-Caveat Lector- Hmmmnnn... No Jews = no news. Isn't this ethnic cleansing? I've heard nothing from you about this situation? Where is the Palestinian moral outrage? Where is the Liberal outrage? Or are you all just full of it? Nurev ================================================================ Kashmir's evicted Hindu minority seeks its own homeland By HEMA SHUKLA Associated Press NEW DELHI, India (July 11, 2001 06:39 a.m. EDT) - Pinni Suri remembers the scene exactly - even though 11 years have passed. Dawn had just broken when two teenagers knocked on the front door of her home in the Kashmir Valley, where her Hindu ancestors had lived for centuries among the majority Muslims. Two minutes later, one of the young men shot Suri's husband in the chest. The attackers disappeared into the narrow lanes of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital. Muslim neighbors, watching from their window, turned away as she begged for help. "They shot dead my husband on Aug. 1, 1990, and I left Srinagar the same day. I haven't gone back since," said Suri. An uncle of her husband was killed weeks later. It was a time of terrible fear among Kashmiri Pandits, Hindus indigenous to the beautiful Himalayan valley. They and Hindu settlers were being killed, kidnapped and robbed by Islamic militant groups demanding independence from India or to unite with Muslim-majority Pakistan. Between October 1989 and August 1990, some 350,000 Kashmiri Pandits fled and live mostly in squalid camps in Jammu, Kashmir's winter capital. Now as India prepares for a three-day summit starting Friday between Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Pandits are raising anew their demand for a homeland, which they say must be separate because of fears they will be targeted again. "They wanted to Islamize Kashmir and they wanted us out. It was ethnic cleansing," said Ramesh Manavati, spokesman for Our Own Kashmir, an organization that says it represents more than 700,000 Kashmiri Pandits and demands an enclave in the Kashmir Valley. Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits say they feel forsaken by their government, which failed to protect them and their property. "We are the forgotten ones, refugees in our own country," Manavati said. The All Party Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella group of Islamic and political parties that claims to speak for Kashmir, says the Pandits are welcome back, but a separate Pandit homeland is unacceptable. Kashmir is for all Kashmiris, says the group, which favors separation of the region from India. "The Hurriyat is not in favor of division along communal (religious) lines," said Hurriyat spokesman Abdul Majid Banday. The Hurriyat has outraged the Pandits by saying that the stories of killings and intimidation were exaggerated and that the Pandit exodus was part of a government strategy to show the separatist movement in a bad light. Those who fled said the militants' method was to kill one and terrorize hundreds. Mosques blared warnings to Hindus, telling "infidels" to leave. Graffiti on walls said the valley was reserved for "the faithful." Hindus who remained behind continue to live in fear. According to statistics compiled by The Associated Press, nearly 400 Hindus have been killed in 33 separate attacks in the past eight years. Many have been pulled out of buses and shot at close range. India accuses Islamic Pakistan of arming the Kashmir militants. Pakistan denies the charge, saying its support is only political. But most militant groups in Kashmir are based in Pakistan and run training camps for fighters under the eyes of Pakistan's government. According to the latest census completed in February, Kashmir has 6.2 million Muslims and 3.4 million Hindus, including 500,000 Kashmiri Pandits, as well as 300,000 Sikhs and 100,000 Buddhists. The displaced Hindus live safe but squalid lives in several large camps in Jammu, which is in the foothills of the Himalayas and has a Hindu majority. Extended families live in single rooms, with leaky roofs, poor ventilation and no toilets. "What is here? Nothing. Mosquito bites and fear of snakes," said 65-year-old Lakshmanjoo, who uses only one name. He has been sharing a room with 10 other family members since they fled 11 years ago. "My valley is beautiful." --------------------------------------------------------------- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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