ISLAMIC
FUNDAMENTALISM IN KASHMIR, INDIA
ETHNIC CLEANSING
OF KASHMIRI PANDITS
Islamic
fundamentalists have declared Jihad,
holy war, upon India to validate Pakistan's
indefensible aggression against her neighbor in
the playground of Gods now turned into a graveyard
of innocents. In Kashmir, Islamic terrorists have
been unleashing forces of death and destruction
against Kashmiri Hindus (also called Pandits), a
minority community, to force a change in the
demographic composition in their favor by
squeezing them out of their homeland of the last
five thousand years. The
terrorism in Kashmir has resulted in:
- Mass exodus of
hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits -
about 95% of their population
- Murder of over one
thousand Kashmiri Pandits
- Forced conversions to
Islam
- Burning and looting of
thousands of houses belonging to Kashmiri
Pandits
The Muslim and Hindu peoples of
Kashmir have lived in relative harmony and
friendliness since the 13th century when Islam
first became the majority religion in Kashmir. The
Sufi-Islamic way of life that ordinary Muslims
followed in Kashmir complemented the rishi
tradition of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus), leading to
a syncretic culture where Hindus and Muslims
revered the same local saints and prayed at the
same shrines.
Periodically however, there have
been rulers and leaders who have had a narrow view
of Islam, and have subjected Hindu minorities to
great cruelties and discrimination. The current
armed secessionist movement in Kashmir mostly
derives its inspiration from these people.
The masked terrorists in Kashmir: Pawns in a
bigger game.
A canard is now being spread past few years by
the secessionist-terrorists and their sympathizers
that in 1990 Kashmiri Pandits left Kashmir
willingly, having been "tricked" by then
Jammu and Kashmir Governor
Jagmohan. Nothing could be farther from the
truth. The fact is that Kashmiri Pandits were
driven from their homeland after a campaign of
intimidation and harassment was launched against
them by the military-wing of the secessionists.
Kashmiri Pandits were forced from their hearths
and homes at the point of gun. The objective of
this ethnic cleansing was to create a
minority-free Kashmir valley where the goal of
Islamization could be easily forced on the
ordinary people. The books and articles below will
provide you with an in-depth understanding of the
genesis of the current political situation in
Jammu and Kashmir.
Terrorist leader with bodyguards.
This website aims to tell the story of Kashmir
as it was and what has become of it now. Contrary
to the misinformation currently being propagated,
India did not "annex" Kashmir. At the
time of independence in 1947 from British rule and
the subsequent partition of the country into
theocratic Pakistan and secular India, the Hindu
Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir had the option to
join India, Pakistan, or remain independent. He
contemplated the latter option, but after Pakistan
invaded Kashmir hoping to preempt such a decision,
he decided to accede to India. This accession was
ratified by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, head of the
largest political party (the National Conference)
representing the Muslim majority of the state. The
Sheikh did so because he felt that the interests
of Kashmiri Muslims, who practice the secular
Sufi-Islamic way of life, would be best served
under the protection of the Indian
constitution.
The present secessionist drive in
Kashmir has its antecedents in the dissatisfaction
of a small and insignificant section of Kashmiris
(mostly political opponents of the Sheikh).
However, since about 1985, this drive has been
hijacked by Islamic fundamentalists who have
resorted to terrorist tactics, targeting Hindus,
Sikhs, and secular Muslims. Since 1990, with
training and support from Pakistan, the terrorists
are engaged in a low- intensity war against India
for establishment of a theocratic nation in Jammu
and Kashmir.
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The well-armed
Islamic terrorists in Kashmir.
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To further their cause the secessionists have
completed a program of ethnic cleansing, expelling
about 350,000 Kashmiri (Pandits) Hindus -
something that has unfortunately gone largely
unreported in the Western press. These Pandits are
at present living as refugees in their own
country.
The following pages will show you
a glimpse of the history, culture, and the current
plight of Kashmiri Pandits. You will understand
the goals of the bigoted religious terrorists in
Kashmir whose vision of Azadi (independence) is to
use religious dogma to exclude women, religious
minorities, and secular-minded people from every
kind of freedom in social and political life.
The refugee camps at Jammu.
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