OUR MOON HAS BLOOD CLOTS

Just a few days back,I got to know about Nandita Haksar’s book titled ‘The Many Faces Of Kashmiri Nationalism -from the cold war to the present day’ which traces the history of Kashmiri Nationalism through the lives of a Pandit (Sampat Prakash)who became active in politics during the Cold war years and also through the eyes of a Kashmiri Muslim (Mohammad Afzal Guru)who became active in the early days of the Kashmir insurgency.

And my thoughts immediately went to ‘this’ unread book sitting on my shelf from way back and I thought ‘If not now-then when?’ and picked it up.I have just finished reading it.

This is the first-hand account of a Kashmiri Pandit ,Rahul Pandita about the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits.It is narrated as seen through the eyes of Rahul as a fourteen year old and as an adult and describes the way the move impacted the lives of the displaced Pandits from their homeland.The brutality of the torture and killings.The mass massacre.This heartwrenching story is about the violent ethnic cleansing of a community backed by Islamist Militants.About how they had to leave their homes in the valley,seek shelter in refugee camps and spend their lives in exile in their own country.This is a deeply personal story of history,home and loss.

My Views:

This story is the first person account by Rahul Pandita who speaks about his experiences as a Kashmiri pandit and his eventual forcible migration to Dehi in the 1990's.It is a heartbreaking account of a person being forced out of his home.The brutality and horrors they faced,how they were forced to live like refugees in inhuman conditions and forcibly driven out of their homes in the valley to Jammu and elsewhere.He recounts how his father and people from his fathers generation still call it Shahar and still speak of ties that bind them.

It was painful to read about the torture these people went through,constantly living in the shadow of fear.Fearing for their lives,something as basic as that.Watching helplessly as their homes were ruthlessly plundered and destroyed.Pandita says,'I am uprooted in my mind'.He tries to make some sense of home by taking snapshots of his house occupied by someone else,when he returns there years later as an adult.

Reading about all this makes me lose faith in the world.It makes me question everything and view every ‘good’ around me with suspicion and skepticism.

The mass massacres,rapes of innocent,helpless women,being bludgeoned to death,being forced to eat meat when they were non-meateaters,being shamed in public.Where is humanity?The highest form of desecration is an assault on the persons soul.What can be worse than that?And for what?Just because you belong to a different religion or ethnic group?

Pandita talks about how his mother often recalls his home as one with 22 rooms back in the valley.The desperation in her eyes,the hoping till her last breath to go back to that place she called home,that glimmer of hope in her eyes when she talks about it.Everything was too hard to contemplate.It seemed like one colossal mess.

He also goes on to say how the Pandit community have got a raw deal.Even now the funds for the resettlement have been siphoned somewhere else,leaving them in the lurch.

This is Panditas story and his point of view.It was harrowing to read and Im sure terrible to experience.

However Kashmir has been a contentious issue since a very long time.I believe that before anyone voices their opinion about anything they have to listen or be aware of the complete story.An event of such proportions must have surely been witnessed from multiple perspectives.There are two sides to every story and sometimes there may even be multiple points of view to consider before one makes an informed opinion/choice about what ones views are.My knowledge of the Kashmir issue is loosely based on the few newspaper articles Ive read or the news reports Ive viewed on television.Just scraps of information.Just a year back the Pandits demanding resettlement were in the news again.There were a few things I read here which conflicted with something Ive read elsewhere.So even though I strongly condemn the heinous killings and completely empathize with Kashmiri Pandits.I reserve judgement till I have read more and know more. Maybe its about time I pick up Nandita Haksars book.