Kashmir | News & Discussions.

[SpArK]

Muslims greet Kashmir's Hindus at temple festival


Srinagar : Thousands of Kashmiri Hindus from across the country Saturday thronged the Khirbhawani temple in north Kashmir's Ganderbal district for an annual festival. Local Muslims greeted them with sweets as part of a centuries' old practice in the state where the two religions have traditionally lived in harmony.

The temple in Tullamulla village, about 25 km from here, is dedicated to Ragnya Devi, one of the many incarnations of Goddess Durga.


Kheer Bhawani festival in Srinagar, photo by Jammu News Agency





Muslims lined up outside the temple Saturday with 'kheer' (a sweet dish made of milk) in earthen pots for their Hindu brethren.

Legend has it that Lord Rama worshipped Ragnya during his entire 14-year exile. When this ended, Lord Rama asked Hanuman to relocate the shrine of the goddess. Hanuman relocated it to Shadipora in Kashmir. But the deity appeared in a local priest's dream asking him to relocate the shrine at its present location.

Devotees of all ages throng the shrine each year and engage in prayers and meditation to seek the blessings of the deity.

The spring water inside the temple complex bears special significance as it is believed that the colour of water on the festival day foretells the year's future for the state.

"The colour of the spring water is milky white which foretells a prosperous year for the state," said Radhakrishan Bhan, 56, who came here all the way from Pune.

After majority of the Hindus migrated out of the state in the 1990s in the wake of separatist violence here, hundreds of them have been reaching here each year this day from different parts of the country.

"We look forward to the time when we can return back to our roots in Kashmir," said Shiban Krishen, 47, who came from the Jammu to pray at the temple.

Tight security arrangement was put in place in and around the temple.

State Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand had also visited the temple Friday to take stock of the arrangements made for the devotees.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

One dead as troops fire at violent Kashmir protest


SRINAGAR, India — One demonstrator was killed and five injured Sunday in Kashmir when Indian troops fired bullets to disperse violent protests over the death of a Muslim youth, police and witnesses said.

Rafiq Bangroo died on Saturday, days after being injured in the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar in what his family allege was a beating by paramilitary forces.

Police say they are investigating his death.

Enraged by Bangroo's death -- the second in less than ten days of a civilian allegedly at the hands of security forces -- hundreds of Kashmiris took to the streets on Sunday chanting: "We will spill blood for blood."

Protesters attacked a paramilitary bunker, prompting the soldiers to open fire that left one person dead, police said.

"The firing incident has brought more people out on the streets and they are fighting with police and paramilitary forces," resident Tanveer Ahmed told AFP by telephone from downtown Srinagar.

Srinagar was already tense after the death of a teenager student on June 11 during clashes between police and anti-India demonstrators.

His family said he was hit by a teargas shell and that he was not part of the demonstration.

The Muslim-majority region is in the grip of a 20-year insurgency against rule from New Delhi. The unrest has left more than 47,000 people dead by the official count.

انّا للہ و انّا الیہ راجعون

 

[Lankan Ranger]

Army colonel killed in Kashmir encounter

A senior army officer has been killed in a separatist guerrilla ambush in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, police said on Wednesday.

Colonel Neeraj Sood, commanding officer of 18 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), was on Tuesday critically injured in a gunfight with militants in Saiwan village in Lolab Valley, about 105 km from here.

"Colonel Neeraj was critically wounded in the militant attack. He was immediately rushed to a hospital in Kupwara. However, he succumbed to his injuries in the hospital late on Tuesday night," a senior police officer said.

"Reinforcements have been rushed to the area. Searches in the area continue," he added.

Army colonel killed in Kashmir encounter - India - The Times of India

 

[SpArK]

Rest In Peace the brave officer.

 

[karan.1970]

RIP for the brave officer.. Expect a big counter blow in next couple of days..

 

[PracticalGuy]

RIP...

Jai Hind!

 

[Xeric]

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal...y-officer-in-kashmir-encounter_100384730.html

Terrorists kill senior Army officer in Kashmir encounter
June 23rd, 2010 - 5:28 pm ICT by ANI

Srinagar, June 23 (ANI): A senior army officer was killed in an encounter with terrorist in North Kashmir late on Tuesday night.

According to the Army sources, terrorists gunned down Colonel Neeraj Sood of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR).

The encounter took place in the dense forests of the Lolab Valley in North Kashmir.

The encounter was still going on when reports last came in.

The Army said that additional forces have been rushed to the spot.

The dead Colonel’s body is being brought to the Capital. (ANI)

 

[EjazR]

100,000 Brahmin Hindus return to the land of the Pandits - The National Newspaper

TULLA MULLA // Two decades after fleeing Kashmir, thousands of Brahmin Hindus, known as Pandits, returned to their ancestral homeland yesterday to pray at a sacred shrine, the biggest congregation of Pandits since their exodus.

Amid tight security, around 100,000 Pandits came from across India to gather in Tulla Mulla, 27km east of Srinagar, at the historic Khirbhawani temple to seek blessings from the goddess Ragnya Devi.

“I don’t want to go back [to heartland India]. I want to die here,” said Ishri Bhatt, 65, a widow who fled the Muslim-majority valley in 1989 along with an estimated 200,000 Pandits when a insurgency against Indian rule broke out.

They re-settled in the Hindu-dominated southern part of the state, Jammu, and other parts of India.

But the Pandits have recently begun to return. An estimated 4,000 families have moved back to the territory, split between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in its entirety, since 2004 when relations between the nuclear-armed rivals began to thaw. The intensity of militant violence in Kashmir has also decreased since then.

Jawaharlal Langar, 72, a retired librarian at Kashmir University, now lives in New Delhi but is originally from Srinagar’s Shivpora district. He was one of the Pandits returning for the first time. Mr Langar said: “Why and how did we have to leave? I don’t want to go into those details because that would only reopen old wounds. I took a flight from Delhi and on landing in Srinagar found things have changed for the better and the atmosphere is quite cordial.”

Violence, however is still common enough to keep the vast majority of Pandits from moving back. Street battles between Indian security forces and stone-throwing protesters are a daily occurrence. Human rights abuses against civilians are also commonplace, according to rights groups. Tens of thousands have died.

Most of the visiting Pandits said they prayed for the return of peace so that they can come back to their homes. Prince Bhatt, 41, Ishri Bhatt’s son, said: “I’m quite happy over the way we were greeted by the people living in the temple vicinity and other Muslims. All that is needed now is some bold initiatives by the government and the politicians.”

The Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, who visited the temple yesterday, said new government initiatives would encourage Pandits to return. They include reservations in government jobs.

Many of the Pandit families are well-settled in their new lives, making it difficult to return to an uncertain situation.

Mr Langar, sitting near the stream in the shade of poplars, willows and walnut trees, said: “I wish [to return] but I can’t. My children and grandchildren are settled outside the Valley of Kashmir and it would be naive to seek to resettle here when your beloved ones are not around.”

But the desire to return remains strong even among the post-migration generation, some of whom have never been to the valley. Rajat Hangloo, 13, said: “There is no better place to live than our own Kashmir.” Speaking in Kashmiri, Rajat added: “It is cool here and too hot there [in Jammu]. Yes, I want to spend the rest of my life here.”

Before the eruption of violence, Pandits and Muslims lived in relative harmony sharing a unique Kashmiri culture. At the Khirbhawani temple yesterday, Muslims greeted the pilgrims with open arms, offering them fruit and drinks and even hosting some in their homes. Habla Begum, a Muslim resident of Tulla Mulla, felt “quite contented” while pouring ghee into the tiny earthen lamp pots that are lit by the Hindu devotees as part of their prayers.

Abdul Aziz Shah, 64, a resident of neighbouring Safa Pora township, said, “Militancy was a curse. We’ve paid a heavy price and continue to suffer. One of the pitfalls was the flight of our Pandit brethren. They must come back.” Mr Shah said his family has sold sweets, flower petals and other items to Hindu pilgrims for seven generations.

 

[dabong1]

I actually ended up reading a bit on the geographic positions of these two areas of Kashmir and found that the Pakistani contention that they can cause India a lot of damage with itself taking very little damage to be very untrue. My study of the Line of Control suggests that Indian Army can shell and devastate the whole of Neelum valley in Pakistan overnight, if it so wishes (and my research says that they have done it in the past). Apparently Pakistan uses Neelum Valley as the launching pad for cross border militants or terrorists or whatever because of the rough terrain and the Indian Army has actually shelled whole towns in this valley. I am not sure how many Pakistanis know this but certain towns in the Neelum valley have been completely devastated by the IA shelling, so much so that the valley's people are dead against helping out Pakistan's intelligence agencies from using their folks as cannon fodder. This research was news to me as having read the arguments here, I thought that IA had no leverage over launching pads in Pakistani part of Kashmir. That turned out to be grossly untrue.

The indian army can destroy every village along the LOC on the pakistani side if they want but it serves no purpose but only getting the local population to turn against the attacker in the long run.......when someones house is blown up they ask who destroyed it.
I can give you first hand accounts of whole villages living under indian sniper-motor range and homes being pot marked with bullet fire but it serves no purpose,the freedom fighters are in bunkers and thee infrastructure is not touched.
You could send special forces which the indians have done in the past but with the current situation the pakistani army capturing "state backed terrorist" would be a diplomatic-media disaster for the indians.

 

[foxbat]

You could send special forces which the indians have done in the past but with the current situation the pakistani army capturing "state backed terrorist" would be a diplomatic-media disaster for the indians.

But based on the comments of senior members on this forum including the moderators and super moderators, isnt targeting armed forces (Indian or Pakistani) in a disputed areas (both Indian and Pakistani parts of Kashmir) considered fair game and not terrorism. In which case on the Pakistani side, the PA is the terrorist occupying force.. Isnt it?

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

In which case on the Pakistani side, the PA is the terrorist occupying force.. Isnt it?

No - since Pakistan is not the one refusing Kashmiris the right to self determination and refusing to hold a plebiscite so that Kashmiris can make a decision about their future status.

 

[Iggy]

No - since Pakistan is not the one refusing Kashmiris the right to self determination and refusing to hold a plebiscite so that Kashmiris can make a decision about their future status.

But it was Pakistan who didnt agree with UN resolution of complete withdrawal of forces..and also with out the approval of Kashmiries your country gave the land of Kashmir to China and also annexed Giljit from them..In short you are no better than us..just the mask of Muslim brotherhood saving you..

 

[vsdoc]

No - since Pakistan is not the one refusing Kashmiris the right to self determination and refusing to hold a plebiscite so that Kashmiris can make a decision about their future status.

So AM, why don't you allow the Kashmir you hold that much bandied "self determination", and that done, join forces with those newly self-determined Kashmiris/Pakistanis and come and launch a full frontal assault on terrorist India to free the other 2/3?

Would be so much less painful that this .....

What's holding you guys back? Something else got your attention perchance?

As a nation, you need to develop the spine and the courage of conviction to back up your words with action, and not hide behind and under "proxy" skirts my friend.

Or pathetic crumbling "non-state" facades.

Fact of the matter is, Pakistan can do nothing today or tomorrow that cannot be revisited on it tenfold, a hundredfold, by India.

And sovereign India would decide on its course of foreign policy and targetted theaters of engagement, which may or may not fit snugly into unilaterally proclaimed "disputed" compartmentalisations.

When you guys are done cleaning up your current mess, hope that message would have hit home and sense would prevail all around.

Cheers, Doc

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

But it was Pakistan who didnt agree with UN resolution of complete withdrawal of forces..and also with out the approval of Kashmiries your country gave the land of Kashmir to China and also annexed Giljit from them..In short you are no better than us..just the mask of Muslim brotherhood saving you..

That is incorrect, as argued out in the Resolutions thread and the 1948 war thread, between Toxic and myself.

The demilitarization was not unilateral and unconditional and was contingent on negotiations between Pakistan, India and the UN rapporteurs, and the language of the UNSC resolutions reflected that, which is often ignored by Indian commentators to paint Pakistan as having violated the resolutions by not unilaterally withdrawing.

Please check those threads for the discussion.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

So AM, why don't you allow the Kashmir you hold that much bandied "self determination", and that done, join forces witht those newly self-determined Kashmiris/Pakistanis and come and launch a full frontal assault on terrorist India to free the other 2/3?

Because such a plebiscite would not conform with the UNSC resolutions - the plebiscite has to be across the entire State.

Would be so much less painful that this .....

Not at all, since Indian occupation and suppression of Kashmir and the denial of Kashmir rights by India would still continue.

As a nation, you need to develop the spine and the courage of conviction to back up your words with action, and not hide behind and under "proxy" skirts my friend.

Cheers, Doc

Our conscience is clear in supporting the right of Kashmiris to define their destiny through self-determination. Your nation is the one that needs to develop the moral and ethical courage to end the occupation and subjugation of millions of Kashmiris and the denial of plebiscite, that was accepted as a condition of accession by India, as well as through the UNSC resolutions.