Thread by @eshanspeaks

My thread on Kashmiri pandits in exile.

As a kid being brought up in Jammu, away from the place my parents called home, I have heard horrific stories of what happened in 90s. My mom once said and I quote, " we left in the early morning hours in truck from Kashmir, so that

no one would know. We were scared till we reached Jammu for our lives, what if we get caught on the way by some terrorists. It was like goats being ferried from one place to another."

I am sure that the words fall short of their lives experience.

The pain in reality would have been much more. The pain to leave your home before sun rises and never return is something my generation would never know.

That being said, I have heard stories of celebration of festivals together, loving neighbors like huge extended families.

The migration did strip us from experiencing such living and the meaning of the word "kashmiriyat".

Now jump to 2020: We are fighting over which community has suffered more. We are denying the lived stories of other community and trying to quantify pain.

There are kashmiri pandits grown away from home, filled with rage and resentment denying the state oppression happening in Kashmir, what kashmiri muslims have gone through and are still going through, serious human rights violations they have faced.

And then there are kashmiri Muslims raised in the environment of oppression denying the pain Kashmiri pandits have faced while leaving their homes. As per them, it was all plan of the govt. Their every argument starts and ends with "it was all jagmohan's plan".

The funniest part of the Kashmir debate is the people who have no connection to Kashmir and bring Kashmir pandits into the argument for their agenda. No, you can't use the pain of my family to justify other oppression. You can't use one human rights violation to justify other

human rights violation.

I agree that the two communities have different political aspirations- one asks for Independence and the other wants to be with India; but that debate can be held with acknowledgment of each other's pain. Is it too much to ask?

What would it take to both communities realise how everyone related to Kashmir has suffered irrespective of religion- Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, christians and all.

Typing this thread with dastoor by Habib jalib in the background with hope that one day I will know what it feels to live in Kashmiri - not as a tourist, not in some separate colonies , but as home.

Kashmir - where jhelum flows red.
#kashmir #kashmiri #KashmirTheLandOfPain