August 14, 2019
August 09, 2019
Article 370 and Kashmiri Pundits
Why Article 370 was an Act of Injustice for Indians?
Many people, I believe, would be happy today. Sardar Patel, Shayama Prasad Mukherjee and many others. Many are in heaven. One of those would be my late father in law, M L Tikku, a proud Kashmiri Hindu. He wanted the article 370 to go in his lifetime like millions of Kashmiri Hindus. He wanted it abrogated for his children and grandchildren. He would often tell me a story about that which I think symbolizes the story of Hindus in Kashmir.
The year was 1957. My father in law had gone to check his name in the selected list of candidates admitted in BSc program of the degree college in Srinagar. Being the son of K N Tikku known as the mathematician of Kashmir, his mathematics skills were higher than average and he was confident of making it to the top ten and telling that to his father.
But what he saw on that day changed his life permanently. On the list, his name was not there and below the name of selected candidates it was written, the above is the selected list. A separate list of Hindu candidates may be released if deemed so.
As he told me he had come back crestfallen and told this to his father. He recalled that as he told his father, he showed no reaction and merely said that he will have to try harder. But for my young father in law, a question had already formed that would trouble him for the rest of his life. Can this happen in any part of independent India? As he talked to other students, he found that their reaction was similar to his. They all realized there was no place for them in Kashmir and no future either. As he recalled all of them migrated to other part of India.
They had then gone to the Chief Minister Bakshi Gulam Mohammed and pleaded to be admitted. As he told them, their high marks were not the issue. It was the fact that they were not Muslims but Hindus. He quoted Article 370 to say that the article was to protect the Muslims of the valley. But what he said after that was more shocking. “You have the whole of India to get admission. Why don’t you go away and take admission elsewhere. Kashmir is for Muslims and Muslim boys will be considered.” The implication was clear. Convert to Islam and get admission.
They had managed to get a few minuscule number of seats after much pleading and were given so after some humiliating condition.
When he had asked his father why Kashmiri Pandits faced such discrimination he was told that has been the fate of Kashmiri Pandits for last five hundred years. They have always had to plead for what they needed to have it from Muslims. Then he had mentioned and said that article 370 legalized it. Anything that Kashmiri Muslims did to Hindus couldn’t be challenged in courts of law.
My father in law was to find another reason why they were denied admission on the basis of religion. The reason was simple. Hindu boys were considered more intelligent, more hard working. They were to be sent outside Kashmir for education and employment.
“Had you written to the press?” I had asked. “Yes, they told us it is no news item. No one took any notice of it. Who cared if a group of Hindu boys were discriminated against or denied admission.”
That is the time he learnt Kashmir has a separate constitution and a separate flag and laws of India did not apply there. Every Kashmiri Hindu knew in his heart about article 370 but believed that he will be left untouched. Just a few years earlier Shayama Prasad Mukherjee had mysteriously died while in Kashmir. The message to all Kashmiri Pandits was to remain silent and say nothing if they witnessed any injustice. That was the wise course of action all followed. Kashmiri Hindus were a minuscule minority and were at the mercy of Kashmiri Muslims.
He told me many stories. One of them was about the history of Battmazar, an island in the middle of Dal Lake. He told me how Hindus were taken to be converted there and if they didn’t were buried alive and how the Muslim boatmen would not take them there. “Why don’t you talk about it?” I had asked. “They shouldn’t be lost to history.”
When I thought of writing a novel on Kashmir, he encouraged me by telling me lot of stories from his childhood and early struggles to find a foothold and those similar to him, all ordinary Kashmiris who had lived in silence. The silence was due to article 370. Many of them were anecdotes and always told of a deep divide that existed between Hindus and Muslims, now officially sanctioned because of article 370.
When I finished writing my book, he read it from beginning to end and said it will help people to understand why article 370 should go. He felt it great that I, a non Kashmiri, had written it and felt that Kashmiris were always alienated from the rest of India. He also found it difficult to read certain chapters, those even told by him. One was on how temples were destroyed in Kashmir was the most difficult one for him. He told me how going to the Martand temple ruins was traumatic for every Kashmiri Hindu and it couldn’t be restored because of article 370. It would require specialists and conservationists to come and stay from outside. Why will they come and stay if they can’t buy land or own property here?
Article 370 was about injustice alone. For seventy years it told us that some Indians were more equal than others and it couldn’t be questioned. The article bled our motherland culturally, politically and socially being the very place where Hinduism reached its peak. This article martyred many of our soldiers, put many in prison and led to the destruction of the Hindu way of life in Kashmir. It at the same time showed the spineless politics that dominated the Indian landscape, a continuation of the colonial rule where Indians especially Hindus had to kneel in front of their masters.
When we saw the news of the ending of the Article 370, my wife and my first thought was a wish he was alive today. He would have said if this article had been removed earlier, he would have never left Kashmir to never come back. That very thought would have been uppermost on the minds of millions of Kashmiris today who had to leave their homeland and become refugees over centuries.
When Obama became the president of USA, my friend, a Black, had called me up and said, “I never thought I would see this day in my lifetime.”
Today, I feel like saying the same, “I didn’t expect to see this day in my lifetime.”
The year was 1957. My father in law had gone to check his name in the selected list of candidates admitted in BSc program of the degree college in Srinagar. Being the son of K N Tikku known as the mathematician of Kashmir, his mathematics skills were higher than average and he was confident of making it to the top ten and telling that to his father.
But what he saw on that day changed his life permanently. On the list, his name was not there and below the name of selected candidates it was written, the above is the selected list. A separate list of Hindu candidates may be released if deemed so.
As he told me he had come back crestfallen and told this to his father. He recalled that as he told his father, he showed no reaction and merely said that he will have to try harder. But for my young father in law, a question had already formed that would trouble him for the rest of his life. Can this happen in any part of independent India? As he talked to other students, he found that their reaction was similar to his. They all realized there was no place for them in Kashmir and no future either. As he recalled all of them migrated to other part of India.
They had then gone to the Chief Minister Bakshi Gulam Mohammed and pleaded to be admitted. As he told them, their high marks were not the issue. It was the fact that they were not Muslims but Hindus. He quoted Article 370 to say that the article was to protect the Muslims of the valley. But what he said after that was more shocking. “You have the whole of India to get admission. Why don’t you go away and take admission elsewhere. Kashmir is for Muslims and Muslim boys will be considered.” The implication was clear. Convert to Islam and get admission.
They had managed to get a few minuscule number of seats after much pleading and were given so after some humiliating condition.
When he had asked his father why Kashmiri Pandits faced such discrimination he was told that has been the fate of Kashmiri Pandits for last five hundred years. They have always had to plead for what they needed to have it from Muslims. Then he had mentioned and said that article 370 legalized it. Anything that Kashmiri Muslims did to Hindus couldn’t be challenged in courts of law.
My father in law was to find another reason why they were denied admission on the basis of religion. The reason was simple. Hindu boys were considered more intelligent, more hard working. They were to be sent outside Kashmir for education and employment.
“Had you written to the press?” I had asked. “Yes, they told us it is no news item. No one took any notice of it. Who cared if a group of Hindu boys were discriminated against or denied admission.”
That is the time he learnt Kashmir has a separate constitution and a separate flag and laws of India did not apply there. Every Kashmiri Hindu knew in his heart about article 370 but believed that he will be left untouched. Just a few years earlier Shayama Prasad Mukherjee had mysteriously died while in Kashmir. The message to all Kashmiri Pandits was to remain silent and say nothing if they witnessed any injustice. That was the wise course of action all followed. Kashmiri Hindus were a minuscule minority and were at the mercy of Kashmiri Muslims.
He told me many stories. One of them was about the history of Battmazar, an island in the middle of Dal Lake. He told me how Hindus were taken to be converted there and if they didn’t were buried alive and how the Muslim boatmen would not take them there. “Why don’t you talk about it?” I had asked. “They shouldn’t be lost to history.”
When I thought of writing a novel on Kashmir, he encouraged me by telling me lot of stories from his childhood and early struggles to find a foothold and those similar to him, all ordinary Kashmiris who had lived in silence. The silence was due to article 370. Many of them were anecdotes and always told of a deep divide that existed between Hindus and Muslims, now officially sanctioned because of article 370.
When I finished writing my book, he read it from beginning to end and said it will help people to understand why article 370 should go. He felt it great that I, a non Kashmiri, had written it and felt that Kashmiris were always alienated from the rest of India. He also found it difficult to read certain chapters, those even told by him. One was on how temples were destroyed in Kashmir was the most difficult one for him. He told me how going to the Martand temple ruins was traumatic for every Kashmiri Hindu and it couldn’t be restored because of article 370. It would require specialists and conservationists to come and stay from outside. Why will they come and stay if they can’t buy land or own property here?
Article 370 was about injustice alone. For seventy years it told us that some Indians were more equal than others and it couldn’t be questioned. The article bled our motherland culturally, politically and socially being the very place where Hinduism reached its peak. This article martyred many of our soldiers, put many in prison and led to the destruction of the Hindu way of life in Kashmir. It at the same time showed the spineless politics that dominated the Indian landscape, a continuation of the colonial rule where Indians especially Hindus had to kneel in front of their masters.
When we saw the news of the ending of the Article 370, my wife and my first thought was a wish he was alive today. He would have said if this article had been removed earlier, he would have never left Kashmir to never come back. That very thought would have been uppermost on the minds of millions of Kashmiris today who had to leave their homeland and become refugees over centuries.
When Obama became the president of USA, my friend, a Black, had called me up and said, “I never thought I would see this day in my lifetime.”
Today, I feel like saying the same, “I didn’t expect to see this day in my lifetime.”
Rajat Mitra
Psychologist and Author of ‘The Infidel Next Door'
Psychologist and Author of ‘The Infidel Next Door'
-----------------------------
Credit : Fellow Stephanian / Class Mate - Gautam Lakra
===========================================
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/protest-in-pakistan-over-so-called-gilgit-baltistan-order-1858390?
fbclid=IwAR2UtbmLaGhUBrjs0YxJT01DZY5lI8YZ-Yk4Eump5gHsX0Yo-aX7hqeQd
=========================
Pakistan which has gifted part of their Kashmir to China.What about the atrocities / aspirations of people of Balochistan. Dogra Ruler of J and K signed a legal instrument of Accession in favour of India. Only then India moved there. But the Ruler of Kalat ( Balochistan ) never wanted to accede to Pakistan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Pakistan_Agreement
===========================================
Pakistan's Double Standards
Pakistan conveniently forgets that the so called Kashmir issue also includes half of erstwhile Kashmir Princely state under its illegal occupation ( POK )
In POK Pakistan has over the years changed its demographic composition by settling Punjabis and other Sunnis.
Last year by a Presidential order Pakistan extinguished the autonomy of Gilgit / Baltistan ( in POK ).
Pakistan wants to have its cake and eat it too.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/protest-in-pakistan-over-so-called-gilgit-baltistan-order-1858390?
fbclid=IwAR2UtbmLaGhUBrjs0YxJT01DZY5lI8YZ-Yk4Eump5gHsX0Yo-aX7hqeQd
=========================
Pakistan which has gifted part of their Kashmir to China.What about the atrocities / aspirations of people of Balochistan. Dogra Ruler of J and K signed a legal instrument of Accession in favour of India. Only then India moved there. But the Ruler of Kalat ( Balochistan ) never wanted to accede to Pakistan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Pakistan_Agreement
August 06, 2019
Article 370 Goes- A Very Welcome Step
.This will lead ultimately to the end of feudalism ( Jagirdari system ) in Kashmir.
Common Kashmiri is very poor. In winters they come to Punjab as wood cutters , labourers etc .
There is little difference between the Separatists and so called Main stream Kashmiri politicians.
Both are feudal lords and exploit common Kashmiris. Why they support Pakistan is not because they feel threatened by a non Muslim India. They feel at home with Pakistan because Jagirdari system still survives in Pakistan.
July 20, 2019
PM Imran Khan's Mother's House in Basti Nau , Jalandhar
Now Law College / GNDU College ( Haveli of Ahmed Hussan Khan- Nanaji of PM Imran Khan )
======================
We are most grateful to Jenab Ather Khan Sahib ( Pakistan ) for this great information
----------------------------
This is the house of Burki Family then Commisioner Ahmed Hussan Khan father of Ahmed Raza Khan, Shaukat Khanum mother of World known Cricketer Imran Khan and Shaukat Khanum elder sister married to Lieut. General Wajid Khan Burki and their sons also top cricketer.
Gen Zia ul Haq 's father was living in a Hura as he was the Imam at Burkis Mosque at Basti Bawa Khel near Basti Daneshmandan.
I was born 1940 in Basti Nau and only my grand father Nawab Khan and Ahmed Hussan Khan uncle Shah Zaman Khan owned whole Basti Nau. Shah Zaman Khan lived in a house made of old small bricks like a fort near our Mosque.
( Written By Ather Khan Sahib )
----------------------------
Lahore - Financial Hub of Undivided India
I grew up in Jullundur City, .
My father was a very powerful man in the then Lahore, the Financial Centre to the world. Yes, I am saying what I said. VERY powerful in the world of business and finance of course.
Afghan Club (cricket) was of Imran Khan's uncle's before partition. Jahangir Khan? He was known as "Chirhimar" for his bowling ball killed a flying sparrow in cricket ground in England.
.
Lahore was headquarter, mark the word, Headquarter to more than 100 banks, as many insurance companies, two (not just one) Stock Exchanges, Forward Exchanges, Rinks, and you go on and on and on
( Jullundur was a complete town )
( Ather Khan Sahib )
----------------------------
Ahmed Hassan Khan had three daughters - Mubarak was married to Jahangir Khan, eldest to Lt. General Burki (Vice President of Pakistan) in General Ayub Khan Government in 1960's and Imran Khan mother was married out of Burki family to Niazi family.
Last time I forgot to mention that Ahmed Hassan Khan brother Ahmed Hussain Khan known as Kabulia had also House about 200 meters from our family house and uncle Wazir Khan House was near our grave yard and next to grave yard was Basti Guzhan. Basti Sheikh, Basti Guzhan, Basti Shah Quli, Basti Daneshmandan, Basti Baba Khel mostly inhabited by Pathan Tribes.
Here are couple of links which I searched for our two sons who are Swedes like their mother to know their Ancestor.
I used often hear in my childhood that Jullundur water is from heavenly stream and all born here are most honest people.
Links :-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathans_of_Punjab
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Imran_Khan
( Ather Khan Sahib )
-------------------------------
Great Burki Pathans of Jalandhar / Jullundur ( PM Imran Khan 's Maternal Ancestors )
According to a Burki historian, K. Hussain Zia, the Burki emigration from Kaniguram was prompted by a severe drought; "The elders decided that some people would have to leave in order for the others to survive. It was thus that 40 families bade farewell to Kaniguram. The entire population walked with them for some miles and watched from the top of a hill till they were out of sight."[55] These forty caravans would eventually arrive in Jalandhar, an area which the Burkis were already acquainted with previously, on account of their trading routes to India via the Grand Trunk Road.[55] In Jalandhar, the Burkis established fortified villages referred to as "bastis".[55]To preserve their ethnic identity and keep their Pashtun culture intact in India, they did not marry outside their tribe.[55]Khan's maternal family lived in twelve fortresses in an area in Jalandhar founded by the Burkis known as the Basti Pathan(lit. Pathan Colony). Khan's maternal grandfather, Ahmed Hasan Khan, was a civil servant and known to have hosted Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder of Pakistan, at Basti Pathan.[22] Until the 18th century, the Jalandhar Burkis retained ties and trading links with their kinsmen back in Kaniguram. However, these links were cut off following local instability duringSikh resistance against the Mughal Empire. As a result of this, the Jalandhar Burkis lost much of their language and cultural traits, adopting the Punjabi language.[55]
Credit / For More
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Imran_Khan
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