𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 The 19th January 1990 - Rendezvous with Death.....

🅕🅛🅐🅢🅗🅑🅐🅒🅚

By now all schools/colleges were already shut-down throughout the valley due to prolonged & continuous curfews following regular terrorist attacks, killings and protests in the valley. By now and since last 5-6 months (then), many Kashmiri Pandits were already selectively & mercilessly killed...

And, then came the morning of Friday, the 19^th January 1990 wherein the state of mind of all Kashmiri Pandits across the valley was like other days i.e., ‘mentally disturbed but physically right’. Kashmiri Pandits woke-up (then) to another chilling winter morning NOT KNOWING that the 'night' today would be THE CHILLEST EVER for all of them across the valley that no one could have ever imagined in his/her lifetime...

Completely unaware that in the entire Kashmir, 'Saw' was being sharpened by fundamentalists to put last nail in the coffin for Kashmiri Pandit Exodus, a community was made to extinct by way of selective and gruesome/ghastly killings & by forcing them to leave their homeland, and surprisingly almost ALL REMAINED SILENT...

A Night rather Blackest Ever Night, a horror experience that no Kashmiri Pandit can ever take out of his/her memories...

    [in pic: Our HOME where our family witnessed that horrific night of 19th January 1990]

It was a typical wintry cool night and we had just finished with our dinner at 'wout' (ground-floor, as is called in Kashmiri) at around 9:30pm. Now, we were watching Doordarshan (with extremely low volume, for watching Indian TV channels was banned by the terrorist groups in Kashmir, and our neighbours being their informers)...

And, all of a sudden, across all the mosques, we started hearing loudest ‘Azadi Azadi’ slogans coming from the loud-speakers and we absolutely unaware about the intent of this jihadist/fanatic mass cry. Such was the planning, that all this was happening at the same time across all mosques by the masses in entire Kashmir valley, and importantly, in the same methodology...

Along with this sloganeering, masses started drumming the steel roof-tops of their houses and the thundering sound of that ‘mass roof-top drumming’ along with the ‘Azadi-Azadi’ slogans was such that it sent shivers down the spine of every Kashmiri Pandit who was witness to this. It was so frightening one can never ever imagine in their lifetimes...

After this at around 9:45pm, masses started coming out of their houses in huge numbers towards the mosques while raising pro-pakistan/anti-India/anti-KashmiriPandit slogans, some of which were:

- 'Kashmir mein agar rehna hai, toh Allah-o-Akbar kehna hai’ (if you Kashmiri Pandits want to stay put in Kashmir, you will have to chant Allah-o-Akbar);

- ‘Yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa’ (What we want in Kashmir, is the Rule of Shariah);

- ‘Asyi gachchi Pakistan, Bataovv roas te Bateneyvv saan’ (We want Kashmir to be a part of Pakistan with Hindu women only and not with Kashmiri Pandit men).

- And, not to forget ‘Ralivv… Galivv… Tchalivv’… meaning ‘You Kashmiri Pandits – either get yourself converted, OR get killed OR leave Kashmir.

This was such a scary and chaotic scene (let no one come across the same in one’s life) that we immediately put off all the lights to ensure a complete black-out inside, had to close all the doors with heavy stuff to support from inside for the mass mobs to find it difficult to enter our home easily (in case so). At the same time, our elder male members (being in a big joint family) sent all the ladies & kids to the top 4th floor of our home, with clear directions on ‘what to be done’ in case such mass mob enters our home and reaches 4th floor. ‘What to be done’ was nothing but to jump to save the dignity...

This scary & life-frightening chaos/terror continued till midnight...

And, this mass mobilization (wherein all including neighbours too participated and became a party to the structured part of the game plan of brutal exodus of entire Kashmiri Pandit community from Kashmir) made it amply clear for Kashmiri Pandits to take a call of moving out of Kashmir...

And, that was not the end… as this was the curtain raiser for the irrecoverable human tragedy yet to happen to us…

And, after a very little sleep, Kashmiri Pandits woke-up to the another wintry morning of Saturday 20^th Jan 1990 (after a horrific night) with a condition very similar to that of this tree (in pic.)...

 

ENTIRE KASHMIRI PANDIT COMMUNITY WAS COMPLETELY UPROOTED...

Post the horrific night of #19thJanuary1990 came #24thJune1990 and #25thJune1990 that snatched everything away from us...

If 19thJanuary1990 was not all for those radicals/fundamentalists/terrorists, awaiting was the mayhem that was showered upon us (and similarly so, upon many other #KashmiriPandits) by those, whom we used to trust then...

We could NOT even perform the last rites, for our families were NOT even given the 'Remains of Dead Bodies' of our Dad & Uncle, but ONLY the 'Ashes', which we later, immersed into the holy triveni of Sangam, in Prayagraj...

We did not lose courage. Our family did not lose courage...

We fought it back...

Not by killing anyone, not by picking up the guns, not by picking any weapons...

We fought it back - by educating ourselves…

And that was our revenge..

 

They just not eliminated/killed only thousands of us, but lakhs actually… for those killed, were:

- Grand Fathers/Grand Mothers to some

- Fathers/Mothers to some

- Sons/Daughters to some

- Brothers/Sisters to some

- Uncles/Cousins/Relation's to some

- Friends/Associates to some

Remembering (with deep pain) all such Martyrs who were brutally & strategically eliminated/killed by the radicals/fundamentalists in Kashmir, then.....

    [in pic: A Tribute to Martyrs (in & not in this picture)]

Kashmiri Pandits NEVER sought sympathies from anyone nor shall we till our last breath. We don't also crib. We kept loving #India - our Mother India. But, having seen the narratives & actions/inactions of many 'politicians & political-parties, pseudo-liberals, pseudo-activists, pseudo-journalists, pseudo-academicians' (within & outside India) the very basic questions that keep coming to the minds of all Kashmiri Pandits are as follows:

- Why did you politicians NOT act then, inspite & despite of knowing what was happening and what its consequences were going to be???

- Was this brutal exodus of entire KP community, gruesomely/ghastly killing them, chopping their live bodies, raping women & cutting their bodies under the band saw machines - 'NOT' falling under your definition of so-called 'SECULARISM'???

- Why was this humongous tragedy meted to Kashmiri Pandits, kept hidden from the rest of India for decades???

- Why those - upon whom we trusted for many years, became catalysts to what Kashmiri Pandits were made to go through???

- Was this strategic killing and #EthnicCleansingOfKashmiriPandits NOT worth an issue to be reported by you so-called liberal journalists & media-houses for so long???

- Where were your #AwardWaapsiGangs then & even now? Still in Hibernation kya???

- Where was this #bollywood fraternity who selectively becomes so vocal and feels so much pained for those who believe in anti #India narrative???

- Was India 'tolerant' (as in their definition) then, for pseudos' or liberal's???

- Where were you - #HumanRightsCommissions and the champions of #HumanRights???

 Questions are many... And, like we don't want sympathies, we don't expect any answers either...

For,

'We will keep rising, from the 'FALL'...

And, always continue to grow 'TALL'.....