The whole story of atrocities against Kashmiri Hindus

कश्मीर में अगर रहना है, अल्लाहू अकबर कहना है

On January 19, 1990, the darkest chapter in the history of Kashmir was written. Evicted Kashmiri Pandits from their own homes. Slogans were raised on the streets, 'If you want to live in Kashmir, say Allahu Akbar'.

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'If you want to live in Kashmir then say Allahu Akbar'

New Delhi, it was a cold morning of 19 January 1990. That day, along with Azaan, some other slogans were also echoed from the mosques of Kashmir. 'What will work here, Nizam-e-Mustafa', 'If you want to live in Kashmir, say Allahu Akbar' and 'Asi Gachhi Pakistan, we want Pakistan and Hindu women too but without our men. This message was for the Hindu Pandits living in Kashmir.

Pakistan's cheer and Hindus' outcry:

There was restlessness in hundreds of Hindu houses that day. There were discussions on the streets regarding the pride of Islam and Pakistan. Poison was being spewed against Hindus. That night was spent very hard, packing things. Kashmiri Pandits decided to migrate from the valley, leaving their ancestral homes.

Even the trace of Hindu houses was destroyed

That night, the first group of pundits came out of the valley. Between March and April, thousands of families were forced to flee the valley and seek refuge in other areas of India. Over the next few months, vacant houses were burned to the ground. The houses which were near Muslim population were destroyed with great care.

According to the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, there were 75,343 families within the valley in January 1990. More than 70,000 families left the valley between 1990 and 1992. It is estimated that terrorists killed 399 Kashmiri Pandits between 1990 and 2011. During the last 30 years, barely 800 Hindu families have been left in the valley.

If figures could express the pain of Kashmiri Pandits, then understand:

There were approximately 10 lakh Kashmiri Pandits at the beginning of the 20th century. As of today, there are not more than 9,000. In 1941, the share of Kashmiri Hindus in the population was 15%. By 1991, their stake was reduced to just 0.1%. When the population of a community decreases from 10 lakh to less than 10 thousand, there is only one word for it: genocide.

The conspiracy to kill Hindus had started in 1989:

The process of killing Hindus has been going on since 1989. Pandit Tika Lal Taplu was murdered first. Taplu was publicly gunned down in Srinagar. He was a big leader of the Kashmiri Pandits. Allegations were leveled against the terrorists of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, but no case was ever filed against anyone.

Four months later, on January 4, 1990, a statement by Hizbul Mujahideen appeared in an Urdu newspaper published from Srinagar. Hindus were asked to leave the valley. By this time, the environment in the valley had become very bad. There were a lot of inflammatory speeches against Hindus. He was being given threats that proved to be true, like a nightmare.

They put posters on the walls and threatened to leave Kashmir:

Posters were put on the walls, asking Hindus to leave Kashmir. A red circle was drawn on Hindu houses. After that, houses of Hindus were set on fire in many areas of Srinagar. Rape incidents had become common among them. Miscreants armed with Kalashnikov (AK-47) would enter any house and commit looting and atrocities. The clocks were set according to Pakistan Standard Time.

Kashmiri Hindus never returned:

In the last 31 years, many attempts have been made to resettle the Kashmiri Pandits back in the valley, but the result has been disappointing. After 1992, the situation became worse. Hindus also realize that the valley is no longer what it used to be. On August 5, 2019, when the Government of India abolished the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits were very happy. But wishes for his return are still wishes.

Kashmiri Hindus were neither safe inside the valley in 1990, nor are they today. In the last few days, terrorists have targeted Hindus and Sikhs. Two teachers of a government school were murdered in Srinagar on Thursday morning. On Tuesday, terrorists killed a street hawker. On the same day, Makhan Lal Bindru, a businessman, was gunned down in Srinagar.

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