Mishtar Jinnah says Hindus will be safe in Pakistan..Untold story of broken faith

She wore only black and never tied her hair till her death..after being forced to abandon her home in Sialkot and migrate to India post partition...
The wounds of Partition are generational. The pain of the unhealed wounds is so deep that partition and pre partition life was never discussed in my family while I was growing up in Meerut ,which was my Grandmother’s ( Dadi) hometown . Any questions about my Father’s paternal family would be answered with a bland “ they belonged to Sialkot and came to Meerut/ Delhi post partition” . My grandmother’s eyes would moisten . She would sometimes speak of my grandfather ,who was subedar major in British Army, being posted to Chaman and they wanting to settle there ...but then partition happened!
We grew up with knowing a lot about Meerut and my Dadi’s family roots in Meerut, but strangely nothing about my Father’s ‘Sialkot’ Dada-Dadi. We grew up with a nostalgia about Chaman where my grandmother was Happy and dreamt of settling till partition happened.
Recently Kartarpur corridor was opened and  my Aunts( my late father’s sisters), in their late seventies and eighties suddenly opened up about the Sialkot past. This blog is a very very belated attempt to bring out my great grandmother’s  voice through silence of Generations and bring forth the great human tragedy of partition..a tragedy which has been normalised and foot noted for my generation and coming ones .
My Father’s Grandfather was Sri Govind Ram Sharma,an army contractor with the British settled in Sialkot . He was an Arya Samaji. My aunt claims a Gate of Aryasamaj in Sialkot had his name inscribed . My Grandfather’s name was Munshi Lal Sharma and my Great Grandmother’s name was Shiv Devi.

By all accounts ,my Great Grandmother Shiv Devi was a very strong woman and committed aryasamaji. She built a large home in Sialkot and several other commercial properties. A property under the name of her Son ,munshi Lal Sharma ,housed a post office. She donated to an aryasamaj school which had my grandfather’s name ,Munshi Lal inscribed in The wall . My aunt recalls seeing the gate and the post office as a child during visits to Sialkot. 

Shiv Devi Ji was a beautiful woman, and was widowed early. However she managed her properties etc and was deeply respected in her neighbourhood. There was one room with a kaccha floor where the family gold was buried and boxes full of clothes were placed in the room. Once a year ,Shiv Devi, along with a group of women ,would go to Kashmir and bring back an year’s supply of dry fruits and warm clothes. It seems that it was a common practise in areas of Punjab to go to Kashmir and bring dry fruits and warm clothes.
Shiv Devi helped her neighbours and was deeply respected as she was always there for them . She also had a fiery temper which was often unleashed on unsuspecting strangers. One anecdote my aunt narrates is of her asking a Baraat to take another route as there was another baraat awaited in her neighbourhood, and the baraat complying with her ..and changing the route!
Partition was imminent and my grandfather, who had left the British army and shifted to meerut in a rented house , advised her to sell her house and come to Meerut too. But Shiv Devi had just repaired her home and was well established. She told everyone..Mishtar Jinnah has promised Hindus will be safe in Pakistan ..why should I leave my home and life I know.
Partition happened and bloodshed followed. There was no population migration planned but Hindus were under attack. My Great grandmom would still claim..Mishtar Jinnah has assured..but she sent her unmarried daughter, who was a beauty to Her Relatives in Dehradun. Then her Muslim neighbours would advise her to cross the border and go to safety, but she resisted , staying all alone in her house,guarding her family gold buried under the mud floor.
One night, mobs went on a rampage in her neighbourhood , killing, raping and looting Hindus. Her Muslim neighbours came into her home via a ladder and told her to come with them . They told her they could not bear to see her being dishonoured and they would take her across the border. My grandmother had no time to take out her buried gold, except one gold bangle, weighing 8 tolas, before she was hustled across the ladder into her Muslim neighbour home and escorted to the border where she crossed over and reached Delhi.
My aunt recollects that Shiv Devi started wearing black to convey her protest and stopped tying her hair. She vowed that she would tie up her hair only after returning to her home. But that was never to be!
One day, when she was living with her daughter in Delhi, she met a neighbour from Sialkot . He was a Muslim and was visiting his relatives. She saw him and bought him home. She wanted to know about her home and properties. The man told her her house had been occupied by several Muslim families and her mud floor had been dug up and her gold looted. The post office was still functioning in in the Property named after Munshi Lal Sharma, her beloved son. After this meeting my Great Grandmother had changed a lot, and stopped discussing Sialkot. Our family had left everything behind in Sialkot , all family savings, land, buildings to start life afresh in a rented house. We had very financially weak childhoods..my grandmother through her tireless housekeeping fed us,clothed us and sent us to the best schools. Yet, the image management of Nehru was so great that my grandmother remained a committed congressi till her last breath We too, though partition was an inevitable price to pay for freedom from British! But now I think, had partition not happened, the family wealth would have been built upon,the family home built with love,tears and sweat would have been there,we may have been born in the family home of Sialkot,and my grandmother would have lived comfortably instead of struggling in near poverty to bring up her children and grandchildren! It is us second generation that is now comfortably settled,but two generations before us suffered and struggled! Time we discuss the horrors of partition and stop normalising it and letting it become a footnote in history!

Kashmiriat – kashmir belongs to Bharat

Kashmiriat – kashmir belongs to Bharat

 The meeting of Indian politicians like Sita Ram Yechury, Manishankar Aiyer, Track 2 type like Vinod Sharma,AVM kak(rtd) with Geelani prompted me to write this Article. For the last few decades,Kashmiri Politicians like the Abdullahs, Muftis and Kashmiri origin Congress leaders have been spouting the term Kashmiriat along with Jamooriyat( democracy) as paradigms of the solution.
Like secularism,Kashmiriat too has been distorted to represent a certain section of Kashmiris-Kashmiri pandits who converted to Islam. Kashmiriat reduces the Kashmir issue to the valley area in Kashmir,along with the pak occupied area of the valley,and creates an artificial construct of Kashmiris being ethnically,culturally different from India,denies any historical connect,reduces the time frame to the era after Sikandar Butshikan--and legitimises the false idea of an autonomous Kashmiri state.
In my article I argue -if Kashmiriat has to be implemented, let Kashmiriat be a pan indian idea, every Indian has a cultural,religious,historical connection to Kashmir
 Kashmir is a Sanskrit word for saffron or kesar--for at least 5000 years the name of the area is Kashmir. Mythologically It is the abode of Saraswati -goddess of learning--when Hindus chant the saraswati shloka --Namastey Sharada Devi Kashmir Pur Vasini Tvam Ham Prartheye Nityam Vidya Danam Che De hi mey" (Salutations to you, O Sharada, O Goddess, O one who resides in Kashmir. I pray to you daily, please give me the charity of knowledge).---this is the Kashmiriat that resides in every Indian !
Amaranth Yatra to Kashmir has been an Ancient Unbroken Ritual undertaken by Hindus throughout centuries--Amarnath Cave situated in Anantnag is a part of Kashmiriat in every Hindu
and Indian
For centuries Kashmir was ruled by Indian Hindu kings whose kingdoms stretched throughout Bharat, not restricted to only the Kashmir valley-historically Kashmir consisted of Jammu,Kandahar ( gandhar) ,Dardar (Gilgit) Baltistan --and not only the valley
Kashmir is the fountainhead that nurtured shaivism, vaishnaivism and Buddhism .In 2nd Century BC Ashoka ,Maurayan Emperor, constructed a Buddha Vihar now known as Srinagar-so Kashmir was a part of the Mauraya Empire whose capital was Patliputra. Kanishka held the fourth Mahayana Buddhist Conference in Srinagar  where the great Scholar-King  Nagarjuna from Andhra attended and stayed for 6 months
In 740 AD Lalitaditya, a Kashmiri king with Capital in Srinagar conquered Kannauj in UP. His Kingdom extended to Kaveri basin in south, Kabul in West, Brahmaputra basin in the east with Ujjain in centre paying it tribute--Lalitaditya was a Vaishnavite-But he requested the Great Saivite scholar Atrigupta to shift to Srinagar .Atrigupta's descendent was Abhinavgupta, one of the greatest scholars Kashmir has produced. He had 9 gurus, one of them lived in Jalandhar in present day Punjab . In his reign Lalitaditya sent 64 Dwarapalas to Kerela and Konkani coast .The manuscripts of Abhinavgupta's work are found in Kerala -signifying there was movement between Kashmir and kerela for centuries
In 8 century, Adi Shankarachaya left Kerala on foot  and Reached Sharada Peeth in present day  Muzzafarabad in Pak occupied Jammu Kashmir. He entered through the South Gate and studied there and Entered into Great Sastrartha( religious/philosophical debates) and was annointed Shankarachaya there and established on the Peeth. The four Shankarachaya mutts in four corners are a living testimony to the Kashmiriat alive through out India .
Guru Nanak stayed in Kashmir during his travels and spread Sikhism in Kashmir,establishing gurudwaras.Guru Tegh Bahadur vowed to protect Kashmiri Hindus and Pandits and sacrificed his life when he was Beheaded by Aurangzeb on November 24,1675.Sheeshganj in Delhi is an Example of Kashmiriat that is was behind Guru Tegh Bahadur's Ultimate sacrifice.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh attacked the Afghan rulers who had captured Kashmir on appeal of Kashmiri Pandits and won Kashmir on 15 July 1819 -So Kashmir was even a part of the Sikh Kingdom.

Without Kashmir, Bharat cannot exist. 

Meerut Memories of terror and Riots

                                                 Memories of Riots and terror in Meerut
Hauz Quasi in the heart of Delhi suffered Riots and temple desecration . Media except for opindia,Swarajya,organiser and Sudarshan TV ,blacked it out till SM pressure forced it to report,albeit in a spun and whitewashed manner.News of rioting mobs in Meerut,news of families migrating from Prahlad nagar revived memories of riots in Meerut. Reupping an old article of mine which I wrote post Malda Riots .
I grew up in Meerut, a small town in UP,80 km away from Delhi-in the 70's-80's life in a small west UP town was predictable, with annual Hindu muslim riots being something one grew up with. The riots always happened in another strata,away from the placid existence of middle class ,in the narrow winding alleys of the old town.We always knew riots were sponsored and the horrors bypassed us.Hindus and Muslims existed in many layers in Meerut-the middle class,upper middle class hindus and muslims had deep friendships, fostered over generations.The unspoken code was if a hindu got caught in a riot in a muslim friend's home in a muslim majority locality,the hindu would remain safe, to be bought out after situation calmed down and vice versa. My grandmother subscribed to a urdu newspaper,it was a sign of social sophistication to know sher-o-shyri. Tailors of Hindu households were Muslims whose expertise at making churidaars and Shararas was unsurpassed.The winding alleys in the Muslim Dominated areas were an alien universe to us--the female residents disgorging themselves out on the weekly Monday on the weekly Monday Pent( street market) wearing Burkhas,which were not a common sight in Meerut middle class/upper middle class muslims.The other occasion when the residents of the mysterious other world came out was during Muharram processions-otherwise life went on in parallel streams.
In 86-87 all this suddenly took a different turn.Riots became violent,more intense and spread into middle class neighbourhoods.
It was early morning in Shastri nagar,a hindu majority middle class colony,in early summer of 1987, far away slogans of Allah o Akbar suddenly rent the air and dark black smoke appeared on the horizon. Before we could know what  the matter was, suddenly lots of neighbours living on the outskirts of Shastri nagar( a hindu majority colony) next to Hapur Road ( Muslim majority area) began running in on foot ,on scooters, on cycles- saying a muslim mob had attacked them and was throwing burning tyres into their homes. Also,A petrol pump had been burnt on Hapur road .
We climbed up on the roof and could see a mob approaching the main road ,throwing burning tyres and chanting Allah-o-Akbar.I remember my Father,a frail committed communist, picking up hockeysticks and waking my pre teen brother to get ready to protect the colony. Early morning milkmen were coming in cycles from nearby villages.When they saw the Mob they rushed back and returned with Desi katta( guns) and started confronting the mob with slogans of  -Har Har Mahadev.
The MP of Meerut was Mohisina Kidwai. My grandmother was a congress worker. We rang her residence from the lone phone in our neighbourhood, but she was in Delhi and no one was there to help us. One uncle rushed to the police chowki in the much treasured Bajaj ,but was informed there was No police Force Available-all had been sent to Delhi to deal with a Farmers' Rally, only a few policemen were there-with lathis.
Suddenly we realised we were helpless, unprotected and had only ourselves . We had no weapons except Hockey Sticks, lathis,kitchen knives. The villagers meanwhile had routed the Mob .The colony was new, with open fields all around and the mobs would attack from different fronts,from an area called Zaidi farms,but were mercifully kept at bay by the katta wielding villagers .
I can never forget the feeling of terror and utter helplessness and the feeling of betrayal. Rajiv Gandhi was the PM-he was a youth icon-how was this happening? Where was the police? Where was the MP? Why were we left undefended
For weeks this continued. Curfew was imposed. It was the month of Ramzan. Whole night the males would take turns at keeping watch. The residents of the outlying areas came to live with us .Till late night we women would huddle up in the park and then all would be sleeping in a few designated safe houses -on the roof. We had planned to drink Rat poison if our colony got overrun. We collected bricks and kept them on the roof to throw in case we were attacked. The nights were scary with ears straining to hear any sounds of Mobs attacking. A few attempts were foiled by the police and our own watch parties .
Pre dawn, drums would beat at a nearby Mosque. Then slogans would be broadcast on the loudspeaker. Pakistan zindabad would be followed by threats of violence. We would be told that instead of Bakras Hindus will be given in Qurbani. Then news that the muslims had destroyed the Chandi temple ( false) would be announced. Then they would also announce the Hindu areas they had attacked and how many they had killed etc . The broadcasts would fill us with dread ( though later police would debunk these rumors)
A couple of Muslim families in our area were safe. We knew they were not a part of this mindset. But then another troubling event occurred. Absolute strangers came to our colonies and asked about muslim households and warned us against protecting them. The police escorted the Muslim families in the dark of the night outside Meerut to their relatives, while we all distributed their furniture in out homes for safe keeping . The strangers came the next day but police told them the muslim families had left before the riots and showed them empty homes.
Finally the PAC was deployed in Meerut. They were heroes for us-after they were deployed the Mosque fell silent.The neighbourhood watches ceased. And we all began sleeping in our own homes.
The strangers disappeared and the muslim families came back.
With our old friends there was no bitterness-we knew we did not subscribe to this madness .And they knew they were safe in our colony.
India today magazine came after Riots.I expected that our Riots would be covered .
My first betrayal with Media began then-there was no coverage of Hindu areas-only Maliyana and PAC excesses. For us PAC was god send -But for media something else.
Normalcy returned.Our Muslim dhobi and ironing guy who lived in area from where the Mob came told us strangers had formed the Mob .
This was the last Big Riot Meerut saw. But troubling questions remain.
Who were the mobs? How were pakistan zindabad slogans aired from mosques? Why was there no police force? Why was it sent to Delhi? Who were the strangers who came hunting for muslim families in hindu colonies?
When i see Daily temple vandalisation and Muslim mobs on streets, my memories come back-80 km from Delhi and we suffered nights of terror in 1987. Come 2019, heart of Delhi suffers this.
Who is to be blamed?  vote bank politics?
The sense of Betrayal remains,So must be with the Hindu families in in Hauz Quasi,Meerut,Agra,muzzafarnagar,Haryana,Surat,West Bengal and other such places where there is sizeable Muslim population and where mobs are coming out on streets now.  why these attacking Mobs? Helpless police? What is the story behind these suddenly daily incidents?
Narendra Modi is in power now . I invest my hope in him to rid India from such days and nights of terror.

Rahul Gandhi and his crass offer to pilots to die in crashes

Rahul Gandhi -do you realise what loss is it when a pilot dies in an air crash?

Unbelievingly I heard Rahul Gandhi,the scion of the dynasty and projected PM,tell pilots that if Rafale deal is cancelled the 30,000 crores saved would be given to pilots when they die in an air crash.
I am the wife of a naval aviator,who retired safely -and I am grateful to God that he is alive. Having lived the greater part of my married life in an airbase,I have seen first hand the devastation a crash causes to the family and friends,leave alone the service.
Airplane and helicopter crashes were nearly annual events in our airbase-no surprises since all the aircrafts and helicopters were way past their sanctioned life. The aircrafts should have been phased out decades ago,but due to great policies of Rahul Gandhi’s dynasty,were given extensions over and over again,budgets were sparse,maintainace delayed,spare parts scarce-and when the much delayed refit to the country of origin ( mainly Russia) was sanctioned,aircrafts were stripped to the barest essentials. Hats off to the aviators who still completed all the tasks and remained battle ready with such constraints.
But the way-past-their-prime aircrafts took a toll – someday we would see a pall of dense smoke on the runway,suddenly hear a crash,the wail of a siren- and hearts would sink,as these signs were of a aircraft/helicopter crash. Someday,suddenly Husband would rush off at night for a search and rescue of an aircraft which had not returned.
Does Rahul Gandhi even realise what happens when aviators die in a crash?
All aviators are young,in their 20’s or thirties. They have young wives and very young children. Some leave behind pregnant wives.
Most of the time,the day starts as routine,quick byes are said early morning,plans made for evening and the aviator goes off for a routine sortie-some engine part malfunctions,rotor blades may stop,aircrafts May collide- and worlds comes crashing down !
Scared children are picked up from school,the commanding officer with his spouse breaks the shattering news to the wife,and suddenly life changes for ever. Terrified children hold on to the shattered mother’s hands,the pregnant wife is suddenly left adrift, shocked parents of bachelors are informed on phone— the whole base is plunged into deep sorrow.
The young wife,mostly in twenties or thirties,is suddenly faced with difficult choices,the children,who till few hours back were carefree and playful suddenly become serious. Does Rahul Gandhi even realise for the widows / parents of the dead aviator,most difficult moment is signing on insurance and other benefits papers- they break down,cry,feel that it is blood money. Many refuse to sign and have to be counselled- and here Rahul Gandhi is offering them blood money as an incentive to cancel Rafale deal?
 Does Rahul Gandhi even realise the painful choices the wife has to make? In case she decides to opt for service in armed forces- where does she leave her children while training? The children who were the center of parents pampering,suddenly become issues which have to be managed. Young children,toddlers,infants are left with grandparents with a heavy heart,while the wife embarks upon a life she had never even thought of .
Does Rahul Gandhi even understand the deep loss that the family is left with? Every Milestone in the child’s life sharpens the loss of the father,no amount of money can ever fill this loss.
Rahul Gandhi,have you even thought about the pregnant wife left behind,the unborn child who will never know the father,the emptiness the wife faces with no one to share her motherhood?
The most intriguing part is Rahul Gandhi has himself lost a father-he often speaks about his sense of loss
And then he makes this crass statement of offering pilots money from cancelled Rafale deal to die in airplane crashes!
This is the true face of a heartless self centred Dynast .