[Reader-list] Fwd: Muslims help perform last rites of a Pandit in Kashmir

[Sanjay Kak]

Dear All

This follows the above news story from Srinagar, whose posting on this list
has sparked off all kinds of reactions. Some saw it

> as commentary on the Islamisation of Kashmir under garb of "Aazadi"
>
and

> the near erasure and extinction of a unique socio-cultural-religious
> group...
>

Given that there are at least several thousand Kashmiri Pandits living in
Srinagar, I was intrigued by the nature of this news report, and wrote off
to a group that works with the community.
Like the story of the "Principal, the hijaab, and the burnt car", once again
the newspapers seem to be up to something ...
I quote a section of the reply from the group:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti KPSS
Date: Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 7:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Muslims help perform last rites of a Pandit in
Kashmir

> the following members of the community were present at the time of kirya
karam
> B L Dhar, S L Bhat, C L Bhat, Satishji, S L Bhat, Bajjee, Vinodji, Vimal
Bhat, along with Gurujee Sh Rattan Lal Razdan
>
> i was away from srinagar for my personal work
>
> the name of the person was Bola Nath Kachroo R/o Natipora Sgr. Bachelor
throughout his life aged 77 yrs. Later adopted sister's daughter, she is
also bachelor ageing 43 yrs and working in National Insurance Company
Srinagar.

Every single fact in this story in the Times of India seems wrong!
Just another example of the surreal unreliability of reporting on
Kashmir...?

Best

Sanjay Kak

>
>
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Kashmiri-Muslims-perform-funeral-of-Hindu-man-/articleshow/4948967.cms
>
> Kashmiri Muslims perform last rites of a Kashmiri Pandit
>
> SRINAGAR: In a unique display of communal harmony, Muslims neighbours
> here performed the last rites of a Hindu man who stayed back when most
> of the Pandit families fled during the early 1990s when Islamist
> insurgency erupted in Jammu and Kashmir.
>
> Bhola Nath Kachroo of Srinagar, who was living with his wife and a
> daughter here, died Friday after an illness and had nobody to perform
> his funeral.
>
> The family was devastated when Kachroo, who his neighbour said was
> "very old", passed away. There was no other Pandit family nearby to
> help them.
>
> But, Muslims in the area helped the family in performing the last
> rites of Kachroo. They made arrangements for the last rites and also
> erected tents for Kachroo's friends and relatives who had gathered to
> mourn the death.
>
> "There was nobody to perform the funeral. We were equally saddened to
> lose an elderly person in our neighbourhood. We gathered and performed
> the last rites without considering what faith we follow," said Ghulam
> Mohammed Bhat, secretary of the Muslim Welfare Society.
>
> Most of the Hindu families migrated from the Kashmir Valley in the
> wake of insurgency fuelled by Islamic fundamentalists, but Kachroo and
> his family stayed back.
>
> "We came as humans to help our mourning neighbours. They didn't leave
> when other Pandits fled and we owe responsibilities to this family,"
> said Ali Mohammed, another neighbour.
> _________________________________________
>