Ahmad - Kashmir

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Contents

The transformation of Kashmir from a Hindu to a Muslim society during the 14th15th century AD gave birth to a narrative according to which the Muslim rulers forcibly converted and evicted Hindus from Kashmir and destroyed their religious icons. A minuscule minority of Brahmans, who did not change their faith, based this narrative almost entirely on the observations of a chronicler, Jonaraja, who lived during the early years of Islam in Kashmir and was not at ease with it. The narrative became the hallmark of the Brahman discourse on medieval Kashmir which looks at the five centuries of Muslim rule only as a period of persecution.

Through medieval Kashmir, the narrative made its way to the present times, and in the course, new elements were added to it. Following the eruption of armed insurgency in Kashmir and mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, this community narrative got spiced up with additional tales, acting as the foreword of the existing debate on Kashmir. Broadly, the narrative is about the Kashmiri Pandits being the inheritors of a 5,000-year-long history and the only aborigines of Kashmir who were repeatedly persecuted by Muslim rulers and compatriots, forcibly converted to Islamtheir temples were destroyed tooand repeatedly chased away from Kashmir, for the latest time in 1990.

Kashmir: Exposing the Myth b ehind the Narrative attempts to blow away the fog over the realities of Kashmir and questions the facts that have traditionally populated the mythology of the existing narrative. It analyses the Kashmiri Pandit community narrative in the light of historical material and digs out many fallacies by cross-referencing, as is done in widely accepted practices of historiography. The research for the book pits opposite interpretations of same events which have been twisted out of context against what they actually were about. It dissects the stereotype created by historians and others, who have hammered in ahistorical perceptions over a long period of time, by providing suitable representations of some facts and myths through a dispassionate contextual reading of them. Due care has been taken to glean facts from authentic sources and sufficiently reference the arguments. This work is supported by over one thousand references. The objective is to tell fact from fiction and look at events as they occurred, rather than as they have been told. The historical facts discussed here have been overlooked or kept under wraps for a very long time to perpetuate a suitable community narrative.

The scope of the book extends from prehistoric Kashmir right to the present times; this has been achieved by using available Palaeolithic evidence as well as ancient texts. For the contemporary period, this work also relies on interviews of witnesses and an extensive archive of journalistic writing and reportage. The main theme consistently running through the chapters of this book is an attempt to interrogate a historiography that has gone almost unchallenged, and to similarly interrogate the exiting Pandit community narrative, how it has been perpetuated, and to explore contradictions and their sources within that narrative.

I am extremely thankful to my friends, colleagues and people with information and understanding who shared their views, gave suggestions or made relevant material available during my research.

Professor Mohammad Ashraf Wani, former Head, Department of History, University of Kashmir, and his worthy predecessor Dr Abdul Qaiyum Rafiqi are specially thanked for giving valuable suggestions, thus enhancing the merit of this work. Professor Wanis scholarly labour Islam in Kashmir clears many a misconception implanted by motivated writers in the story of mass conversion of Hindus in medieval Kashmir.

Peerzada Mohammad Ashraf deserves my sincere thanks for always being ready to help with whatever relevant material he could lay his hands on. He was very helpful in adding to the research element of this work.

Zahoor Ahmad Shora, Editor, Daily Roshni , provided old files of his newspaper pertaining to the developments of 1967, and I warmly acknowledge his help.

Muhammad Shafi Zahid, Director, State Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums, allowed access to archival material important for my research, which is highly appreciated.

I am especially thankful to Mufti Bashiruddin, Advocate Tassaduq Hussain, Mohammad Sayeed Malik, Jalaluddin Shah, Anwar Asahi, Professor Aijaz A. Bandey, Professor Shafi Shauq, Professor Gulshan Majeed and Dr Abdur Rashid Lone, interactions with whom were very helpful.