When villagers stopped Rattan Lal from migrating to Jammu
NEYAZ ELAHI
BUREAU CHIEF CENTRAL KASHMIR:
The other day, Sanjay Tickoo, a Kashmiri Pandit leader also handling a lesser known organization ‘Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Simiti’ came up with a post on facebook and I quote: “My death has become (a) laughing joke /TAMASHA in the Valley: courtesy some media persons in the valley.” He was responding after media reported that Muslims performed the last rites of a Kashmiri Pandit woman at Barbar Shah Srinagar.
In another post he blamed a local news agency for spreading a fake news titling: “Fake news shared by CNS on last rites performed by local Muslims. How a Muslim (can) perform last rites of a Kashmiri Pandit without having knowledge of Hindu sacred books.” OK, I accept it to some extent, (the remarks of Tickoo doesn’t apply to those Pandits who die in isolation here) but what haggard me the most were the responses from fugitive Pandits who not only hurled choicest abuses but also alleged Kashmri Muslims of cheat, fraud and deception. One of the responses from a Pandit zealot: “Guilty conscious minds want to wash of 1990” shocked me the most.
I have spent my first 10 years of life in a hamlet called Trichal, a village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district known for its literacy rate where almost in every house hold if not a lecturer, you will find a government teacher. This village has produced renowned lawyers like Omkarnath Trisal, Deputy Commissioners, Scientists, Professors, Doctors and Police and Army Officers. The bond between Muslim and Pandit communities was so deep that a stranger was unable to identify who is a Pandit and who is Muslim when people from both the communities would sit together, poking fun and enjoying life to the best possible extent.
Zealots who are hell bent to defame Muslim community and held them responsible for the migration of Pandit community from Kashmir Valley should understand that mostly it were Muslims who suffered and got killed at the hands of militants and Indian Forces.
There was Jankinath, Bhusan Lal, Makhan Lal, Satish Bata, Rajesh Bata, Chuni Lal, Madan Lal, Sham Lal, Amarnath, Harday Nath and in fact my humble and dedicated teacher Ratan Lal who used to teach Science subject at Government High School Tahab. Jankinath popularly known as Jana Bata according to his lifelong friend Salam Chacha wished to return to his native village before his death in Jammu. “On death bed he (Jankinath) requested his sons Bushan Lal and Makhan Lal to take him to his native village Trichal. Jankinath said he wants to die there,” Salam Chacha was quoted as saying this and this pained me a lot.
It was chilly weather of 1990 when the noise coming from outside disturbed me and I came out from my bed to see what’s happening outside. It was all dark when I heard Jabbar Kak yelling, “Ratan Lal wants to leave the village and he is busy loading his belongings into a truck.” I followed the people all the way till I reach where the truck was parked. The villagers begged before Ratan Lal not to migrate from his native village while one of the youth slapped the Muslim truck driver and unloaded all the belongings of Ratan Lal.
The belongings including utensils, beddings, books, garments were all unloaded and deposited back into the house of Ratan Lal. “Ratan, what has happened to you and why you want to migrate to Jammu. We are here for your safety and why you are scared. When you started considering yourself a Pandit. We are all brothers, please don’t go and don’t do this again,” an emotionally charged Muslim elderly man Abdul Majeed popularly known as Maja Thout told Rattan Lal.
Pandits according to former RAW chief AS Dulat were targeted for working for Counter Intelligence Department of India. Let us not resort to mudslinging. Let us find ways and means to bridge the gap and live like as we used to live prior to 1990.
After foiling the attempt, the truck driver left from the village and everything returned to normal. A week later when sun rose from the East, villagers came to know all Pandit families except two have fled from the village during the dead of the night. My childhood friends Mata Bata, Bita Bata, Pampy, Rinku, Raja Bata, Bya Bata were all gone. The village gave a ghosts look. Till date the secluded houses of Kashmiri fugitive Pandits are still intact in the village. It gives pain to every villager when some unknown creature (Pandit zealots) blames them for mass migration of Pandit community from the valley.
Years after when I visited the rented house of Madan Lal located at Talab Tillo Jammu; his wife hugged me and with tearful eyes inquired about the wellbeing of the people of her native village. She admitted migration from the village was a blunder and in the same breathe said it was her delusion that this migration will be temporary. “My husband assured me that after few days of staying in Jammu we will return back to our native village. Look, this has not happened,” she said. Zealots who are hell bent to defame Muslim community and held them responsible for the migration of Pandit community from Kashmir Valley should understand that mostly it were Muslims who suffered and got killed at the hands of militants and Indian Forces. Pandits according to former RAW chief AS Dulat were targeted for working for Counter Intelligence Department of India. Let us not resort to mudslinging. Let us find ways and means to bridge the gap and live like as we used to live prior to 1990.
(The author is a senior journalist and can be mailed at neyazelahi@ gmail.com)
