Kashmiri Pandits

I have banned several persons who made impertinent or abusive comments on my previous post. I am quite a democratic person, and I do not mind people disagreeing with me, but I will not accept impertinence or abuse. And why should I ?

  All I had said was that no atrocity or oppression should be committed on any one, whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or of any community. Whenever any atrocity was done on Muslims, I was perhaps the first person in the country to condemn it, and my track record can be seen in this connection. But I had also noticed that very few Muslims condemned atrocities on Hindus, Christians, Ahmadis, Shias, etc in Pakistan, Kashmir or Bangladesh. To that I strongly objected.

 I remember when I was in Allahabad, I told a Muslim friend that I have always stood by Muslims whenever there was any atrocity on them, so why are Muslims not speaking out against the horrible atrocities on Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir ? He asked what could he do ? I replied he can write a letter to a local newspaper against it, which I would get published, but he did nothing.

 I know about the persecution of Kashmiri Pandits because I am myself a Kashmiri Pandit, and  my wife and her relatives are from there. Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits were selectively killed. Kashmiri Pandits were only 3% of the population of Kashmir, and were not doing any harm to any one. But it often happened that if in a village of Kashmir there were , say, 1000 people, of which only 20 or so were Pandits, a group of persons with fire arms would come and selectively kill these 20 Pandits. This happened on many an occasion. One of my wife's cousins, who is a doctor in Delhi, told me that when she was studying in a Medical College in Kashmir, a group of people came to her home and shouted that the males in her family should get out of Kashmir, leaving the females behind. There were many such other stories of horror against Pandits of Kashmir, due to which they had to leave their homes and hurriedly leave Kashmir. Many of such Pandits and their families are still living in camps in Jammu, Delhi, etc in horrible conditions. Instead of condemning such atrocities many Kashmiri Muslims blamed Jagmohan for the mass migration of Pandits from Kashmir, which was a total lie. They should have blamed themselves for failing to protect the tiny Kashmiri Pandit community.

 No one wants to leave his home, where his family has lived for generations, and this itself proves what horrible things were done to Kashmiri Pandits, but because it is a tiny community with no vote bank, nobody bothered. Hardly any Muslim raised his voice against these atrocities, or on atrocities on non Muslims, Ahmadis etc in Pakistan.  Hindu girls were forcibly abducted and converted to islam, Hindus were often kidnapped and held to ransom. Blasphemy laws were applied against Christians, who were sometimes killed, and few lawyers dared to take up their case, as those who did were often killed. Hardly any Muslim in India raised his voice against these atrocities, but when people in Gaza were attacked they raised a big hue and cry.

I am not saying one should not raise his voice against atrocities on people of Gaza. What I pointed out was that Kashmir and Pakistan are nearer to India. Surely Muslims in India should have also protested against atrocities on non Muslims and Ahmadis in Pakistan and Kashmir. I saw photographs in the newspapers of demonstrations by Muslims in many cities in India against atrocities in Gaza, but where were the demonstrations by Muslims against atrocities on non Muslims and Ahmadis in Pakistan and Kashmir ?

  As I said, secularism cannot be a one way traffic. All atrocities on everyone should be condemned.

  However, I am prepared to unban those I banned provided they apologize unconditionally. They can send a message on my facebook page, or send an apology through some other computer. By nature I am quite a forgiving person