Author: K. Easwaran Nambudiri
Publication: Organiser
Date: May 21, 2006
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=131&page=8
Desecrated temples, decapitated idols, obscene
graffiti on temple walls; bulldozed houses and destroyed locality of minority
Hindus; burnt pages from sacred Vedic texts; couples being dragged to death
after being tied to a jeep and appeals by "non-communal" Muslims
to surgically remove the 'cancer' called Hindus.
Vignettes from Afghanistan or the plight of
minorities in Islamic Pakistan. No, these are the grim but real pictures from
Kashmir, which were on show at a recent exhibition in the Capital.
Aptly titled 'Sakshatkar-An encounter with
truth', the photo exhibition organised by Panun Kashmir at the Open Palm Court
Gallery at the India Habitat Centre depicted the various facets of religious
cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus in the Kashmir Valley.
The calamitous events that led to the exodus,
the struggle to survive in refugee camps and recreate a dignified life in
exile were laid bare in the exhibition.
"The black stone statue of Mahakali was
one of the 20 deities who left their home in Hari Parbat Fort and vanished
forever. A priceless deity from the ninth century fled the Lok Bhavan in Anantnag
and was never seen again. The Shivalingam of the Devan temple also mysteriously
disappeared. Their exits were timely because soon after they occurred, the
fire bombings began", wrote internationally acclaimed novelist Salman
Rushdie in his Shalimar, the Clown.
No one knows better the ire of Islamic fundamentalists
better than the author of Satanic Verses, who still lives under the shadow
of death.
On display at the exhibition were the painful
and heart-rendering photographs of a Hindu couple from Herman in Pulwama who
were tied behind a jeep and dragged till death. Their only crime-they were
Hindus.
There were also snaps of the Shivalingam of
the destroyed Basantbagh temple in Srinagar, the decapitated idol of Adi Shankara
at Khojbagh in Baramulla, the desecrated Shiva idol outside the Raghunath
temple at Fatehkadal in Srinagar, the desecrated and destroyed idols of Shiva
temple at Hoonpura in Srinagar, the bulldozed three-storey magnificent Guptganga
temple in Baramulla and a leaf from the sacred text in the burnt library of
Tarbuni temple in Navakadal.
Reminiscent of the brutalities of Aurangzeb,
Nadir Shah and Taimur, the photo exhibition was the outcome of a protracted
and detailed survey for three years conducted by a team led by Dr Ajay Chrungoo,
Chairman of the Panun Kashmir in all the six districts of the Valley.
Interestingly, the photographs displayed are
not taken by professionals but by the victims themselves who could barely
manage a rudimentary camera to document their tragedy.
"The displays merely try to state that
in Kashmir, Hindus have suffered a genocide. The entire country knows about
it, but formally denies it. Sakshatkar is an attempt to help every one to
come out of this denial mode", says Kuldeep Raina, General Secretary
of Panun Kashmir.
And for those secularists who wax eloquently
about the peace-loving and fraternal feelings of the ordinary Kashmiri Muslims
towards their Kashmir Pandit brethren, there is a letter from one Mir Niaz
Ahmed of Zaina Kadal, Srinagar which appeared in the local Daily Alsafa daily.
"I claim to be a rational and non-communal
Muslim but at the same time, I sincerely feel that we Kashmiri Muslims should
try our best to thwart any attempt by Pandits to return to the Valley. Pandits
have been a cancer and once this cancer is removed, it should not be allowed
to re-appear", he says.
This should leave nobody in doubt that the
mindset that guided the destruction of the Bamian Buddhas guides the separatist
movement in Kashmir. The objective behind the expulsion of the Hindus from
Kashmir was to create a religious monolith at a place which has nutured and
nourished pluralism and co-existence through the millennia.
"Terrorism breeds a culture of intolerance.
It is never revolutionary in content. It is anti-freedom and a crime against
humanity. It can't be legitimised under any pretext. Genocide is its ultimate
expression. Peace in Kashmir will remain elusive if the peace initiatives
don't incorporate a comprehensive and permanent reversal of the genocide of
Kashmiri Hindus, as its cardinal principle", says the brochure brought
out by Panun Kashmir on the occasion.
Terming the recent massacre of Hindus in Jammu
and Kashmir as a "national shame" and the attacks on Kashmiri Pandits
as an "assault on a civilisation", Leader of Opposition and senior
BJP leader Shri L.K. Advani said, "talks on Jammu and Kashmir have to
incorporate this particular aspect relating to the problems of Kashmiri Pandits
as one of the most important steps".
Shri Advani, who spent some time at the exhibition,
said the photographs on display "tell a powerful story. And the story
is of tragedy, which is a shame for our country".
"This exhibition focuses not just on
the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits but also depicts the destruction of a civilisation
and culture", he said.
NDA Convener George Fernandes, former Union
Ministers Jagmohan and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Swadeshi ideologue K N Govindacharya,
Janata Party leader Subramaniam Swamy and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
Farooq Abdullah were among the dignitaries who visited the exhibition.
The secularists who still rue the destruction
of the disputed structure in Ayodhya and cry hoarse from roof tops over the
demolition of an encroached 'Dargah' in Vadodara would do well to visit the
exhibition and see the truth for themselves.
