About 600 years ago, Kashmiri Pandit Jonoraj talked of “genocide” in the context of Suhabhatta, who converted to Islam, and sided with the invaders to destroy the way of life of Kashmir. According to Jonoraj like a storm that uproots trees and like locusts devastating a rice crop, Yavanas (the invaders) devastated the lived life of Kashmir. According to Jonoraj, Deshachar was the lived roots and branches of a nation or an ethnic group. He aptly described “genocide” as “Jatividhwansh” or destruction of a race. In the 20th century Polis Jewish scholar, Raphael Lemkin defines genocide as follows: “… the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group… generally speaking genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is extended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundation of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.”
• The Kashmiri Hindus are the indigenous people of Kashmir with a recorded history of 5000 years.
• The Kashmiri Hindus have their festivals and their calendar consists of seven Rishis or enlightened beings of 5098 years.
• Panini: The author who composed the first book in grammar in Sanskrit, which was later taken to Europe.
• Abhinavagupta: Philosopher, logician.
• Kalidasa: The poet
• History: Rajtarangini: Literally meaning Waves of Kings. One of the first written history books in Sanskrit.
• The Lingua was Sanskrit and it was the seat of art, culture, and learning.
• It was a civilizational State not a “nation” in the modern sense.
• There has been a 700 year of ethnic cleansing and genocide of Kashmiri Hindus.
• The history of that ethnic cleansing has been remembered via songs, folk tales, and via a civilizational memory.
• There has been 7 exodus of Kashmiri Hindus out of Kashmir which led to the last ethnic cleansing and exodus in 1990.
• 1301-20: Syed Sharaf-ud-Din Abdur Rahman Suhrawardi, popularly known as Bulbul Shah, a Sufi preacher, during the reign of Hindu king Raja Suhadeva of Lohara dynasty. He was given a place in the Temple.
• 1313: Shah Mir arrived in Kashmir in 1313 along with his family as a refugee during the reign of Suhadeva (1301–1320), whose service he entered. In subsequent years rose to prominence and became an important person in the Court.
• 1339: Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the Shah Mir dynasty (This was the start of the decline of Hinduism and Shaivism in Kashmir).
• 1389-1413: Shingara or Sultan Sikandar Shah Miri or Sikandar Butshikan (“Butshikan” or iconoclast) was the 7th Sultan and a member of the Shah Mir dynasty and destroyed the entire culture.
He prohibited:
• Idol worship
• No horse riding for Kafirs (non believers).
• Kafirs cannot move with arms
• The Kafirs cannot wear diamonds
• Took away their language Sanskrit as the Court and popular language and substituted it with Persian as the Court language.
• Large scale conversions.
• Daily destroyed the Temples and idols and said that if one is destroyed then all others will be under threat and will stop worshipping.
• 1420-1470: Sultan Badshah gave some respite. After his death during the reign of Haider Shah genocidal assaults happened that included severing hands, lips, nose and even impalement.
• 1496: The second exodus happened when Shasuddin Araqi , a Sufi Shah proselytizer came to Kashmir. He broke Temples and built Khanqahs, lodging for Sufi Muslims.
• 1600: The third exodus under governor Iftikar Khan, the governor of Kashmir appointed by Emperor Aurangzeb and Kashmiri Hindus were ordered to be killed. Kashmiri Hindus sought help from Sikh Guru Tegbahadur Ji Maharaj who gave supreme sacrifice for the Kashmiri Hindu cause.
• 1675: Tej Bahadur, the Sikh Guru, was arrested on November 11, 1675, and brought to Delhi.
• Guru Tej Bahadur endured brutal torture and public humiliation. Given an opportunity to save his life through conversion, he steadfastly declined. On November 24, he was beheaded in Chandni Chowk, Delhi.
• 1819: The third exodus happened when again ethnic cleansing started.
• 1931: Fifth exodus Sheikh Ali movement against the rule of the Hindu king, where again Kashmiri Hindus were killed.
• 1980: Sixth exodus when Pakistani tribes invaded Kashmir and carried on murder of Kashmiri Hindus.
• 1990: Final exodus.
Via the iconoclasts, prohibition of important acts and rituals, prohibition to carry weapons, and conversion, the Islamic way of life was imposed on the indigenous people. All of these fulfill the definitions of genocide given by Pandit Jonoraj and R. Lemkin.
