kashmir entinel a very happy new year we wish our readers...
TRANSCRIPT
KASHMIRentinelS Let Truth Prevail
Vol. 12. No: 12 December 2007 Pages 20 Price Rs. 16/
JKENG 00333/26/AL/TC/94 JK No: 1213/18 Regd. JK-219/2008
INSIDEGUEST COLUMNKashmir's accession isirrevocable................Page 3
REGIONAL-AFFAIRSPakistan's Meltdown underMusharraf..................Page 4
BOOK-REVIEWThe Kashmir Story...Page 5
SPECIAL REPORTThird Round TableConference..............Page 6
HISTORYSaviors of Leh..........Page 7
DOCUMENTPlease act to preventImminent FinancialCrisis........................Page 8
ARCHIVESDNC's Role in KashmirPolitics.....................Page 9
MEMOIRMuzaffarabad1947-II...............Page 10-11
DEBATEProf. Madhok'sRole.........................Page 12
FOLKLORELegends of Garoora &Wullar Lake...........Page 13
HERITAGEThe ShardaTemple....................Page 14
LITERATUREThe Nest................Page 15
AESTHETICSShivsutras & Lal VakhsPainted..............Page 16-17
Chronology ofEvents.....................Page 18
INTERVIEWPak Invasion-LookingBack-II....................Page 19
e-mail: [email protected]
Editorial
HOMELAND DAYON 29th of December the Kashmiri Pandits in the capi
tal and from elsewhere would meet in New Delhiunder aegis of Panun Kashmir to reaffirm their re-
solve to retrieve their homeland. In a way the mass of theexiled Pandit community treats this day as momentous, a dayfar more significant than any other in its long history of politi-cal and religious persecution. On this day 16 years ago in 1991the members of the Kashmiri Pandit community decided tobid adieu to what they call ‘politics of servility and collabo-ration with Muslim communalism’. They declared aloudand clear:’henceforth, the often-wronged Pandit communitywould decide its destiny on its own and return to its homelandas a matter of right and choice.’ The community put forth itsresolve in a historic document that has come to be calledMargDarshan’ 91.
Soon after the passing of this historic resolution few dis-senting groups, which had their origin in ‘old-guard servilepolitics’ (which advocated crumbs in place of genuine social,economic and political empowerment), tried to create obstaclesby misrepresenting the logic and arguments of theMargDarshan demand. Over the years these groups too havefallen in line, either due to community pressure or probablydue to their own experience. The exiled Pandit community isconvinced that creation of Panun Kashmir is the only instru-ment through which the community can return to Kashmir tolive there and perpetuate itself. Lived experience is the onlyexperience which can guide an exiled community to its finaldestiny. An exiled group which is oblivious to its own survivalhas only one place in history——complete oblivion.
No community can rest on its oars just on mere slogansand resolutions.Panun Kashmir leadership has been well seizedof it. Over the years it has not only fought attempts at defec-tion from without but has also succeeded in evolving a bag-gage of politics to justify the demand. The result has been thatthe logic and relevance of Panun Kashmir demand has madeentry in to the discourse at the national level. It is no morewhat a cynical intellectual once said—‘pariah’. Panun Kash-mir is now seen as a solution –not only to perpetualhomelessness of Kashmiri Pandits but also to break the im-passe in Kashmir on a permanent basis. The more this demandbecomes popular the greater would be the machinations em-ployed by those who have imposed genocide on it. From timeto time culturally alienated members had been calling thecommunity’s forced exodus as ‘a self-imposed one’. Consis-tent work done by the Panun Kashmir leadership has exposedthe politics behind this. Alertness at all levels is desirable in
future as well to counter these attempts. Doling out ‘certifi-cates of good conduct' to groups who have collaborated inPandits’genocide or lampooning those who have come tocommunity’s rescue does neither serve the interests of thecommunity nor the nation . 'Incomprehension’ and ‘inter-nal betrayal’ inflict far more damage to the exiled group.
The exiled Pandit community faces challenges at three lev-els—
One, the menace of terrorism. As long as the nation doesnot deliver decisively a body-blow to terrorism the return andrehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits would remain a pipe-dream.As frontline victims of terrorism it is Pandit community’sonerous responsibility to deepen its understanding of Islamistterrorism and build strong national awareness on it. It hasalso to aid the national effort to counter terrorism and allywith those forces who are battling the scourge of terrorism.
The second challenge manifests from the growing com-munalization and talibanisation of society and politics inKashmir.Prof. TN Madan rightly calls secularism as the dreamof the minority. What better protection a minority can haveother than the sincere commitment of the majority to a secu-lar social order? Keeping visibility on the errors of omissionand commission committed against Kashmiri Pandits and rais-ing political stakes for those who pursue consistently com-munal politics under the hubris of ‘identity’, can go a longway in creating a clime fertile for the growth of secular poli-tics in Kashmir. The Pandit leadership needs to hone its poli-tics, to ensure an ever-widening constituency at the nationallevel to clamour for a truly secular dispensation in Kashmir.The Pandit community has to identify the forces which wouldbe its partners in the long battle for secularism in Kashmir.
Lastly, the exiled community has to look inwards. Whatare the efforts it is making to sensitise the newer generations,particularly the ones born after 1990,to community ‘s ethos,culture and the political goals of the struggle to retrieve thelost homeland? Has the community’s Writers’ fraternity doneenough to produce the desired literature in this regard? Whyhas the Pandit intelligentsia failed to produce such men ofgold—Yehudi Amichai,Edward Said ,Mehmood Derwish,toname only a few ,who too were products of exile? What hasbeen the effort of its intellectual class in developing humanresources, easing the pain of the disadvantaged members andin networking to broaden the reach of the community?
It is hoped the community members on this solemn occa-sion would deliberate these challenges and fine-tune the strat-egies for survival
We Wish Our Readers
A Very Happy New Year
22222THOSE WHO LEFT USTHOSE WHO LEFT USTHOSE WHO LEFT USTHOSE WHO LEFT USTHOSE WHO LEFT US
1. Sh. Prem Nath Pandita S/o Sh. Vishnu Ji Pandita origi-nally resident of Bomai Sopore Kmr; presently at 41-A,Swaran Vihar Durga Nagar Bantalab, Jammu. 14/6/2007
2. Smt. Jai Kishori Bhat W/o Sh. Jagar Nath Bhat, R/o AliKadal Sgr; presently residing at Jawala Colony, OldSatwari Jammu Cantt. 15/6/2007
3. Sh. Brij Nath Mattoo S/o Late Sh. Jagar Nath Matto,R/o Bagh Jogi Lankar, Rainawari Sgr; presently atPriyadarshani Lane No: 2, Patta Paloura, Jammu. 15/6/2007
4. Smt. Rajlakshmi Koul (Kilam) W/o Prof. T.N. Koul origi-nally resident of Shivpora Sgr; presently residing atH.No: 65/14 Rajpur Road, Dehradoon. 15/6/2007
5. Smt. Uma Jigri W/o Late Sh. Aftab Ram of Pinglish TralKmr; presently residing at Qtr. No: 37-A, Muthi CampPhase-II, Jammu. 15/6/2007
6. Smt. Arandati Koul W/o Sh. Jia Lal Koul R/o 128-KaranNagar Sgr; presently residing at 39 A/C Gandhi Nagar,Jammu and B-40, SFS, Flats Sheikh Sarai Phas-I, NewDelhi. 15/6/2007
7. Sh. Pearay Lal Bhat S/o Late Sh. Moti Lal Bhat originallyresident of Danow Bogund Kulgam Kmr; presently resi-dent of 44-H, Muthi Camp, Phase-II, Jammu. 16/6/2007
8. Smt. Kamlawati Koul W/o Late Sh. Dwarika Nath Koulof Shalayar Habbakadal Sgr; presently at Shahibabad(UP). 16/6/2007
9. Sh. Arjan Nath Sathu S/o Late Sh. Sarwanand SathuR/o Ranipora Teh. & Distt. Anantnag Kmr; presently re-siding at Phase-II, Community Hall Purkhoo Camp Jammu.16/6/2007
10. Sh. Gopi Nath Dhar S/o Late Sh. Shankar Nath DharR/o Malhipora Handwara/zAINDAR Mohalla HabbakadalSgr; presently residing at 903-A, Janipur Colony, Jammu.17/6/2007
11. Sh. Moti Lal Raina R/o H.No: 11, Lane-8, Near KothianLower Barnai Jammu. 18/6/2007. formerly residen ofDrusu Pulwama, Kmr.
12. Smt. Kamlawati Bhat W/o Late Sh. Sarwanand BhatR/o Village Gund Gushi Kupwara Kmr; presently resid-ing at H.No: 2-C, Lane-3, Bharat Nagar Bantalab, Jammu.18/6/2007
13. Sh. Chander Dhar S/o Late Sh. Sri Kanth Dhar R/o 45,C/C Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. 19/6/2007
14. Smt. Janki Jigri W/o Sh. Kashi Nath Koul originally resi-dent of Ganesh Ghat Ganpatyar Sgr; presently at 410Super Tech Residency, Sector-5, Vaishali Gaziabad UP.19/6/2007
15. Sh. Shiban Lal Raina S/o Sh. Madsudhan Raina, R/oNamthal Chandora Kmr; presently residing at H.No: 15,Lane-8, Roop Nagar Enclave-B, Jammu. 19/6/2007
16. Sh. Triloki Nath Razdan S/o Late Sh. Lambohar JiRazdan formerly resident of Drabiyar Sgr; presentlyresiding at New D-4, Medical Enclave, MeheshporaBakshi Nagar, Jammu. 20/6/2007
17. Smt. Arundhati Bhan W/o Late Sh. Niranjan Nath Bhan,R/o Jawahar Nagar Sgr; presently residing at 468-Lane-4, Roop Nagar, Enclave Jammu. 20/6/2007
18. Smt. Shobawati Raina W/o Late Sh. D.N. Raina origi-nally resident of 175, Jawahar Nagar Sgr; presently atH.No: 4/2008-A, Shant Nagar Disco Morh, Janipu Jammu.21/6/2007
19. Sh. Radha Krishen Pandita S/o Late Sh. Jagar NathPandita originally resident of Shergund Anantnag Kmr;presently residing at Shiv Bawan Block-G, MishriwallaCamp, Jammu. 22/6/2007
20. Smt. Uma Shori W/o Late Sh. Anand Ji Tickoo R/o SeerHamdan Anantnag Kmr. 22/7/2007
21. Sh. Dwarika Nath Tickoo S/o Late Sh. Diva Lal Tikoo,R/o Village Wadvan Distt. Budgam Kmr; presently re-siding at Qtr. No: 353, Phase-I Camp Purkhoo Jammu.23/6/2007
22. Sh. Radha Krishen Sabni originally R/o 57-A Small PlotsGandhi Nagar, Jammu left for his heavenly abode on23/6/2007 at his residenc B-128, F-1, RamprasthaColony, Gaziabad (UP).
23. Sh. Girdhari Lal Raina S/o Late Sh. Keshav Nath Rainaoriginally resident of 39 Private Jawahar Nagar Sgr;presently residing at H.No: 90, Pamposh Colony, Sec-tor-2 Janipur, Jammu.l 23/6/2007
24. Sh. Sri Kanth Jotshi S/o Late. Sh. Anand Joo R/o SaligamKmr; presently at Vikas Colony Paloura Top near Mi-grant Camp Phase-I, Muthi Jammu. 24/6/2007
25. Sh. Lachman Jee Raina S/o Late Sh. Shiv Jee Rainaoriginally resident of Achan Pulwama Kmr; presentlyresiding at JMC-917, Suraj Nagar, Lane No: 6-A, TalabTillo, Jammu. 25/6/2007
26. Smt. Pran Piyari W/o Sh. Bushan Lal Dhar resident ofLangate Handwara Kmr; ;presently residing at ShivVihar Trilokpura Gole Gujral Jammu. 25/6/2007
27. Sh. Man Mohan Nath Tickoo S/o Late. Sh. Tika Lal Tickoo,R/o Aragam Bandipur Kmr; presently residing at Com-munity Centre Battal Balian Camp Udhampur. 25/6/2007
28. Smt. Prabha Saproo W/o Late Sh. JN Saproo R/o 473,Jawahar Nagar Sgr; presently residing at 12-113, Colo-nel Colony, Sector-, Talab Tillo, Jammu. 27/6/2007
29. Smt. Janak Rani Dhar W/o Sh. Janaki Nath Dhar resi-dent of Harmukh Appts. Noida. 27/6/2007
30. Sh. Janki Nath Saraf originally R/o Fatehkadal Sgr, leftfor heavenly abode on 27/6/2007 at Ware House D-18,Govt. Qtrs. Jammu.
31. Smt Janak Rani W/o Sh. Janki Nath Dhar, R/oNawabazar Kmr; presently at Noida. 27/6/2007
Panun Kashmir and Kashmir Sentinel condole the demise of the following members of the community.32. Smt. Rattan Rani Mattoo W/o Late Sh. KN Mattoo origi-
nally resident of Badiyar Bala, Habbakadal Sgr; pres-ently residing at A-10-Bharat Nagar, Talab Tillo, Jammu.28/6/2007
33. Smt. Laxmi Shouri W/o Sh. Ram Chand Koul, R/o SeerAnantnag, Kmr; presently residing at Nanak ViharLower Muthi, near Gatta Factory Jammu. 30/6/2007
34. Sh. L.N. Jotshi S/o Late Sh. Shamboo Nath Jotshi ofBijbehara, Kmr; presently living at H.No: 126-D, LaneNo: 2 Durga Nagar Sector-1, Bantalab Jammu. 30/6/2007
35. Sh. Maharaj Krishen Dhar S/o Late Sh. Sri Kanth DharR/o 8/2 KK Sokhta Nawakadal Sgr; presently residingat 9/A, Ambedkar Nagar High Court Road, JanipurJammu. 30/6/2007
36. Sh. Mohan Lal Khar S/o Kailash Ram Khar R/o MartandMattan Kmr. 30/6/2007
37. Smt. Shobawati Bhat W/o Late Sh. Permanand Bhat R/o Villagam Handwara Kmr; presently residing at Qtr.No: 22 Phase-II Purkhoo Camp Jammu. 1/7/2007
38. Smt. Mohini Ganjoo W/o Late Sh. Radhey Nath Ganjoooriginally resident of Bana Mohalla Habbakadal 2ndBridge Sgr; presently residing at F-274/A1 Pratap ViharGaziabad (UP).1/7.2007
39. Smt. Dhanwati Dhar W/o Late Sh. Govind Joo Dhar R/oKankhai Sokhta Nawakadal Sgr; presently residing at52 Mahinder Nagar Canal Road, Jammu. 2/7/2007
40. Sh. Nand Lal Lal Raina S/o Late Sh. Amar Chand RainaR/o Pallahalan Pattan Kmr; presently residing at 269JMC P.D. Lane: 4, Talab Tillo, Jammu. 3/7/2007
41. Sh. Kanth Koul S/o Late Sh. Mana Koul, R/o AchanPulwama Kmr; presently residing at Bawani Nagar, GolePully Talab Tillo, Jammu. 4/7/2007
42. Capt. Madsudan Kaul (Jalali) originally resident of 99Naidyar Rainawari Sgr; presently residing at Flat 452Windsor Green Tower-4 Sector-50, Noida (UP). 4/7/2007
43. Sh. Inder Krishen Koul S/o Late Pt. N.N. Koul Advocateoriginally resident of Jawahar Bavan Karan Nagar, Sgr;presently residing at B-9 37-A, Sector-34 Noida (UP).5/7/2007
44. Smt. Kanta Tiku W/o Late Triloki Nath Tiku, originallyresident of 123, Jawahar Nagar Sgr; presently at Bos-ton (USA). 6/7/2007
45. Sh. Makhan Lal Koul S/o Late Sh. JL Koul formerlyresident of 86 Karan Nagar, Sgr; presently residing at318, 241P Extension Patparganj New Delhi. 6/7/2007
46. Sh. M.K. Trakroo originally resident of Indira Nagar Sgr;and presently residing at A-17/201 Shalimar GardenExt.-II Sahibabad (UP). 16/7/2007
47. Sh. Makhan Lal Munshi resident of H.No: 32, Lane-1,Adarsh Nagar, Bantalab Jammu. 7/7/2007
48. Sh. Mohan Lal Mattoo originally resident of Bagh JogiLankar Rainawari Sgr; presently at Reshikesh. 7/7/2007
49. Sh. Ashok Kumar Bhat S/o Late. Sh. Veshamber NathBhat R/o Yall-Pattan Baramulla Kmr; presently residingat Migrant Camp Nagrota Camp, Jammu. 7/7/2007
50. Smt. Mohini Rania W/o Sh. Sohan Lal Raina, R/o ArreshTeh. Kulgam Kmr; presently residing at Village SwarnPurkhoo Jammu. 9/7/2007
51. Dr. Areen Fotedar S/o Prof. D.N. Fotedar originally resi-dent of Karan Nagar Sgr; presently at California, SanDiego (USA). 9/7/2007
52. Sh. Omkar Nath Koul originally resident of SonyarHabbakadal Sgr; presently residing at 104-D Shiva En-clave Lane No: 3 Roop Nagar, Jammu. 10/7/2007
53. Sh. Soom Nath Pandit S/o Late Sh. Mahadev Ram PanditR/o Vessu Anantnag Kmr; presently residing at H.No:65, Sector-6, Muthi Camp Phase-II Jammu. 10/7/2007
54. Dr. Vijay Kumar Vakhlu S/o Prof. Somnath WakhluR/o E-1 RRL Jammu. 11/7/2007
55. Dr. Som Nath Malik S/o Late Sh. Tara Chand Malik R/oMelapura Habakadal Sgr. presently residing at 7-HaritNiketan, West Enclave Pitampura Delhi. 34/11/2007
56. Sh. Baba Ji Kaul S/o Late Sh. Jia Lal Koul, R/oNarperistan Sgr; presently at A-3-6/1 Sector 9, MalliniumTowers Sanpada Navi Mumbai. 11/7/2007
57. Sh. Jawahar Lal Dhar S/o Late Sona Joo Dhar R/o 1-2Bana Mohalla Sgr; presently residing at E-6/44, AroraColony Bhopal (MP). 14/7/2007
58. Smt. Jaikishori Padora W/o Late Sh. T.N. Padora; pres-ently at residing at H.No: 1887 Sector-7, Karnal Haryana.14/7/2007
59. Smt. Pranashori Raina W/o Sh. Triloki Nath Raina origi-nally resident of Avil Kulgam Anantnag, Kmr; presentlyresiding at H.No: 32, Lane-7, Anand Nagar, Bohri,Jammu. 14/7/2007
60. Sh. Jaggar Nath Saproo S/o Late Sh. Raghunath SaprooR/o Seer Kadligund Anantnag, Kmr; presently residingat Migrant Camp Nagrota Qtr. No: 414, Jhiri Phase. 14/7/2007
61. Smt. Soomawati Raina W/o Late Sh. Sham Lal Raina R/o Kihardori Purshya Habbakadal Sgr; presently resid-ing at Sector 56, H.No: 211 Gurgoan Haryana. 14/7/2007
62. Smt. Sharika Koul W/o Sh. Som Nath Koul, R/o ...Anantnag Kmr; presently at Rama Krishna Vihar, LaneNo: 1, Udhaiwala Jammu. 12/7/2007
63. Smt. Pyari Zaroo W/o Late Sh. T.N. Zaroo R/o KathialZaindar Mohalla Sgr; presently at 64 Paloura Top Bidh..BSF HQ, Jammu. 16/7/2007
64. Sh. Gopi Nath Pandita S/o Late Sh. Tika Lal Pandita R/o
Bomai Sopore Kmr; presently at H.No: 63, Govind NagarGole Gujral Road, Talab Tillo Jammu. 12/7/2007
65. Smt. Dulari Kanth W/o Late Sh. Janki Nath Kanth R/oKarihama Kupwara, Kmr; presently residing at Qtr. No:271 Muthi Camp, Phase-II Jammu 17/7/2007
66. Sh. Nand Lal Tickoo S/o Late Sh. Sansar Chand TickooR/o Brah Anantnag Kmr; presently residnig at H.No:858, Lane No: 2 Anand Nagar, Jammu. 17/7/2007
67. Sh. Triloki Nath Razdan S/o Late Sh. M.L. Razdan, R/oChandil Wanigam Tangmarg, Kmr; presently residing at100-A, Patoli Mangotrian Jammu. 21/7/2007
68. Pt. Arun Koul S/o Late Pt. J.N. Jalali originally resident ofRainawari Sgr; presently residing at 80/60-B, MalviyaNagar Delhi 21/7/2007
69. Sh. Bansi Lal Khosa R/o Bagi Sunder Bala ChattabalSgr.; presently residing at Sector-71, H.No: 267 MaohaliChandigarh. 21/7/2007
70. Sh. Rattan Lal Raina S/o Late Sh. Reeshi Lal Razdan ofSalia Anantnag Kmr; presently residing at Sector-4,H.No: 356 Gangyal Gardens Jammu. 21/7/2007.
71. Smt. Lachkuji Koul W/o Late Dr. K.N. Koul of VillageWanpoah Anantnag Kmr; presently at Koul NiwasNawabad Sunjwan Road, Jammu. 22/7/2007
72. Smt. Laxmi Shori W/o Late Damoder Pandita R/oChillipora presently at Vinayak Nagar Sector-1, H.No:182-A, Jammu. 22/7/2007
73. Sh. Sunder Lal Bhat S/o Late Sh. Sarwanand Bhat R/oFatehpur Anantnag Kmr; presently at 77-Sec-B, TirathNagar, Jammu. 22/7/2007
74. Sh. Omkar Nath Safaya S/o Late Gopi Nath Safaya, R/o 183, Upper Laxmi Nagar, Sarwal, Jammu. 23/7/2007
75. Sh. Makhan Lal Dhar S/o Late Sh. J.N. Dhar R/o 110Safakadal Sgr; presently at 6053-5, Sector-D, Pocket-5, Vasant Kunj New Delhi. 23/7/2007
76. Smt. Rukhmani Katroo W/o Late Sh. Radha KrishenKotroo R/o Rainawari Sgr; presently at UdhaywallaBOhri Jammu. 24/7/2007
77. Smt. Jaikishori Bhat W/o Sh. Neel Kanth Bhat, R/oGasserana Kulgam Kmr; presently at Qtr. No: 464,Nagrota Camp Jammu. 24/7/2007
78. Sh. Mohan Lal Raina S/o Ptl. Kailas Ram erstwhile resi-dent of Meamandar Shopian Kmr; presently residing atRaina Niwas Lalle-da-Bagh Jammu. 24/7/2007
79. Sh. Shiv Jee Bazaz S/o Late Sh. Mansa Ram Bazaz, R/o Bagh-e-Bahu Bala Sgr; presently at H.No: 29 Lane-5Poonch House, Talab Tillo, Jammu. 24/7/2007.
80. Smt. Vidyawati W/o Sh. Radha Krishan R/o Mattan Kmr;presently residing at Lane No: 5, H.No: 127 Lakad Mandi,Janipur, Jammu. 24/7/2007
81. Sh. Sham Lal Razdan S/o Late Sh. Shridhar Joo RazdanR/o Syed Ali Akbar Sgr; presently residing at Billan Bowli,Post Office Lane Dhar Road Udhampur, Jammu. 24/7/2007
82. Sh. P.L. Mattoo S/o Sh. Anandjoo Mattoo, R/o KumarBawan Nursing Garh Sgr; presently residing at 166-HDurga Nagar, Sector-2 Talab Tillo Jammu. 24/7/2007
83. Smt. Santosh Koul W/o Late Girdhari Lal Koul R/oChandapora Habakadal Sgr; presently at 220-ShalimarGarden (UP). 24/7/2007
84. Sh. R.C. Bhat S/o Late. Sh. Dhamodhar Lal Bhat R/o1068 Qazi Mohalla Anantnag Kmr; presently residing at8-A Doctors Qtrs. Narinder Mohan Hospital Mohan NagarGaziabad (UP). 25/7/2007
85. Sh. Shiban Krishen Koul S/o Sh. Sh. Jia Lal Koul R/o 69/1, Shiliteng Habakadal Sgr; presently residing at 319-BDurga Nagar Jammu. 25/7/2007
86. Sh. Janki Nath Tickoo S/o Sh. Hari Ram Tickoo, R/oBomai Sopore Kmr; presently residing at 15/12 SanjayNagar, Jammu. 26/7/2007
87. Sh. Triloki Nath Khar S/o Late Sh. Shiv Ram Kher R/oZainapora Kmr; presently residing at H.No: 15, Ward-6,Bank of India Road Udhampur, Jammu. 26/7/2007
88. Smt. Vicky Koul (Mahaldar) W/o Sh. Chushool MahaldarR/o 80-A Patoli Opp. Mast Bab Ashram Jammu. 27/7/2007
89. Sh. Moti Lal Zutshi R/o Dhobiwan Tangmarg Kmr; pres-ently residing at 93-D, Sector-1, Durga Nagar Jammu.27/7/2007
90. Smt. Shobawati Dhar W/o Late Sh. Prem Nath Dhar R/o Dukani Sangam Fatehkadal Sgr; presently at DinaNagar H.No: 5, Barnai Jammu. 28/7/2007
91. Col. P.N. Kak original resident of 15-Gupkar Road Sgr;presently at Banglore Karnataka. 28/7/2007
92. Smt. Ratna Kachroo W/o Late Sh. Dina Nath KachrooR/o Dewan Bagh Baramulla Kmr; presently at H.No:1046-Puran Nagar, Bagwati Nagar Jammu. 29/7/2007
93. Sh. Bushan Lal Kabu S/o Late Sh. Shambu Nath Kabu,R/o Narparistan Fateh Kadal Sgr; presently residing atH.No: 29, Basant Nagar, Janipur, Jammu. 29/7/2007
94. Sh. Keshav Nath Tingloo S/o Late Sh. Shankar Dass R/o of Kulgam Kmr; presently at RK Vihar, Lane-1Udheywala Bohri, Jammu. 30/7/2007
95. Smt. Sham Mohini Trisal W/o Sh. Sham Lal Trisal R/oMalik Angan Fateh Kadal Sgr; presently residing at 10CLane 24, Bhawani Nagar, Jammu. 30/7/2007
96. Sh. Saroop Nath Raina S/o Late Sh. Ram Chand Rainaof Lok Bhawan Anantnag Kmr; presently at PurkhooCamp Phase-I Jammu. 30/7/2007
97. Smt. Lalita Koul W/o Sh. Chaman Lal Koul R/o H.No:216, Lane No: 14, Block-D, Lower Shvi Nagar Jammu.30/7/2007
KASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
33333KASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
By J N Raina
WHILE turbulent Pakistan is straighteningitself and has report-
edly accepted a ‘dossier’ on ter-ror in Jammu and Kashmir, someKashmiri leaders are playingpranks and indulge in fluid talks,to keep the pot boiling in Kash-mir. They have many faces—andsometimes look alike--- makingit difficult to distinguish one facefrom the other. Rather they arefaceless.
Pakistan had earlier been re-fusing to discuss Kashmir-re-lated terror, which it took “as free-dom struggle”.
One feels aghast at the state-ment of the National Conferencepatron Farooq Abdullah that re-cent incidents (of human rightsviolations) are “forcing his partyto think twice, whether the ac-cession of Jammu and Kashmirwith the Indian Union was right”.Breaching all limits of decencyand rectitude, the maverick NCleader and a former chief minis-ter has stirred up a hornet’s nestby questioning the state’s acces-sion with India, lashing out atthe Army for committing ‘ex-
GUEST COLUMNGUEST COLUMNGUEST COLUMNGUEST COLUMNGUEST COLUMN
Kashmir’s accession is irrevocablecesses’. Perhaps he is obliviousof what is happening in anarchicPakistan, where several hundredcivilians have been killed by thesecurity forces, especially in theNorth-West Frontier Province(NWFP) and the federally-admin-istered tribal areas. Such inci-dents in the beleaguered Kash-mir valley are minor in nature ascompared to genocide in theSwat valley of Pakistan.
This is in contrast toAbdullah’s often-repeated rheto-ric: “I was an Indian, I am an In-dian and I will remain an Indian”.Perhaps, keeping next year’sAssembly elections in view, hewants to placate the jehadis,who are pouring in to the valleyoverwhelmingly after emergencywas declared in Pakistan.
As if Abdullah’s tantrumswere not enough to malign In-dia, the separatist Hurriyat Con-ference leader Mirwaiz UmarFarooq, with ashes in his mouth,has said: “There can be no solu-tion of Jammu and Kashmirwithin the framework of the In-dian Constitution”.
Just on the eve of deliveringhis ‘obiter dictum’, the Mirwaiztold a leading national daily thata “ pre-1953 plus” status forJammu and Kashmir could be a‘starting point’ for the ‘resolu-tion’ of the so-called ‘Kashmirproblem’, in recognition of whathe said ‘new realities on theground’. In what manner the
‘ground realities’ have changed,he ought to explain, rather thanobfuscate the current peace ini-tiative between India and Paki-stan.
The prankster has told thedaily : “ We (as if he representsthe entire set of people) wantcomplete devolution of powers;and our own President and PrimeMinister, as the status was until1953” ( when late Kashmir leaderSheikh Abdullah was deposedand arrested). But Mirwaiz oughtto know that after remaining inpolitical wilderness for 22 years,the Sheikh and his lieutenantMirza Afzal Beg had renounced‘plebiscite’, in the wake ofPakistan’s division, leading tothe emergence of Bangladesh,after 1971 war. The Sheikh, un-der the impact of this new devel-opment had dissolved “ Mahaz-e-Raishumari” or ‘PlebisciteFront’, of which he was the pa-tron. The ‘plebiscite’ then be-came a dead issue. It was thenthat a dialogue had begun be-tween Beg and G Parthasarthy,the two emissaries of SheikhAbdullah and then Prime Minis-ter Ms Indira Gandhi respec-tively. Four-year-long dialogueculminated into an historic ac-cord in early 1975. SheikhAbdullah regained power andwas sworn in as Chief Minister.Later he did not think it prudentto change the nomenclature ofthe Chief Minister to Prime Min-
ister and that of the Governor toSadar-i-Riyasat (President). ThePlebiscite Front was disbandedand the National Conference hehad founded was revived to suitthe existing political climate.
After assuming power in Feb-ruary 1975, the Sheikh had said:“Kashmir’s accession with Indiawas final and irrevocable”. Henever questioned this fact. Hehad even given a rebuff to thenPakistan President General Zia-ul-Haq for the latter’s move toillegally annex Gilgit, Hunza,Nagar and Skardu with Pakistan,which are part of the undividedstate of Jammu and Kashmir. TheSheikh had time and again madeit clear that Kashmir is an inte-gral part of India and it is so “le-gally, constitutionally and by thewill of the people whom he rep-resents”. This is notwithstand-ing the fact that many a times hehad confrontation with the Cen-tre.
It is not for any Tom, Dick andHarry to reopen the accessionissue. When India and Pakistanare fighting a common enemy,the scourge of terrorism,Kashmiri leaders are crazy aboutKashmir. They know it very wellthere cannot be any rollback sofar Kashmir’s accession is con-cerned. Instead, they shouldhelp in defeating terrorism, whichhas engulfed the entire sub-continent.
One is not bewildered at theusual anti-India hysteria of radi-cal Jammait-e-Islami leader SyedAli Geelani, for he has not devi-ated from his known stand formerger of Kashmir with Pakistan,even though that country is onthe verge of another split.Geelani has explained to his ‘au-dience’ that “traitor Musharraf’sPakistan was the place for Kash-mir to be in.” He must under-stand that Pakistan, the countryhe loves, has lost its sheen andstatus, because of increasingterrorist violence. Instead ofchanging his stance, he is stillopting for Pakistan. Ipso facto,the fundamentalist leadership inKashmir has not only destroyedKashmir, but Pakistan as well.Now new events are takingshape. Even the ‘hell’ is not go-ing to accept Kashmir, not tospeak of its merger with Pakistan.The fundamentalists shouldshout “peccavi” (we havesinned) for their abject role indestroying the fabric of societyin the valley. People in Islamabadhave come to realize that Paki-
stan has got ruined because ofits wrong Kashmir policy.
The People’s DemocraticParty (PDP) leader MuftiMohammad Sayed has in a jaw-jaw tone, as if in tizzy, an-nounced that seeking an earlyresolution of the ‘Kashmir prob-lem’ will be his party’s main pollplank in the next years Assem-bly elections. This seems to be anew device to garner votes onKashmir. Seeking an amicablesolution to the ‘Kashmir issue’he says, will figure ‘outstand-ingly’ in the PDP’s election mani-festo. PDP is a coalition partnerof the Congress, led by ChiefMinister Ghulam Nabi Azad. TheMufti and his daughter MsMehooba Mufti have been cam-paigning for demilitarization ofKashmir, as per the wishes ofGeneral Pervez Musharraf. TheMufti has come to believe that‘economic future’ of Jammu andKashmir is ‘significantly’ linkedto the ‘liberty of its people totravel freely across the border’.
Fifty years ago, some 50 lead-ing Muslim citizens of West Ben-gal had declared that theprogress of Kashmiris could beassured only by their continu-ing to be a part and parcel of In-dia.
“… To the Muslims of India---Kashmir does not now remaina problem at all”, they had main-tained. The Mirwaiz has soughtan indirect role for Pakistanwhile elaborating his ‘plus’ de-mand. He has said: “Thereneeded to be a relationship with‘Azad Kashmir’ (PoK) andthrough Muzaffarabad (capitalof PoK) with Islamabad, whichshould keep discussions ‘alive’on the issue of joint managementwith regard to the ‘defence, com-munication and foreign affairs’(of Kashmir). But even this anti-India posturing evoked resent-ment among the separatists , whoaccused him of ‘readying for asellout by falling into the foot-steps of Sheikh Abdullah’.Sheikh Abdullah was a toweringpersonality and no one canmatch his leadership qualities.The present lot of Kashmir’sleadership, suffering from hallu-cination, continue to hoodwinkthe people of Kashmir.
Be as it may, the mandarins inthe South Block however, neednot take them seriously.
*(The Author is a VeteranJournalist, based in Pune).
AmarnathAmarnathAmarnathAmarnathAmarnathMuthooMuthooMuthooMuthooMuthoo
Sir,I saw Kamlajee more than
half a dozen times when in lateAugust or early September1948 she came to see SwamiNand Bab. He used to stay offand on in our house at BulbulLankar. I very clearly remem-ber the espisode of Nand Babgiving her two rupees and say-ing "amis ai assne gachnai"(she will need this). I also re-member the last time she cameaccompanied by a smalldaughter. Swami Nand Babtook the girl in her lap andstarted singing with tears roll-ing down his cheeks.
Majay Mukhta Biol ChaKanse Vowmut (Mother Hasanybody sown the seed ofpearls?. I will try to recollectfew more details of the epi-sode. --M.M. Munshi
Gandhi Nagar, Jammu
COMMUNICACOMMUNICACOMMUNICACOMMUNICACOMMUNICATIONTIONTIONTIONTION PANUN KASHMIROrganises
One Day Convention To CelebrateHOMELAND DAY
AtCHINMAYA MISSION HALL,
Lodhi Road, New DelhiOn
SATURDAY, 29TH DECEMBER, 2007THE SPEAKERS EXPECTED TO SPEAK ON THE OCCASION:Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi (Former Union Minister of Human Resources),
Sh. G.Parthasarthi (Veteran Diplomat),Dr. Ajay Chrungoo (Chairman Panun Kashmir),
Sh. Kuldeep Raina (Gen. Secy. Panun Kashmir) &The Chief Spokesman of Hindu Jan Jagrut Samiti.
The Cultural Programme will be presented bySh. Bhajan Sopori.
Prominent Kashmiri Pandits will also be felicitatedon the occasion.
For further information and delegate registrationPlease Contact:1. Dr. Shakti Bhan -- 098100717002. Sh. Vijay Tickoo -- 098710955333. Sh. Kanwal Wangnoo -- 09810343522
4REGIONAL AFFREGIONAL AFFREGIONAL AFFREGIONAL AFFREGIONAL AFFAIRSAIRSAIRSAIRSAIRSKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
By Dr. Subhash Kapila Introductory Observations
Pakistan’s meltdown aftereight years of military ruleby General Musharraf fi-
nally reached a climax on Novem-ber 3, 2007 when GeneralMusharraf and his discreditedPakistan Army carried out a sec-ond military coup to pre-emptdisqualification of GeneralMusharraf ’s continuance asself-styled President byPakistan’s Supreme Court.
Pakistan’s tragic politicalsystem’s vulnerabilities to con-tinued usurpation of Pakistan’sgovernance by the PakistanArmy once again has come intosharp focus.
More tragic for Pakistan is thefact that while Pakistan Army’searlier military coup in 1999which brought GeneralMusharraf to power was aimedat bringing down then PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif for daringto bring the Pakistan Army un-der civilian control, the currentmilitary coup stands “squarelydirected at the people of Paki-stan” where since March 2007 in-dependent of Pakistan’s politicalparties, the legal fraternity andthe growing Pakistani civil streetwere involved in wide protestscalling for democracy and returnof the 1973constitution.
General Musharraf has de-clared “Emergency” in Pakistanwhich for all practical purposesis “Martial Law”. The entire Su-preme Court of Pakistan standsdismissed except for three orfour Musharraf loyalists. A newChief Justice loyal to Musharraf,Justice Dogar has been ap-pointed as the previous SupremeCourt Judges had declared asunconstitutional the declarationof Emergency by GeneralMusharraf as “unconstitu-tional”. Pakistani press reportsindicate that this has BenazirBhutto’s concurrence.
The earlier Supreme Courtjudges and leading activists ofthe judiciary have been placedunder house arrest. Leading po-litical leaders of parties otherthan the ruling PML (Q), Bhutto’sPPP and Musharraf’s MohajjirMQM are the exceptions. Pri-vate TV channels and the printmedia stand gagged.
In Pakistan today with themurder of democracy for the sec-ond time in eight years and insuccession, “darkness has de-scended at noon”, Pakistan’smelt-down has been given its fi-nal touches by the PakistanArmy under General Musharraf. A nation’s melt-down takes placewhen political governance is re-placed by military governance,the constitution is thrown in thewaste-paper basket, judicial pro-cesses are thrown out of the win-dow and the people’s politicalaspirations are brutally sup-pressed. After eight years of mili-tary rule in Pakistan under Gen-eral Musharraf, this is the cur-rent picture of Pakistan today.
Pakistan’s melt down has stra-tegic implications for the regionand the United States in particu-lar, not because of Pakistan’s
PAKISTAN’S MELTDOWN UNDER MUSHARRAF:STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS FOR UNITED STATESnuclear arsenal butmore for the widerimpact that itwould have onUnited States po-litical influence andmilitary presence inGreater South-West Asia.
To focus on theabove, this paperwould like to followon the followingrelated aspects: · P a k i s t a n ’ s
Brutal Mili-tary Suppres-sion: TheUnited Statesand International Reactionis Disappointing
· United States “Arc of Woe”Widens in Greater SouthWest Asia. Due toMusharraf Generated crisis
· Pakistan’s Meltdown: TheStrategic Implications forthe United States
· Pakistan Army’s Brutal Po-litical Suppression Couldhasten Pakistan’sTalibanization
Pakistan’s Brutal MilitarySuppression: The United Statesand International Reaction isDisappointing
The United States could notbe expected to come out withstrong denunciation of GeneralMusharraf and Pakistan Army’scurrent brutal political suppres-sion in Pakistan. The UnitedStates, General Musharraf andformer Prime Minister BenazirBhutto jointly and in unionscripted the current unfoldingscenario in Pakistan. The UnitedStates wanted GeneralMusharraf ’s continuance inpower in Pakistan at any cost andhas been ensured.
The United States in the wakeof November 3, 2007 events inPakistan, therefore made onlysome muted proforma protestsfor forms sake. The UnitedStates steered clear of outrightcondemnation of GeneralMusharraf or the Pakistan Army. The United States was totallysilent on the imperatives of de-mocracy in Pakistan and the en-forcement of civil liberties andhuman rights.
The Western countries andother allies of the United Statesadopted similar positions. TheUnited States and these coun-tries are vociferous when itcomes to Myanmar, Iran and else-where on these counts. Theirsilence on Pakistan is deafeningand affects their image the worldover. India as a country likely tobe most affected seriously interms of the turbulence of Paki-stan has once again taken cuesfrom Washington on Pakistan. The official statements were notcondemnatory nor highlightedthe imperatives for restoration ofdemocracy in Pakistan as an In-dian strategic imperative. This
was the subject of an earlier pa-per by this author.
India seems to have beenoblivious that whenever violentturbulence under military re-gimes in Pakistan has takenplace, the Pakistani rulers resortto military adventurism againstIndia.
India’s statement onPakistan’s should have reflectedthat what is happening may bePakistan’s internal matter but itendangers South Asian regionalsecurity and that United Statesshould undo its Pakistan scriptfocusing on Musharraf.
United States “Arc of Woe”Widens in Greater South WestAsia. Due to Musharraf Gener-ated crisis
Pakistan’s crisis generated byGeneral Musharraf’s politicalsuppression has all the makingsand potential of generating acivil war in Pakistan. The Paki-stan Army under him standsbadly mauled and discredited inthe explosive western frontierprovinces of Balochistan andNWFP. The General haslaunched a frontal attack onPakistan’s supreme judiciary, itsincreasingly activist civil societyand media. Punjab and Sindh arerestive. Suicide bombings espe-cially against Pakistan Army tar-gets has become a daily occur-rence.
Pakistan therefore is on theboil today and no amount of mili-tary suppression by Musharrafcan soothe the Pakistani hatredagainst General Musharraf andhis mafia of Corps Commanders.
The United States strategic“arc of Woe” stretching fromIraq, Iran and Afghanistan nowextends to incorporate Pakistanalso in its fold. To this when areadded the other West Asia flashpoints of Lebanon, Turkish-Kurdish confrontation, Syria-Is-rael confrontation, Israel-Pales-tinian conflicts and the Pakistansupported Taliban in Afghani-stan, the United States has itshands full of strategic turbulencewhich it is not in a position tocontrol.
Pakistan is one place wherethe United States can control thesituation immediately andthereby limiting its “arc of woe”.
All that it hasto do is toforce GeneralMusharraf toquit, warn thecorps com-manders thatfurther militaryrule is not ac-ceptable andinstall an In-terim Govern-ment with anon-politicalInterim PrimeMinister.
Pakistan’sM e l t d o w n :The Strategic
Implications for the UnitedStates
Pakistan’s melt-down andlengthening the United States“strategic arc of woe” has alreadybeen touched above. The stra-tegic implications for the UnitedStates are grave and can be out-lined briefly as follows: · Strategically, the United
States has been left withhardly any political solutionfor the Pakistan meltdownother than a direct militaryintervention to put the way-ward Pakistan Army in itsplace.
· Pakistan’s melt-down limitsUnited States strategic op-tions in its confrontationwith Iran
· United States and NATO’smuch sought after politicalstability and reconstructionin Afghanistan will be seri-ously endangered. It mayeven lead to United Statesand NATO exit from Af-ghanistan
· The entire Eastern flank ofHormuz straits, so impor-tant for United States stra-tegic interests in the regimepasses to hostile hands
· United States strategic in-terests and attempts for mili-tary presence in CentralAsia will be seriously en-dangered
Global terrorism would re-ceive a boost with the IslamicJehadi outfits emboldened byPakistan Army’s unrestrainedhold on Pakistan.
The United States is likely toendanger strategic support fromits traditional Western allies andJapan when they view that theUnited States with Musharraf asits ‘blind-spot’ is becoming stra-tegically oblivious to the strate-gic threats that holler on such acourse.
Pakistan Army’s Brutal Po-litical Suppression Could Has-ten Pakistan’s Talibanization
Pakistan Army’s brutal politi-cal suppression launched on theorder of General Musharraf toperpetuate his power has left no“safety valve” or outlet to dissi-pate the rising political opposi-tion against military rule and the
continuation of GeneralMusharraf in power at the helmof Pakistan’s affairs.
Pakistan’s agitated masses inpolitical turmoil have been leftwith no political options toachieve their aspirations for res-toration of democracy in Paki-stan.
Musharraf ’s present sup-pressive crackdown and theUnited States tacit approval andorchestrating the script devisedto keep Musharraf in power,leaves the Pakistani people withno other alternative but to turnto the gun. At such a breakingpoint for the Pakistani massesturning to the Taliban or them-selves launching “Talibanisedstrategies” to oust GeneralMusharraf, and the PakistanArmy could become a reality re-inforced by their intense hatredfor the United States for concur-ring in keeping a military regimein power in Pakistan against theiropposition. This process couldbe hastened if the United Statespersists with the present script.
Pakistan’s emerging and en-larging civil society including thejudiciary, legal fraternity, the me-dia and civil society activists arethe only bulwark against theTalibanisation of Pakistan. Sadly, they today stand sidelinedand suppressed by GeneralMusharraf with backgroundsupport and laudatory Americanstatements appreciating andsupporting General Musharraf.
Concluding Observations Pakistan’s present crisis gen-
erated by General Musharraf hasno military solutions. The Paki-stani General is in no mood forany political solution which doesnot concede and ensure his con-tinuance in power.
The United States as the stra-tegic patron of GeneralMusharraf, has taken on itself theliability to ensure that theGeneral’s grip on power does notfalter. Proforma statements ofAmerican protests on GeneralMusharraf ’s jettisoning thedemocratic processes that werestriking root in Pakistan cannothide the strategic reality that it isthe majesty of United Statespower which sustainsMusharraf ’s military regimeagainst vehement opposition inPakistan.
In the ultimate analysis of thedeveloping scenario in Pakistan,more than General Musharraf,history would hold the UnitedStates for the meltdown of Paki-stan and the adverse strategicconsequences that are likely tofollow for the United States andthe region.
(The author is an Interna-tional Relations and StrategicAffairs analyst. He is the Con-sultant, Strategic Affairs withSouth Asia Analysis Group. )
5BOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
By Dr. Ajay Chrungoo
John Ruskin, the famed Britishessayist, classified books intotwo categories—Books of the
hour and Books of all time. 'Insearch of a future-The story ofKashmir', a new book on Kashmirby David Devdas, a well-knowncolumnist, defies this classification.The book offers rich historicalmaterial, flaunts interestingformulations, yet it has majorstructural weaknesses. The verypremise on which Dev Das tries tobuild his thesis of 'alienation' isflawed and untenable. Even hisassertions on origins of the terroristmovement are not backed up byfacts. Still the book retains itsrelevance. It is scholarly and a valiantattempt to contest someo f themyths, assiduously perpetuated bydifferent actors with vested inter-ests.
Frustrated aspirations':David Devdas tries to locate
Kashmiri alienation (read Muslimalienation) in 'Frustrated aspira-tions' of new groups of educatedyouth aspiring for jobs. He attributes'historical socio-economicresentment' against KashmiriPandits and their disproportionateshare' in professional trainings andjobs as the basis of so-called'thwarted aspirations'. At times theauthor makes confused and contra-dictory statements. For example atone place he says 'Selfish aspira-tions have run amok'. The 'frus-trated' and 'selfish' expressions havetwo conflicting connotations. Whatcan be the basis for study of shareof different communities in land,trade, manufacturing, jobs andtrainings and even demographyother than historically verifiabledata? Devdas does not provide anystatistics at all. Anecdotal tales dohistory.
'Frustrated aspirations' thesis hasbeen directly lifted up from'Frustrated Middle Class', a hack-neyed expression used by PremShankar Jha in 1990. Jha'ssympathies, if his writings andpublic stances are any indication, liewith exclusivist Kashmiri Muslimsub-nationalism. His contribution todistortion of facts to renderlegitimacy to this regressive sub-nationalism has been legion. Asterrorist movement unfolded inKashmir a self-righteous section ofIndian Civil Society, rooted in left-liberal politics, sought to rake up'economic reasons' behind thearmed revolt.. The objective wasto obfuscate the theo-fascist
THE KASHMIR STORTHE KASHMIR STORTHE KASHMIR STORTHE KASHMIR STORTHE KASHMIR STORYYYYYcharacter of the movement. Howcould the religious-based separatistcampaign build the emotive pitch forthe terrorist movement withoutraking up extreme religiosity? Forthis identifying a religious minorityas 'the other' was a compulsion. Ithas been true of all communalmovements in history. Inventingimaginary wrongs committed byPandits against the majoritycommunity became a necessity—both to build a 'socio-economicrationale' for the theo-fascistmovement as well as to unleashreligious-cleansing against KashmiriHindus.
Communal view:Devdas takes a communal view
of history. He identifies religiouscommunities as homogenous groups,ignoring class and socialstratification. How do few membersof the community, who may haveheld substantial jagirs, make up thewhole community? More than 80%of Kashmiri Pandit population livedin the city of Srinagar at all timesduring the past 200 years. Howmany of them were landowningfamilies? How many Pandit familieswere engaged in big shawl trade?Why should a historicallypersecuted minority be subjected topsychological retribution justbecause few Pandit familieshappened to be part of landedgentry? Is it not to build a rationalefor permanent cleansing of KashmiriPandits for all times to come?
Land Reforms:During the tribal invasion there
were innumerable instances wherePandit families were saved by theirMuslim tillers. How could this bepossible if Pandit landlords had beenharsh towards their tenants? During1819-1947 one does not come acrossa single peasant revolt in Kashmir.Why has it been so? If peasantquestion was missing in NationalConference campaign in pre-1947period it was because landlordismwas not a serious issue at all.Peasantry suffered because of low-yield of agriculture and occasionallybecause of excesses committed byrevenue bureaucracy. Before 1931Kashmiris were reluctant to take landbecause of difficulty in payingrevenue. It was after 1931 whenproprietary rights were granted inKashmir that Kashmiris-both com-munities began investing in land. In1948-1950 when new regimeinitiated land reforms SheikhAbdullah and Bakshi Gh.Mohammad were cool to the idea.Mirza Afzal Beg, who himself wasa landlord, and GM Sadiq supportedland reforms for communal and com-munist reasons respectively. SheikhAbdullah came to support landreforms at a later stage when threatof plebiscite was looming large andPakistan was raking up religiousemotions to clinch the issue. Pt RishDev, a communist leader andDirector of 'Debt Cancellation Board'has authored a study on the land
reforms in Kashmir, an Englishtranslation of which is now available.He has provided shocking details ofhow landlords of the majoritycommunity behaved towards theirtenants and also circumvented landreforms through political patronage.Normally, the tenants should havehad more resentment against theirco-regionalists. Devdas takes a verysuperficial view of Kashmir's ruralscene, remaining contented inlistening to 'daleels' rather thandissecting the problem deeper. Ifsections of landed gentry, shawl andother traders, educated youth frommajority community were fuellingcommunal passions against Panditsit was because geo-political factorswere in operation. The Britishers hadbeen putting enough pressure onDogra Maharajas over the issue ofGilgat. They were not happy withMaharaja Hari Singh, particularlyover his role during Round TableConference. There was also spilloverof communal politics from Punjab.
Jobs Market:Even on the issue of jobs, the
greater share of which is supposedto have gone to Pandits the boot ison the other leg. There have beentwo phases of separatist armedinsurgency—1960s and 1980s.1960s was the age of plenty. Large-scale development and huge fundspushed by the Central governmentinto Kashmir flooded Kashmir withjobs.. There was, infact, paucity ofpeople to fill the vacancies. IfKashmiri Pandits could also gainentry into State government sectorparticularly as teachers, it wasunderstandable. At the time ofexodus in 1990 the number of Panditemployees was 13 thousand among4 lakh state government employees.Out of this 6500 worked ineducation sector alone. So wherewas the question of resentment overjobs and trainings? Moreover,besides increased number of jobsavailable there was a revolution inagriculture and dairy, productionsincreased many fold. There was alsoboom in carpets/handicraft and hor-ticulture sector. Even the poorest ofthe poor became beneficiaries of theexpansion of Handlooms.
Communalism, Secessionismand Fundamentalism:
To look for economic reasonsbehind the eruption of armed revoltis to search for black spots on thesun. The origins of communal-separatist movement in Kashmirneed to be looked into elsewhere. In1947 the size of Kashmiri Muslimeducated class was small. Due to freeeducation and better economic op-portunities it expanded manifold.Whether it was Land Reforms, Debtcancellation or expansion ofdevelopment sector there were nopolitically meaningful campaigns toback these. These were implementedas part of 'Correcting HistoricalWrongs'. This strengthenedcommunal political consciousnessamong the youth who grew up
between 1947-1964. The threat ofreopening ofaccession alsoloomed large. Thisintroduced anelement of oppor-tunism. And finally,the youth wasexposed tocommunal-seces-sionist politics ofPlebiscite Frontsince 1953.
Parallel withthis campaign thefundamenta l i s torganisations-Jamaat Islami, AhliHadith and Allawale were trying tobring religious consciousness in tunewith Wahabi orientation. Since 1980the Kashmiri youth were exposedto transnational jihad also. It wasnot 'frustrated aspirations' butheightened sense of communalidentity and increasing procliv-ity to fundamentalist-secession-ist ideas that was breeding al-ienation from India. Instead ofcountering this trend the main-stream politics tried to sail withit.
Bizarre Formulations:The author makes some bizarre
formulations. One that the areaswhich benefited from Land Reformsand Development were not pro-Pakistan. Secondly, the pockets
where land reformshad been rolledback-by consolidat-ing orchards whichwere exempt fromland ceilings theJamaat dominated.Thirdly, doctorsand engineers cameto be attracted byJamaat Islami.
Jamaat Islami'sstrongholds wereZaingir-Pohru beltand Sopore in northKashmir, Kulgam-Shopian in South
Kashmir and Mochow-Soibug-Wadawan in Central Kashmir. InSrinagar it was the Solina area whichJamaat considered its bastion. Noneof these areas had anything specificwhich was not common to rest ofthe Valley. There has always beena thin line between pro-Paksentiment and local Muslim sub-nationalism. Infact, there hasbeen inter-changing of roles. Tolocate pro-Pak sentiment inthwarted land reforms and non-development is to fly from facts.Lastly, it were not doctors andengineers as professional groupswho were more enamoured byJamaat Islami. The cadres fromJamaat came mostly amongstteachers (who had access to Jamaat
David Devdas
(Contd. on Page 6)
6SPECIAL REPORTSPECIAL REPORTSPECIAL REPORTSPECIAL REPORTSPECIAL REPORTKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
The KashmirThe KashmirThe KashmirThe KashmirThe KashmirStoryStoryStoryStoryStory
(Contd. from Page 5)literature), masons, Pir-Syed groupwho leaned towards Wahabism-Debandi ideology, some members oflow social origin who needed asuperstructure ideology for respect-ability.
Jamaat Islami's top leaders SyedAli Shah Geelani, Saadudin, QariSaifuddin etc. started their career asteachers. Geelani's father was acasual night watchmen and not amember of ruined feudal class. An-other section which identified itselfwith Jamaat Islami were corruptmembers of bureaucracy and upstartelite. In this case cover of JamaatIslami provided a smokescreen to
camouflage their misdeeds. Anexcellent study of this phenomenontitled 'Kashmiri Muslim Society-Changing Contours' by Dr. K.N.Pandita was published in KashmirTimes, Jammu in 1991.
David Devdas wrongly singlesout National Conference leadershipfor seeing Jamaat Islami only as adoctrinal grouping and not as asocio-economic force. None of theleaders-Bakshi, Sadiq or SheikhAbdullah treated Jamaat Islamias a threat-either as a doctrinalthreat or as a socio-political force.They maintained opportunisticrelationship with Jamaat Islami.Mir Qasim even rewarded themwith 5 assembly seats in 1972. Infact, emerging rural elite used Jamaatas a vehicle for getting share in ad-ministrative and political power.Qasim-Jamaat alliance was itsmanifestation.
David Devdas would like us tobelieve that ISI started trainingKashmiris in subversion only afterDecember 1987. Nothing can befarther from the truth. Not only aleading news agency but alsogovernment's own sources hadconfirmed that by May 1984hundreds of Kashmiri youth hadundergone training in 13 camps setup by Pakistan and were paid Rs 20thousand on return by ISI. Who werethese people who underwenttraining if JKLF/Islamic StudentLeague went for training only afterDecember 1987? Devdas is silent onthis.
Dev Das has a solution—Indo-Pak problem can be resolved only ifKashmir heals itself. He remarks,"That healing must be internal.Harmony within Kashmir is notpossible without moral courage.It involves accommodation of oth-ers' aspirations and that is onlypossible through non-attachmentand discipline". Will Kashmirislisten?
*(The author heads PanunKashmir)
By Dr. Ajay Chrungoo
WHEN the governmentmade its intention tohold the Third Round
Table Conference in NewDelhi, it appeared to be in un-due haste. Out of the fiveWorking Groups constitutedby Govt. of India during the IIndRound Table Conference heldin Srinagar, only four had sub-mitted their reports. The fifth,and the politically most cru-cial group, was yet to com-plete its work. In fact it wasnot even half way through withits agenda. Out of the fourWorking Groups which hadsubmitted their reports, thegroup dealing with Confi-dence Building Measuresheaded by Mr. Hamid Ansari(Now the Vice-President of In-dia) had miserably failed tobuild the consensus.
Dr. Agnishekhar who repre-sented Kashmiri Pandits inthis group had dissociatedwith its recommendations af-ter duly registering his objec-tions. None of the participantshad received the reports of theWorking Groups even till justbefore midnight on the eve ofthe conference. The delegateswere handed over the Work-ing Group reports immediatelyafter the dinner hosted by theChief Minister of the Jammuand Kashmir State, Sh.Ghulam Nabi Azad. The ThirdRound Table Conference asper the agenda had to discussthese very reports so that theycould be duly adopted. It washumanly impossible for thedelegates even to have a cur-sory look on the reports, notto speak of developing a firmopinion on the contents andthe recommendations made.Was it the intention of theGovt. of India not to allow timeto the delegates to evolve afirm opinion? Perhaps the in-tention of Govt. of India wasto push through the recom-mendations during the ThirdRound Table Conference with-out a due consideration by thedelegates.
I tried to have a look on therecommendations of theWorking Group dealing withthe agenda of ConfidenceBuilding Measures. Dr.Agnishekhar had alreadybriefed us about the delibera-tions of the Working Group asalso his written objections andobservations to the Working
Group report. For me to makesome opinion about the rec-ommendations of this Work-ing Group in the short timeavailable appeared little lessdaunting. As I went throughthe contents and recommen-dations of this Working Groupheaded by none other than theeminent Hamid Ansari I wasalarmed. I felt that Govt. of In-dia had embarked on a courseof adopting measures for tack-ling Kashmir problem whichwould gradually unhinge notonly the sovereignty of the na-tion over Jammu and Kashmirbut also cripple nation's effortsto defeat terrorism and sepa-ratism. The delay in providingthe copies of the reports to thedelegates started assuming anew meaning in my mind. Thechairman of the Working Groupon 'Confidence Building Mea-sures' declares on Page 3 ofits report, "The Working Groupconcerns itself only with therehabilitation and improvementof conditions of the militancyvictims and did not go deeperinto the causes or the genesisof militancy in the state":. Iwondered how the chairmancould devise a framework forhelping the victims of militancywithout going into the genesisof militancy. Could any bodydevise measures to help thevictims without understandingthe causes why they weretargetted?
Perhaps a more relevantquestion which comes to mindis why in the entire report, notonce, has the issue of 'terror-ism' been mentioned, not tospeak of addressing it. Couldthe victims of terrorism behelped without addressing theissue of terrorism? The reportvery meticulously and deliber-ately avoids or circumventsthe issue of terrorism. Andwhat is the understanding ofthe chairman about what con-stitutes militancy in the stateis reflected very clearly by go-ing through its observations onthe--'Measures to improvethe condition of people af-fected by militancy". The re-port observes, "The necessityof curbing human rights viola-tions was stressed by mostmembers of the WorkingGroup. Emphasis was placedon Prime Minister's assuranceof 'zero tolerance' for humanrights violations as on India'sinternational commitments
and international image. It wasconsidered imperative to de-velop a mechanism in whichresponsibility for specific hu-man rights violations can befixed and derelict officials iden-tified and proceeded against".The observations clearly indi-cate that the report identifiesmilitancy primarily as stateaccuses, dereliction or acts ofcommission and ommission.It does not at all consider theissue of terrorism as the primecause of violence in the state.The report recommends mea-sures to improve the condi-tions of people affected by mili-tancy like inculcating HumanRights awareness 'in all civiland military government func-tionaries and in the public' andreviewing and revoking of 'cer-tain laws made operationalduring the period of militancye.g., Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act, Disturbed AreaAct".
With this type of under-standing of militancy, advo-cated by the report of Work-ing Group on 'confidence build-ing measures across the Seg-ments of Society' in the statewe were going to the ThirdRound Table Conference. Myapprehensions deepenedabout the entire gamut of ex-ercises conducted in otherWorking Groups as well. Anattempt seemed to be afoot toset a course for national policyon Jammu and Kashmir, withserious implications--interna-tional, regional and local. Thiscould be clearly gauged fromthe concluding remarks in thesame report--
..."It has to be recognizedthat the problem of militancyand alienation of some sec-tions of the society has to betackled in a very broad frame-work in this behalf. Central andState government may con-sider application of internation-ally accepted policies in con-sultation with experts.
...."An unconditional dia-logue process should bestarted with militant groups forfinding a sustainable solutionto the problem of militancy inthe state".
...."The probable role of me-dia should be examined in gen-erating an image of the peopleof the State so as to lessenthe indignity and suspicionyouth face outside the state..."
Will the delegates in the
Third Round Table Confer-ence be able to grasp andrespond to formulation andrecommendations of Work-ing Groups which can harmnational interest? Will thehighest at the helm in Govt.of India including the PrimeMinister, Home Minister,National Security Advisorand others attending theThird Round Table Confer-ence see through any mea-sure or recommendation bythe Working Group which willdamage the national causein Jammu and Kashmir andwill they put their foot down?I had these questions in mymind while I prepared to at-tend the Third Round TableConference. The experienceof the deliberations of theThird Round Table Confer-ence was mixed. Many del-egates rose up to the occa-sion, called a spade a spadeand emphatically cautionedGovt. of India against fallinginto trap of such perspec-tives couched in WorkedGroup reports as observa-tions or recommendationswhich were detrimental tonational interests. The delib-erations, did not reflect aunanimous view while theGovt. of India tried hard to ...a unanimity which could notbe arrived at during the con-ference. However, Govt. of In-dia role during the conferencewas far from reassuring. Itseemed almost helpless andin a state of abject surren-der to all such views whichundermined and damagednational interests in the stateof Jammu and Kashmir.More dismaying was thatmany a times Govt. of Indialooked more eager to facili-tate these views.
(To be concluded)
'Third Round Table Conference' Part-I
JKENG 00333/26/AL/TC/94JK No: 1213/18Regd. JK-219/2008Printer Publisher B.N. Kaul for andon behalf ofPanun Kashmir Foundation.Editor: SHAILENDRA AIMAComputer Graphic:S.K. BabbuPrinted at : The Kashmir TimesPress, Gangyal, JammuOwned by:PANUN KASHMIRFOUNDATIONPublished from PANUN KASHMIRFOUNDATION, 149 Ram Vihar, OldJanipur, Jammu-180007 (INDIA)Tele/Fax: 0191-2538537emal: [email protected]
CONTINUACONTINUACONTINUACONTINUACONTINUATIONTIONTIONTIONTION
7HISTORHISTORHISTORHISTORHISTORYYYYYKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
By M.M.Munshi
WHEN Soviet Russiatook virtual control ofSinkiang (Xinjiang)in
1935 the British Indian adminis-tration came to an agreementwith the Maharaja of Jammu &Kashmir under which a sixty yearlease of GILGIT (which formedpart of Jammu & Kashmir State)was executed .The sole respon-sibility of defense and adminis-tration of Gilgit became the re-sponsibility of the British whoraised an irregular force “GilgitScouts” recruited from Hunzaand Nagar and adjoining partsof NWFP officered exclusivelyby British.. With the announce-ment of Mountbatten Plan onJune 3rd 19 47 Gilgit was handedback to the Maharaja of J&Kamidst much jubilations andfunfair in July and Gilgit Scoutsbecame part of the state forces.The Maharaja dispatched a se-nior officer of the State ForcesBrigadier Gansara Singh as Gov-ernor who was accompanied bythe Chief of Staff of the StateForces Maj.Gen. H.L.Scot. TheGovernor and Maj. Gen. Scotwere informed by the officers ofthe Gilgit Scouts that all of themhad opted to serve Pakistan.Scot returned to make a report toMaharaja while the Governorstayed on in Gilgit. Neither theBritish officers were segregatedfrom the Gilgit Scouts nor theforce was disbanded whichproved to be unpardonable mis-take. After the Pakistani tribalinvasion of Kashmir valley tookplace the Gilgit Scouts placedthe Governor under house arrestand provisional government wasinstalled. Major Brown the Brit-ish commandant of the scoutsceremoniously hoisted the Paki-stani flag. An official from Paki-stan arrived and established him-self as Political Agent. An understrength battalion of State forces6th J&K Infantry composed halfof Mirpuri -Punchi Muslims andhalf of Sikhs under Lt. Col. AbdulMajid Khan was located at Bunji.On hearing about invasion ofKashmir and revolt of Gilgitscouts the Mirpuri-Punchi Mus-lims revolted and along withGilgit Scouts attacked the Sikhtroops and routed them. Col.Abdul Majid Khan who re-mained loyal to the Maharaja wastaken prisoner. East of GilgitSkardu in Baltistan was garri-soned by a weak battalion undera Gurkha Commander Lt.Col.Sherjang Thapa and a smallerdetachment of State Forces wasalso at Kargil .East of Kargil andat Leh no troops were deployedanywhere. After the fall of GilgitOperation sledge was planned atPakistan’s army headquartersand launched from Gilgit in Feb.48 and obvious target being Lehthe capital of Ladakh The enemy
SASASASASAVIORS OF LEHVIORS OF LEHVIORS OF LEHVIORS OF LEHVIORS OF LEHforce to implement the operationwas composed of a strong ele-ment of Gilgit Scouts, Mirpuri andPunchi deserters of J&K StateForces from Bunji and tribalsfrom NWFP of Pakistan. It wasan ambitious plan involving afoot march of about 500 Kms.over rugged but not unfre-quented terrain all that mighthave been encountered would
have been minor resistance atSkardu by the weak battalion ofJ&K State forces and a small de-tachment of the state forces atKargil.The blatant act of aggres-sion was more for the odious forthe fact that people of Ladakhwere most peace loving and to-tally unarmed in consequencewere incapable of offering anyresistance other than verbal pro-tests. The timing chosen by theenemy for the Operation Sledgewas ideal for them and its suc-cess was assured, as no helpcould be sent from Kashmir toLadakh , because Zoji La Passremained blocked with snow tillMay nor there was any airstripat Leh or any other place inLadakh. For the enemy the doorto Leh was open and successwas almost certain.
The commander of StateForces garrison at Skardu beingunder heavy pressure from en-emy and had no choice but toconcentrate his force inside thefort and placed the troops as wellas civilians including women andchildren on minimum ration scale.
Attacks against the fort weredelivered at periodic intervalsbut a steady fire ,firm defenseand the casualties inflicted uponthe enemy repulsed the latter.The next alternative for the en-emy would be to lay siege of theSkardu Fort and force it’s surren-der by starvation. The Gurkhacommander at Skardu envisagedthat with the stock of food gradu-
ally dwindling would adverselyeffect the physical condition ofhis disciplined troops .It wasunder these circumstances thatthe commander planned to sendof small batches of women andchildren with escort parties atnight to escape detection andwhen these parties were awayfrom Skardu he would withdrawhis main force and fight arearguard action up to Kargilwhere together with the Kargildetachment he would hold theenemy advance towards Zojilaand eastwards . There was noother alternative to this with-drawal plan . It was not the re-quest of a coward but a braveand capable soldier,but in spiteof the strong recommendation of161 infantry brigade his positionwas not unfortunately appreci-ated by the HQs JAK Force andhe was ordered to fight to thelast man and last round. The in-evitable happened. The SkarduGarrison held on with no sign ofrelief of troops or supplies andwas forced to surrender by Sep-tember 1948 after exhausting its
ammunition and food stocks.On March 3rd 1948 after a few
days the Skardu fort was en-circled by the enemy, its com-mander signaled to 161 Inf. Bdein Kashmir Valley that about 500armed men and about 200 por-ters had arrived from the direc-tion of Gilgit and after halting atthe outskirts of the fort pro-ceeded in an easterly directionpresumably towards Kargil.Theinformation was also confirmedby a wireless intercept and waspassed to the State Govt and it
was resolved during a meetingthat something would have to bedone to save Leh from being at-tacked as Ladakhis were com-pletely unarmed and any attackon Leh would have repercus-sions from the Buddhist World.But to do what remained unre-solved , as to get to Ladakh fromthe Kashmir Valley at that timeof the year was considered to bean impossibility
Lt.Col.G.G. Bewoor Later Gen-eral and Chief of Staff , IndianArmy who had taken over com-mand of 2nd Dogras from. Lt.Col.U.C.Dubey (later Maj. Gen. andGOC 25th Infantry DivisionRajouri mentioned that 2ndDogras during its service as aterritorial battalion had enlisteda number of Lahaulis and menfrom upper reaches of thenPunjab Hill states were still serv-ing with the battalion includingtwo officers Captains PrithiChand (later Brigadier PrithiChand) and Khushal Chand (laterCol. Khushal Chand a very popu-lar figure from Lahaul who sub-sequently died in an air crash in
Vietnam in early fifties.). Col.Bewoor suggested that sinceLahaul was situated contiguousto Ladakh it would be worthwhileto ask these officers if theywould go with their men toLadakh and organize its de-fenses. In his talk Lt.Col Bewoordid not use persuasion nor didhe try to minimize the difficultiesor dangers that would have tobe faced and only available routewas via the Zojila Pass over theGreat Himalaya Range which wascovered over by 30 to 40 feet ofSnow.He asked the young offic-ers to consider the matter care-fully and also assured them thatno adverse opinion would beheld against them if they ex-pressed their inability to under-take the task.
Within a few moments PrithiChand and Khushal Chand ap-peared before the Brigade andBattalion Commanders and an-nounced that they would go toLeh . Immediately volunteerswere called from 2nd Dogras . Inaddition to all the Lahaulis manyDogras also volunteered . Aftera careful medical examinationand aptitude tests about 50 menwere selected and given possibletraining about loading and un-loading of ponies step cutting etc. Requirements and transportlimitations of the volunteer forcewere very carefully scrutinizedand nothing was left to chance.Besides the arms carried by of-ficers and men about 150 addi-tional rifles and their ammunitionmeant for equipping theLadakhis was added to the bag-gage. The party later designatedas Leh detachment assembled atBaramula and equipped withitems like Gilgit boots , snowgoggles ,Gloves Fur lined jack-ets etc which were available inSrinagar markets provisions etcwere transported to Sonamarg bymotor transport. Local ponieswhich had been procured withdifficulty joined the detachmentmarched with it to Baltal.
After establishing camp atBaltal avalanches were createdby beating of drums and burst-ing of crackers in the stillness ofnight for three days after whichPrithi Chand signaled to Barmulathat it was ready make the attemptto cross Zoji La . After about 48hours another signal was re-ceived that the crossing of ZojiLa was accomplished without acasualty and the column wassetting out for Kargil on way toLeh.From Kargil they were ac-companied by the state forcesdetachment on their march to LehPrithi Chand and his men reachedLeh without encountering theenemy .The rifles and ammuni-tion were distributed among suit-able young men who were givena hasty training Defensive
(Contd. on Page 9)
8DOCUMENTDOCUMENTDOCUMENTDOCUMENTDOCUMENTKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
Smt Sonia GandhiPresidentIndian National Congress Party24 Akbar Road, New DelhiNovember 21,2007
Dear Congress President,As the United States
grapples with recession, theJoint Economic Committee of theUS Congress began taking stockof the Bush administration'spolicy decisions, including theIraq Occupation and expendi-tures and growth-sapping hid-den costs thereof. AssociatedPress reported on 14 November2007 that "hidden costs such asinterest payments on the moneyborrowed to pay for the wars,lost investment, the expense oflong term health care for injuredveterans and the cost of oil mar-ket disruptions," stood at US$1.6 trillion.
Not factored in these, are"hidden contributions" to theUS, of $50 billion in treasury sup-port activity and additional mon-etarist support of $2 billion in in-terest subsidies, made availableby secret ally India.
It is time, we in India, tookstock of these surreptitiousmoves by the Congress led UPAgovernment to support andsubsidise the Occupation-of-lraq efforts of the United States;all the while keeping parliamentand the nation, in the dark.
This startling reversal of timehonoured Congress policy,whereby the late Rajiv Gandhistopped even the refuelling ofAmerican warplanes in Mumbaiduring the first Iraq War, is madeworse by the conspiratorial vio-lations of statutory provisionsof monetary and fiscal discipline.
The implementation of thisconspiracy against Indian inter-ests is being supervised by Am-bassador David CampbellMulford of the United States,whose connection with theStock and IPO scams as Chair-man International of CreditSuisse First Boston (CSFB) areon record. Unfortunately, thisconnection was glossed over bythe government of India, despiteevidence that Ketan Parekhmerely duplicated the methodol-ogy of CSFB's Frank Quattrone;Parekh was arrested and credited(wrongly) of being the master-mind, while CSFB officials wereallowed to go scot free! Interest-ingly, the directions passed af-ter investigation by SEBI,against the Ketan Parekh Groupand Credit Suisse First Boston(I) Securities Pvt Ltd (a whollyowned subsidiary of CSFB andreporting to then Chairman In-ternational David C Mulford atthe London office) are identical,"Debarring the entities from un-dertaking fresh business as Mer-chant Banker/Stock Broker.."
OPEN LETTEROPEN LETTEROPEN LETTEROPEN LETTEROPEN LETTER Please act to prevent Imminent Financial CrisisEven more significant, in
today's context, is the well docu-mented role of David Mulfordand his chum Domingo FelipeCavallo, an American acclaimedeconomist, bureaucrat, CentralBank Director and Minister ofEconomy of Argentina (trackrecord sounds somewhat famil-iar).
The American inspired(should one say ordered?)dollarisation of the ArgentinianPeso in the 1990s, in the name ofkeeping inflation in check, back-fired and the debacle only in-creased Argentina's indebted-ness. Then Domingo Cavallowas elevated to Minister of Fi-nance riding on the back of USand World Bank-IMF acclaim.His first decision on the day hebecame Minister was to invitehis friend, the redoubtable DavidCampbell Mulford
Chairman International ofCSFB, to arrange a debt-swap.Within half an hour of this meet-ing Mulford had arranged the$29.5 billion great Argentiniandebt-swap! Interest earningsapart, Mulford walked away with$125 million in commissions forlead manager CSFB for sewingup the deal!
Interestingly, almost an iden-tical policy initiative is being fol-lowed in India today. RBI Gov-ernor Yaga Venugopal Reddy hasnot called his policydollarisation, but he has effec-tively pegged his rupee to anearly fixed parity with the dol-lar and is spending a fortune inhard earned Indian income (ap-proximately 6% of our GDP) tokeep supporting and buying theUS dollar and maintain this nearfixed parity.
Like Cavallo, RBI GovernorYaga Reddy, Finance MinisterPalaniappan Chidambaram andPrime Minister ManmohanSingh are all citing the twin goalsof low inflation and a weak ru-pee despite the reality of hugeforeign investment inflows andour open capital account norms.Daydreaming by these three so-called great economists apart,pursuing these twin contradic-tory agendas is impossible andtherefore wrong in principle.Even an undergraduate studentof monetary economics will at-test as much. When a mistake ofthis magnitude is deliberatelyunleashed on an economy, therewill be costs.
In the Cavallo-Mulford Ar-gentinian experience, the costshave been described thus bywikipedia: "Domingo Felipe"Mingo" Cavallo (born July21,1946) is an Argentine econo-mist and politician. He has a longhistory of public service and isknown for implementing theConvertibilidad plan, which fixedthe dollar-peso exchange rate at
1:1 between 1991 and 2001, andthe corralito, which restrainedsavers from withdrawing theirown money from bank accountsand was followed by the Decem-ber 2001 riots and the fall of Presi-dent De la Rua."
Finance MinisterChidambaram would have us be-lieve that economic theory not-withstanding, he has achievedthe impossible: a weak dollar, lowinflation and an open capital ac-count economy with immenseabsorption of foreign invest-ment. He pretends to do so bycooking up inflation figures, afact which even illiterates canattests to. But we shall rely in-stead on the evidence of the RBIGovernor Y V Reddy who admitsthat the present dispensation ofWholesale Price Index (WPI)and Consumer Price Index (CPI)calculation "renders the assess-ment of inflationary pressuresdifficult which, in turn, compli-cates the process of monetarypolicy formulation." Does thisadmission mean that the entireMonetary Policy of thetriumverate of great economistsis based on inaccurate assess-ments?
The principle cost of flawedmonetary policy in the recentpast has been that growth hasslowed down and unemploy-ment has increased. Thegovernment's 3 month lag in put-ting together statistics will revealthis in January 2008, but work-ers made redundant in the agri-culture, textile, handicraft andBPO sectors, already knows asmuch.
Growth has been curtailed bya flawed monetary policy whichhas seen interest rates soar de-spite global financial capital beg-ging for deployment in the In-dian economy. The paradox isthat there is a surfeit of moneybut it has become too expensive.High lending rates of banks aredriving small entrepreneursaway from new ventures. Capsand ceilings on external commer-cial borrowings (ECBs) moti-vated by flawed policy or bla-tantly anti-national designs, isforcing big business to foregoexpansions and new ventures. Inshort the government has doneeverything in its power to turnaround India's growth story intorecession misery. What can bethe motivation behind this?
Assuming that the triumvirateof economists running this coun-try aren't abject idiots, the onlyrationale could be swappingsome of the US's recessionisttroubles by absorbing them inthe growing Indian economy.Significantly, that is precisely theassurance that AmbassadorMulford gave to the US SenateForeign Relations Committee,"Just as Indian products and ser-
vices have done well in theUnited States market, a vibrantgrowing, Indian economyshould be a magnet for in-creased US exports and invest-ment. This can happen if the paceof economic reform in India gath-ers steam. It will happen if Indiaaccelerates its willingness toopen its markets to greater for-eign trade and investment." Go-ing by policy initiatives, this isthe precise reforms agenda of DrManmohan Singh and MrChidambaram.
In line with AmbassadorMulford's stated policy, hugequantities of US investment areflowing into India and the gov-ernment is doing everything toabsorb these funds; rather thanimpose curbs on inflows, thegovernment of India is spend-ing a fortune to sterilise the ad-ditional liquidity through theflawed Market StabilisationScheme (MSS) regime.
On 1 November 2007 TheEconomic Times reported"India's receiving huge capitalinflows. These dollar inflows aremopped up by RBI instead ofbeing allowed into the forex mar-ket directly, to keep the rupee,which has already appreciatedby about 12%, under check. Thiskeeps dollars relatively scarceand pricey in terms of rupee.However, to keep rupee ex-change rate at a certain level, RBIinjects additional rupee currencyinto the system, feeding the ex-isting liquidity overhang. Thento suck out this liquidity, RBIopts for sterilization, which en-tails mopping up excess liquid-ity by issuing securities. Thedollars that RBI had bought fromthe market are invested in UStreasuries.....The apex bank,which has bought over $61 bil-lion from the open market sinceJanuary, has had to sterilise a lotof liquidity (local currency) re-leased into the system. It losesabout 3% on such sterilizationefforts - the difference betweenwhat it earns on deploying re-serves in mainly US treasuriesand the interest it pays in thedomestic market for sucking outliquidity through the issue ofgovernment securities."
Thus Government of India'sirrational 3 to 4 per cent subsidyto foreign capital inflows helpssolve the US Treasury's problemof capital flight, while lining thepockets of the army of Americanfunds which rotate money bydumping US Treasury securitiesand buying 3 month or longerIndian securities; while RBI buysnear-zero-yield short-term USsecurities which the entire worldis now off-loading. The netoffloading of US Treasuries byalmost all foreign Central Banksfrom mid July to the first week ofSeptember stood at $48 billion;
it could have been worse but forwhite knight RBI stepping in!
Thus we exported the Indiangrowth story to the US enablingthem to add 166,000 jobs in Oc-tober, while we imported the USrecession laying off some 2 mil-lion workers. Making mattersworse, we squeezed credit avail-ability to unleash stagflation inour economy.
How did this come to passdespite the stringent safeguardsin our system of government?Fraud, deception, violation ofstatutory provisions: in short,the Market Stabilisation Scheme(MSS): whereby the RBI violatedthe Reserve Bank of India Act1934, which does not allow RBIto accept interest bearing depos-its from Commercial Banks or toindulge in any form of specula-tive activity.
Governor Reddy and his col-leagues have been pretendingthat the Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) that they signedwith the Government of India on25 March 2004, authorises themto flout the provisions of the RBIAct 1934. Since the governmentof India itself cannot overrule theAct without following due con-stitutional amendment process,the MOU is nothing more thanevidence of wrongdoing and in-tent to subvert constitutionalsafeguards.
Governor Reddy and FinanceMinister Chidambaram are liableto judicial answerability for thismisdemeanour, in the light of theloss of investible funds to theIndian economy to the tune ofover 200,000 crore rupees; andadditionally, for the effective in-terest subsidy to the US govern-ment to the tune of 8,000 crorerupees.
As admitted by US Congress-men themselves, every last dis-puted dollar of the burgeoningUS Federal Debt is ending up fi-nancing the US Occupation ofIraq. Political ramifications ofthis rupee 8,000 crore subsidy incalendar year 2007, to an imperi-alist war which is widely op-posed by the Indian public, willonly be judged by future elec-tions.
In his address to the All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC) onNovember 17,2007, Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh admittedthat the Development that wewant is not materializing; yet thepolitical economist in himglossed over this and changedtack to secular politics.
The Finance Minister wasmore forthright on September13,2007 when, for once, he ad-mitted that the biggest economicproblem before the country isthat though gross investment isrising, production is falling!
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9ARCHIVESARCHIVESARCHIVESARCHIVESARCHIVESKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
(Contd. from Page 7)positions were prepared near abridge east of Leh and when theenemy duly arrived met with se-rious reverses due to determinedresistance , refrained from attack-ing Leh.
In the meantime two compa-nies 2/4 Gurkha Rifles accompa-nied by Sherpa mountaineers in-cluding the famous TenzingNorkay who had been dis-patched from Manali by theWestern Command of Armyjoined Prithi Chand and his gal-lant men after crossing thePasses of Rohtang, Bara Lachaand Tanglang La ranging inheights from 13,500 to 17,300 Ft.Thus Leh was saved it was theoutcome of a great deed whichhave few equals in military his-tory. It called for unbound de-termination ,courage and staminaand these qualities and more
were amply demonstrated by thedefenders who took the firstshock of the attack , the two gal-lant officers and men of the 2ndDogras.
But Leh remained isolatedfrom Kashmir Valley by occupa-tion of Kargil and Zojila Pass byPakistanis. An attempt was madein late May 1948 to relieve/ rein-force Skardu Garrison but theState Forces troops whichmoved out under the commandof Fakir Singh made very littleprogress against determined en-emy resistance and withdrew. Asalready stated Skardu Garrisonwas forced to surrender after ex-hausting its food stocks andammunition by September 48 .The Pakistanis had pushed upstream from Gilgit-Skardu southeastwards and were only a fewmiles north of Leh. They had alsooccupied Kargil as well as Zojila
Pass .The enemy forces fromKargil Zojilla area could be with-drawn when the winter snowsclosed the passes and togetherwith reinforcements from Gilgitcould be used to bring pressureon and possibly liquidate thelimited troops defending Leh. Pa-
kistanis had deployed a coupleof mountain guns on command-ing heights at the Zojila passagainst which infantry assaultsproved failures and resulted inheavy casualties.
Maj.Gen K.S.Thimaya whohad taken command of the newlyformed Shri Div (later designatedas 19th Infantry Division) hadonly about few weeks before thewinter snows blocked the pass.Field guns of the artillery werenot effective due to limitation oftheir elevation angles. The divi-
sional commander decided touse tanks to neutralize themountain guns and concentratedfirst in improving the road lead-ing from Baltal towards the pass.The road was improved andcompleted in about 1 monthstime by Madras Sappers andMiners.In the meantime sevenHoney Staurt tanks of the7thLight Cavalry were dismantled atJammu transported to in camou-flaged trucks reassembled atSonamarg. Simultaneously 77thInfantry Brigade comprising abattalion of Patiala State forces ,1/5 Gurkha Rifles and 1st Battal-ion of Rajput Regiment underBrig. K.L.Atal was also as-sembled at Sonamarg . The DDay was fixed for 4th Nov 1948but early morning of that day itstarted snowing and to many itlooked that operation would notmaterialize. But since Cease fireunder the auspices of UnitedNations was round the cornerGen. Thimayya decided to go
ahead with the attack the tanksmoved slowly uphill and placeswere virtually pushed by Infan-try and towed by powerfulweapon carries and out of sevenonly two tanks reached the passand silenced the mountain gunsin less than half an hour Rajputsstormed the pass and Gurkhasmopped up the slopes.
The enemy was taken com-pletely by surprise and whenthey reported to their senior thatthey were attacked by tanks, theseniors disbelieved them. With-out pausing the leading troopsreached Kargil. The Leh Garrisonalso moved towards Kargil, theenemy was completely beatenand retreated north westwardsto Skardu.The road / bridle pathfrom Kashmir to Leh was se-cured.
*(The author has remaineda Geologist of repute and isbased in Jammu)
SAVIORS OF LEH
Question: What preciselyare your differences withBakshi Sahib and his party?
Answer: Our differenceswith Bakshi have a long his-tory. These differences arosewhile we were working to-gether. We were acutely con-scious of some grave defectsin the functioning of the Na-tional Conference Organisationand the administration. Thesedefects grew to a proportionwhere they threatened to un-dermine political stability in theState. But the dominant groupinside the National Conferenceled by Bakshi Sahib took up aposition of obstinate defenceof all the weaknesses and de-fects in the organisation andthe administration. A group ofpeople dominating the rulingparty is utilizing state power toestablish its monopolistic con-trol over the economic and po-litical life of the State to the det-riment of the common people.In pursuit of this aim, thisgroup is resorting to blatantlyundemocratic practices ofusurping the civil liberties andlawful rights of the people.
This contradiction betweenthe interests of a particulargroup and the aspirations ofthe common people developedinside the National Conferenceparticularly during the courseof the last two years. The domi-nant group acted in violationof all the agreed decisions andpolicies and subordinated theinterests of the National Move-ment to its own narrow andselfish interests. Although itswears by the Constitution, yetin actual practice it is using itsauthority to mutilate it. All our
Democratic National Conference's Role In Kashmir Politics
persistent and sustained effortsto resolve the contradictionfailed due to the refusal of BakshiSahib and his group to give upauthoritarian methods and re-form themselves. They failed togive a clean, honest and efficientadministration to the people.This led to the emergence of ourparty as a democratic oppositionwedded to the objectives of ourNational movement.
Q: Are these differences alsoof an ideological nature?
A: Our differences withBakshi Sahib assume an ideo-logical nature in so far as he actsin defence of the interests of aparticular exploiting class that isthriving on official patronage.
Q: If some of your objectionsto the functioning of the rulingparty are met, will you considerthe question of rejoining it? Or,you will still try to fill the roleof a democratic secular oppo-sition?
A: The functioning of ademocratic secular opposition isthe only guarantee for thegrowth of a healthy democraticatmosphere in the State. The"emergency" atmosphere pre-vailing within the State for thelast ten years has considerablystunted the growth of democ-racy here. While any improve-ment in the functioning of theruling party is welcome, there isno question of our rejoining it.We shall continue to fulfil ourrole as a democratic opposition.
Q: Have you any differenceswith the Home and Foreignpolicies of the Government ofIndia? Are you fully satisfiedwith its Kashmir policy?
A: We are in general agree-ment with the Foreign policy ofthe Government of India. In thesphere of Home policy, while weappreciate the aims of economicdevelopment and construction,we can have our differences overmethods and details. For ex-ample, we would like the Gov-ernment of India to introduceradical agrarian reforms on ap-proximately the same lines as wehave done in our State. Broadlyspeaking, we are satisfied withthe Kashmir policy of the Gov-ernment of India except where ithas failed to pay sufficient at-tention to internal affairs of thestate with a view to improvingmatters and eliminating factorsthat impede the growth of a nor-mal democratic life.
Q: Is it true that one of yoursenior members, Shri GL Dograsaid in an interview that ideo-logically he had always been aCongressman and proposes toremain one?
A: I am not aware of any suchinterview. However, if Shri GLDogra has given expression tothese views, he is free to pro-fess his ideology as a Congress-man and will continue to have aplace of honour in ourorganisation.
Q: If an offer is made by the
All-India Congress Committeeto accept the Democratic Na-tional Conference as one of itsregular branches, are you likelyto accept it?
A: This is a hypotheticalquestion. Anyway, if such an of-fer is made, it shall receive themost serious consideration ofour party.
Q: Can a Communist be-come a member of the DNC andare they being admitted into it?Has any person enrolled him-self as a member of your partywho, to your knowledge, claimsto be a Socialist, a Gandhite ora Humanist? If so, will youplease furnish such names?
A: No such question hasarisen so far. But, a communistwho subscribes to our policiesand programme can enrol him-self as a member of our party andwork for it. There are many mem-bers in our party, some in lead-ing positions, who claim to beSocialists, Gandhites or Human-ists. A list of names will be toolong to be included in this inter-view, but if you like I could sendsome of the names separately.
Q: Can you please describethe ideology of your party injust a general manner, prefer-ably, if possible, in terms of ex-isting "isms" and how far andin what respects does that dif-fer from that of main politicalparties of India?
A: The broad ideology of ourparty is Socialist. The
programme of New Kashmir it-self is a Socialist programmeand in the Constitution of thestate recently some of us werein the Government. Unfortu-nately, this did not find favourwith Bakshi Sahib and insteadgave rise to unfounded suspi-cions.
Q: Is there any truth in theallegation that yours is a spon-sored opposition-sponsoredby the Government of India todeal Sheikh Abdullah admin-istratively as well as politi-cally?
A: This is a slanderous alle-gation. The formation of theDemocratic National Confer-ence party is an entirely localphenomenon. After the adop-tion of our Constitution whichhas the State's accession withIndia as its cornerstone, andwhich embodies the basic prin-ciples and objectives of ourNational movement, the growthof a democratic oppositionpledged to the defence of theConstitution was a historicalnecessity. This reminds one ofthe origin and role of PSP it-self. We shall, however, wel-come all the steps taken by theGovernment of India with a viewto promoting a healthy demo-cratic atmosphere in the State.But we shall at the same timecriticise it where it fails to inter-vene to check the undemocraticpractices of the ruling party. Asa party of the Republic of In-dia, the State deserves the at-tention of the Centre, particu-larly because of the specialconditions obtaining here andthe personal defects of theleadership of the party in power.
Soon after the launching of Democratic National Conference, the Correspondent of Janta,Mumbai, Mr Balraj Puri interviewed Sh. GM. Sadiq, President of DNC. It was published in
the issue dated 6 April, 1958. We are reproducing the same with due acknowledgement for ourreaders. --The Editor
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By Bishamber Nath Sapru
RAIDERS had movedahead after lootingMuzaffarabad. Total
anarchy prevailed. Schools,Hospitals did not function. Wesurvived on begging. On one oc-casion we broke open a govern-ment godown and brought a bigbag of rice to our place.Yaqoob:
One day when all the Panditsused to live jointly there was aknock at the door at 9 PM. Wehad sat for dinner. Sham LalLabroo had just kept aside a mor-sel for the dog. I got up to openthe door. Three raiders faced upto me to ask if the Headmasterwas there. They ordered him toaccompany them. Sham Lal mut-tered ‘Hari Har’ and felt sure hisday of doom had arrived. AsSham Lal came out he recognizedYaqoob, a goonda element in thecompany of 3 raiders. We left ourdinner and awaited the sound offiring shot. An hour passed withno sound of firing shot beingheard. Sham Lal returnedalongwith a big bag of rice onhis back. We hugged him. Henarrated that Yaqoob had failedrepeatedly in Matric exams. Butnow had an offer of job in theForest Department. For this herequired a certificate. Sham Lalsaid, “I gave him a certificate thathe had passed Matric in first Di-vision”. In lieu of that Yaqoobgave him a bag of rice.
After sometime we (56Kashmiri Pandits) were orderedto move to prison, where othermembers of the minority commu-nity were held as captives. 40 ofus obeyed the orders. Thosewho obeyed the orders includedPrem Nath Nehru, Shamboo NathThalchoor, Tarachand (BA)Wagam etc. Kalu Khan my sav-iour took seven of us—
MUZAFFARABAD-1947-II
HOW I LIVED UNDER OCCUPATION FORCESSarvanand Thalchoor, Sukhdev,Kashi Nath, Jia Lal Misri (Medi-cal Asstt.), Jagar Nath Misri(Customs), Dina Bhat of Rohamaand myself to a small house of aGoldsmith, where there used tobe a Girls Primary School.
Last time when the membersof the minority community hadbeen put in jail soon after the in-vasion it had been a horrible ex-perience for them. They had re-mained there for 10 days. Raid-ers were all the time looking foryoung ladies. The father-in-lawof a lady had been shot deadwhen he tried to resist attemptsof raiders to abduct his daugh-ter-in-law. She never came back.Outside the jail groups of raid-
ers would rape women in fullpublic view. At times there wouldbe gang-rape. Only few ladies re-turned to their families after ab-duction and rape. There were in-stances where ladies were killedafter rape.Kacho's role:
Kacho Ali Mohammad (wholater rose to be a Minister in J&Kcabinet) was Asst. Commissionerin Muzaffarabad. He had hisfamily with him. He had reportsthat Indian Army had pushedback raiders and had a feelingthat Maharaja will rule overMuzaffarabad again .One nightat 4 AM he reached out toKashmiri Pandits in prison andinformed that Raiders were re-treating from Kashmir. He cau-tioned them the raiders on reach-ing Muzaffarabad would treatPandits in general and theirwomen folk in particular badly.He suggested that all Pandit la-dies (who numbered 10-12) could
take shelter with his family till thedanger was over. He asked themto move immediately under thecover of darkness. It wasKacho’s foresight and compas-sion for fellow human beingsthat saved Pandit ladies fromlustful eyes of raiders.
Kacho’s message hadreached us also since we livedquite near to the prison. In themorning we had gone to get tur-nips. While we were returning weheard firing. All the houses ofminority community were open,unlocked. We entered the com-pound of a house which prob-ably belonged to a Vakil. Besidesus 30 other males and females (ofminority community), had taken
shelter here. A raider came andasked me to hand over ‘Zar’(money). I replied that I had noth-ing. Pointing towards my coat heordered me to hand it over to him.Groups of raiders in turns tookaway my shirt and pant also, leav-ing me in trousers, underwearand shoes. Three ladies weregang-raped infront of us, whileother 5-6 who resisted weredragged out. They were let ofafter being raped.
Raiders got a good booty ofcash and gold here. Anotherraider thrashed me when I toldhim I had no money. I was forcedto part with my pay-Rs 52. Outof this I had spent 1 anna onRevenue stamps, another 4annas on cigarettes. After hand-ing over this the raider asked meto pull down my trousers. Hewanted to check if I had anythingmore anywhere. The raiders sub-jected the people to such indig-nities following an incident. A
lady had concealed some goldbut the raiders had found it out.We were subjected to humilia-tion throughout the day. Anotherraider snatched away my shoes.It did not fit him well. He pulledout a dagger and loosened theheel. Shoes were of Flex quality .The raider felt happy now. Asreward he offered me roastedmoong, with the other hand hethumped my back so hard thatvirtually my breath stopped.People in prison were alsolooted.Langar Organised:
By evening there was somerelief. Ladies who had taken shel-ter in Kachoo Ali Mohammad’shouse returned to their families
the following day. Thatday raiders were notseen anywhere inMuzaffarabad. A sort ofcalm’ prevailed. MasterAbdul Aziz, who hadgone into hiding at thetime of attack, resur-faced. He asked peopleto assemble in maidaan,raising slogans of‘Sher-i-Kashmir Ka KyaIrshad, Hindu-Muslim-Sikh Itihad’. All mem-bers of the minoritycommunity includingKanshi Ram, Dipti Ram,leading traders of thetown came out. A spe-cial Langar (community
kitchen) was organized. Therewas no idea that raiders wouldre-enter Muzaffarabad. For thefirst time since attack we had agood meal. Langar had preparedrice, turnip and potato. MasterAbdul Aziz and Abdul Salam hadorganized the function.
2-3 days later one night wewere woken up with the soundof ‘crich-crich thak thak’. 552heavy armoured vehicles carry-ing raiders and Pak armymenwere moving towards other sideof Kishenganga-Ramkot-Brarkot. We lost all hope of re-turning to our homes. Shortlybefore the attack I had written aletter to my family, saying, “Afrontier onslaught is expected.But you need not worry. OurDogra army is fully prepared togive them a befitting reply’. Myelder brother, Pt. Sham Lal Sapruwould show this letter of and onto people and express regretsover my not leaving the town
well in time. After the attack alsomany Kashmiri Pandits, includ-ing Pt. Kashi Nath Rangaroo hadfled to Kashmir. Rangaroo hadasked me to run away. I had re-fused, telling him,” What will bethe fate of Master Shamboo NathDhar and two handicapped chil-dren”.
The raiders after re-entry intoMuzaffarabad were specificallyenquiring about people whowere associated with NationalConference and SheikhAbdullah. Pak army men madesearches and said people likeMaster Abdul Aziz, Dipti Ramand Kanshi Ram were engagedin propaganda against Pakistan.Regular Pak soldiers killed manymembers of the minority commu-nity around this time.Tarachand Wagam:
TarachandW a g a mwas ap-pointed asn e w‘ W a z i rWazarat’( D e p u t yCommis-s i o n e r ) .Little ra-tions was also supplied. All thiswas a propaganda ploy. RadioPakistan was broadcasting re-peatedly ‘Kashmiri Pandit KoWazir Wazarat Banaya GayaHai, Ek Aur Kashmiri KoJudge’. (A Kashmiri Pandit hasbeen appointed Wazir Wazarat,while another Kashmiri has beenmade judge). Ashiq Hussain, aShia from Safakadal, who alreadywas a Sub-Judge in Kashmir hadcome to Muzaffarabad. He wasappointed as Judge.Prem Nath Nehru:
Prem Nath Nehru, who hadone child with him, was playingwith pebbles (raintfali) with hischild on the roof terrace. Theshine of pebbles caught the at-tention of a raider. The raiderabused Nehru, accusing him of‘showing direction to Indianaeroplanes to attack raiders. In-dian Army was regularly bom-barding Pak army positions inMuzaffarabad, The Raider tookPN Nehru to the Judge AshiqHussain. Nehru had been histeacher in school days. Theraider told the Judge, ‘Yeh JenabIshara Hindustan Ke Jahazon
A view of Muzaffarabad Town from the Fort.
(Contd. on Page 11)
Tarachand Wagam
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(From Page 10)Ko Dikhata Hai’ (Sir, the man isgiving direction to Indianplanes’. The judge virtually wokeup from his seat to say to theraider, ‘Acha Ishara Karta Hai.Mein Isko Sazah De Doonga.Tum Jav ('O’ he is showing di-rection. You go. I will punishhim). After the raider left theJudge tendered his apology tohis teacher and added, ‘I havelanded in hell. I was under theimpression that Pakistan wouldbe a good country. This tempta-tion had brought me here’. AshiqHussain asked Nehru if his fam-ily was with him and whether hehad enough rations. Nehru toldhim that he had his wife with himand survived on begging. TheJudge asked his teacher to takea big bag of rice. Nehru carried itto his place on head.
All the ‘captives’ would spentthe day going for begging to theneighbouring villages. Some vil-lagers moved by our plightwould display kindness, whileothers would abuse. One day the‘Captives’ ransacked a Hospital.Sarvanand asked me to pick up abig bottle of Pot. Permangnateand mercurochrome. When itbecame a burden to carry he sug-gested that I put themercurochrome bottle concealedin a ditch so that it could be car-ried later on.
The place where we lived nowhad plenty of looted cattle of theminority community. All doctorsof the town had either fled or hadbeen killed. Sarvanand was theonly available medical practitio-ner. Local people had been com-plaining of palpitations due toTaeniasis. Sarvanand after exam-ining the patients would directthem to me. He was ‘Doctor’, Iwas his compounder. While di-recting them he would say, ‘thispatient is my own man’, to flatterthem. I would put 2 crystals ofPot. Permanganate in water andserve it as ‘Mixture’. We wouldadvise them to keep fast and takeonly pre-boiled water. The pa-tients would get relief. Fastingotherwise also helps. My addi-tional charge as ‘cook’ helpedme, better diet was now available.It was our good luck that we didnot fall ill.
One day while I had gone forbegging with Janki NathWangnu and Jagdish, a localfrom Muzaffarabad a group of 10-12 raiders accosted us. They de-
manded ‘Zar’. The raiders hadreceived information about our‘hideout’. 3 of the Raiders re-mained here. They lined us up.The other raiders went to ahouse, located somewhathigherup. The raiders brokeopen the door of that house. 3raiders who were with us thoughtthat other raiders had looted thehouse and carried the booty. Tojoin the looting spree they leftus and ran away to join otherraiders’ group. The sound of thecollapsing door had producedsuch a crackling noise that westood confused as to what hadhappened. Janki Nath virtuallyfroze at the place he was stand-ing. Jagdish got a nightmare thata bullet had hit his chest. Heshowed his chest to me.
After this incident Janki NathWangnu, Prem Nath Nehru andhis sick wife went to stay atKuhoodi, 12 kms. Away. ShamLal Labroo was still inMuzaffarabad.Usman:
70 days had elapsed since theattack. Sarvanand was fed upwith the difficult life we lived ev-ery day. He said that he knewthe way to Kashmir. We left oneday quite early in the morning,taking roasted maize along withus. All seven of us passedthrough numerous hills, at timesdescending and then ascending.After walking for 1½ day wereached a place where oneUsman met us. He had been suf-fering from Venereal Disease andSarvanand had cured him suc-cessfully. On seeing SarvanandUsman wished him warmly. Heasked Sarvanand, “Are you flee-ing. This way does not lead toKashmir, it goes to Banu (Paki-stan)”. We felt heart-broken. Try-ing to win his trust Sarvanandsaid, “But, you are here.Everytime I remember you andremain worried about yourhealth”. Sarvanand took Usmanto one side to examine his penisand exclaimed ‘God has beenkind’.
Usman was a criminal. Heasked us to stay with him. Hehad looted 5 buffaloes belong-ing to Sikhs. He took us to hishouse located on a hill meadow.Usman lived there with his sis-ter. She would keep on lookingat me. Usman would feel irritated.He would keep me all the timebusy fetching water for his buf-faloes.
6 days passed. Hospitalitywas now becoming a burden forhim. One day he told us, ‘winterhas set in. Our rations are deplet-ing. Now Muzafarabad is quiet.A Kashmiri brethren of yours hasbeen appointed as Ration Officerto supply rations to you. It isquite cold here. It is better yougo back to Muzaffarbad”. We hadlittle clothing with us. It was bit-ter cold here.
Usman’s house was quiteclose to Banu-Kohat. It took us2 days and one night to reachback to Muzaffarabad. He accom-panied us for half of the journeyand had given us maize breadand salt to tide over the journey.While bidding us fare well hewas courteous enough to giveus detailed instructions about thepath we had to take to reachMuzaffarabad.
At 11 AM we reachedMuzaffarabad. We decided tomeet Pt. Tara Chand Wagam first.On seeing us he broke down,saying, “Now I am officer here”.He was living in Isfandyar’shouse and shared food fromtheir kitchen. One day Isfandyarmade a proposal to him, suggest-ing marriage of his (Tarachand's)daughter with Ismail Shah, sonof Isfandyar. This weighedheavily on Pt. Tara Chand’s mind.All the time Tara Chand worriedabout how to save his 17-yearold daughter from this forciblemarriage. Tara Chand made aproposal to me. I told him I wasmarried and had a daughter.Ismail-the baker:
We shifted back to the schoollodge where we had stayed ear-lier. I resumed my twin job ascooking master plus com-pounder. We had little peddlingto protect ourselves from bittercold. A single tarpaulin servedas quilt for seven of us. Wewould shiver in cold. One day Ioverheard one of my colleaguescomplaining to Sarvanand aboutme that “Vishnath did not go forbegging and does not come outof kitchen”. I felt bad. There wasa Muslim baker, Ismail nearby. Hewas a Kashmiri who had settledin the town. Without cigarettes Iwas feeling out of place. Thesewere not available. I used to goto baker’s shop to smoke chilm(pipe). He was quite friendly andwould not object. He made anoffer, “O’ Sheikh you work withme. You will not have to pay any-thing for food and smoking to-
bacco here”. This whole mohallawas of Kashmir-speaking Mus-lims.
The day I overheard a col-league complaining about me thesame morning I went to Ismail.He asked me again if I would liketo serve him. I replied in the affir-mative. As my clothes had beentaken away, a jute bag served asmy shirt. This was true of all ofus. The baker offered me an oldshirt, probably his personal oneor that of his son. My job was toprepare dough for the bakery. Ilived with Ismail’s family. Aftertwo days Ismail hesitatingly toldme, "O" Sheikh I want to tell yousomething. The people havecome to know that an infidel wasrinsing the flour in the shop”.Ismail’s sales had been affected.He however, told me that when-ever I needed anything-bread/smoking chilm I could rely onhim.
Two days absence had per-turbed my colleagues. They hadmade searches for me. WhenSarvanand met me on roadsidehe burst out “where were you?”I replied firmly, “I will no morestay with you’. He said, “Whatface I will show to your motherwhen we will reach Srinagar?”Sarvanand was my neighbour inKashmir. I narrated the wholestory to him. He felt sorry andsaid the complainant was a childwho could hardly understandwhat misery we are passingthrough here. I was back at myjob-cooking food and dispens-ing Pt. Permanganate crystals forTaeniasis. As cooking master myjob included fetching water fromKishanganga flowing nearby.Our residence was near its bank.To reach the river bank I had tomake way by pushing corpsesto one side. One evening while Iwas going to the stream withGagar (Pitcher) an incident hor-rified me. Two raiders had caughta member of the minority com-munity. After asking him some-thing they shot him dead. SinceI was too scared to pass via thatway till 9 PM I was still on theriver bank. My colleagues hadtense moments.
I was terribly scared of bulletinjury. I had watched Pala Ramand others being shot dead. Thebullet injuries left ugly wounds,with fat protruding out of thewound.Conversion:
I reached my residence at 10
PM. Wali Mohd. Mir, the Gold-smith had returned fromPeshawar. He spoke Kashmiriand suggested to us that weshould follow other members ofthe minority community who hadchanged their religion.
Next day all seven of us wentto the nearby mosque. On its gatewe saw Master Abdul Rehman.He was an Arabic teacher in myschool., He had a sword with him.When I expressed desire tochange my religion he asked if Iwas doing it under compulsion.I replied in negative and added,“Maulana Sab, we get every-thing, rations and live withoutany difficulty. So the question ofcompulsion does not arise. I amchanging my faith willingly”.There were two Moulvis sittingaround a table. Master Rehmanintroduced me to one of theMoulvis as his teacher colleague.Rehman once again asked me ifmy decision was under compul-sion. I reaffirmed that there wasno compulsion.
Under my serial number waswritten—Bishamber Nath SapruSabika Naam. Then new namewas asked for me. I suggestedGh. Nabi. Address too wasadded. Same day Tara Chandalso underwent conversion. 10-15 locals were watching. We wereserved yellow rice, sweet meat(sheerin), dates and surnai-buglewas blown. Raiders had alreadyremoved my sacred thread whenthey searched me for ‘Zar’. Al-most everybody was living inMuzaffarabad with changed faith.I also erased my tattoed namefrom right forearm and drew cres-cent on Left hand with ink.
Pt. Tara Chand Wagam’s newname was Mohammad Tariq. Oneday he de-veloped fe-ver. Medi-cines werenot avail-able. Sarv-a n a n dwould treathim withboiled wa-ter. All thewhile TaraChand wasmuttering ‘Durgiyay. 15 dayslater he passed away. We buriedhim near a mosque. A Moulvicame to read Jenaza. His daugh-ter and son Srikrishan came withRed Cross.
(To be concluded)
How I lived under occupation forces
Pt. Shri Krishan,son of T.C. Wagam
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Prof. Madhok hardly played any roleProf. Madhok hardly played any roleProf. Madhok hardly played any roleProf. Madhok hardly played any roleProf. Madhok hardly played any roleSir,
Raider's Invasion-New Revelation" by PN Raina based mainly on the testimony of Prof. Madhok which is far from the truth. The novel authored byProf. Madhok is totally misleading. For instance Brig. Kashmir Singh was
never Chief of Staff of State forces not even in officiating/acting capacity. AfterMaj. Gen. HL Scot resigned as chief of Staff of the State Forces Brig. Rajinder Singhtook over in acting capacity as Chief of staff, as the senior most local officer of theState Forces Brig. Gansara Singh was deputed as Governor of Gilgit Agency whenlatter was returned by British to Maharaja in June 1947.
Col. Narain Singh-officer commanding of the 4th J&K Infantry was advised byhis fellow officers to replace his two companies of Punchi-Mirpuri Muslims byDogra or Gurkha troops keeping in view the desertions of the Muslim troops of theState Forces at Mirpur, Bhimbar and other places along Jammu. Pakistan border.Col. Narian Singh rejected the advice and expressed that he had more faith on hisMuslim troops than on the Dogras. But unfortunately as the world knows he paida very heavy price for it. Prof Madhok, Dr. Atri, Banot and others hardly played anysignificant role in the matter. After Dussera Durbar was concluded on 25th of Octo-ber the lights went out in Srinagar and message was received from survivors oftaken force of state troops who were fighting a gallant rearguard action between Uriand Baramulla that Maharaja under advice left Srinagar the same night by road andreached Jammu on 26th morning from when he acceded to India and asked formilitary assistance which was made available at Srinagar next day i.e. 27th Octoberat 9.30 hrs. It is also far from the truth and ridiculous to believe that authorities inSrinagar learned about the Pakistani attack on Domel to Muzaffarabad on 22ndOctober from Harish Banot who travelled from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad andback on a motorcycle the same day. The fact is that after the Pakistani attack onDomel-Muzaffarabad a few Dogras who managed to escape the slaughter by slip-ping through the cordon moved back along the road to Srinagar and reaching a civiltelephone and informed the Headquarters of J&K State Forces as to what hadhappened at Domel-Muzaffarabad on the morning of 22nd October. A Dogra Havildar,one of the few who survived even after joining Brig. Rajinder Singh's force at Urimet me in a remote village of Riasi in 1954 and narrated to me the events which tookplace at Domel-Muzaffarabad on 22nd October and heroic rearguard action foughtby Brig. Rajinder Singh with his small force between Uri Diwan Mandir. That MeharChand Mahajan expressed that Indian Troops were expected any moment whilecloseted with Maharaja, Brig. Kashmir Singh and Prof. Madhok also does not standscrutiny as Maharaja had not acceded to India how did his Prime Minister Mahajanexpect Indian troops to come to the rescue of J&K State.
It is a cock and bull story that Maharaja Hari Singh cancelled his visit to Bhimbaron 20th October while he was on tour of Jammu on the basis of information suppliedby Madhok. The fact is that Bhimbar had fallen much earlier immediately after whichMaharaja had appealed to Maharaja of Patiala for military help who obliged bydispatching an infantry battalion to Jammu and a mountain battery to Srinagar toomeager a force to alter the situation in J&K State at that time, however both were inplace by 15th of October.
Prof. Madhok and the author of the article seem to have taken the readers for aride by stating that there was a great shortage of arms, ammunition with state forcesas Rawalpindi-Srinagar road was closed and about only one company of Infantrywas available at Srinagar at the time of Pakistani sponsored aggression. There wasno shortage of rifles, light automatics, ammunition and grenades, however mediummachine guns and mortars were somewhat short. As is known several battalions ofJ&K Militia were raised and equipped with weapons of the State forces, as forpersonal there were 1854 able bodied officers and men of the state forces includingmany veterans of second world war present in Badami Bagh cantonment out ofwhich 500 were Mirpur-Punchi Muslims and the rest being Dogras, Gurkhas andSikhs.
The novel seems to have written with the sole object of glorification of self andRSS who hardly played any significant role in Kashmir Valley in 1947.
I spent about ten hours in discussion with Prof. Balraj Madhok on a train jour-ney from Bhopal to Delhi in 1979 and found he was not aware of many happeningsof the period and there was not much depth/logic in his arguments.
The other article "Pak Invasion Looking Back is quite interesting as it comesfrom a journalist of repute. I intend to point out most humbly that (i) Col. DR Raicommanding officer 1st Sikh was killed on 31st October and not on 2nd Novemberitself between Sangrama and Baramulla when he was covering withdrawal of one ofhis leading platoons which had come under very heavy fire from hills south east ofBaramulla.
(ii) The first convoy by road arrived in Srinagar by the afternoon of 7th Novem-ber (and not for the next three days following 3rd November as stated in the article)comprising 6th Rajputana Rifles, 2nd Dogras a squadron of 7th Light cavalry andmisc. detachments and supplies. Only a troop of 7th Lt. Cavalry under Major ISRikhe had arrived on the afternoon of 6th November.
(iii) The enemy was enticed to rush to Srinagar by tactfully withdrawing 1stSikhs to outskirts of Srinagar and on the morning of 7th November was routed asShalteng by couple of infantry battalions and troop of armoured cars and air sup-port. No heavy artillery was used nor was available in the valley at that time. ThePatiala mountain battery though located near Srinagar was not operational for wantof Dial sights. --M.M. Munshi, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu
In the writing of history like or dislike for actors involved has to be eschewed. EHCarr, the noted historian, in his classic 'What is History' makes a profoundstatement when he remarks 'There can be no impartial history it can only be
nearer to the truth'. In his dislike of Prof. Madhok, Shri MM Munshi has missed thecontext of my review article 'Raider's invasion-New Revelations'. He has also takenliberties with facts. Though my article is essentially a review of Prof. Madhok'snovel, yet I have made good use of Prof. Madhok's other books on Kashmir andhave personally contacted some characters in the novel to have the veracity offacts dramatized in the novel. Many of the characters, which include Sh. ON Kakand Sh. Harish Bhanot, are still alive, Prof. Madhok's novel 'Jeet Ya Haar' was firstpublished in 1956 and reprinted in 1988. There has hardly been any refutation of theclaims made by Prof. Madhok.
For the sake of record the points raised by Sh. Munshi need clarification:1. It is true that technically Brig. Rajinder was chief of Staff of State Forces. The
reference to Brig. Kashmir Singh as 'Chief of State Forces' has been made in adifferent context as he was incharge of overall military decision-making in theState Forces. On 13 September, 1947 Maharaja had requested for loan of the ser-vices of Lt. Col. Kashmir Singh Katoch (son of Major-General Janak Singh, theState's Prime Minister) of the Indian Army to act as the Military Adviser to theMaharaja (Durga Das, Patel's Correspondence Vol I. p.37) Major K.Brahma Singh,a military historian of repute in his much-acclaimed 'History of J&K Rifles 1820-1956) writes:
"Colonel Katoch took over the appointment that was created after the servicesof Major General HL Scott were terminated on 21 September."
General Scott was relieved of his duties on 24 September to be sent on leave tillthe termination of his term on 1 November. In what capacity Col. Katoch took overfrom General Scott?
2. Col. Narain Singh, officer commanding of the 4th J&K Infantry and Domel wasquite adamant in replacing two companies whose loyalty was under doubt. Mr.Munshi does not mention the names of 'fellow officers' who had advised Col. toreplace his two companies. As per Major Brahma Singh Maharaja himself is be-lieved to have specifically asked Col. Narain Singh as to how he felt about a sectionof his troops Maharaja was equally aware that the section of his troops whoseloyalties were under question were already fighting the Pakistanis in the Mirpurarea and 'non too badly'. So who were the people putting pressure on Maharaja toask Col. Narain Singh about the loyalty of his troops?
3. Mr. Munshi says, 'It is also far from the truth and ridiculous to believe thatauthorities in Srinagar learned about the Pakistani attack from Harish Banot whotravelled from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad and back on a motorcycle the same day'. Healso makes a claim to have met an unnamed Dogra Havaldar at Riasi in 1954. TheHavaldar as per Mr. Munshi had escaped from Domel-Muzaffarabad by slippingthrough the cordon and moved back along the road to Srinagar and "reaching a civiltelephone and informed the Hqs. of J&K State Forces as to what had happened atDomel-Muzaffarabad on the morning of 22nd October itself.
Nowhere in my write-up have I said that authorities in Srinagar learned about thePakistani attack from Harish Banot. Also I have not written that Banot travelled toMuzaffarabad and came back to Srinagar the same day. I have only said, "At Uri he(Banot) learnt about the raiders' attack and returned to Srinagar in the evening.Infact, there is no reference in my article on how State authorities learnt about theattack.
Mr. Munshi is again wrong when he claims that the said Dogra Havaldar was thefirst to inform Hqs of J&K State Forces about the attack on the morning of 22ndOctober itself. It was Col. Narain Singh himself who informed the Hqs. The officialhistory 'Operations in J&K 1947-48' says:
'Before Domel fell, Lt. Col. Narain Singh had been able to inform Srinagar over thewireless about the massive enemy invasion' (p.22) Major K.Brahma Singh attests:
"The news of the invasion was first received at Srinagar on the morning of 22ndOctober when the officer commanding 4th Battalion spoke to the duty officer atArmy Hqs on wireless and informed him of the catastrophe that had befallen histroops. The Battalion Hqs. was at the time under attack by the enemy and Col.Narain Singh could not pass anything beyond an urgent request for reinforcement,before going off the air".
"The first news of the invasion was received mid-morning of 22nd October,when Col. Narain Singh of 4 JAK spoke over the wireless to Capt. Nasib Singh, astaff officer at Army Hqs...An hour later, another message was received to the effectthat the officers' Mess was under fire...There was another period of silence; in theearly afternoon the 4 JAK wireless set opened for the last time: "The Co has gonetowards the lines-We are being fired at from all directions-I am going to destroymy set" (p 189)
4. Mr. Munshi asks 'as Maharaja had not acceded to India how did his PrimeMinister Mahajan expect Indian troops to come the rescue of J&K State'. Ever sincethe attack began the Maharaja's government was engaged in serious negotiationswith the Govt. of India regarding sending of Indian troops. Diplomacy on sensitiveissues is not conducted in public. As Prime Minister of J&K State Mr. Mahajan wasdefinitely in know of things. If he knew on the intervening night of 23/24 Octoberthat 'his govt. expected Indian troops soon' it does not sound surprising.
PN Raina RepliesPN Raina RepliesPN Raina RepliesPN Raina RepliesPN Raina Replies
(Contd. on Page 19)
13FOLKLOREFOLKLOREFOLKLOREFOLKLOREFOLKLOREKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
By Upender Ambardar
ABOUT one and a half km.away from the villageAragam lies Garoora
village on it's western side.Garoora is a combination of twoSanskrit words, 'Garoo' and'Rah' meaning the path or trackof spiritual and religious guide.The village lore says that an ac-complished ascetic namedShankpaul used to do religiouspenance at the nearby hill-top.He had twelve hundreddisciples, who had exceptionaldevotion and faith in him. In or-der to carry water required by'Garu' for his day to day religiousrites, all the twelve hundreddevotees would que in a linefrom the hermitage at the hill-topupto the 'Garu Nag' lying in thenear-by Wular Lake.
As per a belief, the 'Garu-Nag'is said to be deepest part of theWular Lake. In recognition of theextraordinary reverence and de-votion for the 'Garu', the way wascalled 'Garu Rah', meaning Garu'spath. With the passage of time,the very 'Garu-Rah' become thepresent day Garoora village. Theelevated part of Garoora villagehas a pious and sacred springknown as 'Zaen-Mattan Nag',meaning being equivalent to thefamous holy Mattan spring ofAnantnag (Kashmir). The 'Zaen-Mattan' spring is believed to beinvested with divine qualitiesand properties. It is a big springwith a radius of about 14-15 feet.About six hundred years back ithad seven temples, made ofchiselled stones of variablesizes, Sikander Bhutshikan, theMuslim ruler of Kashmir is saidto have demolished six templesof the 'Zaen-Mattan' springcomplex, while destroying theseventh temple, blood is said tohave flowed-out from it mysteri-ously. The King is said to havebeen startled and frightened atthe sight of this. This is how theseventh temple escaped the fa-natic ruler's wrath and fury.
The chiselled stones of thosedemolished temples are believedto have been transported to'Zainalank', the man-made islandin the Wular Lake for the con-struction of a temple for the'pooja' of Shriyabhat, the famousminister of the Kashmiri KingZaina-ul-Abidin. In addition tothe temple, Budshah is said tohave built a mosque at Zainalank.The state government haspresently constructed a waterreservoir at the holy 'Zaen-Mattan' spring and the surviv-ing seventh temple now remainshidden in the reservoir construc-tion. The holy spring is presentlybeing used to supply water tothe village Garoora and it'sadjoining areas. Garoora villagehas about 2,500 Muslim familiesbut no Kashmiri Pandit residedin the village at the time of their
Tales and Legends of Garoora, Chittibandhi and Tantraypora-IIforced migration in 1990.
Chittibandi:Adjacent to Garoora, is the
village of Chitti-Bandi, whichmeans a place having plentifuluntanned or light coloured soil.A big stream runs through thevillage. It's main inhabitants areGujjar families. In addition tothem, about a dozen KashmiriPandit families resided in thevillage at the time of theirmigration in the year 1990.
The Pandit families of Chitti-Bandi were those of Sh. KashiNath Bhat, Sh. Shivji Bhat (pres-ently at Bohri, Jammu), Sh VedLal Bhat (presently at NagrotaMigrant Camp), Sh. Jia Lal(presently at Udaiwalla, Bohri,Jammu). Sh. Pyare Lal (whoruns a medical shop at Jammu)and Sh. Mukund Lal Bhat. All ofthem were agriculturists andorchardists, some of them werealso state government employ-ees. The village Chitti-Bandi hasa small Shiv temple by the sideof a big stream called 'Boed-Koel'. All the Pandit families hadtheir houses in the vicinity of thesaid stream. A holy spring alsoexisted near the temple. Chitti-Bandi is about a half Km. fromAragam village. Paddy forms themain crop of the village, while asapples, pears, cherry, peachesand walnuts are the major fruitbearing trees.
Tantraypora:Adjoining the village Aragam
at a distance of half a km is thevillage of Tantraypora. The vil-lage is adjacent to the cremationground. A majestic Chinar treegrowing near the cremationground is even today called as'Tantar-Boien'. In earlier times,Pandits well versed in tantric re-ligious rites are said to have re-sided here. The earlier name ofthe village is said to have been'Tantarpur', the name whichproclaims it's past Hindu legacy.
Brar:The village Brar is about 1½
kms from Aragam, while asGund-Dachan village lies at adistance of about 2½ km fromAragam. No Kashmiri Panditfamily lived in these villages.
Pandits of Aragam and adjoin-ing villages celebrated a festivalat the harvest time. A few freshlycut rice panicles hung at the up-per part of the main house doorwere believed to ensure goodharvest in the succeeding years.It used to be celebrated with asumptuous and lavish meal,comprising of mutton and waterfowl preparations.
Another agriculture relatedfestival in vogue was known as'Bal-Kadun'. In it cooked ricealong with a cooked fish piecekept at the barrier of the paddyfield either on Saturday or Tues-day was thought to guaranteeprotection to the crops fram thepests and diseases.
Many fables and legends are also associatedwith the Wular Lake, which is the largestfresh water lake in Asia, being 16 km. long
and 9.6 km wide. The presiding deity of the lake isknown as 'Wular Raz'. The lake is said to havecountless springs and the main spring is known as'Neel Nag'. It is regarded as the deepest part of thelake and is supposed to be in a state of turbulencealways. No boatman(hanji) even todaydares to take hisshikara across thispart of the Wular Lake.The folklore says thatthe presiding deity ofthe lake known as'Wula Raz' has hisresidence in the deepdepths of the 'Neel-Nag'. As per a legend,a saint in bygone agesis said to have weaveda rope continuouslyfor twelve years.
He is said to havedropped this rope tiedto a grinding stone inthe Wular Lake to ascertain it's depth but it is thoughtto have failed to touch the lake's bottom. Anotherlegend says that centuries back, a sage endowed withtantric and supernatural powers once decided to take'Wular Raz' into his custody. A boat was engaged forthe purpose and an oil lamp was lighted by him in theboat amidst elaborate tantric rituals. He is said tohave plunged into the 'Neel-Nag' area of the WularLake after instructing the boatman to ensure continu-ous lighting of the said oil lamp. The ascetic is said tohave successfully emerged out of the lake along withthe 'Wular Raz', who was then kept in confinement inthe concealed part of the boat. The ascetic is believedto have dived again in the lake to capture the rest ofthe family members of the 'Wular Raz'. In the meantime, the Wular Razaenticed the boatmanwith the promise ofunlimited wealth if heextinguished the oillamp. Tempted by thegreed, the boatman ex-tinguished the lamp.As fall-out, theascetic lost all his su-pernatural powers andfailed to emerge out ofthe lake.
Taking advantageof it, the Wular Raz(the presiding deity ofthe lake) dived backto be in his abode atthe bottom of the'Neel-Nag' of the lake.Instead of the promised wealth, the boatmanencountered a heap of charcoal floating on the surfaceof the lake. Feeling betrayed and cursing his luck, hetook a handful of charcoal in his fire-pot for burningpurpose. He rowed back to his home. Next morningto his surprise, the charcoal in the forepart had turnedinto gold.
The 'Neel-Nag' and the 'Garu-Nag' (locallyknown as a 'Gor-Nag') are supposed to exist at theextreme ends of the lake. As per the folklore, the riverVitasta is aid to be the spouse of the Wular Raza.
Another legend connected with the lake says thathundreds of years back, a boat carrying a bridegroomgot stuck-up near the 'Neel-Nag' part of the lake. Thebridegroom pleaded and request ed 'Wular Raz' topermit his Shikara to sail through and promised tooffer his spouse. After his return from the marriage
Wular Lakeceremony the bridegroom failed to keep his promise.As expected the Shikara failed to move forward fromthe 'Neel-Nag' area of the Lake. Realising his mis-take, the bridegroom offered his just married spouseto the waters of the Wular Lake. Shortly afterwards,to everbody's surprise the bride emerged from thedepths of the lake dressed-up in the celestial attire.
Even today, no bridegroom can afford to annoythe 'Wular Raza', thepresiding deity ofthe lake whilesailing across thelake. He withoutfail has to take offhis turban and keepthe accompanyingsword aside whilecrossing the WularLake. People evennow pay,salutations andobeisance to the'Wular Raza'whenever theyhappen to pass bythe lake.
According toone more legend, the present site of the Wular Lakeis believed to have been a flourishing city of affluenceby the name of Sandimat Nagar, well before theChristian era.
It's inhabitants were so engrossed in thematerialistic and worldly pursuits that virtuousvalues and deeds were given a gobye. A sage advisedthe natives of Sandimat Nagar to correct their wayward ways, otherwise he predicted an enormouscalamity for the city. Excepting for a potter, nonepaid any heed to his sane advice.
The potter not only entertained him but also gaveshelter to him in his home. Out of gratitude, the sageof his supernatural powers turned the potter's claywheel into gold. He also asked the potter to abandon
the city and alsocautioned him not tolook back whilemoving-out of thecity. Next day, asadvised the potteralong with hisfamily fled from thecity to seek shelterin the nearby uplandridge. Immediatelyafterwards, theentire city wasengulfed byenormous amountsof water. Notwith-standing thewarning of the sage,the potter lookedback compelled by
the incoming screaming cries of the city inmates.To his surprise and horror, his fabulous and
marvellous city had turned into a vast lake, which isnow known as the Wular Lake. As the potter hadfailed to honour the promise not to look behind, halfof the gold turned potter's wheel reverted back toclay part.
The ridge where the potter is believed to havetaken shelter is even now known as Watlab Sanger.
The legends, tales and fables continue to be anintegral part of our rich oral history.
They are proud relics of our past, though thedegree of believability in them may vary. They needto be preserved and protected so that they do notfade away into obscurity.
*(The author is a noted Researcher on KashmiriFolklore)
A view of Wullar Lake in 1981 fromSrinagar-Bandipor National Highway
A close-up view of Wullar Lake in 1981.
14HERITHERITHERITHERITHERITAGEAGEAGEAGEAGEKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
By Sanjay Godbole
Prior to independence, HinduPandits were settled in greatnumbers, in the Northern ar-
eas of Kashmir. Sharadi is a smallvillage in Northern parts of Kash-mir, which was famous for an an-cient temple of Goddess Sharada. AKashmiri Pandit family headed byThusu Ladarwani was settled in thisvillage. This Thusu family was com-pelled to migrate to Srinagar fromPakistan occupied Kashmir (POK)and again due to the terrorists andtheir activities, had forcibly to shiftto Jammu and stay in a transit campthere.
At present, Shri ShambhunathjiThusu from this family is ninety fouryear old and possesses an exception-ally remarkable memory. He is wellversed in Urdu, and Kashmiri lan-guage . Shri Shambhunathji providedme a map in Urdu prepared by him,giving details of the "ShardaTemple". He has successfully re-tained many memories, about the"Sharda Temple" right from 1920A.D. Shri. Shambhunathji reiteratedthat there was no idol of the God-dess Sharda in the temple, but therewas only a stone plinth, admeasur-ing six feet long, seven feet wide andone and half feet high. "Just outsidethe temple, not very far, was aShivaling.( i.e . symbolic idol of LordShiva). The devotees worshipped atboth the places.
Shri. Shambhunathji was bornand brought up in Shardi and he spenthis prime youth there only. His fam-ily owned a business there. He aptlyrecollects the fair held at Shardi inthe month of Bhadrapada (the sixthmonth according to Hindu Calendar)on the eighth day of Shukla Pakshai.e. a fortnight of rising moon.
He makes a mention of the brief-ings by a scholar in History from"Shardi", about the assistance ren-dered, by a Gaud King to the "ShardaTemple Complex". The villageShardi is situated at a distance of130 Kilometers from Srinagar and140 k.m.s. from Muzaffarabad. Thisplace, presently, has the followingpostal address in Pak occupied Kash-mir. (POK).
Village Shardi, Tehsil AttaMukam, District Muzafferabad.
Since olden times, the villageShardi was renowned for the follow-ing two things
1. temple of Goddess Sharda, and2. Sharda Peetham (Centre for
Advanced studies)Prior to the partition, a fair was
held at village Shardi in the month ofBhadrapada and on the eighth dayof the Shukla Paksha, and devoteesfrom all over India, flocked the placein thousands, for receiving the bless-ings of the Mother Sharada deity.There is a place called "Tikkar" at adistance of one and half kilometersfrom Kupwara, in Kashmir. Fromhere, there is a short cut for going toShardi which measures 40 k.m.Many Pilgrims treaded this pathonly.
Prior to the partition of India,many Kashmiri Pandit families weresettled in "Shardi". Those profess-ing as priests and traders had theirshops and establishments in thenear vicinity of the Sharda Teerath.Besides, many saints, ascetics
THE SHARDA TEMPLE OF KASHMIRand their associates/disciples andtheir servants also lived there.
Shri. Pradeep Kaul, fromSrinagar, informed that every scribeoffered his writings to GoddessSharda, for obtaining her blessings.The following alleged legend in thisregard runs as follows. The KashmiriScribes, kept their Bhurjapatramanuscript covered in a platter over-night, in front of Goddess Sharda,for obtaining her blessings. If thepages of writings remained undis-turbed, it was taken for granted thatthe works had the blessings of theGoddess. If, however, the pages ofthe works were foundsifted, the works wereconsidered as disap-proved by the God-dess.
Presently , theSharda Temple lieswithin POK territoryand one has to travelfrom Muzaffarbad toThitwal - 80 K.M.from Thitwal toKarna-20 k.m., fromKeran to Dudhe Niyal- 24 km, and fromDudhaniyal to Shardi-16 K.M., to reachShardi.
Prior to 1947,some travellers wentto "Udi" fromBarahmulla, and thenfrom "Udi" to Shardi, viaMuzaffarabad. In Shardi, the Shardatemple is on the right bank of river"Krishnaganga". At this spot, thereis a confluence between riverMadhumati and river Krishnaganga.In Sanskrit, the word Sharda denotesboth Goddess "Saraswati", and God-dess "Durga". An old styled, stringedmusical Instrument called "Veena"is also addressed as "Sharda". TheKashmiri Pandits, rever this God-dess Sharda as a symbol of strength.The brief history of "Sharda" inKashmir is as follows.
"Kashyapmir" aka Kashmirmeans the Land of "Kashyap: Rishithe ascetic. Kashmir was a home oferudites and scholars. Here was anUniversity of the extremely learnedPandits and philosphers in allbranches of knowledge. The epic,Mahabharata, refers to Kashmir as"Kashmir Mandal". Ancient Historyof India describes that there was atemple of "Goddess Sharda" inKashmir also. There was a centrefor providing education, SharadaPeetha had four doors facing fourdirection. The southern door was al-ways closed and no one from Southever entered from this door."Shankaracharya" in 8th cent A.D.opened this door and entered theCentre . He defeated all the scholarsthere and won the highest hierarchialposition of Acharya. An ancient vol-ume "Shakti Sangam Tantra" has astray reference to "Sharda complex".The volume describes Kashmir as aLand from Sharda Complex to "Saf-fron mountain " Keshara Parbat ex-tending upto 50 yojana.
At present, in POK, the valleyof river Krishnaganga lies at a dis-tance of 125 k.m. fromMuzaffarabad towards North. It isnow being addressed as "NeelamValley" by Pakistani authorities.
The village "Shardi" lies in be-tween Gurej and Karna: the twoplaces in Neelam valley. At Shardi,wreckaged remains of the temple ofGoddess Sharda can be seen. Onecan reach Shardi within 4 hoursfrom Muzaffarbad. The following arethe lines from the verse of "God-dess Sharda" (residing in Kashmir)in praise of her
Prior to Division of Kashmir inlast century Mr. Bamzai, a KashmiriPandit, has very aptly described theSharda Temple had the main girdleof 22 feet dia. It had an entrance doorin the west. The other entrances had
arches over them, and these archeswere 20 feet in height .The main en-trance had foot steps. On both sidesof the porch, there were two squareshaped pillars, 16 feet high and 2'6"x 2'6" in sectional size. Carved outof a solid stone Block. The construc-tion inside the temple was very plainand unadorned . The temple was situ-ated on a hillock, on the right' bankof river Madhumati". The rectangu-lar sanctum had 63 foot steps, each9' wide. The name and fame of thisSharda Teerath was well spreadthroughout ancient India.
Kalhan, the famous Historian,who wrote "Rajtarangini has given areference to "Lalitaditya" of theeighth's century. He says, disciplesof the Gaud King had come all theway from Bengal to Kashmir to paya visit to this Sharda Mandir.
Alberuni, the famous traveller ofthe 10th century has made a men-tion of this "Sharada Mandir". Henarrates "After traversing the inte-rior portion of the valley of Kash-mir, one reaches the Bolair Moun-tain, which is mid way between"Ladakh" and "Gilgit'. Many pil-grims come here for receiving theblessings of Goddess Sharda". Albe-runi further states that this "Sharda
Teerath is equally famous like SomNath of Gujarat, the Vishnu Templeof Thaneshwar, and the Sun-Templeof Multan.
"Bilhan" Pandit the famous au-thor of the Later half of the 11thCentury has also made a mention ofthe :Sharada Teerath". Thoughsettled in South India over a longperiod, "Bilhan" has dedicated all hisLiterary works to Goddess "Sharda".
Between the period 1088 A.D.and 1172 A.D., an erudite, ShriHemchandra had completed his"Prabhav Karta" a voluminoustreatise. Under the auspices and pa-
tronage of King "JaySingh" of Gujarat, hewas required to com-pile a volume on"Grammar". So, kingJay Singh deputedhis representative toKashmir, and madeavailable to ShriHemchandra a manu-script of the subjectof grammar, from theLibrary of ShardaTeerth. This enabledShri. Hemchandra, tocomplete his treatisecalled "Hemkandra"(Siddha Hemkandra). This amply proves,how the name andfame of the library of"Sharda Teerth" was
well-known in ancient India and asto, how abounding was the Libraryof "Sharda Peeth".
Historian Jon Raja has made areference, as to, how Sultan of Kash-mir Zain-ul-Abidin visited this placein 1422 A.D.
Abul Fazal has also made a ref-erence to this place. The stonecrafted Sharda Mandir, he adds, abeautiful temple at that-is situatedon the bank of river Madhumti(Krishna Ganga). Gold was oftenfound in the river basin here. A fairis held here, on the eighth day ofevery month of the (Shukla Paksha)fortnight of the rising moon. Afterthe Mughals, the Dogra regime as-sumed power in Kashmir and thethen Collector of Muzaffarabad, Col.Gundu repaired the temple and pro-vided a new ceiling made of wood.He got fixed an annuity for the priestof the temple, under the orders ofMaharaja Gulab Singh of Kashmir.
The Northeast province of ourvast country India is Kashmir. Kash-mir has its own style of temple Ar-chitecture. This style was devel-oped, during the reign of KingLalitaditya (724 A.D.) and in 9thCentury reached its Zenith, duringthe regime of Avantiverman. Thereare a few ancient temples in Kash-mir. Among these, the Rudrashtemple at Ludo, the sun-temple at"Martand" and the "ShankaracharyaTemple at Srinagar are conspicu-ously famous. Generally, a templein Kashmir has two parts, a squaresanctum and a porch in front of it.These structures have centres andsubcentres of Learning associatedwith them.
Experts opine that the pillars andcolumns of Kashmiri temples com-pare favourably with those of Derrikstyle. There is an expansive court-yard around the temple. This an-
cient Sharda Mandir is in (P.O.K.)today and has nurtured all the Sa-lient features of Kashmiri style ofArchitecture.
Yograj Razdan and Mr. RatanKaul made available this rare photo-graph of Sharda Mandir fromSharadi. It is at their instance, it wasavailable to me.
Kashmir, in olden days, was acentre for education , pursuit ofknowledge and studies of varioussciences. That is exactly why, Kash-mir is also called Land of GoddessSharda, City of Goddess Sharda andSharda Peetham (University).
The famous Chinese traveller,Hue-en-tsang visited Kashmir in theyear 632 A.D. and lived there foralmost two years. His notings as-sert that at Shardi, there are Panditswho are exceptionally brilliant, en-dowed with perspicacious wits andacumen and are genius in the realsense of the term. There is a narra-tive, regarding Goddess Sharda inHindu Scriptures. When Panditsrefuse to perform the sacred threadceremony of "Shandilya" the son ofascetic "Vashishta", he (Shandilya)under instructions of his father, wentto Kashmir, to offer his services toGoddess Sharda. He bathed in thewater tank near Sharda temple andgot his body, transformed into radi-ant gold, afterwards, he, by the graceof Goddess Sharda obtained accom-plishment and became famous asShandilya Rishi the ascetic.
The Sharda Shastranam Stotra isa canticle depicting Goddess Shardaas follows :-
Goddess Sharda is "Sheeladevi"(A Goddess in stone) she sits on astone seat and has a pleasantly smil-ing face. Her form and appearanceresemble those of Goddess Parvati(Wife of Lord Shiva). She holds aSword in one hand. Her eyes areglowing and radiant like the Sun, themoon and the god fire, she is theSupreme controller of all the three"Lokas" (According to Hindu My-thology, there are three lokas i.e.worlds swarga (the heaven) Mrutya(the Earth) and Patal (the underworld). She has six arms and sportsthe sacred thread of YagyopavitShandilys, the ascetic. Her devoteesare blessed with the eternal lightfrom the outer world.
The members of the Gujar andPahadi Communities, residing in thenearby area of the "Shardi" villagehad an abiding and unalienable faithin the sheeladevi shakti peeth (asource of power). They offeredcow's milk and cereals and other ag-ricultural produce to GoddessSharda. In the recent times, SwamiNandlalji a famous Yogi (a hermit)from Kashmir had his hermitage nearthe Sharda temple, and his discipleswere both' Hindus
This is how the imposing andmagnificent history of GoddessSharda for a few centuries in the postgoes. The following lines from a San-skrit canticle are enough and suffi-cient to stress the importance of thehistory of Goddess Sharda.
A view of Sharda Temple (PoK)
15LITERALITERALITERALITERALITERATURETURETURETURETUREKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
By Deepak Budki
I had recently shifted my office out of the valley as itwas practically impossible
for me to work there and dojustice to my work. At last theorders had been received fromabove. Accommodating somany people as would fill athree storied building was adifficult task. After a longsearch a departmental buildinglocated right on the railwaystation and having some sparecapacity, though still notsufficient enough, wasidentified.
I collected all the officialsand gave them a long pep talkon how to adjust to the newsurroundings and adapt to thechanged circumstances. Thiscalled for their utmostdedication and sacrifice. Theywere not to expect the samefacilities as were available tothem previously. With facescrestfallen and future uncertainthey readily agreed.
We lost no time to set ourhouse in order. As for myself Ichose a small room facing to-wards the railway platform. Ipersonally supervised thedecor of my room. On one sideof the room facing the entracedoor the office table and thechair were placed while on theother side the sofa set whichhad been shifted from thevalley was adjusted. A largesized photograph of MahatmaGandhi was hung on the wallopposite the window facingthe platform. Through thewindow you could see a largetract of fallow land extendingbeyond the platform across therails with urchins defecatingbesides the bristly cacti, straycattle bracing the scorchingheat in search of food and thedogs scavenging the garbage.The scenery was totallydifferent from the one we wereused to in the lush green valleybeyond the Pir Panchal ranges.There was no cool breezeblowing in the mornings, nocold water piped down from theCheshma Shahi, the eternalroyal spring and no cool shad-ows under the majesticChinars to rest underneath. Itwas a different worldaltogether.
A few glass panes of thewindow had been broken andnobody attended to thembecause there were otherimportant things to do. Oftenhot and dusty winds wouldblow through them andproduce burning sensation onmy cheeks.
One day while I was sittingin my chair I spotted a sparrowwith a dry twig in its beakdarting down from the blueexpanse above. It sat on thewindow -sill for a while deep incontemplation and then flitted
THE NESTTHE NESTTHE NESTTHE NESTTHE NESTacross the room to deposit thetwig behind Gandhiji’s photo-graph. Then came another spar-row with piece of straw in hermouth and followed suit. Some-time in the past, God alone knowswhen they had agreed to live to-gether and build a nest for them-selves. A nest -where they wouldspend an entire season together,mate, lay eggs, hatch them to seeyoung ones popping out theirtiny beaks, and feed them till theywould take to their wings. Theyflew time and again in search ofmore such material and kept de-positing the same behind thephotograph unmindful of mypresence. I watched them for along time and appreciated theirskill and patience.
The sparrows too seemed tohave migrated from some far offuncongenial place and were ea-ger to cohabit since the monsoonwas fast approaching. Whilewatching them I felt that build-ing a nest was as instinctive aseating, breathing or drinking forthe whole animal world.
Day in and day out I saw thesetwo sparrows building their neststraw by straw. They collecteddry twigs, pieces of bark andstraw, cotton wool, fallen dryleaves and feathers from placesfar and near and brought theminto the room with a sense of ela-tion and anticipation. Many atime they sat on the window-ledge and looked towards thenest with eagerness and ur-gency. In the process, more of-ten than not, they forgot theirown food. The very idea of acomfortable nest with their off-spring protruding their tinybeaks evaporated whatevertiredness they had felt and thismade them redouble their efforts.As a result it dawned upon methat it was not only the humanbeings who dreamt of a sweethome but birds too enjoyed theidea of a nice home of their own.
The two weavers kept weaving their nest meticulouslywith all finesse, intertwining thewarp and the weft made of drygrass blades and straw. Theyused the cotton wool and theanimal hair for cushioning thenest and to give it a soft touch.Simultaneously, they started tolive in the nest though their ef-forts to embellish it still contin-ued. I had become accustomedto their presence and with thepassage of time had lost interestin these harmless creatures.
Nature rewarded them soonthereafter with bounteous mon-soons. The atmosphere was filledwith the songs of Koel and thecroaking of frogs. There was ro-mance everywhere. Young maid-
ens riding on the swings wel-comed the showers. Not to beleft behind, the he-sparrowstarted petting and necking theshe-sparrow with his small tinybeak, often expanded his wingsas wide as possible to impresshis sweetheart of his majesticpresence and after assuringhimself that his female partnerwas ready to receive him rode onher back while twitching his tail.For both of them there could beno better moment of ecstasy asthis one.
After some time I had to pro-ceed on leave for about a weekand could not keep a track ofthese two tiny lovers who hadtaken refuge in my room for mak-ing love. My room remainedclose during the week. The twolovers had their heyday in myabsence. No watchful humaneyes pursued them any longer.There was no human interfer-ence whatsoever and apparentlythat they had a real good time.They had possibly thought thatI had abandoned the roomforever. They sat wherever theyliked, on the blade of the fan, onthe writing table or on the chairs.Twigs, straw and feathers hadbeen strewn everywhere and theroom had been littered withoffensive smelling faces of thesebirds.
After having spent the weekon leave I was eager to join myoffice, and therefore, reached myoffice early in the morning. No-body had yet come to the officeexcept the chowkidar and thesweeper. I asked the chowkidarto open my room. As I enteredthe room I was horrified to seeits condition. There were piecesof straw, feathers and twigsstrewn everywhere. Worse stillthe two birds had defecated atmany places and their excretastuck to the upholstery of thesofa and the chairs besides theglass top of the table. I watchedhelplessly and did not know howto react. Slowly the anger welledup inside me and I was besidesmyself with rage. I immediatelycalled the sweeper and orderedhim to clean the room. As if thatwas not enough, I asked him toremove the nest from behind thephotograph. Shortly thereafterthe sweeper reported to me thatthe nest had a few eggs inside itand it would not be proper tothrow them away. He was tooreligious to think of destroyinga nest having eggs in it. I couldnotice from his face that he wasreluctant to carry out my ordersand therefore did not press forthe same as it could hurt his reli-gious sentiments. So I took itupon myself to remove the nest
from behind the photograph andthrow it out of the window. Thetiny eggs broke open as soonas they fell on the ground andthe fluid in them oozed andspread over the surface. Thechowkidar and the sweeper keptlooking helplessly. So did theMahatma from behind the glassframe.
I left the room for the sweeperto clean it and mop the furnitureand as soon as he reported com-pletion, I returned and took myseat in the chair and starteddisposing of the office files.
Almost after an hour the she-sparrow came flying from theheavens above with a grain ofwheat in her mouth which shewanted to share with her mate inthe exclusivity of her nest. Shesat on the window-sill for a whilewith her eyes radiant with hopeand promise. She flew straighttowards the photograph but toher dismay could not find hernest there. She kept hoveringaround the place in utter disbe-lief and distress not knowingwhat had be fallen her sweethome. All her dreams had beenbelied and plans shattered. Indeep anguish and frustrationshe flitted across the roomunmindful of the rotating fanabove. She had simply gonemad. In one of the rapid movesher body struck the fast moving
blades of the fan and withinmoments her wing was torninto pieces, the feathers scat-tered on the floor and she her-self fell dead on the floor.
Then came the he-sparrowwith mirth and joy writ large onhis face and sat on thewindow-sill. As he peeped intothe room all his happinessevaporated like ether and hebecame sullen at the sight ofhis companion. He too flewtowards the photograph to findfor himself what was in storefor him. Shocked andbewildered he darted down tohis partner and hovered overher dead body for a long timewith the expectation that shemay hear his call and wake up.But that was not to be. Hismate was silent as a stone. Hewas now convinced that shewould not hear his call norwould the destroyed nest berebuild. Dejected, he flew backand sat on the window-sillwhere he kept brooding forsometime. He had lost hismate, his home and hisoffspring to my wanton desire.His life had become desolateand held no promise for future.
Quietly, he gathered hiscourage and flew away into thevast blue expanse towards themilky horizon never to returnand I watched him in horrifiedsilence.
ABOUT THE AUTHORABOUT THE AUTHORABOUT THE AUTHORABOUT THE AUTHORABOUT THE AUTHORDeepak Budki is a renowned Urdu
short story writer. He started writing shortstories in 1971. His first short story"Salma" was published in the DailyHamdard, Srinagar. One of his shortstories 'Reyzey' was televised byDoordarshan Srinagar. In 1976 he qualifiedfor Indian Postal Services and thereaftergave up writing short stories for almosttwenty years. 1996 saw the rebirth of thewriter., ever since he has published morethan sixty short stories which have beenpublished in the leading magazines of Indo-
Pak subcontinent, United Kingdom and other countries where Urduis read and understood. His short stories have been translated inHindi, Telugu and other countries where Urdu is read and under-stood. His short stories have been translated in Hindi, Telugu andKashmiri as well. His two collections of short stories, 'AdhooreChehre' and 'Chinar Ke Panje' have been published in 1999 and2005 while “Zebra crossing per Khada Adami' is expected to bereleased shortly. Budki is a big name in Urdu literature. A few leadingmagazines have brought out special issues in his honour.
The author's short stories have received rave reviews from suchleading luminaries of Urdu—Sultana Mehr, Waris Aalvi, HarcharanChawla, Syed Zafar Hashmi, Anwar Sadeed. The deftness and theartistry with which Budki weaves his short stories has been muchappreciated. His stories, which paint the agonies of humanity, makethe reader to sit back and ponder over where the society has gonewrong. In a rare compliment Prof. Qamar Rais writes:
"The short stories create a unique and individualistic im-pression which is not seen in other contemporary writers.Whether it is 'Amma', 'Mange Ke Ujala' or 'Chinar Ke Panjeevery story has something to think and ponder about".
In 2006 Deepak Budki sprang up a surprise by coming out witha book of critical essays and Reviews—"Asri Tehreerin-TanqeediMazameen Wa Tabasure'. The book makes a critical study of worksof Manik Tala, Gulzar, Dr. Brij Premi and Virender Patwari, allcontemporary short story writers. The famous prose writer 'KaiserTamkeen' of Britain describes Budki's work on Manak Tala as goodas a dissertation. The author is a master artist, with flair for Urducalligraphy.
16AESTHETICSAESTHETICSAESTHETICSAESTHETICSAESTHETICSKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
(Contd. from Page 8)The problem is that RBI has been hijacking investment into the
MSS account. Under these circumstances, the economist triumvi-rate can be absolved of guilt only if they admit to never havingrealised that Ambassador Mulford was leading, nay ordering, themup the garden "path; but then, there will be competence issues.
Immediate action, may help avert a deepening of recession in theIndian economy. The stock market has begun its slide. Interest ratesare going up. If these trends continue, people's faith in the systemwill erode and soon the circumstances of Argentina 2001, or of theSouth East Asian crisis will be visiting the streets of our country.
This open letter hopes to alert all Indians to the nature of thecalamity which is overtaking us. Suspending MSS operations is afirst step, but even this will not absolve India of the liability of the250,000 crore rupee debt-bubble which we have run up in the last 18months.
Ordering a detailed investigation into this scam and relieving itsperpetrators of the reins of the nation and the economy is a neces-sary second step to retain investor confidence and people's good-will and faith in the system of governance in India. If the presentleadership doesn't do this, posterity surely will; and if DomingoCarvallo's fate is anything to go by, it will not be forgiving.
Given the seriousness of the impending financial crisis that ourgovernment has been lured or duped or connived-with to unleash, areworking of the polity, RBI, and foreign policy is immediately re-quired.
As Congress President and Chairperson of the United Progres-sive Alliance, you are the only individual who can make the neces-sary corrections in time. It is an onerous responsibility and yourtryst with destiny. For the sake of one billion Indians, please act.
Yours sincerely,Namit Verma
Karia Beeja, Khajuraho-471606Phones: 98-910-70020
94-251-45678
Please act to prevent Imminent Financial Crisis
By Our Correspondent
Sh. Moti Lal Kemu whopioneered the rebirthof Kashmiri folk the-
atre 'Bhand Pathr' is knownto give surprises. This timehe has come up with 'ShahPathr'. The play was stagedat Abhinav Theatre on No-vember 27. It was written anddirected by Kemu himself.
The play written in 1993-1994 revolves round thestory of Sultan Budshahwho applied balm to thewounds of hounded outKashmiri Pandits. It is saidonce Budshah fell acutely illdue to a boil. KashmiriPandits were in hiding due to strong religiouspersecution of Budshah's father, Sultan Sikandarthe iconoclast. When the Hakims attending onBudshah failed to cure him, the queen soughthelp from different quarters. Ultimately, ShriyaBhat, a leading Hakim, who too was in hiding,was taken to the King for administering treat-ment. Soon the King got well. As token of grati-
tude Budshah askedShriya Bhat what he de-sired. The latter, as the trueson of Kashmiris, de-manded only one favour--End to the policy of reli-gious persecution. TheKing granted it. A newchapter began in the life ofpersecuted Pandits. It ap-pears 'Shah Pathr' hasbeen written to send a simi-lar message at a time whenthe predicament of thewriter's community is vir-tually similar. Sh. Kemusaid the objective of theplay was to apprise theyounger generation of
their traditions of Kashmir.The play was production of 30-day Kashmiri
Theatre workshop conducted by Natrang incollaboration with Mr. Kemmu for DisplacedKashmiri boys and girls. The artists who par-ticipated in the play included among others-Sameeta Raina (Maskara), Chandji Kaul (Sul-tan-e-Kashmir), Bhasha Sumbli (Begum), PriyaRaina (Gopali), Manoj Bhatt (Shriya Bhat etc.).
Kemu's 'Shah Pathar' stagedKemu's 'Shah Pathar' stagedKemu's 'Shah Pathar' stagedKemu's 'Shah Pathar' stagedKemu's 'Shah Pathar' staged
at Abhinav Theatreat Abhinav Theatreat Abhinav Theatreat Abhinav Theatreat Abhinav Theatre
By Special CorrespondentSaivism, as a philosophical
credo, has remained integral tothe social and spiritual life ofKashmiris for over a millenniumand a half. Kashmir Saivism isalso called 'Trika Sastra' as itis based on three postulates-Siva, Sakti and Nara. The texts
of Saivism called Agama, as perlocal folklore, have been re-vealed by Siva. The basicAgama of the Trika Sastra is SivaSutras. According to Prof. MHZaffar who teaches philosophyat Kashmir University 'The Siva-Sutra read like aestheticallystructured riddles which radi-ate divine beauty and charm andare capable of many interpreta-
Siva Sutras and Lal Vakhs paintedtions depending upon the spiri-tual evolution of the interpreter'.Each Siva sutra is loaded with aspiritual-philosophical formula-tion. Saivism has left a richlegacy. Poetry of Lal Ded, NundaReshi and some sufiana poets isindicative of this. Saintess LalDed, the pioneer of Kashmir lan-guage was a renaissance figure
who through her spirituality andpoetry brought the Saivite mes-sage closer to the commonKashmiri.
Gokal Dembi, a masterpainter from Rainawari (Srinagar)has rendered yeomen service toKashmir's culture by paintingSiva Sutras and Vakhs of Lal Ded.The rise of militarised Islamicfundamentalism forced Dembi
and his community out from theirhomeland. As an anguishedKashmiri he gave vent to theagonies of losing homeland in hisartistic expressions. In his questto build cultural anchors tocounter religious fundamental-ism, now sweeping the Valley,Gokal Dembi conceived a project'Rishi Tradition of Kashmir' inearly 2005. He took a refreshedstudy of the poetry of Lal Dedand Nund Rishi in general andthe aspects of visual imagery inKashmiri mysticism in particular.At Prof. Zaffar's instance Dembiin his project--painting of RishiTradition started with visual rep-resentation of Siva Sutras andVakhs of Lal Ded as these hap-pen to be one of the basic textsof Kashmiri Rishi Tradition. Govt.of India awarded him a SeniorFellowship to facilitate his workin this direction.
Gokal Dembi after working onthe project for two years held anexhibition of his painted work atKala Kendra Jammu from Novem-ber 30 to December 7, 2007. Thepaintings include visual repre-sentation of 32 Saiva Sutras and13 Vakhs of Lal Ded. Paintingshave been done on acrylic. It isfirst time that Siva Sutras andVakhs of Lal Ded have beenpainted. Before this we had vi-sual depiction of some tantrasby another Kashmiri painter late
GR Santosh.
Commenting on Dembi'swork artist Rajender Tiku ob-serves:
"With his experience as apainter and understanding as aseeker, Gokal Dembi tran-scends the barrier of mere in-terpretation. Instead he comes
forth with strikingly impactfulworks with immaculate detailand a vivid meaning imparted toeach and every division in a par-ticular space, the picture, ashape entrenched in that divi-sion, a colour applied and finallythe overall effect created. Nomatter based upon a particularsloka, each painting evolves intoan independent entity with a vi-
sual impact of its own".He adds:"Though it must be difficult
to visualize the import of SivaSutras, and perhaps that is whyGokal Dembi begins with use ofhuman form as a convenient,perceptible and meaningful ele-ment with a tried and acceptedconnotation as a visual. Since
Siva Sutras also are essentiallymeant to understand and applythe possibilities of spiritualupliftment and thereby the ex-treme liberation, the figurativeelements become even more per-tinent and effective. It is all a phe-nomenon with an intrinsic char-acter to support realisation be-yond visible and tangible".
***
A scene from 'Shah Pathr'
The lighting of the traditional lamp at the inauguration ofExhibition.
At the inaugural function-Seen in the picture are from(L to R) Dr. Rafiq Masoodi, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Dr
Amitab Mattoo & Sh. Gokal Dembi
17AESTHETICSAESTHETICSAESTHETICSAESTHETICSAESTHETICSKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
The Honourable Shri SanjayGodbole.
You stand out as a versatile scholar in today'scommunication revolu-
tion, who reveals to us how thedelicate ties of culture, reflected inour languages, literatures and thearts, have always bound the worldtogether, even in periods when notmany historical sources were avail-able.
Your vision of history has tran-scended the conventional cata-loguing of conflicts and coups, andthe chronology of dynasties. Youhave honed your skills to relateclosely to the people, the timesthey lived in and what they spoke,wrote, used and consumed.
Citation of SAFMA May 2007 AwardCitation of SAFMA May 2007 AwardCitation of SAFMA May 2007 AwardCitation of SAFMA May 2007 AwardCitation of SAFMA May 2007 Award
Tribute to South Asia's "Cultural Ambassador"Tribute to South Asia's "Cultural Ambassador"Tribute to South Asia's "Cultural Ambassador"Tribute to South Asia's "Cultural Ambassador"Tribute to South Asia's "Cultural Ambassador"You have the magic gift of
reaching out smoothly overcenturies of history, and enter-ing into the very lives of peopleof the time, assessing their at-titude, their values and the hu-man condition. Your painstak-ing research and investiga-tions into their artifacts and ar-chives, sketches and relics,earthenware and metal vessels,have recreated for us even ep-ochs wiped off from the palimp-sest of time and history!
A living embodiment of yoursingle-minded and magnificentobsession to converse with thepast is your well-preservedMuseum and Library of over2,000 precious and rare books
and exhibits at home. No won-der they have earnedhonourable mention in theLimca Book of Records! Your
wonderful collection of books,precious manuscripts, rare paint-ings and photographs of Puneand other cities; terra-cotta ves-sels and some ancient musicalinstruments reveals your eclec-tic approach to the study of his-tory.
Because of your special in-terest in the evolution of WestAsian culture, and your abidinglove for the Persian and Urdu lan-guages, you have written semi-nal research articles on the no-madic Gypsy and Baluchi tribesof the area. Your documentaryfilms (and short-film Naseem-e-Punah in Persian) along withevocative photographs of arti-facts in your history museum in
Pune, have received appreciativenotices in West Asian cities ofTeheran, Kabul, Istanbul andTurbat.
Many prestige publications inPakistan and Iran have periodi-cally published your well-stud-ied articles on Pakistan. Maga-zines there have also publishedarticles regarding your remark-able home library and museum,in Pune.
We, in the South Asian Fo-rum and the Mumbai-KarachiForum, respectfully salute a 'cul-tural ambassador' like Shri SanjayGodbole, who helps so much tostrengthen bonds of friendshipand goodwill among people ofIndia and Pakistan.
EXHIBITION-2007: PAINTINGS OF GOKAL DEMBI ON SHAIVISM AND LAL VAKHEXHIBITION-2007: PAINTINGS OF GOKAL DEMBI ON SHAIVISM AND LAL VAKHEXHIBITION-2007: PAINTINGS OF GOKAL DEMBI ON SHAIVISM AND LAL VAKHEXHIBITION-2007: PAINTINGS OF GOKAL DEMBI ON SHAIVISM AND LAL VAKHEXHIBITION-2007: PAINTINGS OF GOKAL DEMBI ON SHAIVISM AND LAL VAKH
Lal VLal VLal VLal VLal Vakhakhakhakhakh
ShivsutraShivsutraShivsutraShivsutraShivsutra
Sh. Sanjay Godbole
Sep 1: Terrorists beat to death Mansoor Ahmed while two others escaped withinjuries as they were intercepted by the former in Kellar-Rajpora for-ests. Police recovered body of a civilian abducted by the terrorists inPattan, Baramulla. A civilian was injured in the crossfiring at Dogripora,Anantnag. Terrorists gunned down two SPOs at Saroti, Kishtwar. In dif-ferent operations across Rajouri district, police and security forces re-covered huge quantities of arms and ammunition, including 12 Rifles.
Sep 2: Security forces killed two terrorists at Lashdat, Kupwara and recoveredarms and ammunition from their possession. A civilian was shot deadby terrorists at Gani Hamam, Baramulla. A LeT suspect, Akmal Hashmiarrested in J&K was taken to Mumbai for interrogation.
Sep 3: Two soldiers, including a Major, were believed to have lost their lives inan encounter at Ayatmulla, Bandipore. An Army jawan was killed andfour others injured as terrorists lobbed a grenade on their vehicle atChajroo on Mahore-Gool road. A LeT terrorist Muzamal of Bafliaz,Surankote surrendered after infiltration.
Sep 4: Terrorists killed two brothers, including a JAKLI Havaldar, in Tangmarg.Ayatmulla encounter ended with the death of three soldiers and twoterrorists. Government ordered probe into custodial killing of one ZahoorAhmed at SoG Camp, Bandiopore.
Sep 5: Police and Army eliminated most wanted terrorist Billoo Gujjar at MangalKundi, Gool. Security forces killed two terrorists in an encounter at HapatNar, Anantnag. Terrorists killed a student in Sopore. Police arresed apolice head constable, Mohammad Sharief in Rajouri for his terroristlinks. A Kot Bhalwal Jail employee Bashir Ahmed was arrested for hisconnivance with the UGWs of the terrorists.
Sep 6: Security forces killed two terrorists in Handwara, Kupwara and arresteda terrorist in injured condition at Check-e-Charatram in Budgam. Anauto-rikshaw driver was injured at Chankpora, Sopore.
Sep 7: Mohd. Altaf Malik alias Pinto Malik, accused of killing IRCON Engineerand his brother, escaped in a dramatic way from judicial custody. TwoHM terrorists were killed at Gulshan Abad, Pulwama. Terrorists shotdead a cop in his house at Budbug, Handwara. A student, injured byterrorists earlier, succumbed to his injuries. An Afghani terrorist Ibn-e-Qasim was killed in Manjakote. Terrorists injured a civilian KuldeepSingh in Doda. Security was breached at Bhawan as a SPO reachedthere with pistol.
Sep 8: An IED was defused in the premises of Agriculture office at Kishtwar.Kuldeep Singh succumbed to injuries. Farooq Abdullah and ML Khuranawere summoned in Kandhar hijacking case. PM Manmohan Singh askedParvez Musharraf to address issue of terrorism.
Sep 9: A SPO and a surrendered terrorist shot dead two SPOs and escapedafter looting six rifles, wireless set and other ammunition from PolicePost Chanyas, Gandoh. A surrendered terrorist was killed and his wifeinjured by terrorists at Checha, Kishtwar. Two terrorists were killed inMendhar. 117 rounds of ammunition were recovered at Pali, Kathua.Terrorists gunned down auto driver Bilal Ahmed Mir who had managedthe arrest of a terrorist in 2005 at Sonwar. Terrorists killed a civilian andinjured another at Bandipore. Dreaded terrorist Yasin Pathan ofWazirstan was killed at Dunaro, Pulwama.
Sep 10: Security forces killed a terrorist in Damhal-Hanjipora area. Terroriststargeted a patrol party of SOG killing a constable and injuring another.Two soldiers were injured in an encounter at Gujjar Pati, Kupwara. Aterrorist and a jawan were killed in an encounter at Manthori, Doda.Security forces busted a terrorist hide-out at Thannamandi and recov-ered 35 kgs RDX and nine grenades.
Sep 11: Security forces killed two exfiltrators in Gurez sector; a Pakistani terroristwas killed in Bandipore. Terrorists barged into the house of a PDPworker and shot at him at Hassanpora, Bijbehara. Troops recovered ahuge cache of arms and ammunition at Muthul Nala in Machail sector. Amajor tragedy was averted as an IED was detected and defused nearGMC, Jammu. A JKP team left for Punjab following the arrest of HMterrorists at Madhopur earlier.
Sep 12: Former Union Minister of State, Mohd. Maqbool Dar escaped unhurt inan IED explosion near Bijbehara, two persons were injured in the inci-dent. Two terrorists were killed at Gujarpathri, Kupwara. A terrorist sur-rendered in Baramulla.
Sep 13: Terrorists killed a jawan in an attack at Lamad, Qazigund and injured awoman at her house at Iqbal Nagar, Sopore. A bride-groom was at-tacked by terrorists at Badamibagh, Sopore. Police busted a hawalaracket by arresting three persons and seizing Rs 2 lakh and grenadesin Pulwama. TADA Court in Jammu awarded 17 years RI to a militant,Abdul Noorani.
Sep 14: A LeT terrorist, involved in massacre of 13 members of minority com-munity in Udhampur, was killed in a gunbattle in Basantgarh, Udhampur;a SPO and A VDC member were killed and six security personnel in-jured in the encounter. A civilian was injured in exchange of firing atChitta Patta, Gandoh. A HM terrorist was arrested in Chatroo. Three livegrenades were recovered from house of a terrorist at Simbal Camp,Jammu. Terrorists beheaded a photographer Shabir Ahmad Dar inPulwama; terrorists shot at and wounded a Headmaster in Kulgamarea.
Sep 15: A Army jawan was killed and seven others injured in a terrorist attack atWatergam. LeT 'Distt. Commander’ for Udhampur was killed atNadimarg, near Kulgam. Four persons, including two soldiers, wereinjured in an IED blast at Zainpora, Pulwama. A youth was killed and fivemembers of a SPO's family were injured when a terrorist lobbed agrenade on the SPO's house at Surankote, Poonch. Security forcesdestroyed two hideouts and recovered arms and ammunition in same
18CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Sep 1-Oct 15 2007)CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Sep 1-Oct 15 2007)CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Sep 1-Oct 15 2007)CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Sep 1-Oct 15 2007)CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Sep 1-Oct 15 2007)KASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
area.Sep 16: A HM terrorist Mohd. Shafi, who had surrendered escaped from Chatro
Police Station in Doda. Another HM terrorist surrendered in Doda. Armsand ammunition were recovered at Hill Tak, Darhal and Pangai,Thannamandi. Eight terrorists were killed in four gunbattles in Kashmirvalley. Four cell-phone bombers were arrested from a car at PohruChowk on Srinagar-Jammu Highway. A body was recovered from Satrenaforest area. Manmohan Singh and Parvez Musharraf agreed to formcounter-terrorism mechanism.
Sep 17: Two jawans were killed and two others injured as a jawan opened firingand then shot himself in Tangdar, Kupwara. A terrorist was killed inGantmulla, Baramulla. Two bodies were recovered in Srinagar. Securityforces and police launched a massive hunt to trace stolen cars.
Sep 18: The Valley observed strike against the remarks of Pope Bendict XVI's.Three family members-Raju Chopra, wife and daughter, and their driverand servant were murdered at Trikuta Nagar, Jammu.
Sep 19: Three terrorists were gunned down at Tanta Daman, Gandoh (Doda).Security forces destroyed a terrorist hideout at Mahote, Surankote andrecovered arms and ammunition. Four persons, including two CRPFpersonnel, were injured in a grenade explosion at Batmaloo GeneralBus Stand. Gujrat Police claimed to have busted LeT sleeper cell asthey arrested four suspects. J&K Governor said that J&K enjoys highestdegree of self-rule. Syed Ali Shah Geelani and many terrorist organiza-tions rejected Havana declaration.
Sep 20: Two terrorists were killed at Ban Khour in Mahore. Three terrorists weretrapped at Kotli Kalaban in Manjakote (Rajouri). A terrorist was killedand another arrested in Doda. Terrorists killed a woman Razia Begumat Bali, Gandoh and chopped offer ears of Abdul Gani at Bashi Kishtwar.Two terrorists were killed at Barpura, Baramulla. Police arrested a LeTfemale activist and recovered arms and ammunition, including 100 kgRDX across Kashmir Valley. Two civilians were injured in a grenadeattack at Sher Bagh, Anantnag. Top LeT terrorist Aslam Kashmiri, linkedto Varanasi blasts, reportedly slipped into Bangladesh.
Sep 21: Four infiltrators were killed in Uri sector. A terrorist was killed at Chitragam,Pulwama. A student was killed and four others, including two jawans,were injured in a grenade attack at Wahipora on Srinagar-Tangmargroad. A soldier was injured in an IED blast at Kaimoh, Kulgam; a PDPactivist was injured in his house in Tulla Khan, Bijbehara. A terrorist waskilled at Kotli Kalaban, Manjakote. Four of a family were killed in a blastat Loharan Da Mohalla in Hari Budha, Poonch. Hizb denied ceasefireoffer and put conditions to any such offer.
Sep 22: A terrorist was killed at Tarzoo, Sopore. A civilian was killed by terroristsin Damhal Hanjipora, Anantnag. A HM terrorist was arrested in Kishtwar,Doda. Bush said that Kashmir was to be settled between India andPakistan.
Sep 23: A terrorist was killed in an encounter at Chitibandi, Baramulla. A HMterrorist was arrested in Srinagar. Terrorists injured three jawans atOnta Hamam, Sopore and killed a civilian at Kangan. Security forcesarrested two OGWs at Pangi, Thannamandi.
Sep 24: Security forces foiled yet another bid of infiltration killing four infiltratorsin Uri sector; two LeT terrorists and a jawan were killed in the Valley.Terrorists killed a 12th standard student Shamima Akhter of ManglogiDalwa (Gool) for her refusal to marry a terrorist. A JeM terrorist surren-dered in Marwah, Doda. Over 1000 Kashmir terrorists were reportedlyin Hizb camps in Pakistan's NWFP.
Sep 25: Terrorists killed four civilians, including a woman in different incidentsin Doda district. Forces smashed two terrorist hideouts in Rajouri andPoonch districts. A lady cop and two civilians were killed and six othersinjured in the Valley on the first day of Ramzan.
Sep 26: An Army Captain and two terrorists were killed in an encounter atBandipore. Central government has devised multi-pronged strategy,including use of Pvt. detectives, to counter terrorism.
Sep 27: Terrorists carried out attacks at different places in the Valley killing anASI and a cop and injuring 21 persons, including 14 JKP and CRPFpersonnel. Three women were injured as they walked over an explosivedevice near Ordinance Depot Khandoora, Anantnag. A 65 year old HMterrorist was killed in Ramban while three others are believed to betrapped in Gool. Police today arrested two terrorists, OGW's and fiveBangladeshis across Jammu region.
Sep 28: Two injured in terrorist attacks yesterday succumbed to their injuries,terrorists killed a lady SPO in Kupwara and injured a chemist at Anantnag.Three people, including two police officials, were arrested as they didn'trespond to the signals at Nakas on Pahalgam road. A SPO was killedand another SPO and two terrorists were injured in an encounter atSimbli, Mahore. Police arrested yet another Hawala operator NaseemAhmed in Mendhar, Poonch.
Sep 29: A terrorist was killed in a group clash between HM and LeT at Neeldora,Shopian. A terrorist was killed while four others escaped in an encoun-ter in Lolab. Police arrested 10 boys who were on their way to PoK inNorth Kashmir. Terrorists killed a civilian in Dessa, Doda and kidnappeda village headman from Bhimdassa in Gool. A HM terrorist who hadearlier escaped from Chatru PS was apprehended in Marwah. A BSFjawan shot himself dead at Sanatnagar, Srinagar; two CRPF personnelwere killed and eight CRPF jawans and one CISF cop injured in anaccident in Doda.
Sep 30: Two soldiers were injured in an IED blast on Marhama-Sangam road,near Bijbehara. A class 12th girl student was injured in a grenade attackat Pattan. Security forces recovered 50 kg RDX in Mahore.
(Contd. on Page 19)
19CONTINUACONTINUACONTINUACONTINUACONTINUATIONTIONTIONTIONTIONKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
Mumbai police claimed that ISI masterminded and LeT and SIMI ex-ecuted Mumbai serial blasts.
Oct 1: Two LeT terrorists were killed in Surankote while two HUJI terroristswere arrested at Khushal in Chatru, Doda. Six OGWs of terrorists werealso arrested in Jammu region. Terrorists killed a kidnapped Nambardarin Gool. An Army jawan shot himself dead at Gund, Banihal.
Oct 2: An IED was defused at Pulwama while a security jawan, a trader andtwo children were injured in different incidents across Kashmir valley. Acivilian was repatriated in Chhamb sector. A couple alongwith child werearrested after crossing 'over LoC in Uri sector. The couple claimed thatKashmiris felt insecure in PoK.
Oct 3: Police killed two HM terrorists at Beerwah, Budgam. Terrorists attackedhouse of a village headman at Chandilora, Tangmarg; they set on firetwo cars of the headman. Terrorists also launched a grenade at thehouse of a civilian at Qamarwari, Srinagar.
Oct 4: Four cops and a civilian killed, an encounter continued at BadshahChowk, Srinagar. Two terrorists were killed in Ashmuqam, Anantnag.Two of a family were killed and two more wounded in Ahlan Gadol,Anantnag. 21 terrorists surrendered after crossing to this side of LoC inNorth Kashmir. A terrorist was hurt in a grenade blast in Rajouri, whenthe grenade exploded. 64 civilians of Sawara, Doda crossed over toChamba alleging terrorist threat.
Oct 5: The Badshah Chowk encounter ended with death of two terrorists, sevencops and a civilian. 30 people, mostly cops, were reportedly injured inthe encounter. Al Mansoorian claimed the responsibility for the attack. Aterrorist was killed at Surigam, Lolab. Doda police denied threat ofterrorists in Sawara village and said that some of the people who mi-grated to Chamba were wanted in a murder case.
Oct 6: A civilian was killed and six others injured in a grenade attack at BusStand Batmaloo, Srinagar. Body of a woman was fished out from Liddarriver. An Al-Badr terrorist was killed at Lenipora, Bumai, Sopore and twowere arrested in Anantnag. The arrested terrorists were believed to beinvolved in planting of bombs at the National Highway. A fidayeen struckat Bela Colony, Rajouri and injured a cop; the fidayeen was reportedlyholed up. Two terrorists were arrested from Pangai, Thannamandi.
Oct 7: Five infiltrators and two army personnel were killed in Gurez sector.Terrorists beheaded a Territorial Army recruit Mohd. Shafi Mir in Sopore.Body of a civilian Ab. Rashid Gani of Isus, Achabal was recovered fromsame locality; the body bore torture marks. Two HM terrorists, planningto plant an IED on the highway, were arrested from a hideout at Botingoo,Anantnag. A cop was killed and two other police personnel injured in agrenade attack on their vehicle at Moori Top, Gool. Fidayeen, reportedlyholed up at Beli Colony, Rajouri, managed to escape.
Oct 8: Army today foiled an infiltration attempt by killing four infiltrating terror-ists of LeT in Sabjan Sub Sector in Poonch; an army jawan was killedand a captain injured in the operation. Terrorists attacked and injured asurrendered terrorist at his house at Tarigam, Budhal. Terrorists struckagain in Sopore and beheaded a Dental Surgeon, Dr Mushtaq, thedoctor was tortured and slaughtered with shaving blades. Three chil-dren were injured as they fiddled with an abandoned explosive devicenear Chittibandi, Bandipore. BJP leaders met President APJ Kalamand opposed any clemency to Guru. Mirwaiz Umar returned from USA.
Oct 9: The terrorists not only withdrew Rs 60,000 from the accounts of thekilled doctor at Sopore but also burnt his car near police station Sopore,police recovered body of a civilian Ghulam Ahmed Wani of Sumlar;there had been an encounter at his house sometime back in which twoterrorists were killed. 25 kg IED was recovered from Sarthal, Doda.Army recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from the encoun-ter side in Sabjan sub-sector.
Oct 10: Four Army personnel, including a JCO, and a LeT terrorist were killedand a jawan injured in an fierce encounter at Chamreh, Surankote.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that India will give credible evi-dence to Pakistan about latter's role in July Mumbai blasts. Widows ofmartyrs of Parliament attack met President APJ Kalam to oppose clem-ency to Guru.
Oct 11: A terrorist was killed at Chandial in Gursai, Mendhar. A civilian wasinjured in crossfiring in Pulwama. Farid Ahmed Ganai of Kralpora,Kupwara, who had gone over to PoK alongwith his wife in 1993, re-turned with his wife and six children and surrendered before the Army.
Oct 12: A terrorist was killed in Kupwara while a soldier was injured in a terroristattack in Bandipore. A major gunbattle was going on between the terror-ists and the security forces in Shopian, police recovered explosivesincluding eight kg RDX and three grenades from Nud village in Sama. AHM ultra's father was booked under PSA for sheltering terrorist.
Oct 13: Two HM terrorists and a security personnel were killed in the encounterin Shopian. Two civilians were injured as the matador in which theywere travelling was caught in crossfiring at Kanspora, Baramulla. Eightcops and nine others were acquitted in the escape of a terrorist GhulamRasool Shah from SMHS hospital in 2000.
Oct 14: Four terrorists were killed in two separate incidents in Gurez andPulwama while five people were injured. Terrorists targeted a petrolvehicle at Nadihal, Bandipore. Terrorists struck at Tandar, Gundana inKeshwan, Doda and snatched four rifles from VDC members.
Oct 15: A SPO turned terrorist, who was instrumental in the attack on policestation Ind, Gool, surrendered alongwith one another in Gool. RDX andgrenades were seized in Poonch. A cop was killed and another injuredas a terrorist fired upon them near Ghanta Ghar (Lal Chowk), Srinagar.Two HM terrorists were killed in different operations in Kellar, Pulwamaand Matigowran, Anantnag. A Congress activist escaped unhurt as ter-rorists targeted his residence at Lajoora, Pulwama.
(From Page 12)Only 2 days later the Instrument of Acces-sion was signed and the airlift of Indian troopsbegan immediately thereafter.
5. Mr. Munshi has raised doubts on in-tended visit of Maharaja to Bhimbar on 20thOctober by claiming that 'Bhimbar had fallenmuch earlier, immediately after which Maha-raja had appealed to Maharaja of Patiala forhelp'. According to Mr. Munshi Bhimber hadfallen by 15th October. This is not correct.
Bhimber fell on 29th October, 1947. Thefirst official history of J&K forces titled'Jammu and Kashmir Arms' authored byMajor General DK Palit is clear on this. Hewrites:
'On 29th October, Bhimber fell after aheavy attack by tanks and mechanized ve-hicles (p.165)....Bhimber and Munawar to thewest of Akhnoor were within the area of re-sponsibility of a squadron of JAK Bodyguardcavalry. The hostiles attacked this area on thenight of 18/19 October and again on 27 Octo-ber-on the second occasion supported bytanks. Although the squadron of cavalry re-pulsed the initial attacks, renewed pressurefrom the enemy made its position untenableand the horsed squadron along with the civil-ian population had to withdraw to Sunderbani(p.247). Late MC Mahajan has himself re-ferred to Maharaja's tour of the Mirpur sec-tor from 20-21 October 'to apprise himself ofthe serious situation' in his memoirs 'Look-ing Back'. On the fall of Bhimber and the roleof Capt. Gandharv Singh Manhas KashmirSentinel had carried a comprehensive storysometime back.
6. Another query raised by Mr. Munshi isregarding the non-availability of troops andammunition. Mr. Munshi has based his as-sessment solely on the claims made by Brig.LP Sen (Slender was the thread pp.38-39),Sen's book is just a memoir, in which the au-thor has made the claim to belittle the gallanteffort of Brig. Rajender Singh. Mr Munshihas selectively ignored what the two militaryhistorians write after deep investigations andwith full access to primary sources (includingofficial documents).
About the request of Col. Narain Singh forsending reinforcement soon after the attack,Major K-Brahma Singh says 'unfortunately,there was at that time no reserve with theArmy Hqs. The 8th Battalion that was beingheld as reserve in Srinagar had...already beenpushed out to Chirala in view of the SOS callreceived from there during the first week ofOctober and the Battalion that was to comeas its replacement was still stuck up atPunch...Consequently, as much of the man-power as was immediately available at theBadami Bagh Cantonment was collected andformed into a strong company, supported bya section of medium machine guns and a de-tachment of 3" mortars for proceeding to thefront and gaining the time needed for requisi-tioning help of the Indian Army. The com-pany, about 150 strong consisted of 2 Pla-toons of the 1st Battalion, one Platoon of the8th Battalion, some personnel of the 7th Bat-talion (who were then doing line of communi-cations duties along the Baramulla-Kohalaroad) and most of the staff and the studentsof the training school (pp 233-234).
Maj. Gen. DK Palit corroborates it (pp190)
In the morning of 23rd October Brig.Rajender Singh came back to Baramulla from
Uri to speak to Brig. Faqir Singh on phoneand asked for further reinforcements. Brig.Faqir Singh promised to send another 70 or80 men, including a section of medium ma-chine guns and a 3 inch mortar detachment.Meanwhile, Maharaja Hari Singh took overpersonal command of Army Hqs in Srinagar.He ordered Capt. Jwala Singh of 1 JAK tocollect whatever troops he could find inBadami Bagh barracks and proceed immedi-ately towards Uri with a written message forthe Chief of Staff- 'to hold the enemy at allcosts and to the last man'. This detachmentreached Uri at 3 am on 24 October.
Which 1850 troops Sen was talking about?Infact, historians have also looked for reasonsbehind paucity of troops. In 1942 the moun-tain batteries had been transferred to the In-dian Army at the instance of the British andGopala Swamy Gyyangar, Prime Minister ofthe State then.
K.Brahma Singh Corroborates that theArmy was facing short of ammunition (pp.223-24). Govt. of India was approached forhelp and an indent for arms, ammunition andother military equipment which included thatrequired for raising two mountain batterieswas sent to Delhi on 1 October, 1947 throughLt. Col. Bhagwan Singh who had been recalledto service for raising the artillery unit. Evenafter the proposal was okayed by the Homeand the Defence Minister the ammunition andthe stores could not be released before thePakistani invasion. K.Brahma Singh says,"The despatch of ammunition and weaponsis believed to have been stalled by the BritishStaff officers holding key positions at ArmyHqs in New Delhi. The State was, however,able to extract an assurance from the GoI thatsome military force would be concentrated atMadhopur, on the state's border with India,for rendering the State succour in case of need".
Whatever Prof. Madhok has written hascircumstantial evidence as well. Prof. NNRaina and K. Brahma Singh Corroborate thateven as early 1st week of October the StateGovernment had enough reports about theimpending invasion. K.Brahma Singh says(p.231) that by 15 October 1947 many Hinduand Sikh refugees from the NWFP had en-tered Muzaffarabad and were armed with theinformation about the raid. How do testimo-nies of Dr. Atri and Bhanot appear to be atvariance with this? Had Prof. Madhok not bein close touch with Maharaja's govt. howwould have the latter asked him to send vol-unteers for defending Srinagar? Mr. Munshimakes another factual error. Dusshera was on24th Oct., not on 25th October. The questionof Maharaja having left after the Mohurapower house went out of action does not standscrutiny. So where is the question of Brig.Rajender Singh's troops receiving the messagethat Maharaja had left for Jammu?
If putting facts straight serves to glorify aperson or his organisation it cannot be helped.That is how history goes.
Lastly, Mr. Munshi makes a claim thatProf. Madhok 'was not aware of many hap-penings of the period and there was not muchdepth/logic in his arguments'. Prof. Madhok'sbooks on Kashmir- 'Kashmir the Center ofnew alignments' and 'Kashmir the StormCenter of the World' are considered by stu-dents of Kashmir history as basic referencebooks. For nearly four decades Prof. Madhokremained the main Kashmir expert of his party.It must have had some basis.
PN Raina Replies
20INTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELDecember 2007
Sh. Sati Sahni is a Veteran Journalist with an experienceof over six decades in the profession. An acephotographer, he is the only working Journalist to havecovered all the four wars--1947-1948, 1962,1965 and1971. In a conversation with Kashmir Sentinel hevisited down memorylane to recapture his experiencesin covering Pak Invasion in 1947-48. The first part ofthe conversation was carried in previous issue, Nov.2007. The second part is being published in this issue.
--The Editor
KS: On 15th of November JAK ForceHqs. was shifted to Jammu under the Com-mand of Major-General Kulwant Singh.Why was it so?
SS: Situation was worsening in Jammuregion. Since September 1947 Pakistan hadbeen making raids into Maharaja's territory.These were by armed men who belonged toSudhan community of Poonch-Bagh area.Most of them had served in the British In-dian Army. These armed men were directedand guided by Pak army officers. The latterprovided them material support. This keptengaged the State Forces detachments sta-tioned at different locations on the border.
The intensity of the raids alongwith theirfrequency and volume increased gradually.After the regular attack on 22nd of Octoberit became an almost open rebellion with lo-cal hostile elements joining them. This cre-ated problems of law and order and security,especially for the minorities both in ruralareas and urban settlements. The areas af-fected included Bhimbar, Kotli, Bagh, Mirpuretc.
KS: Rajouri's fate was worse. How wasthis town retaken?
SS: Reports came in that Pakistanis hadoverrun Rajouri on 10th of November andmassacred large number of non-Muslimsbesides looting the town.
On 16th November a column under Brig.Paranjpe was sent out to reinforce the garri-sons in Nowshera and Jhangar. In the mean-time enemy had amassed a sizeable forcesouthwest of Mirpur and was preparing foran attack. The relieving column from Jammucould not proceed beyond Nowshera. TheState forces stationedin Mirpur alongwiththousands of refugeesmanaged to break thePakistani strangle-hold and escaped to-wards Jammu.
On 24/25th (No-vember) night the en-emy occupiedMirpur and indulgedin large-scale killingand looting. As ourcolumn could not gobeyond Nowshera, Kotli could not be re-lieved. Meanwhile, 77 Para Brigade had beenmoved to Jammu area under the commandof Brig. Usman. Soon preparations weremade to advance towards the border. Forthis it was important that a strong base atNowshera was built up. Enemy sensing thismade plans to encircle and occupy Nowshera.Pakistanis mounted a major battle in whichnearly 15 thousand men attacked Nowsherafrom three directions in first week of Febru-ary (1948).
The Indian troops fought back gallantly.At the end of the battle over 2 thousandPakistanis were killed. The Battle ofNowshera was the biggest battle in that win-ter in Jammu region. Pakistanis had used amixed force-regular armymen and Pashtunraiders in the battle, with the command be-ing in the hands of Pak army officers.
In the meantime the enemy had occupiedJhangar a vital road junction giving access toKotli and Bhimber. So the Indian side beganmaking preparations for liberation of Jhangar.
Pak Invasion-Looking Back-IIPak Invasion-Looking Back-IIPak Invasion-Looking Back-IIPak Invasion-Looking Back-IIPak Invasion-Looking Back-IIThe Army Hqs had
decided that Jhangar maybe held at any cost be-cause of its locationalimportance. The BrigadeCommander, BrigadierUsman was asked by theArmy Commander toconcentrate on Jhangarand make efforts to pushthe enemy as far as pos-sible.
After the plans hadbeen approved, in middleof March Indian troopslaunched a two-prongedattack on Jhangar. It tookthem two days to liberate Jhangar, with en-emy suffering heavy casualties. Re-taking ofJhangar also relieved pressure of the enemyon Rajouri. Indian Army then decided to clearthe area of the enemy beyond Rajouri. A strongforce was gathered on the south-eastern endon 8th April. On 13th April the enemy wasthrown out of Rajouri town. The death, de-struction and atrocities committed by the Pa-kistani occupation forces were reportedlymore than what they perpetrated in Baramulla.
KS: How was Brig. Usman Killed?SS: The Pak Army commanders had al-
ready put up a very massive price on Usman'shead. Repeated efforts were made to elimi-nate him. Infact, at the time of partition Pakgovernment offered him promotion of tworanks if he came and joined Pak army but herefused. Although located in Nowshera Usmanhad made frequent rips to Jhangar. On one ofhis trips while Brigadier Usman was campingin Jhangar very heavy artillery barrage wasdirected on the Jhangar Garrison. WhileUsman was on the evening of July 2, 1948moving from bunker to bunker one sharpnelkilled him on the spot. It was a great loss tothe Army and the country. His dead bodywas flown to Delhi and buried with full statehonours.
KS: There was probably a condolencemeeting held in Srinagar at Lal Chowk aswell? Did you have opportunity to meet him?
SS: Yes there was a condolence meetingin Srinagar on July 5. I had known Usmanbecause of my association with his brotherSubhan. I had an occasion of meeting him inJammu in December 1947 and January, 1948.He was a simple man, a staunch follower ofMahatma Gandhi, a teetotaller, vegetarian anda votary of Khadi.
Some years ago a film documentary wasmade on life and work of Usman. The Armyprovided all logistics and a Major General wasseconded for all co-ordination work. I wasassociated with the making of the film as onlyliving war correspondent who had known andmet him during critical days in 1948.
KS: How was Poonch liberated?SS: In the month of December 1947 the
enemy decided to capture Poonch and gath-ered a sizeable force to encircle it and force itto capitulate. Meanwhile, a large segment ofminority population out of fear had left theirhomes and sought refuge in Poonch town. Wewere told in Jammu that there were 60-70thousand refugees in Poonch town towardsthe end of December.
The Army Hqs. decided to break the siegeof Poonch and decided to send a relief column
from Uri across Haji Pir Pass. This columnafter crossing Haji Pir Pass was nearing abridge. Since it was already dusk and fromPoonch the march of the column could besighted faintly. The defenders of Poonch fearedthat this was an enemy column and demol-ished the bridge. The relief column could notreach Poonch and was withdrawn back to Uribut a small force on foot under the commandof Lt. Col. Pritam Singh (later Brigadier) wasable to reach Poonch. He took command ofwhatever forces were there and organized thedefences of the town. Col. Pritam Singh foundthat besides the population of the Poonch amass of refugees had to be taken care of and
provided with food and other supplies.Attempts were soon made to reinforce a
defence effort by airdrops. Later, a heroic ef-fort was made to land an aircraft at the make-shift airstrip. Thereafter inspite of Pakistaniartillery fire the courageous pilots of theRIAF taking advantage of darkness at nightused to land--bringing troops and supplies tothe besieged garrison. The returning planes ina few weeks of time were able to evacuateforty thousand refugees; a massive effort in-deed. Poonch siege continued till middle ofJune when for a few days land link fromRajouri could be established. This did not lastlong. The enemy after getting reinforcementwas able to cut this route again. Since it wasvital to have a land link with Poonch effortscontinued to be made.
Following Brig. Usman's death the ArmyHqs. decided to establish at any cost land linkwith besieged Poonch but enemy had under
its control some dominating heights in thisentire sector. A number of operations had tobe launched to dislodge the enemy from theseheights. Period between April and Sept. 1948was used to secure passage for the Indiantroops who were charged with the link-up.The final attempt to link up Poonch withRajouri started with November 1948, twocolumns going through Bhimbar Gali andMendhar. The main link-up was on 22ndNovember under the command of MajorGeneral Atma Singh. Poonch had lived un-der very trying conditions for one wholeyear.
In the meantime considering the impor-tance of operations in J&K Lt. Gen. SMSrinagesh was appointed as Corps Com-mander for J&K on 15 September, 1948.
KS: Pt. Nehru also visited Jammu inDecember 1947
SS: In first week of December after thefall of Mirpur it set Delhi thinking to take-over entire Jammu belt. So Prime MinisterNehru accompanied by Defence Ministerflew into Jammu on 4th of December andheld a meeting at the Airport to take a finaldecision. The military commanders wereasked to execute these orders. The meetingwas attended by the Maharaja, SheikhMohammad Abdullah, Bakshi GhulamMohammad. Major-General Kulwant Singh,JAK Force Commander gave detailed reportabout military situation along the border andlikely plans of the enemy.
Brig. UsmanSoldiers of the Poonch Garrison, June 1948. Maj. Gen. Kulwant Singh is
seated fourth from right.