Kashmiri Muslims only made one mistake...
After the movie, last night, I talked to a Kashmiri Pandit couple in the parking lot, where their car was parked next to mine. She initiated the conversation, "Everything the movie showed is the truth." I was too numb to even respond verbally. I barely asked, "You lived in Kashmir when ... ?"
Yes they did. They were newly-wed when the January 19, 1990 genocide happened. They were lucky enough to flee early before nightfall. However, the escape out of the Valley was extremely dangerous. More than anyone it was the neighborhood Muslim kids they feared the most. Those kids roamed the streets looking out for 'Bhatte' who were preparing to flee. If they spotted one they would right away run to inform the local terrorist commander. Those kids were the couriers. Nothing frightened the Kashmiri Pandits more than the sight of the Muslim kids screaming "Bhatte."
Although I was aware of this, it's hard to process this reality when someone narrates her first-person experience. Even the Nazis didn't use children to hunt down the Jews. Kashmiri Muslims were indeed exceptional. Every Pandit victim of genocide would recall how these roving bands of Kashmiri Muslim kids were a lethal courier network.
"Kashmiri Muslims made many mistakes," I said.
"No, they only made one mistake. They took 3 days to commit the genocide. That was a mistake. That allowed us to escape. If they had done it all in a day then nobody would've even heard of this. We won't be having this movie or this conversation," she replied.👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
No comments:
Post a Comment