[nukkad] Kashmir

["Mahesh chandra gupta" <>]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  To get today's listing of the BSE 'A' Group listing, join 
the BSEdata mailing list. Email BSEdata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I reproduce below a letter to the editor of Guardian that I found 
on another list and found interesting and informative enough to 
share with others.

MC Gupta
=======================================================================

 From: "Girdhari  Lal Bhan"
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2002 01:15 PM

The Editor, The Guardian, London.

Dear Sir/Madam,

In  the issue  of The  Guardian  of 22.6.2002,  you published  
an
article by Mr. Pankaj Mishra in The Comments column. I take 
issue
with  several points  Mr. Mishra has made. I would be grateful 
if
you  could forward  the following letter to him for his 
attention
and  request that he sends me a reply, either by e-mail or on 
the
address given .

I thank you very much.

Yours faithfully,

Girdhari Lal

Letter to Mr. Pankaj Mishra:

Dear Mr. Mishra,

I  am writing  to  you  as a  Kashmiri  Hindu,  whose family  
and
community are refugees in their own land as the result of 
Islamic
terrorist  onslaught  unleashed  in  1989-90.  During  that  
time
thousands  of Hindus  were  brutally murdered  and  in excess  
of
16,000  houses  belonging to  them were  burnt down. Their 
fault?
They  did  not join  the  insurgency  started by  the  
terrorists
directly sponsored by Pakistan.

I  am dismayed that journalists like you continue to write a 
one-
sided  account  of the Kashmir  'mess'. I can only describe 
these
articles  to be  biased in  favour  of Kashmiri  Muslims and  
the
terrorists.  The same Muslims who colluded and actively took 
part
in  the  pogrom against Kashmiri  Hindus have now discovered 
that
Pakistan  is not their salvation. They now want autonomy, a 
state
of  governance that  Pakistan would  not countenance  despite 
its
protestations  that it is working for the interests of 
Kashmiris.

They  want autonomy  from India, mindless - or maybe mindful - 
of
the  terrible  political  damage  this would  inflict  on  
India.
Journalists  like you  ought to know that Kashmir does not 
belong
only  to Muslims.  There  are  others who  have  lived there  
for
thousands  of years  before Islam was born. Why do you not 
report
on  the political  aspirations  of Hindus  of  Jammu and  
Kashmir
Valley, and of the Buddhists of Ladakh?

You  refer  to the massacre  of Sikhs in Chattissingpura. In 
your
description  of  the messy  investigation into  this sad event, 
a
reader is given to understand that Indian forces were 
responsible
for these killings. Have you got evidence that this is so? If 
you
have, please state this. If not, please clarify.

It  is fair  and proper to mention this massacre and any 
killings
of  civilian  Muslims that  have taken  place during the 
previous
years.  Why is  it not in order to mention the gruesome and 
large
scale  massacres of  Hindus,  both  in the  Valley  and in  
Jammu
province, the beheading of temple priests, the rape and 
gang-rape
of  Hindu women and girls in the Valley and in Jammu, the 
killing
of  pilgrims on  their way to holy Amarnath shrine, the 
selective
killing  of Hindu bus-passengers in Doda and Badarwah.. ? I 
could
go  on and on. None of the journalists has so far shed a tear 
for
them.  Is it  because  the  blood that  was  shed  was Hindu  
and
therefore of no value?

You refer to the 'distinct cultural identity of the Valley'. 
What
do  you mean  by that? As a born-and-bred Kashmiri I am not 
clear
of what it means. You state that Kashmiri Islam is sufi. Can 
that
Islam  explain the  almost complete genocide of Hindus of 
Kashmir
that  it started  in 1306AD and continued over the centuries? 
Can
it  explain  the ethnic  'cleansing' of  Kashmiri Hindus that 
was
carried  out in  1989-90? Where  were these  tolerant Muslims  
of
Kashmir  when  their  Hindu  brethren  were  being  tortured  
and
gruesomely  murdered? Where  were they  when their  Hindu 
sisters
were  raped and  gang-raped? What action did they take to come 
to
help   these  neighbours  in  distress?  You  talk  of  
'tolerant
multiculturalism',  and sate  that it has been 'undermined by 
the
modern nationalist ideologies of India and Pakistan'. This is 
far
 from  the reality. It is time the Muslims took responsibility 
for
their  actions. You also link this 'identity' to 'folk' 
Hinduism!

Folk? Are you aware that Hinduism is ancient, possibly the 
oldest
religion  in the  world, and  that  Kashmir had  been 100%  
Hindu
before  it  was taken  over by the  invading Muslims? Please 
read
Kashmir  history  in Raja Tarangini, and independent authors 
like
Stein and Walter Lawrence to know more about Kashmir.

You  refer to  Hindu  nationalism and  extremism.  It seems  
that
speaking  on  behalf of Hindus  and their interests in the 
Hindu-
majority  state  is equivalent  to nationalism and extremism. 
You
have  referred  to the  killing of Muslims  in the recent 
Gujarat
riots,  but conveniently ignored mentioning that Hindus were 
also
affected  and killed  in that  tit-for-tat disorder.  Worse 
still
you  do  not mention that  the riots were started deliberately 
by
Muslims  by  burning alive Hindus  travelling in a train. Can 
you
imagine  what would have been the fate of Hindus if they had 
done
such  a thing  in Pakistan or Bangladesh? We are constantly 
given
lessons  on  tolerance. Outgoing  President Narayanan is the 
most
recent example.

Yours faithfully,

Girdhari Lal.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, use the form at: http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/#options
This list is archived at: http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/archive.html