On 30th anniversary of the mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Indian citizens within India, it is legitimate to question every authority that the Indian taxpayer funds. Of course, Kashmiri Hindus were not seen as Indian citizens worthy of protection from murderous Muslims who declared that Kashmir must become free of Hindus at the pain of death. These were not just Pakistan sponsored terrorists but normal Muslims who became killers of their Hindu neighbours after following Jihadi sermons being announced from every mosque in the valley. The Indian state was silent to this genocide being perpetrated in secular India.
Dr Rajat Mitra is a clinical psychologist who helps Kashmiri Hindus being forced to survive in ramshackle camps in Jammu. He has researched trans-generational trauma of Hindus who were subjected to Islamic genocide over centuries. Independent, democratic and so called secular Indian state continued to allow such Islamic genocide of Hindus within India, most notable of which was the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in 1990s Kashmir. Dr Mitra has given several talks on this subject which can be found of YouTube. He was once told by these Kashmiri Hindus that a camp they lived in was called ‘Aurangzeb’s dream’. When he asked why, he was told that Aurangzeb wanted to convert all Kashmiri Hindus to Islam.
When these Kashmiri Hindus begged the Sikh Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur to save them, the Guru confronted Aurangzeb. Guru Teg Bahadur was tortured for months and publicly beheaded in Delhi by Aurangzeb. Two of his Hindu supporters were also tortured and executed before his eyes. What Aurangzeb could not do centuries back, that is, converting Kashmiri Hindus to Islam, the Indian state allowed their genocide by Muslims and mass exodus from Kashmir thirty years back from today. Dr Rajat Mitra was told by these internally displaced Hindu refugees that they had named one of their camps as ‘Aurangzeb’s dream’ because his dream was finally fulfilled by the democratic and secular Indian state three centuries later.
This brings us to Guru Teg Bahadur’s efforts and sacrifice. He gave up his life for those he did not know. He supported Kashmiri Pandits in their fight against Moghul jihad. Moghul India was an Islamic state that persecuted, killed and enslaved the Hindu population. If Kashmiri Hindus could be saved under an Islamic state, why couldn’t the Indian Army save Kashmiri Hindus from genocide and ethnic cleansing in 1990s India? Hiding behind the cloak of secularism, constitution and political supremacy are just excuses. Army battalions and cantonments were based in Jammu & Kashmir while Muslim led pogroms were taking place against the Hindu population. Jammu and Kashmir police did not act because they were led by the jihadi state machinery.
But if the Indian Army chose to turn a blind eye then it begs the question whether Indian Army is a moral Army. In Nuremberg trials, most Nazi military leaders who were tried were convicted on the principle that to follow unjust orders that go against common morality is a crime. It follows that just because orders were not given by the political leadership to save Kashmiri Hindus, the Indian Army did not have to sit around doing nothing. Were Kashmiri Hindus not humans who were worthy of protection? Why do we fund our armed forces, just for them to sit back and ignore such genocide? If the Indian Army had acted to protect Indian citizens, what’s the worst that could have happened?
Some Army commanders would have been court martialled for not following orders from politicians. But that would have been worth it, because the Indian state, however fragile, would not have allowed such morally righteous Army commanders to be punished for saving countless Hindu lives subjected to Islamic jihad in Kashmir.
We must question every authority, including the Indian Army, the Congress government and the Muslim home minister at that time who allowed the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Hindus of Kashmir in a democratic India.
