KASHMIR|ETHNICITY|RELIGION
My Experience of Being a Local Kashmiri Sikh Boy
A letter from a Common Kashmiri
Being Kashmiri is both a blessing and a pain. You are blessed with mother nature, lovely and kind people as neighbors, beauty that can match heaven, and, at the same time, you are bullied due to terror in Kashmir.
You are seen as different as you belong to Kashmir; you have seen blood and bodies lying on the road.
I think I can do justice to this story because I am from Kashmir, and Kashmiriyat is in my blood.
I was born in Kashmir’s Anantnag district and saw the bloodiest massacre, the “Chithi Singh Pora Massacre,” in 2000. We lost many loved ones in this massacre; this is not the only massacre that happened. Many things happened before and after this.
During school, it was very difficult for me to go to school where I was the only Sikh boy and all the others were from different communities. This was difficult in many ways, as I was not able to understand their language properly. In morning prayers, you have to stand for some Islamic religious naats, or I can say verses.
Many other things were happening around me that I cannot describe here, but I can say it was difficult.
On the other hand, I loved Kashmir and Kashmiriyat. Every coin has two sides; the other side is very beautiful, and the majority of the population comes from this side only.
They treated me very well and loved me even more. I was respected even after having different religious views; I was given priority in different areas, like sports, bus seats, etc.
When someone tried to discuss or act differently, many of them came to stop that nonsense immediately. Still, I am a proud Kashmiri Sikh.
I saw many protests in my life. Many things are not digestible. I cannot say only one side was wrong. No, it was just a matter of power. Power makes anyone bad. Power is the machine of destruction. Like non-Muslims, Muslims too suffered a lot due to terrorism and other things. Kashmir was like a pawn for everybody, and so were the Kashmiris.
When I was in Kashmir, I thought it would be a different world outside Kashmir. People would be at peace and very friendly. But this was a myth to me.
People all over the world are somewhat alike. They are used, made to do things, then refused to handle them.
I came out of Kashmir for studies as Kashmir was going through disturbed waves from all across the borders. In Jammu, I was still the only Sikh boy in the school. I was loved, praised, respected, and joked about too. So the situation for me in school was the same.
I learned to be brave, intelligent, confident, and stand up for myself in difficult situations.
When anything happened in Kashmir, people abused Kashmiris.
I hated all the violence and killings deep in my heart, I also hated the abuses and hatred towards Kashmir. Because it was not Kashmir that sprouted violence, Kashmir was facing this turmoil for as long as both nuclear powers were claiming Kashmir.
Kashmir was getting destroyed day by day by the neighboring country to spread terrorism.
When someone sprinkles poison on the fruits, we never say the field is destructive or curse the fruit fields. We try to remove poison by spraying medicine in the field.
Being from Jammu and Kashmir is different. When I went to Chandigarh, I was working for an IT company.
Many managers told me that you people are lucky because you don’t have to pay taxes because the people of Jammu and Kashmir don’t pay taxes due to Article 370. I laughed at their intellect. I laughed at how the rest of India feels about us. It was not Kashmir alone now; the other part of the region, Jammu, was also seeing the same.
They feel we have free electricity, free food, and a salary without taxes; we even don’t go to offices in the government sector, and every one is employed.
We have gun markets where guns are available to shoot tourists. No tourist is safe. I always tried to discuss the real issues with them, but you know, when one has the black cloth on their eyes, you can’t show them the real way because they don’t want to see it.
I have heard many times that the central government gives money to Kashmir and never uses the resources of Jammu and Kashmir.
Even so, it was shocking to hear that we get electricity from the rest of the country. We are electricity producers and send electricity to other states as well.
We are rich in resources like Kesar, nuts, apples, pashmina, and whatnot. People believe that Muslims in Kashmir hate Hindus and Sikhs, but is this even true?
How can this be true when, after many massacres and attacks, we Sikhs are still in Kashmir? Many Kashmiri Pandits are doing well in Kashmir.
We have famous temples and gurudwaras in Kashmir. Every year, people go on the Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir. A Muslim man informed people about the holy cave of Amarnath.
We have Shankaracharya Mandir at the top and Gurudwaras inside and outside the city. We celebrate our religious days very peacefully, and people from the majority community wish us well during these days.
Being a Kashmiri is a difficult job because if you say you support Kashmir, you are a Pakistani.
You are being treated differently. It never means we support any kind of terrorism if we love Jammu and Kashmir. We love our place more than anything else, and we hate anyone coming here to spread hate and violence. We love the whole of India and expect our Indian brothers and sisters to respect our feelings and our region too.
We too hate terrorism from outside countries; we have lost our near and dear ones.
We have seen coffins, graveyards full of dead bodies, mothers and sisters crying, and dead bodies floating in Jehlum. How can we not hate violence?
Kashmir is a lovely place and the crown jewel of India. It is an integrated part of India and will always be.
Kashmiris and the rest of the Indians have sacrificed their lives for this. The blood of martyrs makes Kashmir even stronger to throw out those who spread hate and violence.
Kashmir is love, and yes, there are enemies of love. We shall overcome one day.
We are progressing towards a better Kashmir, and we will one day live peacefully like before.