King C Bharati
Jammu, Nov 17: "Jis tarah humne tumhare mandiroon ko Jalaya hai vaise hi tum logon ko jalayenge, aur kisi ko pata bi nahi chalega"……… "Yahan sirf Islam Chalega"…….….. "India ko lagta hai ki tum logon ko vapas layega, jo bi aaye ga mara jayega, hum log phir se gun uthayenge…."
Well! These slogans seem the familiar 1990's slogans when more than three lakh Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) were hounded out of their birth place Kashmir, but hold, these are the latest ones fired upon the minuscule KPs still living in Valley reminding the return aspirant Pandits that nothing has changed in these past two decades even as the government and its Relief Minister Raman Bhalla would like us to believe that people in Kashmir were waiting with open arms to welcome Pandits back.
In sharp contrast the Valley based Pandits lead by their well known leader Sanjay Tickoo have threatened another migration from valley if the Government of India, Chief Minister and both factions of Hurriyat keep mum this time also when Pandits are being openly threatened, humiliated with massacre, guns and what not. The locals also tell the Pandits that it was their mistake to keep them alive in Kashmir for two decades warning that either they desist from using their temples and raising voice or face the bullets adding the Sikh (Read Manmohan Singh) who wants to settle you here would not succeed in his plans.
Not withstanding the fact that government through its Relief Minister is trying to paint a rosy picture of Kashmiri Pandits return to Kashmir with the constitution of Apex Committee, announcement of jobs blah blah blah but the reality is something different where locals still threaten Pandits of dire consequences if they return to Kashmir and preventing even the local Pandits from offering Puja etc at their places of worship.
These slogans have not been created just to keep Government on tenterhooks but come from the horse's mouth like Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS) the frontal organization of Kashmiri Pandits who chose to stay back in Valley during the migration days of early 90's.
Sanjay K Tickoo, president of KPSS who has many feathers to his cap not only for keeping the Kashmiri Pandits alive in Kashmir Valley during the past two decades of turmoil but also trying to involve all the Hurriyat and other leaders impressing them of the necessity of calling Pandits back to Valley.
But alas! Even Tickoo is aghast at the recent verbal attack on the Valley based Pandits by some locals in presence of around fifty other people who however chose to keep mum just like in 90's when a few gun toting youth hounded Pandits out of Valley and lakhs of locals chose to keep mum only to blame it on Jagmohan later.
Tickoo does not need any introduction as far as Kashmiri Pandits based in Valley are concerned as he has done enough not only to safe guard the honour and dignity of the Valley based Pandits but also forged a closer interaction with separatist elements within the Valley to bring home the point that KPs in Valley are also facing turmoil due to the onslaught of militancy.
However after two decades Sanjay seems a dejected person as his dreams were shattered when his team was humiliated by a group of local Muslims in a temple compound threatening them with the above mentioned slogans which are not only self explanatory but also alarming particularly at a time when government is trying to motivate migrant Kashmiri Pandits to return back to Valley as local Muslims were waiting with open arms to welcome them back.
Talking to The Shadow on phone Sanjay Tickoo who is currently at Bathinda with his now famous photo exhibition said that it was a shock to the people like him who have been facing the brunt of militancy with other people of the Kashmir Valley for the past two decades by resisting the family pressure to migrate adding he has begun to have different thoughts now.
Sanjay says that it reminded him of the situation of 90's when a few gun toting youth would resort to such tactics through media and other means to hound out Pandits from Valley while the majority remained mum.
Sanjay who has proved his mettle by posing direct questions to the likes of Yasin Malik and other separatists in big seminars inside the Valley does not want to keep quite now and has written to the both factions of Hurriyat, GOI, Chief minister etc informing them about his intentions of migrating but was yet to get any response from any side.
Here we are reproducing the entire text of the open letter written by Sanjay Tickoo which is self explanatory and exposes the myth of Kashmiriyat and the claims of the government of taking Pandits back to Valley.
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"1. Hon'ble the Prime Minister
Union of India
New Delhi

2. Hon'ble the Chief Minister
State of Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu /Srinagar.

3. Chairman,
All Party Hurriyat Conference (G)
Hyderpora, Srinagar

4. Chairman,
All Party Hurriyat Conference (M)
Raj Bagh, Srinagar.
Open Letter / Press Release
(It is not right time of return of Migrant Kashmiri Pandits
But it is ripe time for the left out Kashmiri Pandits living in the Valley
to choose migration with dignity)
Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS) is working for the last more than 3 years to create a space for reconciliation between Majority Community and Minorities in the Valley and initiated the celebration of religious functions in public to play a role to bring back the co-existence environment in the Valley.
From the last 2 years KPSS is also taking steps for the preservation of the religious places of the minorities and bring back them to their glory. And to make it a mark of success organized its maiden Seminar - cum - Temple Photo Exhibition on 31st March, 2009.
On 15th of November, 2009 two of our members went to Bhairav Ghat, Chattabal, Srinagar to take some pictures of the temple ruins so that its fate could be settled with the concerned authorities. But the members of the Majority Community who had encroached the temple land abstained them from taking pictures and used un-parliamentary language against the Kashmiri Pandits and the religious places. The started the slogans like "Jis tarah humne tumhare mandiroon ko Jalaya hai vaise hi tum logon ko jalayenge, aur kisi ko pata bi nahi chalega" The way we have burnt your temples in the same way we will burn you and no one will know about you. "Yehan sirf Islam Chalega" Only Islam will prevail here. "India ko lagta hai kit tum logon ko vapas layega, jo bi aaye ga mara jayega, hum log phir se gun uthayenge" India thinks that they can bring Kashmiri Pandits back to Valley, who so ever will come will die, we will again raise arms against you. The mob there even man handled the members of KPSS and they had to leave the place. Even they could not file an FIR against the mob due to the life threat given by these hooligans belonging to a particular community.
KPSS strongly condemn the act and appeal to the Separatist leadership to look into the matter and reply back within a stipulated time that when at one hand they recommend the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley then why on the other hand their men are thirsty for KP blood.
KPSS requests the State and Central Administration to re-think about their proposal to bring back the Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley instead the prepare to register the fresh lot of migrants who will leave the Valley in the coming days if the situation is not taken care of in due course of time.
KPSS also appeals to the International Community to take the matter seriously and ensure that all necessary steps are taken to safe guard the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley.
(Sanjay K. Tickoo)
President"