Indian Dogs go back-The story of Hall Transit camp

 

One can see a Graffiti that writes- Indian Dogs go back-widely in Kashmir.

The recent incidents in Kashmir, put a stamp of approval on this graffiti. The incidents of attacking of KP’s in transit camps at Hall, Kupwara and vessu further strengthen this belief of the Jihadi –separatist nexus and their supporters. And turning a blind eye on these incidents puts a question mark on the intentions of PDP-BJP Govt.

Why am I writing this? Well, Please read:

I was told briefly by some of my Kashmiri Pandit(KP) friends, about the incidents that transpired with them, after the killing of Terrorist Burhan Wani, at Kashmir. These employees are working under Prime minister’s package for kashmiri migrants, at Kashmir. They are protesting at jammu and Delhi from last 27 days under the banner of All migrant employee association.

An acquaintance, who resided in the ‘Hall Transit camp’ , and was present in the camp from 8th july 2016-15th july shared his poignant ordeal with me in detail. He requested to keep his name Anonymous. I will address him as Ajay in this write up.

“So, Ajay, what happened with all of you, during the nights of 8-10th july”, I asked him over Phone. There was a pin drop silence from the other side. “May be, he is trying to recollect”, I thought. “Are you there, Ajayji?”, I enquired once again.

He cleared his throat, and thus began his story.

“ The news of Burhan Wani’s death came to us at around 8-8.30 p.m. on 8th july. We were apprehensive that, we may get attacked once again.”, Before he could complete his sentence, I interrupted him and asked curiously, “ Have you been attacked previously too?”

“O Yes. Officially, we have been attacked 11 times, and unofficially, it is 17 times. We were attacked in the past , when Afzal Guru was hanged. Every year, on Deewali, the miscreants hurl stones on our Houses. We do not burst crackers on Deewali, not that we don’t want to, but we get attacked if we do so. Instead we only light up the Diyas.” He informed.

Please continue, I requested him.

“Because of our apprehensions, and our past experience, we locked the main entry door of our colony/camp. At around 9.00 p.m, the loud speaker of the local Mosque urged the Kashmiri Muslims(KM’s) to gather at the Mosque. Within no time, a crowd of 5000 people gathered outside the Mosque. A stringent voice from the Loud speaker of the Mosque directed the crowd to surround our colony.” Said Ajay and he paused for some time.

“At least 4000 so-called-miscreants encircled us and started raising derogatory slogans against us and against India. But the most used slogan was-Indian dogs go back. We were the dogs, as we were the Indians. ” He explained. “ Then, they resorted to indiscriminate stone-pelting .They hurled at least 40-50000 Stones on our quarters. The shrilled tones of their slogans was frightening. We felt like trapped pigeons. Children in the camp were crying out of fright. Some of the children clung to their mothers for comfort and hid their eyes in the bosom of their mothers out of fear. Many women fainted repeatedly out of fear”. His voice was brittle. I could feel uneasy emotions welling up in me as well.

“A rivulet passes near by our transit camp. The Jihadi-Mob diverted the route, and the direction of the stream to our compound, They wanted to flood our camp, so that we would be forced to come out of our colony. And kill us. But they could not succeed in their devilish plans.” He said emotionally.

“The hostile mob tried to break the main Door. Some goons or so-called-jihadis, tried to scale the main wall of the compound. It was at that time, the Police(4-5 numbers) meant for our protection, came forward to our rescue. They opened fire into air in order to scare away the mob. 65 rounds of bullets were fired to scatter the crowd. And it did helped. But briefly”. His voice modulation was sketching out pictures of the incidents in my mind.

“Did the mob run away after the fire into air incident”? I asked curiously. “No. It was a temporary respite. The Mob, re-gathered and started hurling stones at us again, once they realized that the police was out of ammunition. They also hurled glass bottles at us. It was so scary. We thought, they would kill us and rape the ladies of our camp”. He said in chocked voice. “The hostile crowd damaged 8-10 cars too, that were parked inside the premises of the camp.”He complained. “The respite came at around 12.30 a.m in the form of rains. It rained heavily and the belligerent crowd dispersed. At least, for the time being” .He informed.

“Didn’t you tried to contact the administration over phone”?, I asked him. “We called up everyone in our contact list. We contacted the police as well as the administration. But whole administration had collapsed. Or if any Administration, existed, it did so to aggravate our woes. The administration was playing wait and watch policy and had kept the lives of the Kp’s of our camp as a bait. They were missing, when we needed them the most.” He complained.

“To be honest with you, we thought, we would be dead soon. We were like the frightened pigeons. We were concerned about the welfare of the two and a half year child, who was hit by the stone. We were nervous about the condition of a pregnant lady of our camp. We needed a doctor. We needed protection. We needed administration. But we were wronged by all those, who are in power.” Said he in a distressed tone.

“What happened after that”. I inquired.

“Next day i.e 9th july 2016, some policemen came to our compound for our protection, but they left the camp by evening. We were again left with the usual 4-5 policemen. And now they were unarmed.” He informed.

“The local Mosque at around 3.30 p.m once again urged all the KM’s to throw away all the Indians. It was a direct threat to us. But nobody cared for us. Again the Mob swelled by the late evening and encircled our camp. Again they pelted stones on our houses. Again they raised the belligerent slogans. Again they gagged us to leave the valley.” He was getting angry. And I could feel a sense of helplessness in his voice.

“It was after 48 hrs, on 10th july 2016, The Army came to our rescue. The Mob refrained to some extend, but still some stones were hurled on us. We asked about the security situation outside the camp from some people. It was decided that the employees would leave the camp for Jammu in the night. An arrangement was made to send away some 250 odd KP residents of the camp in the dead of night, during the next few days. By 16th july whole of the camp was deserted and the entrance was locked by us.” He informed. “The other camps too in the valley had to face the wrath of the Jihadi-Mob. The camps were stoned at Kupwara and Vessu too. An attempt was made by the miscreants at Sheikhpura too. And at all these places, The administration was caught napping.” He said. “There are around 2000 KP employees stationed at Kashmir. Out of these, 1665 employees were recruited under the PM Package. All the employees under PM Package are protesting against the injustice meted to them.” Ajay Informed.

“What do you want now from Govt”? I sked him.

“we all should be deployed/re-posted at jammu until all the KP’s are rehabilitated at Kashmir. We risked our lives in 2010, we were assured of security, we were assured that a conducive environment will prevail, But during all these years of service at Kashmir, we have noted that the jihadi-fundamentalists are gaining their ground and all their activities are directed towards us. We are the sitting ducks for them. Enough is Enough. At least, we did never raise our voices for Pakistan. We are proud Indians and we would like to remain as Indians.” He asserted.

“we also request the center to release our salaries unconditionally. Our KM counterparts in Kashmir, have got their dues from the state, in spite of being absent from the duty. We, on the other hand, have been told that we won’t get our salaries as we were absent from our duty. Why double standards for us”?, he lamented.

The communication was snapped because of some network issue. But, I guess, he told me, What I ought to know.

I was forced to think , Does it matter that KP’s are the indigenous race of Kashmir, with a known history of 5000 years! Does it matter to Hindus and India that Kp’s have been ousted from Kashmir purely on the basis of Religion! Does India care for the Hindus of Kashmir?

If yes,

Where is India? Sleeping? Or, has the eyes of justice been blinded by the shenanigans of the politicians and their polity and their version of Truth!

Kashmiri Hindus are proud Indians. And in Kashmir, when a Graffiti is painted that says, “Indian Dogs go back”. The Dogs that are referred to are Kashmiri Hindus as well….

The point is, will the grievances of KP employees of Kashmir redressed. Or will they be forced to go back, where they will again hear or see a graffiti, that says:

Indian dogs go back……

Selective targetting of KPs?

What is wrong in showing concern for our brethren in Kashmir?

Just a few days back, when Burhan wani was shot dead in an encounter with the Armed forces, whole of Kashmir valley shut down.They have right to protest but so does the KPs.

Isn’t it true that some transit camps of KPs were stoned by the angry protesters-most of whom happened to be Muslims-and it took hours before they were rescued by the Indian armed forces.May I ask , why were they stoned? May I ask why are they holed up in transit camp?

They are living in transit camps for the same reason due to which 4 lakh(approximately) KPs had to fled in the dead of the night.Should we forget that in 1989-90, KPs were killed in the most gruesome manner, for absolutely no fault of theirs except one.

We were Hindus and represented India…

The KPs in the transit camps were targeted by the so-called-miscreants for exactly the same reason.while, they were targeted by the frenzied mobsters, few KP had sent an S.O.S to their friends and relatives outside the camps.There was complete chaos all around.

The memories of 1990 haunted back to KPs once again.

Many rumours were also spread by the rumour-mongers; and it was very difficult to sieve out the truth from falsehood.Most of the KPs were concerned about the welfare of their friends and relatives back in Kashmir.Different platforms as well as social media was used to apprise the community about the latest situations in Kashmir.And many KPs were doing their bit to spread the information pertaining to KPs in Kashmir.

One such KP was SH.Ashok Koul-a journalist and a senior citizen.He was informed by one of his acquaintance in Kashmir that 2 KPs are reported to be killed.He posted the information on his FB.Later on the news proved to be false.Ashokji apologised publicly as soon as he came to know that the news was a canard.

However, as it proved to be, Ashokji was booked by the Cyber cell for creating rumours and creating ill-will between the two communities of Kashmir.

C’mon, you must be joking! A KP booked for showing concern for his Brethren ! But unfortunately yes! This is what has happened.

Is false-reporting the parameter for booking someone.If yes, why is this exercise implemented only on a KP? Isn’t it true that BJP’s unsucessful contestant from AmiraKadal constituency-Ms.Henna Bhat just a few days claimed on a National News channel that 1 lakh Kashmiri youths have lost their lives during the 27 year long insurgency.Where did she get those figures?

Officially approximately 55 thousands people have lost their lives. The figure includes all civilians, Militants, and Armed forces.Doesn’t that exaggerated figure fuel the communal tension and malign the image of India!

Hurriyat conference and its coitere puts the figure to somewhat 5 lakhs. Has the Cyber cell booked them too? If we look at the Pakistani supporters and their puppets, many of whom are very active on the social media; and the inflated figures provided by them about the so-called atrocities committed on Kashmiris; One will be bewildered. They in fact should be booked on the charges of sedition.But have they?

No.

For such elements, the govt has the policy of healing touch.

What about the wrong-reporting of the Kashmir newspaper ‘Greaterkashmir’. Isn’t it true that in 2014, they had mislead the entire valley, when they claimed 4000 KPs are undertaking the ‘Kaunsarnag-Yatra’. However the fact was that only 28 KPs were going for the Yatra.

I challenge the Cyber cell to book them first.If one goes through the content they have been publishing over the years; it might look as if ‘ISI’ is directly owing it.

If no step has been taking against all these people and organisations; then why only a KP? At least he immediately apologised when he realised the news was fake, unlike Hurriyat and its coitere.

Kashmiri Pandits demand the harassment of SH.Ashok Koul should be stopped immediately or else book all those people who are / have been indulging in the same acts.

If not, take back the case against SH.Ashokji.Concerning about the welfare of our brethren is not a crime.Don’t choke the voice of a KP.

Let there be equilaty of justice for all….