, village houses school friends would cross high- dinner, my family gathered as been the reason for the Indian after March, 1990. The affluent with thatched roofs, running mountain peaks, standing mag- usual around the radio for the Security Forces to take such a moved to houses in Jammu, and roaring brooks - in an artis- nificently all along the border evening news on BBC World strong action. On hearing about Delhi and various Indian cities. tic manner couched in a simple, with PoK, to receive arms train- Service. Two days earlier, such happenings, the heart of But a vast majority could find readable and, above all, racy ing in alien climes. The rebel in Jagmohan, an Indian bureau- every Kashmiri - Hindu or shelter only in the squalor of style of his prose reminiscent of the young school-going boy, crat infamous for his hatred for Muslim- is bound to bleed and refugee camps and rented any matured and experienced Basharat, take the place of a Muslims, had been appointed ache, let alone that of the rooms in Jammu and Delhi’ English writer. Still, the young coy- some sibling of a middle- the governor of Jammu and author of the book under (page 184). scribe has to go miles ahead. class rural Muslim family and Kashmir. He gave orders to review. The author refers to the secu- For his style of writing I offer decides to join the much talked crush the incipient rebel- One thing, as pointed out by a lar and harmonious atmosphere my hearty congratutions to Mr. about freedom-struggle as lion...... ”(page15). To this ques- critic, goes to the credit of the prevailing In the valley prior to Basharat Peer. Mujahideen. He wants to bid tion the author will find a suit- author of the book Curfewed 1989. ‘The practice of Islam in The book consists of sixteen adieu to studies at school. able answer in the “My Frozen Night, is an extraordinary Kashmir borrowed elements chapters running over two hun- Peer’s parents heard about Turbulance’ written by memories that does a great deal from the Hindu and the dred twenty one pages. Each their sons firm resolve to join Jagmohan two decades ago. He to bring the Buddhist past, the Hindus in chapter carries an appropriate JKLF, the then premier mili- says when he had assumed the out of the realm of political rhet- turn were influenced by Muslim heading, capping the details tant outfit, fighting for valley’s charge as the Governor of J & K oric between India and practices. In my childhood given inside the chapter. independence. His parents state, the strife-torn state was Pakistan and the lives of nobody raised an eyebrow if Chapters from one to eight intervened and succeeded in “slipping away from India” as a Kashmiri’s. Again, Mr. Hindu women went to a Muslim describe author’s early life up to preventing young Basharat result of conspiracy hatched Basharat Peer refers to his shrine to seek the blessings of a the period when he is all set to from joining the militant outfit. and worked out by Pakistan’s unsuccessful visit to Kunnan saint. The religious divide was leave the valley for plains in “He can join after finishing his infamous ISI, named Poshpara Village in Kupwara visible only on the days India search of new green pastures studies,” they said to their “Operation Topac”. As a patriot district of North Kashmir were and Pakistan played cricket. and to make a successful career. overzealous son. Rebellion, his and well-wisher of the peace- the security forces were alleged (Contd. on Page 14) January 2012 CONTINUATION 14 not be taken hands down. In total cultural neurosis occurs, blocked by such distortions and Interactional Potential of a Place this way Jammu established its leading to a community that has violent nomenclature. We have interactional potential as well a shattered self-esteem with an to go farther and farther into were resisted by KP scholars. (From Page 7) and showed Kashmir as a part absence of a cultural initiative our infinite interactional past Amarnath has a lot to do with of it. This shows that one place, to anticipate a potential interac- where the sage Kashyap made can be called the ‘lalded con- the Interactional potential of at a distance from the other can tivity for their place. With their Kashmir inhabitable and if pos- sciousnesses.’ He was an Kashmir. Pilgrims from all over be used to fight place eroding interactional past loaded with sible we can go farther than that enlightened soul who had risen the world flock in Amarnath forces unleashed on another such alien meanings that stag- also. We can think of the above any dualism. every year, despite threats from place that leads to the preserva- nate the objects constituting remains of Burzhama. Those Not only this, the conscious- terrorists. Most of the pilgrims tion of interactional potential of that past nothing of their actual were our ancestors who lived in ness associated with those are from India. In fact, both. past remains that can be carried Kashmir about 10,000 years places within Kashmir, that are Amarnath makes Kashmir back. Those could have been the If we take just these objects into the future. No sense of times when dualistic discourses important from the point of view Indian which was an eyesore for that we have discussed (there interactional potential of the did not exist. They lived only of meaning they impart to anti amaranth agitators some can be many more distorted in place is felt. It must be kept in years back. But the agitation in because the wanted to live. The Kashmir, has also been diluted. different ways), in an intercon- mind that the interactional past natural beauty around those We can take the sacred site of Jammu created problems. This nected arrangement with their and the interactional potential agitation was significant as it ruins is still stunning. They Amarnath for an example.As original meanings we can see a of a place are intertwined to con- must have worshipped that per muslim narratives tried to establish the portion of our interactional past stitute the place attachment. Interactional potential of which is still a better option Amarnath was discovered by a bubbling with the activity of life. When anyone of these is distort- because nature knows no dual- muslim, forgetting the fact that Kashmir, and showed that And just apply the violent ed and decimated, a negative ism. the site is mentioned even in Jammu was concerned about it. nomenclature and distortions valence is attached to the place Kalhana’s Rajatarangini. Here It showed that any attempt to they have been subjected to and people lose interest in it. also, a Muslim is the chosen one distort or damage the interac- whole of the activity vanishes, a But our imagination of a *(The author is a prolific writer and a poet) even by Shiva. These distortions tional potential of Kashmir may stagnation, a vacuum is felt. A future life in our place cannot be

(From Page 13) militarized mountains. It ran through Curfewed Night the reels of Bollywood coming to life in Muslims supported the Pakistani dark theatres; it ran through the conver- Cricket and the Pandits were for India. men, Teachers and Scholars. Can the rope was a garret. “Come in, Basharat,” sations in Coffee shops and TV screens My father’s best friend was and remains Kashmiris particularly Kashmiri Mr Kantroo called out. I looked at him ; showing cricket matches. It ran through a Pandit; my mother had long friend- Pandits forget brutal killings of Pandit he had aged. His checks had sunk deep, whispers of lovers. And it ran through ships with Pandit women who taught in Sarwanand Premi and his son, whose his hair was almost white; his eyes were our grief, our anger, our tears and our the same school”( chapter 15, page184). eyes were gorged with an iron rod and deep down, but seemed to have lost their silence”. (Page 220-221). It ends with the The chapter titled “Papa-II”deals with the bodies cut to pieces or Sarla, a school verve.”(page190). His teacher gave him a people awaiting eagerly for the bus com- the author’s interviews with some mili- teacher in a Kupwara school, sawed to book of poems composed by him. The ing from the other side of our valley. “I tants. The details givien by these mili- death in a sawmill. Militants are equally cover of the book read “Eternal Sin”. His watched thousands of men, women and tants about some of these interrogation responsible for turning the happy valley partings were surcharged with emotions children stand and along the soldier- centres are horrible and blood-curdling into hell. Without describing these on either side-from his old student laden road, welcoming the ones who had ancedots. The discription of these horri- killings, the author has not taken his Basharat and his teacher Pandit C.L. stepped across the Iine.”(page221). ble stories invoke the sympathizes of the narrative to a successful conclusion. Kantroo. reader, no matter how callous-minded However, author’s search for his “lost He describes valley’s corrupt bureau- I wish Basharat Peer writing his new the reader may be. If true, one cannot teacher”-Pandit Chaman Lai Kantroo- cracy. Even bureaucrats demand huge book, describing the return of 4 lakh dis- but condemn these inhuman acts com- evokes our admiration for this budding bribes for sanctioning monetary relief. placed Kashmiri Pandits to their land of mitted by the army investigators. But Kashmiri Muslim author. He desperate- “The files do not move by itself from one birth and their Muslim brethren accord- there stands a question mark: are these ly makes a search for his childhood table to another. Out of the relief money ing them warm hearted welcome in the real acts of the India’s disciplined army? Kashmiri Pandit friends. He visits of one lakh, the applicant has to spend true spirit of “Kashmeriat” of which the However, there may be exceptions here Awtar’s hut in Jammu where he meets 25 per cent to thirty thousand rupees. author of the Curfewed Night is a strong and there. Perhaps it is aimed to tarnish his father’s adopted Hindu sister Gouri Otherwise he will waste years visiting votary Amen ! the image of our security forces. wife of Awtar, Jee. “Is he Ammul’s son?” offices. And once he pays that, we ensure In the end I agree that the “Curfewed One such centre was shut and later on says Gouri. “Ammul was my father’s that his name in the compensation job Night is an emotional tale of man’s occupied by a top-ranking Oxford childhood name which hardly any one list goes up and things move fast.”(page (author’s) love for his land, the pain of Educated Kashmiri bureaucrat as stated outside the family knew. My eyes were 164). He gives a pen picture of the devas- leaving home and ultimately the joy of by the author of Curfewed Night, Says wet,” narrates Basharat Peer (page 183). tated Rughnath Mandir in the interior of return”. Its racy prose is both lyrical and the author, “Before moving in, the He met his childhood friend, Vinod, by Srinagar city and the abandoned moving, subject matter most poignant. It Oxford-Educated Officer called priests of chance in Srinagar where he worked as Martand temple at Mattan sans (miss- describes what a heaven once it was, and Area Manager of a Pharmaceutical ing) Shiva idol. At the end of the all religions to pray there and exorcise what a hell it now is - all man-made! the ghosts”(page 133, chapter 11). Company. After a long search he met his Curfewed Night the author crosses the Master Jee Chaman Lai Kantroo, in a Line of Control at Uri which now “func- Buck up Basharat Sahib-that is my mes- The author has almost sidelined sage to you! describing the gruesome killings of some rented room in Amphela in Jammu. “A tions as a defecto border between two eminent Kashmiri Pandit leaders, step stair led to the rooftop. Behind a parts of Kashmir” He comments, “The *(The author is prolific writer and Lawyers, Doctors, Journalists, Business curtain of clothes hanging on a nylon Loc did not run through 576 kilometer of editor Samachar Post)

(From Page 9) double nationality, that he emphasizes Jammu & Kashmir in the words...... the fact that the Instrument of Accession account the views of the various political had restricted the jurisdiction of New parties. Our job is over”. displaced Kashmiri Hindus, on the atti- tions on the miserable plight of the dis- Delhi over the state to just defence, for- tude of Jammu and Ladakh towards the placed Kashmiri Hindus and the people eign affairs and communication, that Article 370, Candid Reflections & Central laws, on the Kashmir’s demogra- of Jammu and Ladakh who, according to New Delhi over the period diluted the phy, on the plight of Jammu and him, never received their due share in state’s special status by bringing it Unsettling Suggestions Ladakh, on the attitude of New Delhi the political and economic processes in under the jurisdiction of several central “Yes, I can say something about Article towards Jammu and Ladakh and on the the state. No less significant is his nega- laws and institutions, that the state 370. Union Home Minister P attitude of the India media towards tive observation that New Delhi and the enjoys a special status that needs to pro- Chidambaram had said that Jammu and Kashmir. He is absolutely right when he Indian media have always ignored tected, and that we have depended large- Kashmir is a unique state. On the one says that the Wahabis and Salafis have Jammu and Ladakh and looked things ly upon BalrajPuri while dealing with hand, it is an integral part of India and, given a radical orientation to Islam in the way the Kashmiri leadership wanted the issue of regional empowerment. on the other hand, it enjoys a special sta- Kashmir, thus creating an environment and wants. It would also be a crime (BalrajPuri wants autonomy for the tus within the Indian Union. It is under in the Valley where liberals could not against man and god if his observation state and within that autonomous state Article 370 that it enjoys a special sta- live. Indeed, it was the rise of radical on the empowerment of people inhabit- some semblance of autonomy for Jammu tus. Besides, Jammu and Kashmir has Islam that led to the exodus of Kashmiri ing different regions is overlooked. and Ladakh, which is utterly unaccept- its own constitution which declares Hindus, thousands of Sikhs and a few Indeed, his’ are candid reflections on able.) Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part Muslims from the Valley. There is no Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, the various reports clearly of India. So, Jammu and Kashmir has doubt whatever that a particular section However, to say all this is not to sug- suggest that the interlocutors have sug- two identities. The people of the state of Kashmiri Muslim society has become gest that there is nothing controversial gested withdrawal of the Armed Forces have two identities. One is that they are intolerant and exclusivist over the peri- in what he has said about the state. Special Powers Act, demilitarization of Indian nationals. The other is that they od. Padgaonkar is also right when he There is much that creates serious certain areas, rehabilitation of militants, are state subjects. There is no region in holds Pakistan responsible for their fail- doubts in the minds of the people about general amnesty and many such things. the country which houses people having ure to engage with the Kashmiri sepa- his real intentions. Take, for example, The fact that Padgaoknar did not reveal two identities. It is very important to ratists and opines that the Kashmiri sep- his formulations on Article 370, on dou- as to what exactly the report contains as understand this double identity of the aratists are mortally afraid of Pakistan ble identity of the people of the state, on far as the solution part is concerned does people of the state. We have also to see and that they just cannot afford to ignore the need to preserve and promote this suggest that he has put forth sugges- how this double identity could be pre- Islamabad, which has established their double identity, on the special status of tions, which, if accepted, would hasten served and promoted. It is very impor- stranglehold over them. He is also to the the state and on the Instrument of the process of disintegration or unsettle tant. We have dealt with this aspect in point when he says that the Kashmiri Accession. His formulations clearly sug- the settled in Jammu and Kashmir. One our report”. Society is highly heterogeneous and that gest that he wants the retention of must keep one’s fingers crossed. The One would agree with most of the while the Kashmiris dislike the central Article 370; that he doesn’t consider the interlocutors are not really dependable. Padgaonkar’s formulations on Jammu laws, the people of Jammu and Ladakh people of the state an integral part of and Kashmir, as well as his views on accept the same most cheerfully. India to the same extent as other Indian --(Courtesy: The Early Times) Pakistan, on Kashmiri separatists, on Equally appreciable are his sugges- nations, that he supports the concept of January 2012 REJOINDER 15 Suvir Koul’s & Natasha Koul’s Write-Ups in the quarterly of IIC New Delhi-II run by Dr. Gulam Nabi Fai, a notorious ISI agent, stands Natasha Koul on People of J&K & their aspirations exposed alongwith the Indian collaborators and mercenaries international scale. The two of his state to either of the two ing structures, she will realise who are in sync with the ISI states occupying Indian territo- dominions. The aspirations of the scale of destruction that the agenda of fragmenting India as ries cannot be granted justifica- the people were taken due cog- Jihadis have perpetrated on tion through ambivalence of not a thriving democratic country. nizance of. The broad masses minorities in Kashmir. putting the whole issue to a under the leadership of Sheikh Natasha Koul on Army The nationalist forces will cer- rational judgment. tainly defeat the ISI machina- Abdullah were supporting the intervention in Kashmir The learned writer has allud- decision of the state's ruler. The The cruel killers, Jihadis in tions and the Jihadi forces ed to the foreign dynasties that By Prof. M.L. Kol dreaming all the time Kashmir issue was raised and opened religious parlance, could not be have ruled over Kashmir in the again by the Jihadis operating allowed free rope to reduce going the Pakistan way. past. She has named Mughal Kashmir assumed an interna- under the aegis of ISI of Kashmir to stone age. Which ATASHA KOUL, and Afghan dynasties but has Pakistan. Terrorism was country in the world will allow though a Kashmiri tional complexion the day it not knowingly mentioned the became and inalienable part of exported to India with a view to it? She should look to Libya and NPandit in her origins, Shahmiri dynasty which was as bleeding it for purposes of Syria and see the Muslim dicta- has deliberately ignored the India. The Muslim League led foreign to Kashmir as Mughal by Jinnah detested by the weaning away Kashmir from tors killing their own Muslim heterogeneity of the state of and Afghan dynasties were. the constitutional sovereignty of subjects though the protests are Jammu and Kashmir and pro- Kashmiri Muslims did not Dogras, she says, purchased savour well the accession of the India. Jihadi war going on in not that lethal as we have wit- jected the secessionist aspira- Kashmir from the Sikhs. But, Kashmir has been a melange of nessed in Kashmir. The Indian tions of a small segment of the state to India. The considera- she deliberately avoids to men- tions were bluntly communal. terrorism and worst brand com- security forces have been on the Kashmiri population as the des- tion that a Shahmiri ruler munalism and parochialism. borders of the state since 1947. tiny of the entire state. She The tribal raiders invaded the divided the entire territory of Indian territory of J&K State Natasha Koul on removal of There were no interventions on should know that Jammu Kashmir as his fiefdom among governments in Kashmir their part into the civilian life province predominantly secular and indulged in loot, murder three Muslims, who were for- and mayhem. The Indian army It is a statement mired in till 1989-90. But, when security and democratic is whole-hog for eign occupiers of sacred land of generalities, vague and ambigu- situation in the state deteriorat- fall integration of the state with with the full support of Kashmir. Historical judgments Kashmiri Muslim populations ous. The state of Jammu and ed, the Central government was the Indian Union and is vehe- always falter when they are Kashmir is part and parcel of within its rights to deploy forces mently opposed to the special fought the looters and killers to made on the basis of some iso- the extent of clearing large Indian democracy which has to defeat the elements out to status granted to the state lated periods of history. been maturing over the years. destroy the integrity of the under article 370 of the Indian chunks of territories under How was the British parti- their grab and occupation. India The state of J&K never had un- country. The security forces Constitution. tion-plan messed up in representative governments. have not only defended our bor- So is Ladakh. It is entirely as a civilised country lodged a Kashmir? The powers to accede complaint in the world-body The Sheikh as the tall leader of ders, but also protected the life Buddhist with a sprinkling of to the dominions of India and Kashmir was constitutionally and property of the civilians Muslim population. The Shia against the Pakistani aggres- Pakistan were vested in the sion on her territory. Cold-war removed during cold-war days who are none but Muslims. segments of population inhabit- ruler of Kashmir, who, of and his successor was a Muslim Natasha Koul on ing the region of Kargil fully politics enmeshed the entire course, was a Hindu. In view of issues in knots of complications. who was super dynamic and led Kashmiriat know their fate in the Muslim Pakistan out to grab his state the state to new milestones of Without dewelling on the state of Pakistan where shias The world-body has deleted through aggression, he signed Kashmir from its agenda now. progress and development. The finer points of Kashmiriat, are detested and have been the accession document in governments of Ghulam Natasha Koul has made a under a state-sponsored process The issue in Kashmir is main- favour of India. Kashmir cer- ly Hindu and Muslim, purely Mohammad Sadiq and Syed Mir ridiculous statement that of elimination. The foreign set- tainly was a Muslim majority Qasim were very much repre- 'Kashmiriat is self-determina- tlers in Kashmir from Iran, communal. If it were not so, state but the fact should not be why were the Hindus of sentative and were so liberal as tion'. Kashmiriat, briefly put, is Turan and Afghanistan are and ignored that the majority popu- to allow a communal organisa- a symbolic expression of the cul- have been the source of turmoil Kashmir put to a genocide, thus lation supported the Maharaja forcing them to run from helter tion like Jamaat-e-Islamia to tural capital and episteme that in Kashmir. They are in siege of for having acceded to India. thrive and broaden its popular Kashmiris as one ethnic group the state power and have to skelter in search of existen- was the leader tial safety and security? The base. Both Sadiq and Mir have garnered through their demolished the native cultural of the anti-autocracy movement Qasim were not impositions whole course of history. It has structures and motifs and fed Jihadis were more than con- in Kashmir which had the full scious that the Hindus had a from New Delhi. They were nothing to do with self-determi- and reared a brand of politics support of the whole population stalwarts who too had their nation which gained currency based on obscurantism and reli- consistent history of fighting of India minus the Muslim them from day one when they in entrenched history in politics of and advocacy through the colo- gious bigotry. It is they who League. Those who dissented Kashmir. The aberrations nial struggles against the impe- donated their sons to Muslim the garb of sufis forcibly occu- fled to Pakistan. The pied Kashmir and reduced it to cropped up during the rule of rialist masters. The mischie- Jihad and made it obligatory for Kashmiris, by and large Farooq Abdullah who did not vous hyphenation of Kashmiriat the native converts to swell the an Iranian colony. The issue favoured democratic politics has gained prominence at inter- prove deft in ruling the state and self-determination as a ranks of Jihadis. The training and that is why the state of with the dexterity and sagacity deliberate act on part of the camps opened by Pakistan mili- national level when Pakistan, a Jammu and Kashmir became a Muslim state, waged a blatant of a politician. author of the write-up is only to tary imparted them training in territory of the Indian state. Natasha Koul on Kashmir please her Jihadi masters wielding leth weapons and war on India four times. Despite The Jihadis at the behest of image-battering defeats, she did as a conflict zone whom she appears committed funded the Jihadi groups Pakistan opened the secession- The question is not that to. Kashmiriyat when hyphen- formed at its behest. After hav- not drop Kashmir from its omi- ist agenda with mosques as its nous Jihadi agenda. At its Kashmir is a conflict zone. The ated with self -determination is ing crossed into the Indian ter- pivotal centres and the slogans fact remains, yes, it is a conflict an open support to the enemies ritory they made the Kashmiri behest, Jihadi war has been that were blurted out were incessantly going on in Kashmir zone. But what needs a atten- of India who are determined to Pandits as their first targets. blantantly communal. 1989-90 tion and emphasis is which balkanise and fragment her. JKLF killers were the first to for the last twenty years. The events were highly shocking Kashmir issue, Madam forces reduced it to a conflict Natasha Koul on wage war on natives of Kashmir that the native Muslims who zone. It is the Jihadis from Imperialist methodologies of and made them flee their homes Natasha, is nothing but commu- had supported the Indian acces- nal and that is the only para- Kashmir, Saudi Arabia, ruling the peripheries and hearths. Jihadi aspirations sion could turn stark communal Afgahnistan, Libia, Syria, Natasha Koul harbouring of the foreign settlers in digm, through which it is to be and be a part of the insurgency Egypt et al who were launched malice and hatred against the Kashmir are not the aspirations seen and evaluated and strate- with micro-minority of into Kashmir from launching- country of her genesis has use- of the Hindus, Shias, Sikhs, gies to be forged to defeat the Kashmiri Pandits as their pads in Pakistan. They have lessly theorized on the Buddhists and large sections of religious war for disintegration essential and prime target. As of India. reduced Kashmir to a veritable Imperialist methodology of rul- Sunni Muslims of Kashmir. of now, the Jihadi war has an hell, have killed and murdered Peace will prevail in Kashmir Natasha Koul on history of ing over the distant peripheries overt communal agenda with its people for no fault of theirs, dis- of the colonies. It does in no way only when the Jihadi forces in Kashmir sights riveted to the establish- It is a fact of history that placed the Hindu minorities reflect the Indian political sys- India, Pakistan and other ment of a Muslim state in after infliction of genocide on Muslim countries are globally parts of the state of Jammu and tem that the country has adopt- Kashmri are under an illegal Kashmir. them, raped and brutalized defeated. That is the solution to Natasha Koul on accession ed through constitutional stipu- occupation of Pakistan. It is their women-folk and put the lations since independence. It the present turmoil in Kashmir. of J&K State to India houses of minority Hindus to Natasha Koul on Kashmir also a fact that Pakistan treach- needs reiteration to remind erously ceded a portion of the The learned writer of the cruel flames of fire and arson. as national and write-up, Natasha Koul, is Natasha Koul that India is a state's territory to China only to The learned author of the write- federation of states with uni- international problem deeply ignorant of the develop- up is deliberate in over-looking fortify and buttress its relations tary characteristics. The states, Kashmir certainly is a nation- with that country. It is univer- ments that led Maharaja Hari the destruction of sprawling al problem. The patriotic people sally known that China too has Singh to accede to India. How habitations of Kashmiri Pandits now in India, no matter what of the country are in four gears grabbed large belts of the state's was the Maharaja forced to in cities and villages. She will their distances are from the to vanguish the vicious forces territories through a treacher- accede to India? can she estab- get shell-shocked to see the central seat of power, enjoy the that are hell-bent on partition- ous war waged on India in 1962. lish it on the basis of genuine charred ruins of such habita- same political powers that the ing the country a second time. The territories that historically historical facts? To make state- tions if she takes a chance to capital state of New Delhi is The collaborators and merce- belong to the state of Jammu ments about facts of history place herself in the middle of invested with. It is absurd to naries for petty gains and vest- and Kashmir have been under without quoting genuine refer- the Habbakadal bridge in say that India is a colonial ed interests have chosen to fall an illegal occupation of both ences is totally absurd. Srinagar and start looking on power and its methodology of in line and get mobilised for China and Pakistan, now in an Maharaja had practically unre- two sides of the river Jhelum. If governance is hegemonic and facilitating the Jihadi agenda to unholy alliance to offset the strained powers to make a deci- she has some grains of sensitiv- resembles a colonial power of growing influence of India on fructify. The 'Seminar-Circuit' sion about the issue of accession ity in her personality and think- yore. --Concluded January 2012 CONTINUATION 16

(From Page 12) Among these could be counted rites and ceremonies, but Sanskrit Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits and the Caste Reality the wrestlers, the actors, the dancers, the physicians, the because of their intellectual pro- unknown”, he writes, “there houses of the higher castes too trol of agriculturist economy. clivities, their natural gravita- shepherds, the gardeners and was no such caste as Kshatriya, belonged to the shudra varna, We do not hear of them in the also the courtesans who plied tion towards cultivation of cere- Vaishya and Shudra in early since no jati is mentioned. They Nilamata Purana, nor do we bral graces. They were intellec- the world’s oldest trade. These Kashmir”. While he describes were treated with sympathy hear in the first three books of people were not directly con- tual people who prized learning Brahmanas as “definitely the and were included in the list of the Rajatarangini, till we find above everything else. And nected with the production of more privileged and honoured the persons “in whose company Lalitaditya – who was wealth, but nonetheless had indeed it is because of their con- caste”, he mentions Nishadas, the householder feasted and Kashmir’s most powerful king - tributions that Kashmir came their own place in the society. Kiratas, Dombas, Shvapakas enjoyed”. The very fact, writes warning his successors not to Yet another class, which dis- to be known all over the world leave cultivators of the land and Chandalas as the lower Dr. Ved Kumari, that the tinguished itself from all the as a great seat of Sanskrit with more than what they castes. The Nishadas the Nilmata describes the Shudras classes mentioned above, was learning”. In the ancient texts Kiratas, the Dombas etc. were as taking part in the coronation require “for their bare suste- referred to above, we see them nance and the tillage of the that of the administrators. It no doubt there, but the ceremony of the kings, shows consisted of the nobility and the as people “engaged in self- Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas that they were not debased. land”. Otherwise, he says ‘they bureaucracy. As Dr. S.C. Ray study, contemplation, perform- were not altogether absent, There were people belonging would become in a single year has pointed out, the highest ance of sacrifice, penance and though they have not been men- to mixed castes also like Suta, very formidable Damaras and civil and military officials were the study of the Vedas and tioned in that detail. The Magadha and Vandi who lived strong enough to neglect the Vedangas.” Respect was shown Nilamata describes the func- by singing the paeans of heroes commands of the kings”. And drawn from the nobility, and to them because they were sup- tions of all the four traditional and other famous persons. Dr. then we learn that they -were these included the sarvadikara posed to be “itihasvidah and castes and says that representa- S.C.Ray counts the Nishadas, agriculturists who, owned large (also called dhi-sachiva) or kalavidah that is knower of his- tives of all the four participated Kiratas, Dombas etc. among the chunks of land. Lalitaditya’s prime minister, stiehiva or min- tory and the connoisseurs of in the king’s coronation. In fact, low caste people but stops short warning appears to have had no ister, the mandalesha or gover- art”. And who can provide a Kalhana uses the term of calling them Shudras. The effect, for we see the Damaras nor and the kantpanesha or better proof of this than Kayastha for all those who were Nishadas, who lived by hunting becoming wealthier and gaining commander-in-chief. Being Kalhana, the great author of appointed in State’s service and and fishing, are also described more and more strength. By important officers of the State, Rajatarangini, and the whole would include Brahmins as well as boatsmen in the the time the Lohara dynasty the nobility drew lame salaries host of chroniclers of Kashmir as the others, though there are Rajatarangini. The Kiratas, ascended the throne, they had from the royal treasury. who followed him — Jonaraja hardly any references to who were hunters and animal become so rich and powerful The bureaucracy assisted and Shrivara, Pragyabhatta Khshtriyas or Vaisyas, as the trappers, were a forest dwelling that they began to interfere in them in running the general and Shuka? case may be in other parts of the tribe belonging to the Tibeto- the affairs of the State. Living administration of the State It Brahmins were also required country. Burman racial stock. The in fortified residences, they consisted of all kinds of officials, to have a thorough grounding in The Rajatarangini does make Dombas have been described in raised large private armies and both high and low, all of them the six schools of philosophy, references to Kshatriyas as well the Rajatarangini in association established their strongholds being known by the general con- astrology and astronomy, gram- as Vaishyas in the context of with the Chandalas as hunts- all over Kashmir. Such was notation “Kayastha”, which did mar, logic, prosody and medi- Kashmir’s ancient history. Any men belonging to the menial their power and influence that not denote any particular caste. cine, besides religious texts. how, there is no reference in it class. Kalhana calls them they were able to extend their As I have mentioned earlier, the They had to live an austere life of tensions between the castes, “Shvapakas” or “dog-eating peo- stranglehold over the adminis- members of any caste or class and adhere to a high moral or anything like the priest – ple”. tration, becoming virtual king- could be recruited as code. Nowhere has it been sug- king collusion, to maintain But they have also been makers, enthroning or dethron- Kayasthas, including the gested that they should be wor- hegemony over others. The shown as good musicians who ing anyone according to their Brahmanas. Both Kalhana and shipped “as gods on the earth” Brahmins, however, are often made quite a profession of their wish. In the wars of succession Kshemendra have hated them even if they are illiterate and that became endemic after the shown as resorting to pray- singing and dancing. Kalhana for their greed and for their ignorant. And yet Brahmins 10th century, we find them sup- opavesha or hunger-strike to mentions the story of a Domba cruel methods of exacting rev- have been equated with priests get their demands accepted by singer Ranga whose daughters porting one claimant to the throne or the other, their sup- enue and taxes from the people. (clergy) and as representatives the king. The confrontation gave a performance in the glit- port often proving to be the Kshemendra gives a long list of of an exploitative and oppres- between King Jayapida and the tering royal assembly hall of deciding factor. their designations in his works sive social order, by the Critics Brahmanas of Tulamula is a Chakravarman and were This is what happened in the Narmamala and Samaya who think that they can bring well known example. included in the king’s seraglio, internecine conflicts between Matrika. Describing them as an down the Kashmiri Pandits by There may not be many direct one of them becoming the chief Ananta and Kalasha and exploitative and oppressive indulging in Brahmin bashing. references to Vaishyas as such queen much to the chagrin of They accuse the Brahmins of others. Consequently, Dombas Kalasha and Harsha, each of class, he exposes their fraudu- in Rajatarangani and other them vying for their help. lent ways and bungling, and exploitation, usurping power, of early works, but Kalhana does became the favourites of the appropriating and of ossifying king and wielded much influ- Powerful rulers like Didda, accuses them of forgery, misap- mention the emergence of a rich Ananta, Kalasha and propriation and embezzlement. the Sanskrit language and con- and prosperous merchant class. ence at his court as councilors. verting it into God’s language. Chandalas were bravos and Jayasimha used every strata- Kalhana too speaks about them With the opening of overland gem to curb them, including the in the same vein. The common There is no doubt that trade routes during Kanishka’s fierce fighters. They worked as executioners and were also use of military force, but the man appears to have been Brahmins did hold a high posi- rule, and perhaps, earlier, trade employed as the king’s watch- Damaras continued to retain squeezed between the tyranni- tion in the society, but mainly and commerce with foreign men. their nuisance value. Dr. cal Damaras and the oppressive as an intellectual and scholarly countries appears to have If at all, there could be a divi- S.C.Ray attributes the rise and and greedy Kayasthas, though class, and not all of them adopt- received a boost. Commercial sion of early Kashmiri society growth of the Damaras not only not all Kayasthas could have ed priesthood as their profes- activity must have been partic- into four castes and their sub- to the “weakness of the royal been like that. sion. And those who did were ularly brisk during the rule of castes, it was only notional. In authority” and “the constant Where does it leave the crit- not much respected as they the Karkotas. Extensive con- were recipients of donations actual fact, the caste-system wars of succession”, but also to ics’ attack on the priestly class quests by kings like Lalitaditya was never rigid in Kashmir, or “the economic structure of the and sacrificial fees and not had opened vast markets for or the Brahmins? They must donors. The donor was the of a tyrannical character. society”, which because of explain where from they got Kashmiri goods in neighbouring Intermarriages between various increasing dependence on agri- patron, the ‘ yajamana’ who territories. The Valley was full such information and with what hired a priest to have a religious castes were not uncommon, as cultural lands for revenue authority did they speak in such of wealthy merchants, says we learn from works like the proved helpful to the rise of the sacrifice or ritual performed. Kalahana, with some of them astringently damning words And anybody could be the Katha-Saritsagara. It is, there- landed aristocracy. As their about the Brahmins and then living in palatial buildings fore absolutely irrelevant to wealth and influence increased, patron under the yajmani sys- excelling the king’s palace. use the phrase “ugly reality of tem - including a Brahmin. talk of social-organization in the Damaras came to be looked social stratification developed Damodargupta’s reference to upon with respect in the society, In fact, the Brahmins took up terms of “ugly reality of Caste along the lines of Caste and shreshthin and vanikas also and Jati” in context of Kashmiri with royal families establishing several occupations, besides indicates the existence of a rich Jati” and for which they hold serving as priests. They were Hindus and their legitimate even matrimonial relations and prosperous trading commu- with them. the Brahmins (the Hindu katha-vachakas or narrators of claims to pluralism. The society priestly class) responsible, as if nity during his time, belonging in Kashmir was actually divid- While agricultural and trad- Puranic stories, astrologers, the Brahmins in India had probably to the Vaishya caste. ed along occupational or socio- ing communities were very vaidyas or physicians, teachers, enjoyed the same position and Many among the upward economic lines. Dr. S.C. Ray important elements in the socie- and even agriculturists. Some of mobile artisan classes in the privileges as were enjoyed by them joined the administrative writes: “Three distinct classes of ty from the socio-economic point Valley too must have belonged people evolved, along with their of view, the artisan classes also the Christian clergy during the service also and became council- to this community. As for the medieval times or is still being lors and ministers. Some, like several sub-divisions, on the witnessed a significant growth Shudras, Nilamata counts the in early Kashmir. These includ- enjoyed by the Fatwa announc- Kaihana’s own father basis of three principle karmajivin (workers) and ed the weavers and the jew- ing Muslim clergy in today’s Champaka, adopted the mili- methods of production (agricul- shilpis (artisans) as Shudras – ellers, metal casters and image- Muslim world. To me it tary career. ture, industry and trade)”. that is, the weavers, carpenters, While agriculturists constituted makers, potters and carpenters, appears that she has drawn Dr. S.C.Ray in his outstand- goldsmiths, silversmiths, black- the bulk of these occupational blacksmiths and leather tan- heavily on the narrative of the ing research in “Early History smiths, leather-tanners and classes, artisans and merchants ners etc. Although their sphere imperialist/colonist European and Culture of Kashmir” comes potters. They were treated with too had important roles to play of activity was quite wide, there scholars of the nineteenth cen- to believe that there were no respect in the society and were in the society. were no corporate or traders tury, whose only aim has been intermediate castes in Kashmir, among those who exchanged Around the 8th century, in guilds in Kashmir as in other to distort Indian history to suit not even Shudras. “Though the gifts with the “higher varnas” Kashmir, a new class of feudal parts of India. their ideological and politico- conception of the population as during the Mahimana celebra- landlords known as the There were also occupational strategic aims. consisting of the four traditional tions, says Dr. Ved Kumari. Damaras, appeared on the communities who served the To be Continued castes was not altogether The servants serving in the scene and started gaining con- society in various other ways. January 2012 LETTER TO EDITOR 17 Sir, the Governor J&K State. I did- A news item, ‘Pristine Glory of Save the heritage for posterity CONCERN n’t hear anything in reply. I Wular lake to be restored now want to highlight this appeared in the Daily Tribune In the project Wular develop- The island is reported to have suggested to Shri Gul to put issue through the columns of dated 1st November 2011. The ment authorities concerned been laid on an ancient temple these in a small temple or a your esteemed paper seek statement came from Shri have taken the development of which was in ruinous state. museum so that posterity proper identification of the Mubarak Gul, advisor to the Island ‘Laank’ lying on N.E. of (Tarikhi-Hassan). could benefit from their pres- Hindu deities and their hous- Chief Minister, J&K at the lake which is of the size of While the mosque is in final ence. ing in a small museum temple District Board Bondipore 100x70 yds. stage of reconstruction, the I did write a latter on this sub- which can assuage the feeling meeting. It was revealed that This island was developed by ancient idols existing at the ject to Shri Gul, but I didn’t of neglect which the Pandit Government of India has ear- King Badshah during his reign site on the island continue to receive any acknowledgement community feel otherwise in marked a grant of Rs 389 and he constructed a mosque, be lying open and have been or reply considering the matter protecting pricless artifacts. crores for this purpose. An a park and a small temple facing the elements of nature, to be important for the indige- amount of Rs 20 crore is which contained some idols, weathering decay for ages nous Kashmiri Pandits, I --J.L. Tiku already reported to have been and stare carved images of past. Since these are of historic wrote a letter to His Sarwal spent. various Hindu dieties. value and very ancient, I had Excellency Shri N.N. Vohra, Dt: 26/12/2011 An MP earns 104 times more than an average Indian--Pritish Nandi

was an MP not very long ago. I loved more. have only correlate MPs and Haryana Ithose six years. Today, out of 543 MPs in LokSabha, narrowly misses out on this distinction Everyone called me sir, not because of 315 are Crorepatis. That’s 60%. 43 out of with one MP, poor guy, who’s not a cor- my age but because I was an MP. the 54 newly elected RajyaSabha MPs relate. And even though I never travelled are also millionaires. Their average Do MPs become richer in office? Sure anywhere by train during those years, I declared assets are over Rs 25 Crore they do. Statistics show that the average reveled in the fact that I could have each. That’s an awfully wealthy lot of assets of 304 MPs who contested in 2004 gone anywhere I liked, on any train, people in whose hands we have vested and then re-contested last year grew first class with a bogey reserved for my our destiny. 300%. And, yes, we’re only talking about family. declared assets here. Whenever I flew, there were always The assets of your average LokSabha But then, we can’t complain. We are people around to pick up my baggage, MP have grown from Rs 1.86 Crore in the ones who vote for the rich. Over 33% not because I was travelling business the last house to Rs 5.33 Crore. That’s of those with assets above Rs 5 Crore class but because I was an MP. won the last elections while 99.5% of And yes, whenever I wrote to any those with assets below Rs 10 lakhs lost! Pritish Nandi well known television personality. Government officer to help someone in BLOG NEWS Apart from West Bengal and the North need, it was done. No, not because I was East, every other state voted for corre- The rest of the time goes in squabbling a journalist but because I was an MP. 200% more. And, as we all know, not all late MPs. Haryana grabbed first place and ranting. Now they want a 500%pay The job had many perquisites, apart our MPs are known to always declare all with its average MP worth Rs 18 Crore. hike and perquisites quadrupled. The from the tax free wage of Rs 4,000. Then their assets. Much of these exist in a Andhra is not far behind at 16. Government, to buy peace, has already the wages were suddenly quadrupled to colour not recognised by our tax laws. But no, this is not enough for our MPs. agreed to a 300% raise but that’s not Rs 16,000, with office expenses of That’s fine, I guess. Being an MP gives It’s not enough that they are rich, infi- good enough for our MPs. They want Rs20,000 and a constituency allowance you certain immunities, not all of them nitely richer than those who they repre- more, much more. of Rs 20,000 thrown in. I could borrow meant to be discussed in a public forum. sent, and every term makes them even And no, I’m not even mentioning that interest free money to buy a car, get my If you think it pays to be in the ruling richer. It’s not enough that they openly 150 MPs elected last year havecriminal petrol paid, make as many free phone party, you are dead right: 7 out of 10 perpetuate their families in power. It’s cases against them, with 73 serious, calls as I wanted. My home came free. MPs from the Congress are Crorepatis. not enough that all their vulgar indul- very serious cases ranging from rape to So did the furniture, the electricity, the The BJP have 5. MPs from some of the gences and more are paid for by you and murder. water, the gardeners, the plants. There smaller parties like SAD, TRS and JD me through backbreaking taxes. It’s not Do you really think these people were also allowances to wash curtains (Secular) are all Crorepatis while the enough that the number of days they deserve to earn 104 times what the aver- and sofa covers and a rather funny NCP, DMK, RLD, BSP, Shiv Sena, actually work in Parliament are barely age Indian does. allowance of Rs 1,000 per day to attend National Conference and Samajwadi 60 in a year. Parliament, which I always thought was Party have more Crorepatis than the an MP’s job in the first place! And, oh 60% average. Printer Publisher B.N. Kaul for and on behalf of Panun Kashmir Foundation. yes, we also got Rs 1 Crore a year (now Only the CPM and the Trinamool, the Editor: SHAILENDRA AIMA Computer Graphic: S.K. Babbu, Printed at : enhanced to Rs 2 Crore) to spend on our two Bengal based parties, don’t field The Kashmir Times Press, Gangyal, Jammu constituencies. More enterprising MPs Crorepatis. The CPM has 1 correlate out Owned by: PANUN KASHMIR FOUNDATIONPublished from enjoyed many more perquisites best left of 16 MPs; the Trinamool has 7 out of PANUN KASHMIR FOUNDATION, 172, Sector-3, E.W.S Colony, Lower Roop Nagar, Jammu-180013 (INDIA) to your imagination. While I was embar- 19. This shows in the state-wise aver- Tele/Fax: 0191-2593166 emal: [email protected] rassed at being vastly overpaid for the age. West Bengal and Kerala have few website: panunkashmir.org job I was doing, they kept demanding correlate MPs while Punjab and Delhi AHMED ALI FAYYAZ Hasnain views 2012 as another year of peace in J&K MEDIA SCAN FSPA or no AFSPA, Kashmir Awill continue to be the ‘Because of US elections, ISI would not go for any adventurism’ today’s Kashmir people wanted Paradise on Earth for second con- good “bijli, pani, sadak and gover- tions. the year 2013. This particular port of continuance of AFSPA in secutive year in 2012. This is not nance”. While completely ignoring Hasnain’s classified slide pres- year, according to the Corps J&K, Lt Gen Hasnain warned in Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s the sentiments of Omar Abdullah entation titled “Who Wants Commander, would witness his “scenario building” that the wishful thinking but, conversely, government as well as the much Revocation of AFSPA?” claimed India’s exist from the United demand for Plebiscite would be the belief of the country’s most familiar views of the union Home that Directorate General of Nations Security Council and its spiralling to its highest point in ardent advocate of the controver- Minister P Chidambaram and Pakistan’s Inter Services immediate replacement with the last several decades in 2015 sial law and commander of DileepPadgoankar-led team of Intelligence (ISI) would not take Pakistan and some rabidly anti- and the following year could mark Srinagar-based 15th Corps Lt three interlocutors, Gen Hasnain any major decisions or risks in the Indian Organization of Islamic the end of Kashmir’s integration claimed that only “terrorists, sep- Gen Syed Ata Hasnain. year the people of the world’s Conference (OIC) countries. He with India. According to him, this aratists and ISI” were dying for According to an illustration of biggest superpower would be claimed that towards the end of scenario would be taken to its log- AFSPA’s revocation. Lt Gen Hasnain’s Power Point electing a new head of the state. Year 2013, Islamabad and her ical conclusion by Pakistan and “Terrorists? Yes, it helps them presentation at the Unified According to him, ISI would also friends in the OIC would trigger ISI only after creating an impres- dilute the Army’s effectiveness; Headquarters meeting at Chief be mute as the NATO forces off a major campaign of interna- sion that Government of India Separatists? Yes, because it Minister’s Jammu residence on would begin their withdrawal tionalizing Kashmir. He expected had completely tied the hands of enables their separatist activities; November 9th, which has been from Afghanistan and Pakistan veritable turbulence and mass her security forces in Kashmir ISI? Yes, because it helps in exclusively accessed by Early towards the end of the same year. uprising in Kashmir in 2014 when under the world pressure. weakening the Army’s hold”, Lt Times, 2012 would be a peaceful Contrary to the claims of Police the strife-torn state would be Revocation of AFSPA, according Gen Hasnain concluded. It was in year in Jammu & Kashmir. In a and political leaders of the three- holding general elections for to him, would serve as the water- this eventful meeting, first of its professional analysis of situation year-old coalition Government, Legislative Assembly as well as shed. kind with the state government in in near future, which is known as Hasnain asserted that 2011 was LokSabha and the separatists, Focusing on four entities in the J&K, that Chief Minister report- ‘scenario building’ in Defence cir- the “Rest Year for ISI and the sep- with Pakistan’s and OIC’s sup- presentation, Hasnain claimed edly took umbrage on the Lt cles, Hasnain gave credit to nei- aratists” as they wanted the port, would be encouraging “mass that after “remarkable correc- General’s views and asked him to ther armed forces nor politicians fatigue factor to fade away from protests and sacrifices of a couple tions” in observing human rights wind up and drop a copy of the for the next year’s tranquillity in the people of Kashmir. of thousand young lives a la Arab by armed forces in Kashmir, revo- slide so that he could “see where I Valley. He attributed the rosy pic- Lt Gen Hasnain, however, Spring style”. cation of AFSPA was no more a fit in.” ture to the US Presidential elec- apprehended a turning point in Making his averments in sup- peoples’ issue. He asserted that in --(Courtesy: The Early Times) January 2012 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 18

July 9: A JeM commander Ahsan Bhai and his asso- eying Doda belt and are making frequent situation in the Valley. ciate were killed in an encounter at Hajan trips to the area. Fai, the alleged ISI agent, Aug. 2: Police fired in air as angry mob attacked PDP Payeen, Rajpora in Pulwama. Interlocutors roped in many Indian journalists for anti- MLA’s at Sopore even as government trans- visited Reasi and Kathua. Mufti Mohd Sayed India cause. ferred SP Sopore. Mirwaiz threatened violent asked India and Pakistan to demonstrate July 22: Two people were injured in mine explosions protests if restrictions on sepratists contin- flexibility and involve Kashmiris in talks. near LoC inPoonch. Protests broke out in ued. A Pakistani youth crossed over to this GOC 15 Corps reviewed security situation. Kulgam against alleged abduction and gang side while two girls crossed over the LoC in July 10: Two boys were killed as they fiddled with an rape 0f a Gujjar woman Rukaya Bano by Poonch sector. explosive device in . A live grenade was Army. The state government is to approach Aug. 3: A terrorist was killed in Kupwara and life seized on IB in Reasi sector. A terrorist centre for implementation of the recommen- remained paralysed by stricke and stone-pelt- returned after leaving a young girl in PoK. dations of five WGs. ing in Sopore.Farooq Abdullah accused vested July 11: Interlocutors claimed consensus on many July 23: Two LeT terrorists were killed in Handwara interest for exploiting Sopore incident. issues. Panun Kashmir described recruitment Kupwara. Two youth were killed as they fid- Geelani’s aide was among four chargesheeted of migrant youth as mere tokenism. The US dled with an explosive material in Rafiabad, in an alleged hawala racket. Police arrested suspended USD 800 million military aid to Baramulla. Kulgam rape case took new turn an Let terrorist Mushtaq Ahmed of Budhan, Pakistan for not going full throttle in war on as husband and mother-in-law of the alleged Reasi who had been staying in Jammu for terror. victim claimed her mentally ill. Arms and more than three years and has even married July 12: Two IEDs were recovered in Baramulla. ammunition were recovered from Poonch and a Gujjar girl. Mirwaiz Umar described talks through inter- Kishtwar districts while seven swords were Aug. 4: An LeT commander was among four terrorists locutors as farce.45 terrorists were killed in a recoverd from an Amarnath bound yatri bus killed across Kashmir valley.Police claimed to drone attack in Pakistan. at Bhagwati Nagar, Jammu. Ram jethmalani hsave wiped out LeT from Doda belt with the July 13: Six people were injured as an explosive device described peaceful solution of Kashmir must killing of LeT chief of Kishtwar and his asso- went of while the debris of the July nine for Indo-Pak peace. Sri Sri Ravishanker ciate. Police has decided to conduct census of encounter site was being cleared by the house favoured continuation of dialogue with unauthorized Basti’s to find out unwanted owner. Interlocutors claimed that violence Pakistan. elements. Ahead of Independence Day, police and militancy have failed and there was con- July 24: A civilian was shot dead in Sopore by terror- has launched hunt for sleeper cells. Centre sensus on dialogue and majority wanted unity ists while an SPO had a narrow escpe as ter- has announced 5000 scholarships for J&K of the state. 21 people were killed and 141 rorists attacked them in Hajan,Bandipore. students pursuing higher studies outside the injured in three blasts as terrorists struck in Arms were yet again recovered in Poonch state after passing 12th from J&KSBOSE. Mumbai. while the body of a terrorist was recovered Aug. 5: Two infiltration bids were foiled in Kashmir July 14: Eight people including an LeT commander after two months of his death. While India while four people were injured in protests and were charge sheeted in the killing of cleric has sought clarification to some Queries from stone-pelting in Sopore and Srinagar. An Maulana Showkat but the name of Ashiq Pakistan in 2008 Mumbai attack, AJudicial OGW of HM was arrested in Kalakote. DG Hussain Faktoo, husband of Aisya Andrabi, Commission is to visit India to quiz 26/11 J&K Police said that 300 ultras are trying to who was claimed by police to be involved in attack witness. enter the state. the killing, didn’t figure in the list.PM said July 25: An Army Jawan was arrested for eve teasing Aug. 6: Two terrorists were killed in Surankote. that the government will do everything to in Pattan, Baramulla. India goes ahead with Protesters clashed with cops in Srinagar prevent terrorist attacks in future while P civilian expedition to Saichen ignoring Pak while two cops were arrested for alleged cus- Chidambaram said that all groups hostile to objections. DG of CRPF said that the force is todial killing in Sopore. Govt. has sanctioned India are on the radar of investigation in the trying hard to maintain peace in Kashmir. 20 new police stations and 0 posts as the Mumbai attacks. Jammat-ud-Dawah chief vowed to enter India major share goes to militancy-hit areas. July 15: Five terrorists and a Jawan were killed and through J&K. Aug. 7: the death toll in Kupwara operation going on five Army men including a captain were July 26: Two HM terrorists were killed in Kishtwar. for last two weeks rose to three with the injured in an encounter at Maidanpora in Two people were arrested in R S Pura and killing of a n LeT commander today. One of Lolab, Kupwara.Arms and ammunition were fake currency was recovered from their pos- the terrorists killed in Surankote turned out recovered in Reasi. session. On the eve of Indo-Pak talks, to be an Let Commander. Narco-terrorism July 16: LeT leader Al-Kama was eliminated in an Pakistan FM met both factions of Hurriayat networks have surfaced in Jammu and Delhi encounter in Keshwan, Kishtwar. Forces who reportedly sough Pak intervention in as drug operators are funding terrorists. claimed to have eliminated entire LeT leader- release of Fai. Aug. 8: An SPO and a TA Jawan were as they killed an ship in Lolab and Sopore. GOC 16 Corps July 27: A JCO was killed in a gun battle near LoC in insane youth in a fake encounter in Hari claimed that 450 ultras are in 42 Pak training Kupwara. A Poonnch youth was held and six forests in Surankote on the intervening night camps. others detained in Mumbbai for questioning of6-7 August to get promotion and rewards. July 17: A large quantity of arms and ammunition was in connection with 13/7 serial blasts. India Maisuma witnessed clashes after a youth’s recovered as a terrorist hideout was destroyed and Pak unveiled a number of CBMs on cross arrest. The Delhi High Court upheld the dis- in Mahore, Reasi. Massive search has been LoC trad as two FMs met. missal of BSF men for a rape case in J&K and launched on Kathua-Punjab border after July 28: Polioce filed a chargesheet against the Army acquittal of an Al-Badar cadre in another case inputs about movement of terrorists in the Jawan accused of misbehaving with a girl in while the Apex Court said that cops involved area.Police has released a sketch of a suspect Pattan while a man was held for instigating in fake encounters should be hanged. in Mumbai blasts. Indo-Pak officials are to Kulgam woman. Farooq Abdullah described it Aug. 9: Two SPO’s reportedly desertd DPL Kulgam discuss CBMs on cross-LoC trade. A jawan Pakistan’s compulsion to talk to separatists. along with rifles while two persons including killed in an encounter in the state was cre- PM accepted invitation to visit Pakistan. a Panch were arrested from Kellar in south mated in Rajasthan. Jule 29: Tragedy was averted on NH as three IEDs Kashmir. Two more people were arrested and July 18: Another consignment of arms and ammuni- were detected in a passenger bus at four SPO’s detained in the alleged fake tion was recoverd from a hideout in Budhal, Quazigund and subsequently defused. Two encounter case of Surankote.Pakistan has Rajouri. Six guns have been seized from siz Jawans were injured in Rajouri as the gun of favoured an uninterrupted dialogue with security personnel at Railway Station, another Jawan went off accidentally while India. Jammu fir verification as they might have traveling. Mirwaiz accused mainstream Aug.10: The SC upheld trhe death sentence of a terror- been cheated by the Gun Houses. politicians of pursuing Indian point of view ist in Red Fort attack case while a Delhi July 19: A cop was injured as terrorists ttacked him in and asked Pakistan not to talk to them. court acquitted two Pakistani’s in infamous his house in . A woman ter- July 30: Two Army personnel were killed asa major Chatisinghpora case as the prosecution failed rorist Quartul-Ain of Jalalabad, Sopore was infiltration bid was foiled in Kupwara; a ter- to produce evidence against them. The govt. remanded to police custody. The terrorists rorist was killed in same district.A Bakerwal said that about 40,000 people were killed in reportedly roaming in Dhar area are in pos- boy dodged terrorists and escaped with an J&K violence in two decades. Army Chief vis- session of satellite telephone. GoC 15 Corps AK-47 as two terrorists sneaked into Banihal ited forward areas to review situation and said that more infiltration attempts are area. asked for ensuring safety of local population. expected in the coming months. US secretary July 31: Sopore witnessed tension after the death of a Govt. has recommended rejection of Afzal of State asked Pakistan not to give safe civilian allegedly in police custody even thoug Guru,s clemency petition. DM said that as per havens to terrorists. government orderd probe and suspended records 53 ultras tried to infiltrate till june 11 July 20: Two HM terrorists were arrested in Incharge and attached Dy SP. Death toll rose this year. Baramulla while seven more girls were to thre as one more Jawan was killed in Aug.11: A terrorist was killed in Kupwara. Pak Army quizzed for terrorist links. SAS Geelani was Kupwara encounter. A mortar shell was returned the woman who had inadvertently detained after his supporters clashed with defused near IB in Arnia sector. After Fai crossed LOC in poonch district. Army Chief Police in Anantnag. Scribes, Mirwaiz and case, the financial brin of Hurriyat Nasir Safi said that the troops cannot afford to lower other leaders may be quizzed for Fai links. Mir, accused of making payments to guard on border as terrorist camps are intact Experts in Washington opined that another sepratists, has reportedly escaped to Gulf in Pakistan and PoK. Home Secretary R K terrorist attack may derail Indo-Pak talks. after jumping parole. Singh said that human rights violations can- July 21: An IED was defused on Poonch-Mendhar road Aug. 1: An explosive device was defused on Jammu- not be tolerated and anybody found guilty of while arms and explosives were recovered in Poonch road. An arms haul was recovered on fake encounter or custodial death will be pun- Reasi and Poonch districts. Owner of the vehi- Budha Amarnath route. Sopore andsome ished. cle used in Sopore fire has been identified. A other towns in the valley observed shutdown Aug. 12: Huge cache of arma and ammunition was cop reportedly died in accidental fire in against alleged custodial death in Sopore. recovered in Kupwara. Five people were Kashmir. Kashmiri terrorists are reportedly Army Chief Gen. S K Singh reviewed security (Contd. on Page 19) January 2012 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 19 (From Page 18) claimed to have busted a network of pumping An intrusion bid was foiled and five intruders injured as fresh clashes erupted in , fake currency into terror emanating from pushed back in Samba sector. Srinagar. People beeline to claim the slasin Pakistan and routed through Bangladesh. Sep.14: Terrorists attacked a CRPF party in Sopore insane youth as their kin. Clashes were yet again witnessed in while war like stores were recovered from a Aug.13: Grenades were fired on CRPF camps in Dal Nowhatta. hideout in Keran sector in Kupwara.Two Lake area. Clashes were yet again witnessed Aug. 27: A ration haul was recovered from a terrorist Kishtwar students were taken on remand as in Maisuma area. Security forces recovered hideout in Ramban. Police claimed that more NIA again joined the probe and is looking for decomposed bodies of two terrorists in WB youth are involved in terror network. the module. BSF on high alert as Pak Army Kishtwar. SPO and TA jawan, involved inn Aug. 28: CM announced amnesty to youth arrested opened firing on Indian posts in Akhnoor sec- the killing of insane youth, claimed that no during summer unrest on a day when police tor.Pandits observed MARTYRS’ Day as other person was involved in the killing as arrested 70 stone pelters during night long Panun Kashmir organized a rally at Pres samples of four civilians were taken for DNA clashes. There are reports that about 6-7 Club to pay homage to the martyrs test. Army claimed to have recovered 43 Kg crore rupees were supplied to terrorists Sep. 15: Investigations in Delhi blast move forward as explosives in district while CRPF through cross-LoC trade. two more suspects were detained and NIA said that a group of militants has intruded to Aug. 29: A JeM terrorist was among two terrorists team head reached Kishtwar for further create trouble. 6.36 lakh perform Yatra as the killed in the Valley. A consignment of arms investigations. An AK rifle was recovered in yearly Yatra concluded today. and ammunition was recovered in Budhal. Shopian. Interlocutors visited Samba as BJP Aug. 14: Arms were recovered in Kupwara. Police Surankote fake encounter victim’s body is to workers protested for their Kashmir centric claimed that the dead bodies were of longest exhumed today for DNA sampling. Kirni policies.GOC 15 Corps said that no surrender surviving terrorist alias experiment to be repeated elsewhere as peo- offer will be made to the foreign terrorists Khandey, reportedly active from1989, and of ple return to villages ahead of fencing. during encounters. his associate Mushtaq Ahmed but said that Aug. 30: Woman proteste after arrest of a youth I n Sep.16: An NC worker was shot at by terrorists in DNA tests will be carried to confirm the same. Nowhatta. Srinagar. On another was arrestede and an Governer N N Vohra asked sepratists to come Aug. 31: A cop and a woman were injured as clashes alert sounded to various states on teen-age forward while CM asked them to join in posi- were witnessed on the occasion of Eidin some terror. PM said that cross-border camps have tive manner and said that Indo-Pak ties are parts of thevalley. DG of BSF said that intru- been activated and there was no room for set to improve. sion bids have been curbed. CM’s twitter for complacency on security front in J&K. Aug. 15: Arms were recovered in Tral. Independence TN like resolution for Afzal Guru draws flak. Interlocutors met Northern Command Chief. Day celebrations passed of peace fully. CM Sep.1: A JCO was killed as Pakistan violated cease- Sep. 17: A terrorist hideout was busted in Kupwara. A said that gun is no solution andonly talks will fire in Kupwara. A hunt has ben launched for Kashmir trader complained of receiving resolve theissues and claimed that PM and three terrorists inMahore. HM said that threats from HuJI. Guru resolution was list- HM have assured the implementation of AFSPA will go once DAA is lifted. ed at No. 2 after ballot. Interlocutors ruled interlocutors, recommendations. PM sought Sep. 2: Six fresh recruits of Kashmir were arrested out pre-53 position and said that formulae of help to fight terror menace. on way to PoK in Rajouri. A terrorist was the sepratists will be reflected in the report. Aug.16: Four terrorists operating in Reasi have sur- killed and two jawans injured while Pakistan Six people were injured in a blast in Agra rendered on Reasi-Kulgam border. IED again violated ceasefire in Machil sector. Sep.18: Ex. PoK PM Sultan Mewhmood Chaudhary devices were recovered in Poonch. Gelani called for strike on 6-7 September. expressed his gratitude to GoI and described Aug. 17: An infiltration bid was foiled in Poonch dis- Sep. 3: A terrorist was killed in Kupwara. Fresh his visit to Kashmir as major CBM. Mufti trict. Police claimed to have wiped out HM recruits who were arrested in Rajouri havew Mohd Sayeed described Self Rule as the only after LeT in Kulgam-Reasi belt. beeen handed over to Shopian police. Apex viable solution. There are reports about rise in infiltration bids. Aug. 19:A jawan was injured in a mine blast in Committee approved amendments to PM’s Sep. 19: Sultan Mehmood met Omar Abdullah and Poonch. Interlocutors met Union Home Return Package as incentives for houses have Radha Kumar on a wedding. Describing Minister. Indo-Pak parliamentarians favour been proposed to be Rs 20 lakh. Sep. 4: A terrorist hideout was busted in Baramulla. Pakistan as epicenter of global terror and a new transit routes on LoC. lost stats GOC 16 Corps Lt. Gen. J P Nehra The US said that Pakistan based LeT is active inn Pursuing the fake currency racket, agencies claimed that several crores were pumped in said infiltration attempts are on rise but Kashmir and targeting India. troops are alert. Aug. 20: 2 terrorists were killed after infiltrating into four years and the same was printed at Pak Govt. Press at Peshawar. Mirwaiz Farooq is Sep. 20: A terrorist- hideout was busted and huge sector using boats. An Army Lt. was cache of arms recovered in Dachigam in the kill ed and three jawans injured in the opera- reported to have opposed passport to Geelani. Sep.5: Defence Secretary visited LoS and met outskirts of Srinagar. Two people were killed tion that was still going on. Intelligence agen- and six others hurt in a blast in ascrap deal- cies and ploice have unearthed a major rack- Governor and CM. LS was informed that 93 terrorists tried to infiltrsate and 11 were ers shop in Kupwara. Sultan Mehmood met et in which a cross-LoC trader is alleged to Geelani and other sepratists and accepting have paid an amount of Rs 1.5 crore to killed upto July.India asks Pakistan to stop work in PoK. Three more trans-border smug- state hospitality, he flew in a state chopper. sepratists and Geelani’s spokesman Aiyaz Interlocutors met Addul Rahim Rather and Akbar is reported to be the major beneficiary. glers were arrested and herin worth five crore seized. others. Aug. 21: An infiltrator was killed and one another Sep. 21: All the three accused in Delhi blast have been Sep. 6: A jawan was killed and four others injured as injured while two escaped back in Poonch. flown to New Delhi. Interlocutors described a live shell exploded in firing range in GOC 15 Corps said that terrorists are situation as still fragile. Sultan asked India Budgam.Life remained paralysed in many desprate to infiltrate as theoperation contin- Pakistan to resolve Kashmir issue. The US pars of Kashmir as people observed strike on ued in Gurez. Pak moves Court of Arbitration asked Pakistan to cut ties with terror groups on Kishan Ganga project. Geelani’s call. Police launched searches in and end ISI,s proxy war. Aug.22: A woman was killed and her husband injured Bani, Kathua after reports of terrorists’ move- Sep.22: I9 year old Aamir Abbas has turned out to be in cross-firing in Kupwara while two hide ment in the area.Defence Secretary reviewed the main conspirator in Delhi blast. Security outs were busted in the valley. Huge haul of preparedness on LOC and called for alert- officials have expressed grave concern over arms and ammunition was recovered in ness. the flying of Sultan Mehmood over strategic Banihal area. Without naming Sepratists, Sep. 7: Normal life remained affected for second day areas. Meanwhile, Sultan Mehmood was Farooq Abdullah accused them of ruining today in the valley. 11 People were killed and moved by the development in J&K and oppos- Kashmir. Omar Abdullah reiterated commit- 76 othwrs injured in a blast outside Delhi HC; ing Geelani’s stand, he said that things ment of establishing Truth and Reconciliation HUJI claimed responsibility of the blast. should start moving and rolling. Commission. High alert has been sounded as Sep. 8: A terrorist hideout was busted and an AK Sep. 23: An IED was defused by police in Belicharana Pak Forward Posts have been found directly rifle recovered in Arnas. Five suspects were in the outskirts of Jammu. Hafiz Dev, the involved in intrusion bids. detained and a café sealed as terror mail was Delhi blast accused has been remanded to Aug 23: Death toll of terrorists rose to 13 as three more traced to Kishtwar while NIA joined the NIA custody. The J&K High Court has asked terrorists were killed in Gurez. Four infiltra- probe. Indi and Pakistan are mulling a pro- the Advocate General in the case pertaining tors were pushed back as an infiltration bid posal for cross-border investment and bank to the alleged kidnapping and killing of three was foiled in Mendhar, Poonch. A terrorist ties. civilians of Baderwah 15 years ago. hideout was busted in Reasi and large cache Sep. 10: Police quizzed surrendered terrorists and Sep. 24: Terrorists opened firing on a police post in of arms and ammunition including 65 Kg OGWs as NIA team returned with the seized Sopore. An IEDw was detected and defused RDX was recovered. computer. Six weapons were recovered from a on Rajouri-Poonch road at Manjakote. While Aug. 24: An SPO was shot at in Sopore while two ter- Shastri’s house in Janipura locality. Shariq was released, Dev was grilled by NIA rorists were arrested in Pulwama. Two bodies Sep.11: Farooq Abdullah demanded IT probe against to reach more accused in Delhi blast case. of civilians were recovered after four years Geelani and sepratists and asked about the Addressing the UN, PM said that terrorism after disclosure of a terrorist who was one money collected for shrines and victims. continues to rear its ugly head and there can amongst those who surrendered recently on Sep. 12: Two people were arrested in Kishtwar and on be no selective approaches to fight it. Kulgam-Reasi border. e in Gujrat in connection with the Delhi blast Sep. 25: A BSF jawan shot himself dead in Poonch. S Aug. 25: A BSF jawan and a civilian were killed and 13 Geelani asked The UN to send a team to the M Krishna said that the recognition by the others injured in two blasts in the Valley. A valley to investigate surfacing of unmarked US of links between ISI and Haquani group major infiltration bid was foiled amidst cease- graves in the North Kashmir. windicates our stand. RSS chief Monam fire violation by Pak troops in Poonch. Sep. 13: Top LeT commander Uni was killed in Bagwat accused the centre of lacking will to Aug. 26: Two Kasshmiris and another from Bengal Sopore. An HM conduit was arrested in fight internal and external threats and were arrested and Rs five lakh currency Pattan for his alleged role in summer unrest. described Communal violence Bill destructive recovered from their possession as police Two more people were arrested in Kishtwar. and dangerous. January 2012 BACK PAGE 20 ‘I shall not live to be forty years old’- Swami Vivekananda HISTORY

By Pushker N Bhat Muslim invaders. Distressed at heart, protect you?” present dilapidated one, just as he had he thought : “How could the people have Referring to this experience after his built a monastery and temple atBelur to WAMI RAMAKRISHNA permitted such sacrilege without offer- return, he said to his disciples : “All my ShriRamkrishna. He even thought of Parmahansa Ji Maharaj had ing strenuous resistance! If I had been patriotism is gone. Everything is gone. trying to raise funds from his wealthy Sprophesied, during a discourse here then, I would never have allowed Now it is only Mother! Mother! I have American disciples and friends. At once with his close disciples (The Inner such a thing. I would have laid down my been very wrong. I am only a little the Mother said to him : “My child! If I Group as they were called) that when life to protect the Mother.” Thereupon child.” so wish I can have innumerable temples Naren( Narendranath the real name of he heard the voice of the Goddess saying Another day, in course of his worship, and monastic centres. I can even this Vivekanadaji ,fondly called Naren by : “What if unbelievers should enter My the thought flashed through the moment raise a seven-storied golden Parmahansaji) realises who he is, he temple on this very spot.” will not like to live anymore in this “Since I heard that divine voice,” the world & would depart from it. It is said Swami later said, “I have ceased making that this realisation came to him at Tullmull.I quote here releventextraacts any more plans. Let these things be as from an article by Mother wishes.” SwamiBodhasarananda: The Swami is reported to have woken “On September 30 1898, the Swami up from the visions at Tullmull almost abruptly went to KshirBhavani, leaving shaken. In course of time he is reported strict instructions that no one was to fol- to have lost interest in things happening low him. It was not until October 6 that around him: he was seen brooding all he returned. Before this famous shrine along thereafter. He returned back to of the Mother he daily performed Homa Calcutta, resigned later on from the (Havan), and worshipped Her with offer- Presidentship of Ramakrishna Mission ings of Kheer (thickened milk) made & within 3/4 years of the experience at from one maund of milk, rice, and Tullmulla, he left this mortal world. almonds. It has been argued that the visions at He told his beads like any humble pil- Tullmull actually flattened his ego as grim. Every morning he worshipped a well as destroyed his sense or attitude of Brahmin Pandit’s little daughter as doership (like building of temple of gold Uma Kumari, the Divine Virgin. for Mother ect).After this happening, he He practised severe austerities. He had nothing more to do in this world & became like a child before the Divine died on July 4, 1902. Swami Mother. All thought of Leader, Worker, A vintage photograph of Swami Vivekananda at Tullmull. Vivekananda passed away at the age of or Teacher was gone. He was now only (Second from left seated on chair). thirty-nine years, five months, and the monk, in all the nakedness of pure twenty-four days fulfilling his own Sannyasa. One day at KshirBhavani he prophecy: “I shall not live to be forty had been pondering over the ruination temple and defile My image? What is Swami’s mind that he should try to years old”. and desecration of the temple by the that to you? Do you protect Me, or do I build a new temple in the place of a --Courtesy: Net Maharaja Hari Singh’s Letter to Mountbatten TEXT OF LETTER DATED OCTOBER 26, 1947 FROM HARI SINGH, THE MAHARAJA OF JAMMU & KASHMIR TO LORD MOUNTBATTEN, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA.

My dear Lord this fact. limited number of troops at the Mountbatten, I wanted to take time to disposal of the State had to be decide to which Dominion I dispersed and thus had to face have to inform your should accede, or whether it is the enemy at the several Excellency that a grave not in the best interests of both points simultaneously, that it Iemergency has arisen in the Dominions and my State to has become difficult to stop the my State and request immedi- stand independent, of course wanton destruction of life and ate assistance of your with friendly and cordial rela- property and looting. The Government. tions with both. Mahora powerhouse which As your Excellency is aware I accordingly approached the supplies the electric current to the State of Jammu and Dominions of India and the whole of Srinagar has been Kashmir has not acceded to Pakistan to enter into burnt. The numer of women the Dominion of India or to Standstill Agreement with my who have been kidnapped and Pakistan. Geographically my State. The Pakistan raped makes my heart bleed. State is contiguous to both the The wild forces thus let loose Dominions. It has jvital eco- DOCUMENT on the State are marching on nomical and cultural llinks with the aim of capturing 21st April 1944: Sir Hari Singh Bahadur, the Maharajah of Jammu & with both of them. Besides my Srinagar, the summer Capital Kashmir and one of India's two representatives at the British War State has a common boundary Government accepted this of my Government, as first Cabinet inspects civil defence workers in Bermondsey, London. with the Soviet Republic and Agreement. The Dominion of step to over-running the whole China. In their external rela- India desired further discus- State. tions the Dominions of India sions with representatives of The mass infiltration of taken no part at all. I am also to inform your and Pakistan cannot ignore my Government. I could not tribesmen drawn from distant With the conditions obtain- Excellency’s Government that arrange this in view of the areas of the North-West ing at present in my State and it is my intention at once to set developments indicated below. Frontier coming regularly in the grreat emergency of the up an interim Government and In fact the Pakistan motor trucks using Mansehra- situation as it exists, I have no ask Sheikh Abdullah to carry Government are operating Road and fully option but to ask for help from the responsibilities in this Post and Telegraph system armed with up-to-date the Indian Dominion. emergency with my Prime inside the State. weapons cannot possibly be Naturally they cannot send Minister. Though we have got a done without the knowledge of the help asked for by me with- If my State has to be saved Standstill Agreement with the the Provisional Government of out my State acceding to the immediate assistance must be Pakistan Government that the North-West Frontier Dominion of India. I have available at Srinagar. Mr. Government permitted steady Province and the Government accordingly decided to do so Menon is fully aware of the sit- and increasing strangulation of Pakistan. In spite of repeat- and I attach the Instrument of uation and he will explain to of supplies like food, salt and ed requests made by my Accession for acceptance by you, if further explanation is petrol to my State. Government no attempt has your Government. The other needed. Afridis, solidiers in plain been made to check these alternative is to leave my State In haste and with kind clothes, and desperadoes with raiders or stop them from com- and my people to free-booters. regards, modern weapons have been ing into my State. The On this basis no civilized Your sincerely, allowed to infilter into the Pakistan Radio even put out a Government can exist or be State at first in Poonch and story that a Provinsional maintained. This alternative I then in Sialkot and finally in Government had been set up will never allow to happen as HARI SINGH mass area adjoining Hazara in Kashmir. The people of my long as I am Ruler of the State District on the Ramkot side. State both the Muslims and and I have life to defend my The Palace, Jammu Lord Mountbatten The result has been that the non-Muslims generally have country. 26th October, 1947