The 60,000 strong Sikh community in Jammu & Kashmir is now a threatened lot. While stone pelters have been enlisted to create a new era of unrest in Kashmir the Kashmiri militants are issuing letters to Sikhs with warning - either convert to Islam or leave the Valley. As reported in Times of India, an organisation of Kashmiri Sikhs said that several community members have received these letters. "Community members have received unsigned letters at various places," said All Party Sikh Coordination Committee (ASCC) coordinator Jagmohan Singh Raina. He said the community has decided to stay put and fight these "evil designs" at a meeting in Srinagar. After the expulsion of Hindus from the Kashmir valley, Sikhs are the single largest minority community who are now asked to leave. It is clear that separatists want Kashmir to make an exclusive Islamic state by using force and coercion. So far the designs of Islamists appear to be succeeding as they have been successful in expelling the Hindus from the Valley.
Every time there is unrest in Kashmir, the war cry is ‘Kashmiriyat' and ‘Azadi'. ‘Azadi' from whom and ‘Kashmiriyat' for what? It is very much evident from the attempts to expel minorities from the Valley at the behest of Pakistan backed jihadis. ‘Kashmiriyat' for them do not symbolise the Hindus sage Rishi Kashyap after whom Kashmir is named. It is not for any pluralist culture, for democracy or for freedom and for an expression of solidarity, resilience and patriotism - it is for Islamic rule and sharia. It does not take into account the glorious past when it used to be a seat of Hindu and Buddhhist culture, when shaivism was practiced, Sikhism flowered and Sufis attained enlightenment. It does not speak about the period when the Kashmir region enjoyed significant ethnic, cultural and religious diversity and when it used to be the home to many legendary Hindu and Buddhist monuments and institutions. It speaks about the culture of violence, gun and stone. The image of a mob throwing stones now best defines the term ‘Kashmiriyat'. It represents mass hysteria created by Islamists who want to crush of freedom of Kashmiris and throw out all the minorities to foist on them the flag of Islam. It is now no more about social and religious harmony, love and brotherhood, it is now about mindless adherence to jihadi principles and Islamic ummah.
As Sikhs have vowed to fight this mindset, there is need for Hindus to realize the same. The expelled Kashmiris (Hindus) should continue to fight for their homeland and strive to go back to Kashmir where their history and heritage await calling them to reclaim their lost paradise.
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Voice of India 
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