Answering to Swaminathan Aiyars half truths & whole lies in the TOI Is ignoring Hindus’ plight ‘idea of India’ -- Sachin Padha Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, in his blog, wrote about Kashmiri pandits ethnic cleansings and Muslims. He tried his best to equate both the cleansings of different eras but what he wrote is one-sided truth, hiding many facts which he, as a senior Journalist, must bring into the limelight. My grandparents suffered the plight of partition. My father was born in Jammu but my uncle and grandparents were born in Mirpur, which is now part of PoK. I wish Swami had checked facts before writing the blog A Tale of Two Ethnic Cleansings in Kashmir. He wrote: The communal riots of 1947 fell most heavily on Jammus Muslims; lakhs fled into what became Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. PoK was formed not only because of Muslims fleeing the place but we people were forced to leave Mirpur and they occupied it with full thrust. They raped, looted and cut Hindus like a piece of meat. To save themselves from being massacred, lakhs of Hindus like my grandparents, left that place. During the partition night in India, Mahatma Gandhi was giving send-off to the Muslims (those who wanted to move to Pakistan), and in return, he wanted the same respect for those Hindus who wanted to come to India. But after a few months of partition, my grandparents and other families of the same community left the entire place, due to the massacre, with all available cash, clothes, jewelry wrapped in newspapers. People who survived the massacre and were fortunate enough to reach India stayed for years in unhygienic conditions in refugee camps. My grandmother met with her brother and his family after 10 years. Their families used to stay like neighbors in Mirpur. One can imagine the sufferings of not only my grandparents but others families too. I hope Mr Swami would have called anyone in Sarwal, Bakshinagar, Rehari colonies in Jammu, where majority of the people who left Mirpur have settled. As a senior journalist, I hope Swami would have heard of these colonies names in Jammu; if not then I would dismiss his blog as a mere conjecture. Without knowing the suffering of the people of these colonies and other parts of Jammu how he can write with such confidence & boldness? Yet in sheer numbers and horrors, the Jammu episode was much worse. We have forgotten what happened then, because it is politically and morally inconvenient Yes, we have forgotten what happened to the Muslims and also to the Hindu refugees. In your blog, you have mentioned the plight of only Muslims but what about Mirpuris (they are those Hindus who became refugees after partition). How many Hindus were massacred, looted and raped? In your own words, you have forgotten what happened (to the Mirpuris) then because it is politically and morally inconvenient. Again he wrote: Today, Jammu is a Hindu-majority area. But in 1947, it had a Muslim majority. Jammu never had a Muslim majority. It has always been a Hindu-majority state, which include Dogras, Punjabis and the Mirpuris. In fact, if we consider the entire J&K, then this statistic reverses. J&K is the only state in India where Muslims are in majority and Hindus are in a minority. The art of quaint mixture of Hindus sentiments with other story is contemporary fashion. I am not denying the fact that Muslims were killed but why to write only a one-sided story? Mr Swami, is ignoring Hindus plight idea of India?
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 07:56:03 +0000
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