KSASHMIR entinel Let Truth Prevail - Panun Kashmir

KASHMIRentinelS Let Truth Prevail

Vol. 12. No: 11 November 2007 Pages 20 Price Rs. 16/

JKENG 00333/26/AL/TC/94 JK No: 1213/18 Regd. JK-219/2007

INSIDEINTERVIEWKalu was MySaviour..................Page 4-5

INTERVIEWKashmiri Pandits-The last journey fromSarda.....................Page 6-7

INTERVIEWPak Invasion-Looking Back.......Page 8-9

INVESTIGATIONThe role of IchammaFront in SavingSrinagar....................0

HISTORYBattle of Shalteng....Page 11

BOOK REVIEWRajouri did not evenreceive acondolence............Page 12

BOOK REVIEWRaiders Invasion-new revelations.....Page 13

PHOTO ESSAY............................Page 14-15

WEB-SCANOnce a Sufferer, always aSafferer....................Page 16

ARCHIVESTribal Invasion-An AmericanReportage..............Page 17

CHRONOLOGY.................................Page 18

e-mail: [email protected]

(Contd. on Page 17)

By A SpecialCorrespondent

THERE is enough evidenceto suggest that the J&Kgovernment and

Government of India hadsufficient information aboutraiders’ invasion before hand.

Dr. Atri's revelation:On October 8, 1947 Dr. SK

Atri, a leading doctor of Srinagarhad been informed by some ofhis patients who held pro-Pakviews that an invasion was in theoffing. He took Prof. Madhokand many others into confidenceabout it. This is corroborated byProf. Niranjan Nath Raina, thefounder of the communist move-ment in Kashmir. In his book'Kashmir Politics and Imperi-alist manoeuvres' (1846-1980),he writes:

"Some influential refugeesfrom the NWFP with close per-sonal contacts among the Pathanelite, reached Srinagar in sec-ond week of October. They hadpersonal knowledge that KhanBahadur Kuli Khan had been re-cruiting tribes in the Swat Val-ley for invasion of Kashmir".

The communist group in theNational Conference acting onthis information issued a hand-bill on the 14th or 15th of Octo-ber warning that an invasionwas being planned to take placebefore the onset of winter. Itasked all the patriotic forces torise to the occasion to defendthe state against invasion. At thesame time it asked for transfer ofpower to the people, claimingthat only a government enjoyingthe confidence of the peoplewould be able to organiseeffective defence.

Cunnigham Letter:George Cunnigham, who was

Governor of NWFP at the timeof partition, wrote a letter to LordMountbatten divulging informa-

There was enough evidenceabout Tribal Raid

tion that Pakistan was sendingarmed tribesmen to Kashmir. Hisletter was forwarded to PrimeMinister Nehru by the Viceroy.Pandit Nehru later admitted inParliament to having accidentallydestroyed the crucial document.

Dewan Shiv Sharan Lal, whowas Deputy Commissioner ofDera Ismail Khan had soon afterhis escape from Pakistan metSardar Patel, the Home Minister

and informed him about Paki-stan's preparations for invasionof Kashmir. Sardar Patel had, itis believed, despatched DewanShiv Sharan Lal to Srinagar tobe in touch with DIG Kashmir,Sh. Gian Chand Bali.

Kalkat Episode:By far the direct and compre-

hensive evidence about the Pa-kistani attack came from MajorOnkar Singh Kalkot on 19th Oc-tober i.e. more than two daysprior to invasion.

Major OS Kalkat, who laterrose to be the Major General inIndian Army was serving as the

Brigade Major at HQ BannuFrontier Brigade Group at thetime when preparations wereunderway for tribal invasion. HisBrigade head was Murray, a Brit-ish national Kalkat had beenwith Murray for over a year andwas in his confidence. He was apostgraduate in Economics fromDelhi University and had joinedthe Army rather late at the ageof 24 in 1942.

Soon after partition there wascommunal trouble in Mirpur, kill-ings had gone unabated.. Kalkathad offered to go there but wasrestrained by Murray. The lattertold him it was better that a whiteofficer went there, otherwise theissue would get politicised.Kalkat's family had alreadyreached East Punjab.

Kalkat was under watch ofPakistani intelligence, a juniorLieutenant was watching hismovements. Besides Kalkatthere were other few non-Muslim military personnelstationed at Bannu brigade

outpost.Messenger packet used to

come on every Monday. Theduty officer brought the packet,Kalkat as Brigade Major signedfor it. The packet marked 'per-sonal/top secret' was meant forBrig. Murray. It was an officialcommunication from Com-mander-in-Chief of the PakistanArmy. Major OS Kalkat was onthe horns of a dilemma. As Bri-gade Major it was his duty to re-lay the message by radio to hisBrigadier. At the same time be-coming privy to what was sup-posed to be secret communica-tion to his boss would put hislife in danger. For a momentKalkat hesitated. Then he openedthe packet, which included a let-ter addressed to Brig. Murray. Itwas signed personally by Gen-eral Sir Frank of Messervy, C inC. Kalkat on reading the contentsof the letter got nervous and feltexcited. He bolted the door of hisroom to study the details in se-crecy.

The letter and the accompa-nying briefing note detailed theplan for an Army offensivenamed 'Operation Gulmarg'.The invasion was planned byPak Army Headquarters meticu-lously with considerable strate-gic and tactical insight. The 'Op-eration Gulmarg' was to be an in-vasion of the Kashmir valley bytribal warriors of the northernfrontier areas, which were to bearmed and led by Pak army offic-ers wearing tribal dress. Theheadquarters of 'OperationGulmarg' was to be in the build-ing that housed GeneralMesservy.

Kalkat was the only Indian toknow of secret invasion plannedby Pakistan. Destiny had chosenhim for a very special task. Therewere still two months in which

Indian forces pushing back Pakistani Invaders in Nov. 1947in Teetwal Sector.

This thematic issue of Kashmir Sentinel commemorating 60th Anniversary of Tribal invasion isdedicated to the memory of brave Indian soldiers who died fighting Pakistanis. --The Editor.

22222THOSE WHO LEFT USTHOSE WHO LEFT USTHOSE WHO LEFT USTHOSE WHO LEFT USTHOSE WHO LEFT US

1. Smt. Santosh Razdan (Preeti) W/o Sh. RakeshRazdan, R/o 329-P, Top Sherkhania SubashNagar, Jammu formerly resident of 129-Babapora, Habbakadal Sgr. 23/5/2007

2. Smt. Pushpa Razdan (Kotru) W/o Sh. Bansi LalKotru R/o Bagadaji Rainawari Sgr; presently resi-dent at H.No: 699 Vishal Nagar Talab Tillo,Jammu. 24/5/2007

3. Smt. Santosh W/o of Sh. Girdhari Lal Bhat resi-dent of Magarmal Bagh Sgr, now at 8D/D-II Extn.Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. 24/5/2007

4. Sh. Maheshwar Nath Raina S/o Late Pt. Shiv RamRaina R/o Badkote Machipora Handwara Kmr;presently residing at Qtr. No: 73, Raj BhawanMishriwalla Camp Jammu. 24/5/2007

5. Smt. Chand Rani Bhat W/o Late Sh. Dina NathBhat,R/o Montpora Anantnag Kmr; presently residingat H.No: 585 Lane-5, Suriya Vanshi Nagar LowerRoop Nagar, Muthi Jammu. 25/5/2007

6. Sh. Janki Nath Dulloo S/o Late Sh. Raghu NathDulloo formerly residen of 30 Karan Nagar, Sgr;presently at C/1657 Sushant Lok Phase-I,Gurgaon. 25/5/2007.

7. Smt. Raj Rani Bindro W/o Late Dr. R.N BindrooR/o Iqbal Park Sgr; presently residing at E4/10Sector-11 Rohini Delhi 85. 25/5/2007

8. Smt. Soomawati Raina W/o Late Pt. Dina NathRaina formerly resident of Reshi MohallaHabbakadal Sgr; presently residing at Flat No:13, Mahabader Kali CGHS Plot No: 6, Dwarka,New Delhi. 26/5/2007

9. Sh. Soom Nath Raina S/o Late Sh. Kailash RamRaina R/o Sligam, Anantnag Kmr; presently Com-munity Hall Battal Ballian Camp, Udhampur. 26/5/2007

10. Smt. Mohan Payare W/o Late Sh. Mohan KrishenBhan; presently residing at H.No: 254, Sector-2,Shivalikpuram, Janipur Colony, Jammu. Formerlyresident of Chinkral Mohalla Sgr. 27/5/2007

11. Sh. Mankameshwar Nath Ambardar S/o Late Sh.Srikanth Ambardar originally resident of MotiyarRainawari Sgr; presently residing at H.No: 47,Sector-5, Nanak Nagar, Jammu. 28/5/2007

12. Smt. Chand Rani W/o Late Sh. MadhusudanShashoo R/o Devsar Kulgam Kmr; presently re-siding at Lane: 5, Adarsh Nagar Barnai Road,Bantalab Jammu. 28/5/2007

13. Sh. Bishamber Nath Sapru of DrabiyarHabbakadal Sgr; presently residing at H.No:3638, Sector-23, Gurgaon Haryana. 29/5/2007

14. Smt. Urmilla Pandita W/o Sh. Moti Lal Panditaformerly resident of Chappergund NunarGanderbal Kmr; presently residing at Sector B-2,Chinoor Jammu. 29/5/2007

15. Sh. Mahadev Ram Khar S/o Late Sh. Aftab RamKhar originally resident of Mohalla SangrampurSopore Kmr; presently residing at Plot No: 65,Lane No: 3, GTB Nagar Chandigarh RoadJamalpur Ludhiana Punjab. 29/5/2007

16. Sh. Shambu Nath Suri S/o Late Sh. BhagwanDass Suri R/o Sathu Barbar Shah Sgr. 29/5/2007

17. Smt. Subaghwati Tufchi W/o Late Sh. Gwash LalTufchi of 288-Karan Nagar Sgr; presently resid-ing at 41-A, Tirath Nagar, Roop Bawani AsthapanTalab Tillo, Jammu. 30/5/2007

18. Smt. Kamlawati Tikoo W/o Late Sh. ShreedharJoo Tikoo R/o Sheliteng Habbakadal Sgr; pres-ently residing at 452 JMC Old Gurah BakshiNagar, Jammu. 31/5/2007.

19. Smt. Tarrawati Mattoo W/o Late Sh. Dina NathMattoo originally resident of Kawdara Sgr; pres-ently residing at H.No: 46, Sector-1, Trikuta Nagar,Jammu. 2/6/2007

20. Smt. Sham Rani Bhat (Kalam) W/o Late Sh. KashiNath Bhat (Kalam) of Kalam Kulgam Kashmir;presently residing at H.No: 69/A Amar ColonyCamp Road Talab Tillo, Jammu. 2/6/2007

21. Smt. Arandati (Jigri) Wat W/o Late Sh. Pandit NandLal R/o Hawal Pulwama Kmr; presently residing

Panun Kashmir and Kashmir Sentinel condoles the demise of the following members of the community.at H.No: 24, Lane-1, Sector-2, Laxmi Nagar, MuthiJammu. 2/6/2007

22. Smt. Rajni W/o Sh. Sunil Bhat of Umanagari (BrariAngan) Anantnag Kmr; presently at Pandit ColonyDurga Vihar Toll Post Nagrota, Jamu. 3/6/2007

23. Sh. Niranjan nath jad s/o late sh. neel kanth jadoriginally resident of Nazuk Mohalla AnantnagKmr; presently residing at Lane: 2, Opp. VijayNagar Camp Road, Talab Tillo, Jammu. 4/6/2007

24. Sh. Gopi Nath Dhar S/o Late Sh. TaranchandDhar R/io Hugam Anantnag Kmr; presently re-siding at Dream City Muthi Jammu. 4/6/2007

25. Smt. Janki Nath Lidhoo originally resident ofSopore Kmr; presently puttingup at H.No: 101/2Govind Nagar Gole Gujral, Jammu. 4/6/2007

26. Sh. Vinod Kumar Suri S/o Late. Sh Narayan NathSuri formerly resident of Nai Basti Anantnag Kmr;presently at Qtr. No: D-34, Phase-II, Muthi Jammu.4/6/2007

27. Smt. Batni W/o Late Sh. Jiya Lal Pandita origi-nally resident of village Bragam Doru AnantnagKmr; presently residing at H.No: 25-D, ShardaColony Patoli Brahmana, Jammu. 5/6/2007

28. Smt. Gunwati W/o Late Sh. Jagar Nath Kharoo ofMallapora, Sgr; presently residing at Durga Nagar,Sector-1, Bantalab, Jammu. 5/6/2007

30. Smt. Prabhawati Raina W/o Late Sh. RadhaKrishen Raina, resident of H.No: 13, Lane-7, K.B.Nagar, Bantalab, Jammu. 5/6/2007

31. Sh. Santosh Chander S/o Late Sh. Shyam Laloriginally resident of Sathu Barber Shah Sgr; pres-ently at Laxmi Nagar, Muthi, Phase-I, Jammu. 6/6/2007

32. Sh. Poshkar Nath Bhat S/o Late Sh. Kanth RamBhat of Khunmoh Distt. Srinagar Kmr; presentlyresiding at H.No: 231, Lane No: 4, Durga Nagar,Muthi Jammu. 7/6/2007

33. Sh. Hari Krishen Kaw S/o Late Sh. Swaroop NathKaw, R/o Gan Khan Zainakdal Sgr; presently atUSA. 7/6/2007

34. Smt. Rani Koul W/o Late Sh. Janki Nath Koul ofGundahalmar Nai Sarak Sgr; presently residingat H.No: 97, Old Janipur, Doordarshan Lane,Jammu. 8/6/2007

35. Smt. Rupa Raina W/o Late Sh. Sham Lal Rainaof Rajbagh Sgr; presently residing at 103 VSLAppts. C-158/17, Sector-6, Noida. 8/6/2007

36. Sh. Radha Krishen Bambroo S/o Late Sh.Sudarshan Bambroo of Akhoora Anantnag, Kmr;presently residing at H.No: 141-B, Aman ViharPhase-II Near Ajeet Colony Gol Gujral Camp,Jammu. 8/6/2007

37. Sh. Saroop Nath Trakroo S/o Late Sh. AmarChand Trakroo, R/o Kilam Anantnag, Kmr; pres-ently residing at 86/75, Sector-4, Rohini Delhi. 8/6/2007

38. Smt. Kamla Ji Raina W/o Late Sh. Gopi NathRaina erstwhile resident of Balhama Sgr andpresently residing at Vinayak Vihar Behind SoapFactory Khajuria Mohalla Paloura, Jammu. 9/6/2007

39. Sh. Soom Nath Tikoo originally resident of ShallaKadal Sgr; presently residing at E-13, ShankarVihar Ext. Talab Tillo, Jammu. 9/6/2007

40. Sh. Soom Nath Zutshi S/o Sh. Anand Ram ZutshiR/o 145 Babapora Habbakadal Sgr; presentlyresiding at 1/17 Shanti Nagar, Old Janipora,Jammu. 9/6/2007

41. Sh. R.N. Jalali S/o Late Sh. P.N. Jallali R/o 250,Bharat Nagar, Rehari Colony, Jammu. 10/6/2007.formerly resident of Zaindar Mohalla Sgr.

42. Smt. Kamlawati W/o Sh Radha Krishen Panditaoriginally resident of Gund Gushi Kupwra Kmr;presently residing at H.No: 1, Lane-2, ShardhaVihar Santra Morh Ponichak, Jammu. 10/6/2007

43. Smt. Anjali Raina (Reeta Ji) W/o Sh. RomeshKumar Raina erstwhile resident of MachiporaHandwara Kmr; presently residing at ShardaVihar Santra Morh, Lane-2, Ponichak Jammu. 10/6/2007

44. Smt. Somawati W/o Late Sh. Kashi Nath RambalR/o 756-A Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. 10/62007

45. Sh. Ram Chand Bhan S/o Late Sh. Aftab RamBhan,R/o 532, Subash Nagar, Jammu. 10/6/2007

46. Smt. Soomawati Shalla W/o Late Sh. Soom NathShalla resident of Gurgaon Haryana. 11/6/2007

47. Sh. Sanjay Bhat S/o Susheela and NN Bhat; pres-ently residing at 268-F, Lane No: 10, Shakti Nagar,Jammu. 11/6/2007

48. Sh. Shamboo Nath Pandita S/o Late Pt. MukundRam Pandita formerly resident of Tral Kmr; pres-ently residing at H.No: 27/28, Temple LaneSubash Nagar, Ext. Jammu. 11/6/2007

49. Sh. Kashi Nath Pandit S/o Lal Sh. Veshna PanditR/o Dewar Tral Kmr; presently residing atDharmal Panchayat Ghar Barnai, Jammu. 11/6/2007

50. Smt. Roop Koul (Pahalwan) W/o of Late Sh. S.L.Pahalwan R/o Near Old Police Station Raj BaghSgr; presently at 72 I/C Anuradha Puram BarnaiJammu. 11/6/2007

51. Smt. Roopawati W/o Late Sh. Baskar Nath origi-nallyR/o Kharbrari Kulgam Kmr; presently AdarshNagar Lane-1, Paloura, Jammu. 11/6/2007

52. Smt. Ratni Koul W/o of Sh. Roshan Lal Koul(Saraf) originally resident of 84-Bagh Jogi LankarRainawari Sgr; presently at T-61, Shukhar BazarGali No: 2, Uttam Nagar, New Delhi. 12/6/2007

53. Pt. Janki Nath Kadalbujoo S/o Late Sh. Tika RamKadalbujoo originally R/o Gurgari Mohalla Sgr;presently at 29- Colonel's Colony Bohri Jammu.12/6/2007

54. Sh. Krishen Ji S/o Late Sh. Vishamber NathPandita originally R/o Arigam Budgam Kmr; pres-ently resident at Buta Nagar, Paloura, Jammu.12/6/2007.

55. Smt. Arandati Saraf W/o Late Sh. Nand Lal Saraforiginally resident of 275-Jawahar Nagar Sgr;presently residing at Satisar Appt. Dwarika Delhi.12/6/2007

56. Smt. Soom Rani W/o Late Sh. Soomnath Panditaof 32-Narparistan Sgr; presently residing at KotaRajasthan. 12/6/2007

57. Sh. Dileep Kumar Koul (Mugloo) S/o Sh. BadriNath Koul, R/o Dabtal Alikadal Sgr; presently re-siding at Sector-1, H.No: 72, Model Town GangyalJammu. 12/6/2007

58. Smt. Indrawati Nagri W/o Late Sh. H.No: Nagri R/o Flat No: 202, Sector-2, Sahibabad Gaziabad,UP. 12/6/2007

59. Sh. Makhan Lal Dhar S/o Late Sh. Jia Lal Dharoriginally resident of Syed Ali Akbar Fateh KadalSgr and presently residing at Rajinder GuptaH.No: 355, Lane 12 Kabir Nagar Poonch House,Talab Tillo, Jammu. 13/6/2007

60. Smt. Kanta Wantoo W/o Late Sh. Damodhar NathWantoo originally resident of Anantnag Kmr; pres-ently at 77-A, Indira Colony Camp Road, TalabTillo, Jammu. 13/6/2007

61. Sh. Vijay Kumar Koul (Nana Ji) S/o Sh. Dina NathKoul, R/o Chowdri Gund Shopian Kmr; presentlyat Lale-Da-Bagh Jammu. 13/6/2007

62. Smt. Kamlawati Saraf W/o Lt. Sh. Gopi Nath SarafR/o Zaindar Mohalla Sgr; presently residing atPurkhoo Camp, Phase-I, Jammu. 13/6/2007

63. Sh. Ahok Kumar Dhar S/o Late Sh. H.N. Dharoriginally resident of Channapora Sgr;presentlyresiding at H.No: 3, Lane-2, K.B. Nagar Bantalab,Jammu. 13/6/2007

64. Sh. Soom Nath Raina S/o Late Dr. Amar NathRaina,R/o Barbarshah Sgr; presently residing at 152/2Pamposh Colony Janipur, Jammu. 14/6/2007

65. Sh. Chand Ji Bhat S/o Late Sh. Arjan Nath Bhatoriginally R/o Chanderkhama Mattan BaramullaKmr; presently at H.No: 135-D, Lane-2, Sector-1,Durga Nagar, Jammu. 14/6/2007

KASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

Panun Kashmir commands mass supportPanun Kashmir commands mass supportPanun Kashmir commands mass supportPanun Kashmir commands mass supportPanun Kashmir commands mass supportSir,

Panun Kashmir deserves all appreciation for the successful conduct of itsAnnual Convention held this year on 14th Sept., the Kashmiri Pandit Martyr'sDay. The disruption which a small group belonging to an obscure formation triedto create seems to be an organised affair. The communal establishment in thestate appears to be becoming more and more inconvenient about the role whichPanun Kashmir is playing.

The way this group of disrupters was effectively and quickly neutralized bythe general public attending the convention reflects the support which PanunKashmir Commands amongst Kashmiri Pandits. I feel encouraged by the publicresponse.

Panun Kashmir leaders and activists deserve all praise for the conduct of theconvention. The deliberations were disciplined and profoundly meaningful.

--Raj Koul, Sarwal, JammuSentinel of National InterestsSentinel of National InterestsSentinel of National InterestsSentinel of National InterestsSentinel of National InterestsSir,

The 'National Security' special issue of Kashmir Sentinel was Superb. It wasfull of information and insights. How the GoI is bungling every aspect of nationalsecurity is disheartening. We should expect little from GOI because it is guidedby a vision of self-negation. I wonder whether we will have peace even if Pakistanstops meddling into our affairs.

Kashmir Sentinel is gradually rising to become the real Sentinel of our Na-tional interests. Can we enlarge its reach? I wish Indian public at large shouldhave access to Kashmir Sentinel.

--Omesh Raina, Muthi

COMMUNICACOMMUNICACOMMUNICACOMMUNICACOMMUNICATIONTIONTIONTIONTION

TTTTTo our ro our ro our ro our ro our readerseaderseaderseaderseadersYYYYYou can mail us atou can mail us atou can mail us atou can mail us atou can mail us at

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EDITORIALEDITORIALEDITORIALEDITORIALEDITORIAL

ON 22ND OF OCTOBER the people of J&K observed 60th anniversary ofPak-sponsored Raiders invasion of the state. Rich tributes were paid to the

martyrs who fell victim to the Raiders brutalities.Right from the time it came into existence Pakistan has behaved like a medi-

evalist state. Internally, it has ruled its people through a fascist diktat.Externally,it has been engaged in sponsoring religious-based hatred and terrorism.

In October 1947 it let loose inhuman raiders who inflicted barbarities of geno-cidal proportions against the non-Muslim civilian population of J&K .There werekillings,rapes,abductions of women and children, loot and arson----everythingthat would put a civilized society to shame. Towns after towns were razed to theground, massacres were enacted with impunity.

These were not simple communal killings as witnessed during Partition or atother times in sectarian conflicts. The killing of non-combatant civilians wasstate-sponsored religious-cleansing campaign by Pakistanis. If Pakistan’s objec-tive was simply annexation of J&K then why had it to resort to massacres, burn-ing localities of the minority community, rapes, abductions, forcible conversionsetc.Only a Theo-fascist state behaves like that.

Lakhs of people were uprooted from their homes, most of them were never ableto go back. More than 32 thousand civilians were put to death. Mirpur and Rajouriwere to record their own Auschwitz at AliBeg camp and Maidaan .Such highofficials---Rahim Khan, the Deputy Commissioner of Rawalpindi and Col.Rehmatullah Khan(a deserter turned Pak-collaborator) turned butchers, enactingmassacres at Mirpur and Rajouri town respectively. More than 15 thousand civil-ians perished in Mirpur,while 5-7 thousand people were killed at Rajouri. Fewsurvivors were left to tell their tales. Large number of people resorted to theancient custom of Jauhar(mass suicide) to escape indignities and brutalities atMuzaffarabad,Mirpur ,Bhimber,Rajouri,Ningal (Sopore),Handwara etc.

In Kashmir valley Pakistanis turned Baramulla into concentration camp for thelocal Kashmiri Pandit community. The Pandit localities were put to arson. Therewere selective killings of Pandits (as pinpointed by local cadre of Muslim Confer-ence), rape too was used as a weapon of genocide. In the neighbouring village ofChanderhama 21 members of Pandit community were assembled in a hall and thenbrutally shot dead. There were massacres at many places in Kashmir. People wereforced to recant their faith. Their properties were looted. In Askardu and Gilgatalso members of Pandit community had to face killings and rape .

The only silver lining in those dark days was the role played by some membersof the majority community at the individual level. For this names of Mir Zaman inSarda,Ahad War in Chogal,Nabir Bhat in Naidkhai,Abdullah Kachroo in Baramullaetc. will remain enshrined in golden letters in pages of history. Commendable rolewas also played by some politicians---Rehat Mir in Budgam,Sofi Akbar inSopore,Qaba Khan in Bandipore,Nazir Masoodi in Kupwara,Master Abdul Azizand Kachoo Mohd. Ali in Muzaffarabad.It was Maqbool Sherwani’s timely ad-vice to Sofi Akbar which helped Pandit community to leave Sopore town well intime and escape the fate of others who were caught up in the tribal raid.

The Emergency Administration of the day was also alive to the situation. Itlost no time in acting firmly against those who had either collaborated with Paki-stanis or had indulged in brutalities against Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs. ZeeDugra, a notorious criminal involved in looting campaigns against Kashmiri Panditsin Kupwara belt was summarily executed. Many other anti-national elements werepushed across the border.

It is disturbing why the Govt. today is reneging its rich legacy of yesteryears.There has been no state action worth the name against those involved in heinouscrimes against Kashmiri Pandits and other civilians who expressed dissent againstterrorist entrepreneurs. Why is it that the state administration has failed to buildsufficient prosecution to get conviction against these criminals? We are alsowithin our right to ask why the political class looks the other way when it comesto taking strong action against those who have forcibly and fraudulently occu-pied residential and shrines/institutions property belonging to Kashmiri Hindus.Why the property of Kashmiri Hindus is being forcibly grabbed by the adminis-tration under the garb of ‘public utility’?In 1947 the political class displayedunity. Today a section of the ruling coalition speaks a language which can only bemusic to Pakistanis and their terrorist establishments.

Holding big commemorative meetings in the name of Martyrs might fetchgood media publicity for the organizers. Can we pay better homage to the martyrsthan caring for the victims of religious-cleansing campaigns and foiling the strat-egies of Pakistanis and their collaborators?

HOMAGE TO MARHOMAGE TO MARHOMAGE TO MARHOMAGE TO MARHOMAGE TO MARTYRSTYRSTYRSTYRSTYRS

33333KASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

PANUN KASHMIROrganises

One Day Convention To CelebrateHOMELAND DAY

AtCHINMAYA MISSION HALL,

Lodhi Road, New DelhiOn

Saturday, 29th December, 2007For further information and delegate registration

Please Contact:

1. Dr. Shakti Bhan -- 098100717002. Sh. Vijay Tickoo -- 098710955333. Sh. Kanwal Wangnoo -- 09810343522

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4INTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

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About the AuthorPandit Bishember Nath Sapru

was born in 1917 at Srinagar (Kash-mir) to Sh. Govind Ram Sapru andSmt. Umaravati Sapru. He had twobrothers—Sh. Sham Lal was elderwhile Sh. Kashinath was youngerto him. The lone sister Late Satidedwas married in Ambardar family ofRainawari. Saprus lived at Drabiyarquarter in Habbakadal area ofSrinagar. Sh. Bishember Nath wasmarried to Smt. Arandhati, daughter of Sh. Kashi Nath Mattooof Alikadal.

Sh. Bishember Nath Sapru had his schooling in MissionSchool, Srinagar and was adjudged as the best swimmer of hisschool. He did his graduation and B.Ed. from Punjab University.Sh. Sapru had a long stint in J&K Education Department, finallyretiring as Tehsil Education Officer, Kargil.

Sh. B.N. Sapru had great sense of history. In 1947 duringTribal invasion of J&K he was caught up in Muzaffarabad (PoK).He lived as 'Prisoner of War', finally managing his escape sixmonths later. The great story of his eyewitness account of inva-sion and its aftermath, life as a captive and finally the escapewas recorded at Ahmedabad on 27th and 28th of January 2002.Sh. Bishember Nath had prodigious memory, even at the age of85 he could recollect all that he had lived through during thoseturbulent days. He passed away on 29th May 2007 at his son'shouse in Gurgaon. -- The Editor

By Pt. Bishambar NathSapru

IN 1946 I appeared in B.Ed.examination as a student ofPrince of Wales College,

Jammu. Earlier, I had served for abrief while in Cooperative Bank.Soon after I cleared B.Edexamination I was selected as ateacher and posted to Kargil.However, the order was modifiedat my request. New posting wasto Muzaffarabad.

In July 1947 I joined Govt.High School, Muzaffarabad.Many Kashmiri Pandits were al-ready serving as teachers in thisschool. They included-Sham LalLabroo (Head Master), PremNath Nehru (IInd Master), KashiNath Jalali of Rainawari (Draw-ing Teacher), Kashi NathRangroo (Science Teacher),Janki Nath Wangnoo, ShambooNath Dhar of Chattabal etc. Pt.Dina Nath Dhar was Asstt. In-spector of schools.

Many Kashmiri Panditsserved in different departmentsof State government inMuzaffarabad. They includedGulab Ram of Baramulla (Electric-ity), Dina Nath of Rohama,Sarvanand Thalchoor (com-pounder) and his two nephews-Sukhdev Kaul (ran a medicalshop) and Kashi Nath Kaul,Shamboo Nath Thalchoor ofFatehkadal (Sanitary Inspector),Tarachand 'BA' alias Wagam(Asstt. Wazir Wazarat), Sona LalWarikoo (Revenue). Shyam LalBandhu, brother of Pt. KashyapBandhu was Mushir Mal, whileHriday Nath worked in SingerCompany as Manager.

I took up a room on rent on1st floor. In the same house GulabRam, a Kashmiri Pandit who was10-15 years older to me, lived onGround Floor. I was 28 years andhad married recently. On the in-tervening night of 21st/22nd Oc-tober I was woken up from sleepby the sound of 'tin tin'. Rumourswere already rife in the townabout an imminent Pakistani in-vasion. I went down to tell GulabRam that 'firing is going on'. Hewas obese, his huge frame cov-ered almost the whole Cot. Gulabhad great sense of humour andloved to cut jokes with me. Hetried to reassure me, "probablyshogas (wild crows) have en-tered the town to feed them-selves on the fruit which is avail-able here in plenty. I have beentelling you to get your wife here.Your hallucinations of 'bullet fir-ing' would be over".

I went back to sleep. Soon 'tin-

MUZAFFMUZAFFMUZAFFMUZAFFMUZAFFARABAD-1947ARABAD-1947ARABAD-1947ARABAD-1947ARABAD-1947

Kalu was my Saviourtin' sound grew louder and twobullets hit my door. I opened thedoor and picked up the hot cas-ings of the cartridges. When Ishowed these to Gulab Ram heturned pale with fear. It was 1:30AM.

The previous day Pt. PremNath Nehru and other KashmiriPandits had met Col. NarainSingh, the Commander of DograGarrison at Muzaffarabad andconveyed to him that Pakistanhad already purchased loyaltiesof a section of his troops. Theyimpressed upon him the inadvis-ability of putting these troops atthe front. The colonel hadlaughed away their apprehen-sions, saying, "They havefought with me in Egypt. The willnever betray me".

On 21th October itself, PrithviNath Mazari, a Kashmiri Panditteacher posted at Danakcheli, (20kms from Muzaffarabad) had ranaway to Muzaffarabad after see-ing tribal lashkar at Danakcheli.Mazari immediately after his ar-rival went to see Col. NarainSingh and Wazir Wazarat, MehtaDuni Chand.He informedthem thatT r i b a llashkar wasm o v i n ga h e a dt o w a r d sMuzaffarabad.The twoofficials puthim off say-ing that hew a sspread ingpanic. Weheard hew a spunished bytying him toa tree.Mazari waslater taken captive by the raid-ers. He did not return to Indiaand used to correspond with hisrelations in Habbakadal, Kashmirtill 1960s . We learnt that he hadmarried a local there.

A section of troops were al-ready in touch with raiders. Wehad no concept of war and tookrumours about impending inva-sion lightly.

While I was showing the car-tridge casings to Pt. Gulab Ramwe heard loud cries of 'GopalKa Chowk Me Bago' (Run toGopal Square). People (Hindus)were running in the adjoiningstreet to assemble at 'Gopal KaChowk'. It was a big compound,

surrounded by two-storeyedhouses on all sides.

We too reached the chowkand saw other Kashmiri Panditsthere. Shamboo Nath Dhar camealong with his old mother suffer-ing from enteric fever. TarachandWagam, his children, SarvanandThalchoor, his nephews hadalready reached the venue. InMuzaffarabad, the twocommunities lived in separatemohallas. Nearly 3 thousandHindus and Sikhs had assembledat the Chowk. Firing stopped inthe morning. No sooner itstopped one row of houses lin-ing the Chowk was set ablaze.People started fleeing the Chowkfor safety. Now everybody wasunto himself, thinking about hissurvival alone.

I too came out on the streetto enter the house of a purohit.The house was locked fromoutside. I scaled the compoundwall to enter the premises and hidmyself under a heap of firewood.An hour passed when shoutingwas heard from an adjoiningstreet. It said, 'come out, you

have accepted Pakistan. You areour brothers now'. I came out ofhiding and rested on thecompound wall. A big line ofraiders, laced with .303 rifles andgarlands of cartridges, was infront of me. A raider asked me tojoin the crowd of non-Muslims,saying 'come down, you are ourbrother now'. He helped me tocome down from the wall andpushed me into the crowd. Hetied a piece of green cloth aroundmy neck. The raiders were drag-ging the non-Muslims of thetown in a procession, asking thelatter to raise loud cries of 'Paki-stan Zindabad'. The raiders andthe non-Muslims in the proces-

sion numbered about ten thou-sand.

We were in dark about thedestination to which we were

being dragged.Meanwhile, at e a c h e rcolleague ofmine, who wasof same age asme, saw me. Hewas Shabir, anew appointeeand my friendhere. He was alocal ands e e m e ddesperate toconvey some-t h i n gimportant tome. In view ofm e n a c i n gwatch of raid-ers it lookeddifficult. I,h o w e v e r ,

managed to reach to him andasked, Shabir, where are we be-ing dragged? Shabir confided,"Masterji, the intentions of thesepeople (the raiders) are not good.Somehow you try to come out ofthe crowd".

The entire non-Muslim Com-munity of the town was in theprocession. Kashi Nath Jalali, mycolleague, was sick and wasstanding besides me. He told me,"My knees have given up , Ican't move and want to leave". Ireplied, "The attackers are main-taining strict vigil on us from allsides and could kill us in casewe defy the diktat". Around 125

raiders were escorting the crowd.Kashi Nath Jalali had married re-cently. As he attempted to runaway, the raiders felled him downin a field.

Even after this incidentShabir's advice was rankling inmy mind. After moving another400 yards I looked around andfelt that nobody was watchingme. I slipped out of the crowdand began running away. I wasfired upon but the bullet just hitmy coat. I was saved. A bighouse with an imposing gatestood before me. Its doors wereopen. I hid myself behind thedoor. The raider following meentered the house but failed tolocate me.

I was on the horns of a di-lemma whether to leave thehouse or try my luck by enteringthe house. Danger lurked on boththe counts. The house belongedto a Muslim goldsmith. Thinkingdiscretion to be better part ofvalour I decided to enter thehouse on the presumption thatladies of the house would takepity on me and save my life. Therewas nobody on the ground floor.At the first floor I found thedoors of a room wide open. 7Kashmiris belonging to themajority community were sittingin it and enjoying roasted meat.They were eating clumsily,chopping the meat with a bigknife and then eating with boththe hands. The room hadwooden floor. To my surpriseamong the seven Kashmiris wasmy friend and collegemate of SP

A view of Muzaffarabad Town.

(Contd.on Page 5)

5CONTINUACONTINUACONTINUACONTINUACONTINUATIONTIONTIONTIONTIONKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

(From Page 4)College-Ghulam Din Wani ofKhanpur, Baramulla. After gradu-ation he had gone to Aligarh forLLB while I went for B.Ed. Be-fore the attack also I had seenhim in Muzaffarabad. He had re-ceived me warmly. After confirm-ing my identity as 'Vishnath' hehad embraced me. We used tomeet almost daily thereafter inMuzaffarabad. The other personwhom I knew among these sevenKashmiris was Gaffar Kala. Hewas in Police.

On seeing Ghulam Din Waniin the room I felt somewhat re-lieved. I told him, "The raidersalmost killed me". Wani startedhurling abuses on me. I thoughthe did not recognise me. Then Itried to introduce myself for-mally, telling him, "I am VishnathSaproo". He countered, "youhave sucked our blood". Ibegged him to save me.

The seven Kashmiris werewearing army boots (supplied topolice those days) with longstockings. Ghulam Din startedkicking me with his shoes. Thenhe dragged me to the verandahand gave me a few blows on thehead. I do not know anythingafter that. It was 2 PM. At 5 PMwhen I regained consciousnessI found that seven Kashmiris hadleft. Ghulam Din had presumedme to be dead after I loss con-sciousness. I was too scared toleave the house despite this in-cident. I feared the raiders wouldspot me out and kill me. So I de-cided to move to the next floor-the attic. There was a heap offirewood on one side. A big doorled me into a space, whichopened into a room through asmall door. The room had a sin-gle window, which commandeda full view of Kishen Gangabridge.

I moved towards the windowwith a twin purpose-to see whatwas happening outside and sec-

ondly to jump down to death incase of any eventuality. I was tooscared to face a bullet injury. Icould see the procession mov-ing towards the Kishengangabridge. Across this long bridgewas Ramkot and Brarkot. It wasa major highway. The processionwas made to cross the bridge.

Raiders now tried to play de-ception. They asked malesamong Sikhs to come out, tellingthem, "We have nothing to dowith Sikhs". The latter felt re-lieved but as they ran back to-wards the bridge they found thegate on the other side of thebridge closed. The raiders beganfiring on them, and killed themmercilessly. Then they beganpushing the dead bodies downthe railing of the bridge withshoes into Kishenganga river.The bridge was clear again.Muzaffarabad town is perchedon a hillock and the bridge is 300ft. down. Pt. RC Kak had builtthis bridge during hispremiership.

The raiders then asked ladiesto segregate themselves from themain crowd. All the ladies in theage group of 11-45 years werehuddled into 30-35 buses, wait-ing on Kohala side and weretaken to Wazirstan etc. Smallchildren in the lap of theirmothers were thrown on to theroad, where they fell victim tostarvation or dogs. The childrenof once rich people were now atthe mercy of dogs. Some ladies,including Pandit ladies hadpainted their faces with mud toescape the lustful eyes of theraiders.

After the attack beganShamboo Nath Thalchoor hadgiven Strychnine (poison usedfor killing dogs) to his daughterand two Sikh ladies-Prem Singh'smother Ranjit Kaur and daugh-ter Milapkaur. These Sikh ladiesthen jumped into Kishen Ganga.Pt. Shamboo Nath Dhar's mother

took poison when they were heldcaptive in jail. Almost all Panditladies, 10-12 in number and manySikh ladies had managed to keepthemselves away from being hud-dled into buses. Some of theladies who escaped jumpeddown to death in Kishengangaflowing below. The 'captives'were then ordered by the raidersto move into the prison, locatedclose to the Kishenganga bridgeon the other side. Inmates ofprison who numbered around2500 includes males, old ladiesand Kashmiri Pandits. The bigbusinessmen of the town-PtKanshi Ram, Dipti Ram and HariChand Naswari were also amongthe captives. I was watching theentire scene from the attic win-dow.

The goldsmith's house serv-ing as my hideout had a woodenstaircase. Suddenly I heard noiseof 'Thud Thud'. Fearing that at-tackers were coming closer to meI moved towards the window.Soon a person, who did not looklike a raider, entered my roomthrough the small door. He wasservant of the house owner WaliMohammad. He was Kalu Khan.I moved towards him and beggedhim to save my life. He wasamazed to see me in the attic. Ibegan weeping bitterly. He askedme, 'Areh Baba Tusi Daso TusiKaun Ho' (O'man reveal youridentity, who are you?") It turnedout that Kalu had served in StateCavalry and had been dis-charged from service. He was 35years of age, illiterate and hadbeen to Kashmir. He had beenengaged as casual servant by Pt.Srikanth of Ali Kadal on the oc-casion of the marriage ceremonyof his two daughters-Tulsi andGouri. The Pandit family hadtreated him very well. I told Kalu,"I am a Kashmiri Pandit. I am ateacher here'. He replied,'Kashmiri Pandits are nice peo-ple. Do you know Tulsi, Gouri? Ifeigned close acquaintance withthe family. Gouri's mother-in-lawhad given Rs 5/- and some oldclothes to wear to Kalu. He wenton to praise Pandit communitylavishly. With tears rolling downhis eyes, Kalu reassured me,"First I will die, only then you.You must not have taken any-thing. I know Kashmiri Panditsdo not take beef". I musteredenough courage to ask Kalu 'wholived in the room on the first floor'.He said, 'The raiders, who go toKashmir do not know the routesin Kashmir. The Kashmiri guidesdirect them.' I asked, "wherefrom these people have come?"He replied, 'they have come fromBanu, Kohat, Razmak, Wazirstanetc. The Kashmiris who live inthe room have been enlisted asguides'.

The place which was myhideout turned out to be the main

transit camp of the raiders.Groups of raiders would comeeveryday and take Kashmiris asguides with them. Kalu said, 'theowner of this house WaliMohammad was a Goldsmith. Heknew about the invasion andsent his whole family toPeshawar. He has entrusted thishouse to my care". Kalu wentdown to fetch three chappatisalong with little salt from langar(community kitchen) for me. Atmy request Kalu also brought asmoking pipe (chilm) and littletobacco and a matchstick. Hecould not find cigarettes. Kalubrought water in a small earthernpot (wari). It was first time sincethe attack that I took water. Ibegged Kalu not to forget me.He swore by the holy book thathe would never betray me.

Kalu had to come to attic ofand on to fetch wood for thelangar. The following morning(23rd October he got threeChappatis again. For ten days Iwatched how the raiders wouldget Sikhs from villages aroundMuzaffarabad and then shootthem on Kishenganga bridge.Their corpses would be thenthrown into the river below.

During the day I would notventure to come out lest some-body see me. I would answercalls of the nature in the roomitself and then lift the excreta withhands to throw it off from thewindow when darkness wouldfall. It was living hell (ZindayaNarukh). For ten days Kaluwould get me daily a pot of waterand 3 chappatis. All the time Iwould hear the noise producedby the raiders movement-comingand going and eating at Langar.The looted cattle of non-Mus-lims had been brought here forslaughter.

After 10 days, one eveningKalu came to me and said, "Sir,now Hindus are roaming aroundin the town. Killings have cometo halt. Kashmir has been con-quered. The Maharaja has fledaway. His family has been heldcaptive and taken to Pakistan".Uptil now I had thought my fam-ily was safe. Now my thoughtsturned towards my family. I askedKalu, "what has been the fate of

our Kashmiri Pandits?" He re-plied quite casually, "They all arefleeing this place". I took hiscomments non-seriously. Mean-while, Kalu said he knew whereKashmiri Pandits were in hidingin Muzaffarabad and added thathe would turn up the followingmorning to take me there. A totalof 56 Kashmiri Pandits were intown that time. I had developedfull faith in Kalu. He was my sav-iour.

The following morning Kaluturned up at my hideout. I hadput on Jawahar Jacket, Pant,Coat and Cap. Kalu picked up myshoes in his hand to avoid anynoise on wooden floor. He heldme by wrist by the other handand directed me down, whisper-ing 'move, move'. On climbingdown the staircase I saw tall, gi-gantic raiders, wearing boot onone foot and grasshoe (Pulhour)on the other. There were asleepand had occupied even corri-dors. They looked like leeches.Langar was in the compound.

We were soon at the placewhere Kashmiri Pandits wereputting up. Kalu knocked at themain door. Pandits were tooscared to open the door. WhenKalu knocked again somebodyreplied from inside, "Who areyou?" I said, 'I am VishnathSapur. O', I am alive'. Sona LalWarikoo opened the door andembraced me. He said, 'wethought you have been killed infiring'. I told them that the victimwas Kashi Nath Jalali. I was ledinto the house but on seeingKalu they got panicky and asked,'what strange creature you havebrought with you'? I informedthem, 'He is protector like LordKrishna to me. He is my brother.He saved me'. Kalu ordered them,'Don't make him labour much?' Iagain made request to Kalu notto forget me. He would drop of-ten to enquire about my welfare.Kashmiri Pandits would teaseme, saying 'what hypnotic spellyou have done to him?

We were 56 Pandits at thishouse. They included males, fe-males and children. The housebelonged to Pala Ram, a lawyer.He had been killed alongwith hisdaughter-in-law.

—(To be continued)

Kalu was my Saviour

Muzaffarabad Fort.

Domel Bridge.


By RKS Shandilya

VILLAGE Sardi, which houses theholy shrine of Goddess Sharda,is perhaps the most scenic place

in 'Kishenganga (Neelam) Valley'. It liesabout 20 kms to the north ofMuzaffarabad. Till 1974 the village hadno motorised transport link with theoutside world. Due to its strategic impor-tance Maharaja Gulab Singh had con-structed a fort here. Dogra Kings main-tained here a permanent military post. InOctober 1947 the garrison was headed byPt. Sham Lal Khushu, the Thanedar.

Kashmiri Pandit population:In 1947 the Kashmiri Pandit population

of Sharda included the shopkeepers, thepurohits and the employees. Swami NandLal, a saint of great merit had his kutiya atSharda. He would stay here duringsummers. There were three shops run byKashmiri Pandits. Tika Lal and Nand LalThusu, the two brothers who belongedto Lidderwan, had shops at Sharda andDudniyal. Nath Ram of Seer Jagir andDina Nath of Tikr ran another shop. Theother shop belonged to Deva Ram andhis brothers, who hailed from Gotheng.

Pt. Sat Lal and Pt. Govind Ram Bhatserved as Purohits at the shrine. Therewere many Pandit employees in the area,serving mostly in Forest Department. Pt.Shridhar Dhar, Conservator of Forests andresident of Chotta Bazar, Srinagar hadserved in the area in different capacities.A great devotee of Goddess Sarda, heused to perform havan on every SardaAshtmi at Sarda. Most of the employeesin the forest department in Kupwararegion had been recruited by him.

Tribal Invasion:Soon after the news about the 1947

disturbances (tribal raid) reached

KASHMIRI PANDITS--The Last Journey From SardaDudniyal, Pt. Sona LalThusu, son of TikaRam, closed the shop.He entrusted his be-longings to the care ofhis servants andmoved to Lidderwan(Kashmir). Pt.Jagadhar Bhat(Patwari) and ShamLal Gagru (ofKarahama), a forestguard were hiscompanions on thisjourney.

Kashmiri Panditsin Sarda came to knowabout ribal invasionfrom Sultan Malik,servant of Pt. DinaNath, the shopkeeper.Malik had brought aletter from DinaNath's family at Tikr.

Dr. Gauri Shankar,the Ayurvedic doctorhad already left. HisDawasaz (Pharmacist) Pt. Narayan JooPujari (brother of Purohit Govind Joo) leftalong with his family members, whichincluded Govind Ram's wife, children,besides Nand Lal Pujari's mother, Parvatidiyad. Parvati had a local friend calledZeba. One day Parvati sensed the gravityof the situation from her conversationwith Zeba. Apprehension that invasioncould force them to change their faith,Parvati asked her family members to packbelongings immediately and leave forGotheng.

The purohit family left Sarda thefollowing day at 4 AM and reachedJumagand in the forest range at 4 PM.

The family was carryingten kgs of Silver, whichthey had received asChadav (offerings).Locals of Jumagandrobbed them of Silverand other valuables.They also ordered themto dismount from thehorses. The familymarched to Lidderwanon foot. The horseman(Markban) returnedwith horses fromJumagand the nextevening and narrated toKashmiri Pandits atSarda what all had hap-pened.

Swami Nand Lal Jihad refused to leaveSarda till Pandit employ-ees from periphery ofSarda also returned. Theday Pujari family left forLidderwan, Swami Jihad organised a mehfilat his Kutiya at around2 PM. This was at-tended by Nath JiRazdan (theshopkeeper) ofGotheng, Dina Nath

Tikr, Shamboo Nath of Zolura, ShambooNath Thusu, a Kuth Watcher, Hriday NathKaw, the Forestor, Shridhar Joo ofGoshbug, and two Pandit constables fromMalmoh. Pt. Govind Ram Pujari, hisbrother Prakash Ram and Thanedar ShamLal Khushu of Srinagar were also presentin this gathering. Prakash Ram was anemployee in the forest department.Thanedar functioned as administrator ofSarda and operated from fort. He was inhis mid fifties.

Normally Fort was a forbidden territoryfor the public. In the mehfil one of thePandit employees requested Thanedar toget Kashmiri Pandits into the fort on somepretext in view of prevailing securitysituation. Pt. Sham Lal who was slow inunderstanding the gravity of the situationvirtually flew into a rage and threatenedto arrest the employee who suggestedthis. Thanedar accused the employee ofspreading panic. Prakash Ram calmedSham Lal down, arguing that the particularemployee was a man of little consequence.This had sobering effect on Thanedar.

The horseman (Markban) who hadaccompanied Purohit family to Jumagundcame to see Swami Nand Lal Ji andnarrated to him how the Purohit familywas robbed of silver and divested ofhorses. Swami Ji was now desperate togo to Kashmir but expressed his inabilityto walk. He asked Pt. Shamboo NathThusu and Pt. Shridhar Joo to fetch ahorse for him from Ram Saran Das, a shop-keeper at Surgan-a village 6 kms fromSarda Surgan is 8 miles from Nurinarsar,the latter separates Sarda. Valley fromKaghan Valley in Yagistan (Chilas). RamSaran Dass's family was also with him.Both Thusu and Shridhar Joo were Kuthwatchers. Govt. had issued doubleboredrifles to them.

Fort Captured:In October 1947 when locals were

talking in whispering tones about theinvasion, Thanedar Sham Lal had secretlydespatched two Dogra soldiers toSrinagar to ask for reinforcements. While

the soldiers were still in Handwara theyreceived the disturbing news about theinvasion. One of them returned to Sardato put Thanedar on alert. Thanedar had aforce of 11 constables—4 Dogra soldiers,six constables from the majority commu-nity in Kashmir valley and Kartar Singh, aSikh from Hamal, Rafiabad.

Shridhar Joo and Shamboo NathThusu left for Surgan, carrying a rifle withthem, to fetch horse for Swamiji. The samenight Wali Mohammad, son of SayidAhmed Sardar entered the fort. WaliMohammad was a forester and belongedto Kharigam, a village 2 kms from Sarda.The drama began with six constables ofthe majority community asking Thanedarto open the ammunition room (Kuhth).They told him that situation was grim andasked him to open the ammunition roomso that they could take out theammunition. As Thanedar opened the am-munition room, Ahmed Khan, a consta-ble, pushed him in and locked the roomfrom outside. Khan hurled choicestabuses on him. This constable hailedfrom Srinagar city and had been recruitedin police in 1933. In this confusion fourDogra soldiers managed to escape whileKartar Singh was taken captive.

Meanwhile, a constable who mannedthe outer gate of the fort and was carryinga rifle asked Thanedar to surrender. Pt.Sham Lal was handcuffed and taken ascaptive, Maharaja's flag was burnt and anew 'Pakistan' flag fashioned from theblue turban was hoisted. WaliMohammed, the forester, became self-styled administrator of Sarda. The foresterand around 50 locals then went to Swamiji's kutiya, asking Pandits there to changetheir faith, Janki Nath Thusu was renamedas Jan Khan.

Shamboo Nath Thusu and ShridharJoo left Surgan the next morning aftertaking horse from Ram Saran. At Dunarian,2 kms down from Surgan the duo metMohammad Hakim, a peon in ForestRange office at Sarda. He was carrying aSharda Temple in ruins at Sardi (PoK)

A view of Sardi village.

(Contd. on Page 7)


(From Page 6)message for Shamboo Nath Thusu fromhis brother Janki Nath. The messagecarried information of the happenings ofthe previous day-the hoisting of 'Pak' flagand conversion of Kashmiri Pandit andholding them as captives. It impressedupon Thusu to change his faith and alsosuggested new name for him. MohammadHakim forced them to hand over the rifleto him.

Swamiji and other Kashmiri Panditswere waiting for SN Thusu and ShridharJoo and had already decided to leave.Numberdar Mir Zaman, a man with deepsecular convictions, had told Swamiji thatthe situation was fast deteriorating andhad impressed upon him to leave. Swamijiwas held in high esteem by local Muslimsof Sarda. Locals advised him to take Sinjliroute and not Dudniyal route whichotherwise was easier. They feared thatDudniyal may already have come underthe sway of raiders. Locals were quitesympathetic.

First Journey:Swamiji and Pandits began journey

back home at 10 AM the same day. Swamijihad hardly walked 2 miles of the uphil jour-ney when he gave up and refused to walkany further. Meanwhile, Mir Zaman'smessenger caught up with them and ad-vised them to return to Sarda immediately.Two locals, armed with axes, had been

Kashmiri Pandits--The Last Journey From Sarda

following them. They had lost the trackand had gone ahead of Pandits. After hav-ing learnt about it Mir Zaman got worriedabout the safety of Pandits. The deepconcern Mir Zaman showed about thesafety of Pandits in those turbulent timesis remembered by Pandits to this day.

Mir Zaman, the saviour:Mir Zaman heaved sigh of relief when

Kashmiri Pandits returned to Sarda. Hehad already convened a Jirga (meeting oflocal elders) in the courtyard of his house.Kashmiri Pandits also joined them on oneside. Mir Zaman admonished his commu-nity brethren, asking them why did theynot restrain the two locals who had gonewith axes to harm Swamiji and others. Hewarned them that it was not easy to killPandits. Mir Zaman concluded hisaddress by saying with concern andauthority that Kashmiri Pandits were hisguests and would stay with him.

Mir Zaman had already arranged aroom for Pandits in his house and hadspread grass on the floor. Within twohours all the belongings and the provi-sions in the three shops owned by Panditsreached the new 'hideout' of Pandits. MirZaman had also arranged a Chulha in theroom. Numberdar was in his early sixties.He asked Pandits to lit the fire and preparethe food. Mir Zaman emphatically toldPandits that they should cook food in theirown way and added that it was not hisreligion to impose things on others. JankiNath, Nath Ji Razdan, Shamboo NathThusu and Shridhar Joo used to attendto kitchen work by turns, with ShridharJoo maintaining overall supervision.

During the month Pandits stayed inthe house of Mir Zaman, the latter tookextremely good care of them. He and hiswife would sleep near the door of Pandits'room to keep watch on any strangerstraying into their room. Locals would ofand on ask Mir Zaman whether thePandits were following the new faith withsincerity. He would put them off by tellingthat the Pandits were observing new faithall the time. He would then come toPandits and tell them, 'Rascals, why youare not performing your own pujas?' MirZaman kept locals away from visitingPandits.

One day Swamiji felt like smoking his

own special tobacco he had kept in hiskutiya, located 1 mile away from MirZaman's house. A Pandit employee notonly got the sack of tobacco but alsoensured that nobody saw him while goingto the kutiya in the afternoon.

On another occasion Thanedar ShamLal was brought to Mir Zaman's house toshow to Pandits that he was alive. KartarSingh's beard and hair had been trimmed.All the non-Muslims who were in Sardawere forced to change their faith.

Latif Malik and Barkatullah Khanintervene:

Meanwhile Nand Ram Thusu ofLidderwan whose two sons-Janki Nathand Shamboo Nath were among thecaptives in Sarda contacted his friend LatifMalik, a Zaildar of Changan (Dudniyal)through a messenger, Nabir Sheikh ofKawari. Nand Ram had asked Latif to helphim to see his sons reach home safely. Inthe prevailing situation Latif Malik hadlittle authority as Zaildar. WaliMohammad was the sole authority thatmattered. Latif, however, assured NabirSheikh that he would do his best to helpNand Ram.

Pak troops had still not entered Sarda.Mir Zaman's house was 1½ miles awayfrom the fort, while the Sarda shrine wasjust at a distance of 1 mile. Shops ofKashmiri Pandits were located in theshrine area. For a month Kashmiri Panditsholed up in Sarda had remained cut offfrom the outside world. Lateef Malikcontacted Wali Mohammad, the self-styled administrator and asked him, "Whatthese Pandits would do here? It wasPakistan now.Let them go". Another per-son who came to Sarda to intervene fortheir release was Barkatullah Khan ofKawari.

Through the intervention ofBarkatullah Khan and Latif Malik,Kashmiri Pandits were set free. Mir Zamanasked Barkatullah Khan to take care ofPandits for their onward journey toLidderwan. The Pandits left at 11 AM,carrying maize bread and Kishmish-Zirishalong with them and reached Dudniyal at7 PM. It was dark by now.

The shops of Thusu family werelocked. The godowns of Jodhamal Kutiyalwere located in the same building on thesecond storey. Pt. Sona Lal Thusu andAmar Nath who also worked withJodhamal had already returned toLidderwan. Amarnath also functioned asguard of the bridge at Dudniyal.

At Barkatullah's advice Panditsdecided to spend the night at the houseof Sharif Dar, a forest guard. The latter'sfather, Satar Dar had business partner-ship in water-mill with Sona Lal Thusu.Sharif's family was still hospitable andcourteous. They helped Pandits to relievetheir fatigue by bringing maize bread anda samovar of salt tea. Janki Nathsuggested to Sharif, "This sadhu (SwamiJi) has not taken salt for ten years. I willprepare tea for him separately". Janki Nathprepared kahwa for him. Swamiji tookkahwa and the maize bread they hadcarried from Sarda.

Thusu Shops Burnt:It was 11 PM. Pandits were still

gossiping on the road when they heardthe sound of a bullet shot. Shops ofThusus had been put to arson, thegodowns of Jodhamal Kutiyal also per-ished in the fire. However, the two three-storeyed houses owned by Thususlocated some distance away remainedsafe. Rai Bahadur Ishar Dass's godowns,a school and a sarai were housed in thesehouses. The ladies of Dar household criedbitterly that the 'shops of our Pandits havebeen burnt'. Pandits told them that theyhad built these shops and hoped thatthey would rebuild these.

At the morning breakfast at Dar'shouse Pandits were joined by many locals.Pandits asked the locals why did they puttheir shops to arson even after they hadconverted. The locals claimed that theaccused had been identified and claimedthat he would be taught a good lesson.

Soon Pandits reached Potkhai(Marhama) gully. From here there was asteep climb of 1½ kms over one foot deepsnow. Swamiji gave up and could not walkany further. Janki Nath warmed him upwith hot kahwa. Nathji and Shamboo NathThusu carried Swamiji on shoulders uptoMarhama gully top. From here they couldsee Kashmir—their home. Swamiji wasthrilled and puffed his special tobacco. Indownhill journey towards Lidderwan hemoved like a tiger taking 5-7 stepstogether.

Zirhama:While passing through Zirhama

Pandits were a little apprehensive. Soonafter the raid a Sikh youth had been killedhere while his younger brother had beensaved by Karim Sheikh of Kawari. Karimhad given him shelter in his house. Whensituation improved he brought him toKupwara Thana. The two Sikh brotherswere running a shop in Sarda and used tosell army shoes and clothes. While flee-ing Sarda a mob had attacked them atZirhama, one km from Lidderwan. WhenPandits reached Zirhama, the mob hadmoved towards Lidderwan.

Thanedar Suspended:Thanedar Sham Lal reached Srinagar a

few months later. He and constable KartarSingh were shifted from Fort to a Kotha(a Kacha Hut) and were put under house-arrest. Kartar was taken daily to theKishenganga river by 'soldiers'. Theywould terrorise him by asking theircolleagues to open fire at him. One dayThanedar and Kartar decided to escape.The door of Kotha made lot of noise onbeing opened. The duo put some dustand dirty water around it to ensure that itdid not make any noise. They ran awayduring the night. Their gum ammunitionshoes helped them cover 26 miles oversnow to reach Kupwara.

At Srinagar Sham Lal had anothersurprise in store for him. He was put undersuspension and remained without pay formany months. Thanedar was shocked tosee a constable attending his duties atHari Parbhat Fort. This constable wasamong those who had stormed the Fortat Sarda and hoisted Pakistani flag.

The Fort at Sardi.

Saint Swami Nand Lal in Aasan.

KS: You covered the 1947-48 war as a correspondent. Didyou represent any paper then?

SS: At the time of war I wasnot a working journalist. My in-terest was definitely in the pro-fession. Since I knew senior of-ficers in Maharaja's administra-tion and also the top leaders ofpolitical parties, particularly Na-tional Conference I had accessto all news yielding sources.

On 27th of October, 1947 theday first batch of Indian troopslanded in Srinagar a clutch of re-porters from Delhi were flown byan Army PRO. They includedM.Sobhan, younger brother ofBrig. Usman and a reporter eachfrom The Hindu and the API(later renamed as PTI). Sobhancame as representative of TheTimes of India and Indian NewsChronicle group. It was sheerchance that I happened to meetthese reporters the same eveningand remained associated withthem during the next three daysthey were in Srinagar. I helpedthem in news gathering and ar-ranged their meetings with NCleaders.

Before returning to DelhiM.Sobhan asked me if I wouldbe available to send the reportson the ongoing war fromSrinagar to The Times Of India; Ireadily agreed. This was the startof my active journalisticprofession. My career thusbegan as a war correspondent.It is a rare occasion in thejournalism profession. Coveringwar for a novice is a difficult jobin view of inexperience,unfamiliarity with war terminol-ogy etc. It also involves high-voltage reporting.

On 30th October three foreigncorrespondents were also flownto Srinagar. The battle ofBaramulla was going on. Thefirst reports on the war were sentby Sobhan and other journalists.

KS: What were your initialexperiences in covering thewar?

SS: The Emergency adminis-tration took over on 31st of Oc-tober. Its operational office wasset-up in Palladium Talkies in LalChowk, while the formal officeswere in Old Secretariat.

For the first two nights theArmy troops and the IAF staffwhich landed in Srinagar had tostay in tents at the Airstrip. Thesenior officers were later lodged


Pak Invasion--Looking BackPak Invasion--Looking BackPak Invasion--Looking BackPak Invasion--Looking BackPak Invasion--Looking Backin the State Guest House, oppo-site Amar Singh Club. A visit tothe State Guest House and 2-3visits to Palladium Talkies wererequired every day to get the lat-est information of happeningsaround. There was no formal In-formation Department nor anyDefence PRO stationed inSrinagar. The correspondentscovering the operations had tobe on their own, secure what-ever information they could andthen use it on their own respon-sibility. There were otherdifficulties as well. One could notgo to theatre of operations.There were no arrangements, notransport, no communicationfacilities etc. It was difficult toverify the news since there wasno official briefing. Lot ofrumours were making rounds inSrinagar city. For first 5-6 dayswe were bottled up in the city.

KS: Who were the corre-spondents who covered the warthen?

SS: We were only two jour-nalists-Pt. Radha Krishan Kakand myself. Sh. Nand Lal Wattalused to visit Palladium Talkiesonce or twice a day to meet NCleaders but he did not cover waras such.

KS: There was an ugly epi-sode in which there was acci-dental killing of some civiliansin Srinagar by army soldiers?What was that?

SS: This episode took placeon 2nd of November. Lal Chowkwas agog with reports that armypersonnel had killed some civil-ians somewhere between airstripand Rambagh. In Lal Chowk welearnt that a 2000 strong proces-sion carrying dead bodies ofthose killed was proceeding to-wards Srinagar. It was raisinganti-Indian slogans, blaming thearmymen for deaths. There wereslogans like 'Katle Aam HoGaya'. When this informationreached NC leadership at Palla-dium Talkies, Bakshi Gh. Mohd.left in an army truck along withfew volunteers. He confrontedthe processionists at theRambagh bridge. Bakshi wasable to pacify them by explainingthe circumstances in which thethree civilians had got killed.Thus a major demonstration ofcommunal nature was averted.National Conference was quickto blame the Muslim Conferenceworkers for instigating the

crowd. In retrospect I shudderto think what situation couldhave erupted if this processionhad reached Amirakadal or LalChowk area. The inflamedsentiments could have resultedin communal riots, even killings.

This timely handling of thisdelicate situation made the au-thorities aware of the dangersinherent. The Emergency admin-istration devised strategies tocounter such moves. In everymohalla volunteers were de-ployed. Situation was very fluid,in fact, critical on the evening of2nd November. This was in away the beginning of the PeaceBrigade. Though it would havetaken 8-10 days but the episodeof 2nd November precipitated itsconstitution. The episode of 2ndNovember was my first report-ing. Those days the tradition ofmentioning byline was not there.

KS: You also reported on de-feat of the Pakistanis/Raidersat Budgam and Shalteng.

SS: On 2nd of Novemberafter Col. Rai had been killed atBaramulla the local commanderdecided to pull back to Pattanso that defences of Srinagarcould be strengthened.

In the meantime the enemydecided to put into action thethree-pronged strategy tocapture Srinagar. One columnwas to move along the mainhighway to Srinagar, left hookwas to send contingent toBudgam to take care of theAirport and engage the Indiansthere. Second one was to try andinfiltrate towards Ganderbal. Theenemy was able to reachBudgam Sector on 2ndNovember.

In the meantime a companyof Kumaonis was landed atSrinagar and rushed to theBudgam front. Its incharge wasMajor Somnath Sharma whosehand was in plaster due to an

injury. For the next 30 hours theKumaonis were able to hold backthe enemy, but on the afternoonof 3rd November a massiveattack overwhelmed the Indianforces. Major Sharma was killedon the spot. He belonged toHimachal Pradesh. His father hadserved as Major General ofMedical Services. Major SomNath Sharma's indomitable cour-age and high quality of leader-ship he showed earned him post-humously the first ParamvirChakra of the country. He hadsaved the Srinagar Airport fromfalling into the hands of the en-emy.

During the next three daysreinforcements came in by roadalso. This included artillerypieces, armoured cars andInfantry. The Brigade Headquar-ters was set up and threedifferent brigade commanderstook charge on three differentdays. On the first day the bri-gade commander was injured,then on the second day anotherone was brought in his place.The following day he waspromoted and sent to the front.The new brigade commandertook over. On 5th of NovemberMajor General Kulwant Singhlanded in Srinagar and tookcharge as Commander of theforces. It was decided that beforethe enemy launched a directoffensive against Srinagar fromareas around Shalteng, wherethey had amassed a large force,should be confronted on itshometurf. Offensive wasconsidered to be best defencein these circumstances. In themeantime air support had alsobecome available. Fighters fromAmbala and Amritsar hadsuccessfully landed in Srinagarand were available.

Armoured cars, heavy artil-lery and air support were usedfirst time in Kashmir at Shalteng.

The operational Brigade wasunder the Command of Brig. LPSen, with overall responsibilitybeing that of Major GeneralKulwant Singh. The WesternCommand was headed by Lt.General KM Cariappa.

The strategy had been sowell worked and tactics properlyhoned that within seven hoursthe battle of Shalteng ended inlarge-scale death of enemy per-sonnel and a total rout of theirmassive concentration. Byevening our troops had pursuedthem to Pattan. The enemy losthundreds of their personnel andequipment. Some managed toreach Baramulla, others contin-ued their journey towards Uri.Shalteng proved to be the Wa-terloo of Pakistani attempted in-vasion. This was on 7th Novem-ber. We did not go to the frontbecause there was no transport,no direction nor any permissionfrom the authorities. For newsgathering our link in GuestHouse was Lt. Col. HarbakshSingh, the Station Commander.He would do daily briefing. Col.PN Kak came 2 months later.

KS: How was Baramulla re-taken from the enemy? Whathad been the fate of the townunder its occupation byPakistanis?

SS: On 8th of November afterregrouping, the thrust toBaramulla continued and Indianforces entered the town on thesame day in late hours.

On 9th November the armytook Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad,senior NC leader and EmergencyOfficer (Home) to Baramulla toshow him the destructionwrought by Raiders and also fa-cilitate his meeting with survi-vors. We--myself and Pt. RK Kakaccompanied Bakshi Sahib, anarmy one-tonner carried us tothe town. We reached Baramullaaround noon. Brig. Sen was al-ready there.

Sh. Sati Sahni is a Veteran Journalist with an experience of over six decadesin the profession. An ace photographer, he is the only working Journalist tohave covered all the four wars--1947-1948, 1962,1965 and 1971. In aconversationwith Kashmir Sentinel he visited down memorylane torecapture his experiences in covering Pak Invasion in 1947-48. We arereproducing the conversation in two parts, the first part is being publishedin this issue.

--The Editor

(Contd. on Page 9)


Pak Invasion--Looking Back(From Page 8)

What we witnessed inBaramulla was a scene of death,destruction and desolation.Smoke was still billowing fromsome of the buildings which hadbeen abandoned by the enemyand set on fire before they es-caped from Baramulla. BakshiSahib was informed that out of14 thousand odd population lessthan 2 thousand were inBaramulla on that day i.e. on 9thof November. The rest had eitherbeen killed or had left Baramullafor safer places. Bakshi GhulamMohammad was also shown theplace where Maqbool Sherwaniwas killed. He was taken to St.Joseph Hospital, where he metthe surviving nuns. He wasshown the fresh graves of theforeigners and one Indian doc-tor and a nurse who had beenkilled by the enemy. Later, he vis-ited the interiors of the townwhere he heard heart-rendingstories from the survivors aboutthe atrocities committed by theenemy troops and the lootingand destruction by them. BakshiSahib was also told that nearly300 truck loads of booty of theloot was sent out of Baramullatowards Domel the previous day.The people related stories ofrapes and killings. The Pashtuntribesmen had no regard for any-one. We were told in Baramullaof Ch. Faizullah's role in facilitat-ing the Pakistani invasion andassisting their commanders inBaramulla. Bakshi GhulamMohammad was informed thatthe refugees considered him aPakistani officer rather thanWazir Wazarat of Baramulla. Ihad met Ch. Faizullah in Srinagar10-15 days before the invasion.Faizullah had left along withconvoy of loot. Bakshi felt verysad after visiting Baramulla.

In the meantime Indian troopscontinued the thrust towards Uriwhich was liberated on 11th ofNovember.

KS: Did you send your des-patches directly to youreditorial office?

SS: There were only two ofus—Sh. RK Kak and Myself whowere covering the war. We hadto file reports and hand themover to a designated Armyofficer. He would then send thesethrough Army signals to theDefence Ministry. After scrutinythe reports were passed on tothe respective newspaper offices

for publication. Sometimes thereport sent by us would be pub-lished after two days, becausethere was low priority for it asagainst operational reports.

KS: Pandit Nehru alsovisited Kashmir soon after theliberation of Baramulla town.

SS: On 11th of November the

Prime Minister of India Pt.Jawahar Lal Nehru came toSrinagar first time after the Paki-stani invasion. From the Airporthe was brought to Lal chowkwhere he addressed a publicgathering. Despite the fact thatthere was no prior announce-ment about his public address,yet the whole of Lal Chowk wasfull to listen to him. I was presentand covered the event.

Pt. Nehru in his address as-sured the people of Kashmir thatall possible help would be ren-dered to defend them againstPakistan invaders, restore peaceand ensure regular supply of es-sential items even if it meant lift-ing these by air.

Kashmiris felt happy that theChief Executive of India hadcome to support and help. Onthis occasion Pt. Nehru assuredSheikh Abdullah of total supportin meeting the challenges that hisAdministration faced. Sheikh

Abdullah in return committedhimself to restore peace in thispart of the country and maintaincommunal harmony and orderlylife for the common man.

On 12th of November Nehrujivisit Baramulla town. He was ac-companied by Sheikh Abdullah,Bakshi Gh. Mohammd and Gen-

eral Kulwant Singh Pt. Nehruwent to the town by road. Therewas no airstrip at Baramulla northere were any helicopters. Be-sides 2-3 journalists (one fromAPI) I and RK Kak went toBaramulla with the Prime Minis-ter. We were not present all thetime Nehruji was in Baramulla. Hewent round the destroyed anddesolate town, saw burnt build-ings, and talked to some of thewailing survivors. Later, he vis-ited St. Joseph Hospital andChurch as well. We were not ableto talk to Nehruji in Baramulla.

KS: You did not talk to Pt.Nehru during this visit?

SS: He spoke to us inSrinagar the same day after re-turn from Baramulla. He ex-pressed his anguish at what hehad seen and condemned theviolence and the killings perpe-trated by Pak army personnel. Pt.Nehru expressed sympathy withthe victims and other survivors.

He assured all help in rushingrelief to the affected areas andearly rehabilitation in safe re-gions. He said he had discussedthe resettlement of large numberof people who had managed toescape from areas now occupiedby Pak armed raiders. He re-turned to Delhi the next day and

action was taken without furtherloss of time on promises that hemade in Srinagar. In the meantimesituation in Srinagar hadstabilised. Some semblance ofadministrative set-up had beenrestored. Peace and orderprevailed. In the city there wasabsence of communal tension.

Pt. Nehru during his Kashmir visit in 1947. On his right is GeneralKulwant Singh.

Pt. Nehru making his historic public address at Palladium,Lal Chowk, Srinagar. On his left is Sheikh Mohd. Abdullah,The Head of Emergency Administration.

KASHMIRSENTINEL

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10INVESTIGAINVESTIGAINVESTIGAINVESTIGAINVESTIGATIONTIONTIONTIONTIONKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

By Raman Kumar Bhat

THE heroic role played bybrave people like MajorSom Nath Sharma and his

fellow soldiers in defendingSrinagar airfield in 1947 has re-ceived good attention from his-torians. Unfortunately, thechronicles penned down by mili-tary historians do not focus onthe supportive role played bythe civilian population. In thecontext of defence of Srinagarairfield in 1947 the heroic frontput up by the Kashmiri Sikhs atIchamma (Tangmarg) has gonetotally unnoticed. It is due to thiseffort that Pakistani raiders couldnot mount any offensive on theairfield till October 31, 1947. Thisgave Indian army enough timeto shore up defences to protectthe airfield and ultimately saveSrinagar from falling into thehands of Pakistanis.

The situation remained criti-cal in the Kashmir valley on 28thOctober, 1947. The State govern-ment had just 60 state forcestroops and two companies tobeat back the massive Pakistaniinvasion. The city of Srinagarwas tense and uncertain aboutits fate. Few volunteers of theNational Conference tried tokeep the panic at bay by stagingparades with ‘wooden guns’ anddefiant slogans. The enemy hadeverything-troop numbers, artil-lery, mortars etc.

On 29th October TacticalHeadquarters 161 Indian Infan-try Brigade was opened at theSrinagar airfield. During the day56 men of 1 Sikh and 218 troopsof 1 Kumaon (Paratroops) wereflown in, bringing the total num-ber of troops flown to Srinagarsince 27 October to 941. On 29thOctober it was a touch and gosituation for the slender forcesdefending Srinagar. At 6:30 PMin the evening the Indian troopshad to retreat and take up posi-tions astride the road at mile-stone 16 near Pattan. There wasanother attack three hours later,troops had to be rushed toPattan from the airfield. The taskof defending airfield fell on 1(Para) Kumaon Company whichhad just landed from the air.

The position on the night ofOctober 29 remained serious.1500 raiders were marching to-wards Srinagar, taking the routevia Sopore and Bandipur. 500 in-vaders were trying to push di-rectly along the Baramulla-Srinagar road. These were thebest equipped troops among theraiders and were adequatelysupplied with mechanical trans-port, mortars and machine guns.Another 200 raiders were tryingto outflank the Pattan positionfrom the south by advancingdown the Tangmarg road whichmet the Baramulla-Srinagar road

The Role of Ichamma Front in Saving Srinagarat Narbal.

While Indian forces did notallow the Invaders to move be-yond Pattan, the Sikh front atIchama blocked the path of 200raiders who were trying to out-flank the Pattan position by ad-vancing from the Tangmarg side.It was only after Pakistanis re-plenished their strength bybringing another 500 raiders nearPattan that they were able tobreak the Sikh resistance atIchama on the night of 30th Oc-tober. On October 31st, 300-350raiders were advancing fromPattan towards Sumbal andMagam apparently to outflankthe defenders’ positions nearPattan from both sides.

Soon after breaking the resis-tance at Ichama by early hoursof October 31st, 40-50 Pakistaniraiders led by Major KhurshidAnwar entered Watterhail, a vil-lage on Beerwah-Budgam borderin the evening of October 31st.This batch of raiders included 10-12 regular Pak army men. LocalMuslim Conference MLA PirZiauddin played host to them.The raiders fanned out in periph-ery of airfield on November 1 and2nd. On 3rd November the battleof Budgam took place in which 4Kumaon Company was attackedby about 700 raiders at 2 PM.

Despite initial setbacks, the In-dian forces succeeded in stop-ping the enemy advance on theairfield. Major Som Nath Sharmaachieved martyrdom. Before hisdeath, he had sent the followingmemorable message to his Bri-gade Hqrs. - “The enemy are only50 yards from us. We are heavilyoutnumbered. We are under dev-astating fire. I shall not with-draw an inch but will fight to thelast man and the last round”.The Indian troops which wereairlifted to Srinagar for defenceof airfield had enrolled civilianvolunteers as guides only on 1stNovember. Holding the front bythe Sikhs at Ichamma till latehours of 30th October gaveenough time to Indian army tobolster defences for the airfieldand ultimately turn the tideagainst Pakistanis in the battleof Budgam on 3rd November.

Ichama, a village in

Tosaimaidan Valley separatesBudgam frmo Tangmarg region.In 1947 this village was a Sikh-dominated one and had a bigGurudwara for worship. The twoKashmiri Pandit families of Pt.Raghav Ram Ambardar and Pt.Sona Ram Razdan lived in theneighbouring village ofLarikpora. Pt. Raghav Ram was awell-to-do landlord of the area.He also ran a shop in KhamHamchipora, 1½ kms fromLarikpora.

Mohammad Khan, a Gujjarand resident of KhamHamchipora had been to Uri,where he had learnt about theraiders’ attack. He cautionedDina Nath, son of Pt. RaghavRam”, war is going on. You haveto be careful. Don’t wait till it istoo late”. Pt. Tika Lal Jailkhani,an employee in the State ForestDepartment overheard the con-versation. He tried to allay fearsof Pt. Dina Nath by arguing thatthe Indian Army had alreadyreached Srinagar. Pt. Tika Rameven asked him to arrange sing-ing mehfil for the night. Lulledinto false confidence, Ambardarsdecided to stay back in the vil-lage.

The following morning whilegoing home Dina Nath saw firesraging all over. The Sikh refu-gees, fleeing from Kupwara andBaramulla areas, made Ichamatheir destination. They passedvia Larikpora. Ichama becamenew morcha after the collapse ofBulgam front near Baramulla. Thegallant Sikhs who had sufferedheavily in Muzaffarabad, Ningal,Bulgam and other areas decidedto block raiders at Ichama.

The village of Ichama is lo-cated at the foot of a Valleyformed by two hillocks. In 1947more than 60 Sikh families livedhere. The neihbouring villagesalso housed sizeable Sikh popu-lation. Many of them had servedin State Forces. There is no cir-cumstantial evidence to suggestthat the Maharaja’s governmenthad aided the effort of civilianresistance at Ichama.

On 28th of October as Pt. SonaRam Razdan’s family sat downfor dinner Ahmad Lone ofAllapora dropped by. He hadcrossed Ferozpur nullah to in-form Kashmiri Pandits that theraiders had already reached Yaal,a village 2 kms from Larikpora.He further told them that the raid-ers had gunned down Pt. TaraChand, a close relation of Pt.Sona Ram.

It was 9:30 PM Pt. Sona Ram’sfamily left for Arizabji. Loyal vil-lagers—Aziz Wani, Wahab Waniand Lassa Parra carried the littlebedding and the cooked rice forthem. Arizabji is known for itsscenic beauty and housedaround 25 Sikh families. ThePandit family sought shelter in

the house of Sh. Darshan SinghBali. Arizabji is located at an el-evation.

The same evening one of theacquaintances from the major-ity community had visited Pt.Raghav Ram Ambardar to informhim that his sister’s husband, Pt.Sham Lal of Tarahama has beenshot dead by the raiders. Thisshook Pt. Raghav Ram. He wastwo weak to walk. He stuffedgold sovereign and silver coinsinto a bag. Pt. Shavjee, the fam-ily servant, loaded it on his backas Ambardars moved to Arizabji.With the support of a stick Pt.Raghav Ram managed to reachArizabji.

A little later, the Yaal relationsof Pt. Sona Ram reachedLarikpora. The local villagers in-formed them that the Pandit fami-lies had moved to Arizabji. Sothey too left for Arizabji. It wasaround midnight when loud criesof ‘Ovah Ha Ovah Ha’ (Theyhave come, they have come) re-verberated in the air. The Panditfamilies and the Arizabji Sikhsimmediately left for Ichamawhich was 1½ mile away.

Thousands of Sikhs, havingfled from their homes inBaramulla district, had as-sembled here. Many of themwere ex-servicemen. The Sikhscarried swords and rifles but hadno artillery.

Had they been equipped withsophisticated weaponry, per-haps the outcome could havebeen different. Ichama had a bigGurudwara, with Dharamshalasaround it. Some of the refugeeswere housed in the Dharmshalas,while most of the people put upin the open space of Gurudwara.A langar fed refugees day andnight. Males and females at-tended to the kitchen, the Panditfamilies also helped in thekitchen work. The kitchen wasrun in a Kashmiri style longVurah (Chulha).

As food items started deplet-ing Pt. Raghav Ram replenishedthese from his home. He contrib-uted substantially to keep thelangar running and had also gotlot of bedding and blankets fromhis home for the refugees. It wasbitter cold. Ichamma is locatedbetween two hillocks. The Raid-ers had taken up positions at theheights between Iskanderporaand Astanpora. Sikh volunteersconducted patrolling on horsesand had taken positions behindthe houses. Sikh houses were inclose vicinity of Gurudwara. Sud-denly in the evening of 30th Oc-tober as darkness set in the raid-ers opened incessant firing. TheSikhs were well-armed but hadthe disadvantage of terrain. Fir-ing continued for half on hour.This was replied well by theSikhs. As the raiders’ firingstopped the Sikhs thought that

the raiders had left. Others toldthem that the raiders had goneto take food. The Sikhs had lim-ited ammunition and food provi-sions. After the firing stoppedthe people who had assembledin Ichama started moving to-wards the Karewa on way toArvah. Elderly people advisedthem to maintain silence and notto lit any match stick lest it be-tray their movement to the raid-ers.

The people had hardly movedhalf a mile when raiders am-bushed them. They came outfrom beravtal (field demarca-tions) and bothtal (clay covers)etc. and began firing indiscrimi-nately on the people. Hundredsof people died in firing, manyothers got crushed in the stam-pede. The people who were atthe front and in the middle suf-fered the worse, very few of themsurvived. As per eyewitnessescorpses lay all around.

The survivors who were inthe rear moved back to Ichama.Mrs. Shobawati, wife of Sh. DinaNath was pregnant. She receivedpenetrating gunshot injury onher hand. Pt. Sona Ram Razdantook out his turban and ban-daged it on her bleeding hand.Unable to carry her three year olddaughter with an injured hand,she dropped her near a bush.

Hardly ten minutes hadpassed when refugees hadreached Ichama then the firingwas resorted to again by the raid-ers. The Sikhs had run short ofammunition and their number hadalso substantially depleted. Adecision was taken that survi-vors among refugees would as-semble in two three-storeyedDharmshalas and would commitself-immolation instead of fallinginto the hand of raiders. Thewomen and children were weep-ing and wailing, feeling totallyhelpless. The Granthi asked refu-gees to wait for ten minutes be-fore taking any hasty decision.

Suddenly, the firing stopped.Meanwhile, a raider entered theDharmshala compound. Carryingmagazines around his neck, hepositioned himself to open firingon the last survivors. Before hecould do it, the volunteers firedat him. As the raider did not re-lent, the lady volunteers draggedhim in and hit him with swords.

The Granthi now asked refu-gees to thank god that they hadsurvived against all odds andasked them to quickly leave theplace for Srinagar. As the refu-gees moved down Ichama theyheard cries of 3 year old Sheela.Channa Kak picked her up.

Before sunrise the refugeesreached Shalteng. The Armyshifted them to relief camps inSrinagar.

Khurshid Anwar

11HISTORHISTORHISTORHISTORHISTORYYYYYKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

By M. M. Munshi

THE division of the Britishadministrated provincesas it eventually took

place was on the basis of politi-cal considerations. Certain ar-eas i. e Eastern part of Bengal,and western part of Punjabwhich were predominantly Mus-lim populated were allotted toPakistan, Sind and Baluchistanwere allotted in Toto to Pakistan.A referendum was held in NWFProvince, which opted for Paki-stan. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khanand his followers boycotting thereferendum as they like the con-gress party stood for secular de-mocracy and would have pre-ferred to exercise the third op-tion of Independence which wasnot given to them in the referen-dum. On the transfer of powerby British Paramountcy was ret-roceded from the king emperorto the 565 princely ruled stateswho had never exercised exter-nal affairs, defense and commu-nications during the British rule.The biggest of the states exer-cised absolute, the intermediar-ies wide but not absolute pow-ers, the rest were estates ratherthan states. Each of the 565 rul-ers was expected to accede toone of the dominions accordingto his choice and not on the ba-sis of religious beliefs of thepeople of his state. Almost allthe states acceded to either ofthe dominions some with appar-ent reluctance except Junagarh,Hyderabad and Jammu & Kash-mir. The stories of the accessionsof Junagarh and Hyderabad oth-erwise well known are beyondthe scope of this article.

Lacking support from any buta small section of the people ofJammu & Kashmir, Pakistanbrought pressure on the Maha-raja, cut off all supplies of food,petrol, salt and other commodi-ties on the import of which theState was dependant. In orderto exert further pressure a seriesof several raids were made on theoutposts of state forces in southwestern border of the state. Farfrom heeding Maharaja’s pro-tests Pakistan sent a tribal forcefrom NWFP led by regular Paki-stani army officers proceededtowards Kashmir valley. On 22ndOct 1947 it was joined byMirpuri-Punchi deserters of the4 J&K infantry at Domel, the townof Muzzafrabad was ransackedand the tribal force advanced to-wards Uri- Baramula. The Ma-haraja finally realizing the situa-tion evacuated Srinagar on thenight of 25.10.47 reaching Jammuon the morning of 26th andsigned the instrument of acces-sion and Indian troops wereflown from Delhi to Srinagar thefirst batch of 3 rifle companiesand battalion HQs of the 1stSikhs under Col. D. R. Rai landedat Srinagar on 27th morning at 9.30 AM, further sub units of the1st Sikh followed. With almost

BABABABABATTLE OF SHALTTLE OF SHALTTLE OF SHALTTLE OF SHALTTLE OF SHALTENGTENGTENGTENGTENG(How Srinagar was saved in 1947)

whole of his whole battalionavailable for operations by after-noon Col Rai after leaving a de-tachment of his command for thedefense of the airfield he movedwith his main force towardsBaramula in transport providedby civil authorities and stateforces head quarters. Hethought that if he could reachBaramula before the enemy hecould deploy his unit on the hillssouth of Baramula he could pre-vent the enemy from enteringBaramula and proceeding east-ward into the Valley. After reach-ing outskirts of Baramula withone of his platoon which he wasleading from the front, his partywas engaged by a medium ma-chine gun manned by desertersof 4 J&K Inf. His jeep was hitand he had to beat a hasty re-treat on foot along with thewounded when he was hit bymedium machine gun fire in theface and was killed along withthe platoon commander. 1 Sikhnow left without a commanderretreated to Srinagar Airfieldwhere they were met by MajorSampuran Bachan Singh 2nd incommand of the battalion whotook over command and led thebattalion back to Patan. After tak-ing a defensive position andawaited the promised arrival ofthe enemy. But nothing like thathappened for probably the Paki-stani commander of the tribalforce was unsure of what laybehind Patan defenses andavoided a frontal assault. . Aftera few days the enemy startedbypassing the Patan defencesby fanning out in all directionsall over the valley. In the mean-time it was decided to raise thestrength of the troops to a bri-gade level and as such the airliftof troops to Srinagar was con-tinuing unabated. The brigadewas designated as 161 InfantryBrigade and Brig. J. C. Katoch[Later Maj-Gen and GOC MadrasArea ] was appointed as its com-mander who left for Srinagar byair on 29th Oct 47 along with thenCol L. P. Sen D. S. O, Dy. Directorof Military Intelligence ArmyHqs(Later Lt. Gen. and GOCEastern Command who hadcommanded 16 Battalion of theBaluch Regiment with distinctionas part of All India Brigade un-der Brigadier K. S. Thimayya(later Chief of Staff, Indian Army) during the 2nd World war inBurma

Brig Katoch was woundedand evacuated and L. P. Sen wasappointed as the new com-mander of 161 Brigade. He hadat his disposal (i) 1 Sikh [ rein-forced by additional Sikh com-panies detached from Infantry

regiments and gunners of amountain battery allotted to Pa-kistan. The latter were organizedas a rifle company ]. It was a verystrong battalion of about 1200men commanded by Lt. Col.Sampuran Bachan Singh, (ii) 1stBn Kumaon Regt. A parachutebattalion 650 instrength,commanded by Lt. Col.Pritam Singh (Later BrigadierPritam Singh-Hero of Punch}This unit and two rifle compa-nies of 4 Kumaon battalion weremanaging the defense of the air-field. Brig. Sen made 1 Kumaonresponsible alone for the defenceof the airfield and companies of4 Kumaon were brought insidethe perimeter of the airfield asreserve. 1st Bn Punjab Regimentalso a parachute battalion wasunder-strength comprisingabout 450 men commanded byLt. Col G. S. Khullar who weredeployed on the left flank of the1st Sikh on Magam road. MajorP. N. Kak of the state forces whowas assigned as liasion officerwith 161 Brigade was instructedto find out deployment availabil-ity of the State Forces particu-larly the infantry at and aroundSrinagar. As per information col-lected by Maj. Kak there wereno troops of the state forcesavailable except about 100 troop-ers of the Maharaja’s bodyguardwhich was infact a ceremonialunit and had hardly any fightingvalue. The troopers of the body-guard were ordered to report to161 Bde Hqs. located near theairport which they promptly did.They were given a reconnais-sance role to proceed on trot in awesterly direction direction forthree quarters of an hour andthen to retrace its steps with strictinstructions to withdraw to theairfield if enemy was encoun-tered, and not to get involved inany fighting. Immediately afterthe bodyguard left the Bde Com-mander moved with a small es-cort to a Karewah hill to watchfrom a vantage point how thebody guards operated. He wassurprised to see a mountain bat-tery of Patiala State forces en-trenched in a gap between twoKarewahs invisible from the mainroad. They had been ordered bythe J&K State forces Hqs to de-ploy themselves near the airfield,they had and could not registerany targets as the entire batterywas without dial sights. Infactat the request of Maharaja ofJ&K one infantry battalion andone mountaian battery of thePatiala state forces been and aninfantry battalion had been toKashmir valley ND jammu re-spectively by 12th Oct. The au-thorities at Patiala had told their

gunners that dial sights wouldbe provided by J&K Stateforces,and J&K state forces hadexpressed their inability to do so.In the meantime the troopers ofthe bodyguard returned withoutencountering the enemy. Theywere ordered to return to Srinagarand proceed next morning toGanderbal and keep watch on thenorthern approaches to Srinagar.With the object of patrolling thewestern approaches of the air-field two rifle companies from 4lKumaon under Maj. SomnathSharma moved towards Budgamand secured a base one rifle com-pany from 1 Kumaon underCapt. Wood moved west wardsand after making contact with !stPunjab [Now 1st Guards ] atMagam returned to airfield viaSrinagar without enncounteringthe enemy by 1. 00 pm withoutmeeting the enemy. Out of thetwo companies of 4 Kumaon onewithdrew by 2. 00 pm the othercompany was heavily fired uponby the enemy from inside ofhouses and attacked by a verystrong force appearing from adepression between twokarewas. Kumanis put up a dev-astating fire and fought gallantlybut being heavily outnumberedfell back suffering many fatal ca-sualties including Maj. Sharma,the enemy was apparently mak-ing for the airfield and probablyalso wanted to enter Srinagarfrom the south. The situationwas saved by making air strikeson the enemy at Budgam andshifting 1st Punjab from Magamto Hamhom to block the ap-proach to airfield as well asBudgam Srinagar road. MajSomnath Sharma was awarded1st Param Vir Chakra the highestgallantry award of the IndianArmed forces posthumously.

The enemy was avoiding afrontal assault on 1st Sikh atPatan but were on the movespreading in all directions in thevalley. On 4th November situa-tion looked very grim with thelimited troops i. e less than threebattalions available with the 161brigade it would have been verydifficult to tackle small parties ofenemy infiltrating into Srinagarfrom many direction. Reinforce-ments in the shape of two fullstrength infantry battalions, asquadron of armoured cars, abattery of field artillery togetherwith other supporting troops wasexpected to reach Srinagar byroad on the evening of 7th Nov.After giving due considerationto all pros and cons the BrigadeCommander decided to withdraw1 Sikh from Patan to Srinagar andshifting of 1st Punjab fromMagam to Humhom to give the

impression to the enemy that af-ter the action near Budgam on3rd Nov. the brigade had taken acrippling knock and was pullingits horns that would entice thetribal force to assemble,regroupand rush in their motor transporttowards Srinagar

The gamble worked after thewithdrawl of 1 Sikh on by 5thNovember small partys of theenemy disappeared from the bri-gade front and reports poured inthat all parties of tribal raiders bigand small were heading forBaramula. It was planned thatafter the arrival of reinforcements on 7th Nov. a wide encirclingmaneuver by two infantry, bat-talions from airfield via Magamto Patan and sandwich the en-emy between Patan and Srinagar,subject the tribal force to attacksfrom the front and rear and anni-hilate it. It was expected thatenemy attack on Srinagar de-fenses would materialize by 8thor latter, On 6th evening MajorInder Singh Rikhe [Later Maj.Gen. and Commander of UNForce at Cyprus] of the 7th lightCavalry with a troop of 4 armoredcars and one rifle troop arrivedat the brigade headquarters asan advanced party of the rein-forcement convoy and was verymuch welcomed. . It was decidedthat out of the four cars a patrolof two cars and the rifle troopunder Lieut. Noel David wouldproceed as a reconnaissance pa-trol via Ganderbal- Safapur roadto Bandipur next day i. e 7th Nov.by first light and after collectingall possible information from thelocal police stations Maharaja'sbodyguard and others return toairfield by the evening.

Of the two battalions 1st Sikhwas positioned west of Srinagarat the flood channel at Shaltengand 1st Kumaon in the rifle range(Chandmari) area. After Davidwith his armored cars and rifletroop left brigade headquartersCommanding Officer of 1st Sikhinformed Brigade headquarterson wireless that his forward com-panies were heavily engaged byautomatic fire including that frommedium machine guns. An im-mediate reconnaissance by airrevealed that a force of severalthousand was present across theflood channel, about 150 vehicleswere parked on the road in therear, but there was no momenton the road. The situation whichwas planned for 10th presenteditself to 161 Brigade on the morn-ing of 7th. Lieut. David’s patrolof armored cars and rifle troopwas diverted from Ganderbal viaKrahom to Sumbal and orderedto proceed towards junction ofroads bifurcating for Baramulaand Sumbal near Shalteng, andappear in the rear of the enemyas if it was part of the enemyforces. It took about 20 minutesfor the armored cars to cross arickety wooden culvert nearKarhom which at first seemed to

(Contd. on Page 19)

12BOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

By P.N. Raina

GENOCIDE and Exile aretwo terrible words.Those who experience it

can never get it out of theirminds so long as they are alive.Reliving these events throughnarratives, oral or historical, ismore than recording history anattempt to come to terms with theself. ‘Rajouri Remembered’, amemoir penned down by Sh.Amar Nath Saraf to situate thecarnage of 1947 in its socio-his-torical perspective belongs tothis genre.

Not many of us knew thatHindus of Rajouri do not cel-ebrate Diwali, the festival oflights. Mohan Guruswamy’sbone-shaking write-up onRajouri massacre (1947) in In-dian Express a few years agotook many of us by surprise. On13th November, 1947, the Paki-stani marauders aided by a sec-tion of locals and defectors fromState forces mercilessly put todeath thousands of men, womenand children at the maidaan,where presently the airfield islocated. The marauders alsoplundered the town in lust ofwealth and booty. Many survi-vors continued to live in campsput up by the forces of occupa-tion. The town was liberated bythe Indian Army on 13th April,1948 the day of Baisakhi festi-val. ‘Rajouri Remembered’ re-lives these events. Sh. AmarNath Saraf, a former Judge inState Judiciary, writes this ac-count as an insider. Though hewas away in Jammu many hisclose kith and kin were partamong those people who be-came victims in the massacre. ForSh. Amar Nath Saraf and his co-citizens of Rajouri the massacredelineates history into twophases-shorish se pehle, shorishke baad. Shorish, to quote theeditor-translator denotes-chaos,anguish, dislocation, separation,the violence, the massacres andthe brutality of the riots.

Why Sh. Amar Nath Sarafwaited for two decades after hisretirement to put on record hismemoir on an event which hasgreat historical importance? Thisis particularly surprising in viewof his great emotional attachmentwith his home place-Rajouri andthe paucity of recorded materialon it.

On 25 November, 2006 Sh.Amar Nath Saraf was visited bya profound tragedy. He lost hiswife, a companion of more thanfive decades and whose familyhad done so much to rehabilitateSarafs in the immediate aftermathof massacre. The mourners,many of whom came from Rajourirefreshed his longings for his na-tive Watan and sharpened hissense of loss. The occasion pro-vided an opportunity for theauthor’s talented daughter-in-

Rajouri Did Not Even Receive A Condolencelaw, Babli Moitra, a Bengali byethnicity and sociologist bytraining to record narrativesabout Rajouri, particularly aboutthe carnage of 1947. She alsotranslated the memoir writtendown by her father-in-law. He putat her disposal all the records-papers, newspapers andchronicles to put the events of1947 Rajouri in proper perspec-tive.

Sh Amar Nath Saraf is deeplypained at the treatment metedout to the victims of Rajouri, whohe says received neither ‘finan-cial compensation’ nor ‘condo-lence’. He laments that such ahorrendous massacre of contem-porary times is being describedvaguely by chroniclers as ‘a lo-

cal uprising in Poonch area’ or‘some excesses’ committed bymarauding Pashtun tribesmenand victims are all reduced to sta-tistics. Sh. Saraf regrets thatRajouri remained unique in thesense that it was not given eventhe distinctionof being con-sidered a statis-tical figure. Heis bitter whenhe says ‘we asthe survivorshave consentedto that erasureof memory’. Herecalls in hisForeward that‘the biggestmisfortune isto have to leaveone’s land,one’s people.The most mis-erable exist-ence is that ofan exile’. Theloss of his wifeheightened hissense of lossfor his Watan,Rajouri.

The memoir has been ablyedited by Babli Moitra Saraf. Thevaluable historical material-’Jammu Kashmir State KeRajouri Nagar Ka KhooniItihaas’ by Lala Pishori LalJhinjotia, ‘Kashmir Mein ChandRoz’ by Mirza Faqir Mohd.

Rajorvi (1984), 5-part article bySh. Narinder, editor of ‘Pratap’(Delhi), Rajouri Reclaimed bySh. K.D. Maini etc. has beenconsulted. The editor has fo-cussed on the event using nar-rative voices as perspectives onit.VALUABLE MEMOIR:

‘Rajouri Remembered’ isvaluable on many counts.Through a personal memoir ittells us so much about the sociallife of Hindus of Rajouri and theintercommunal relations in pre-1947 period. The author hasdrawn good biographicalsketches of two outstanding per-sonalities of Rajouri—LalaNarsingh Dass Kaila and Dr.Malik Ram Gupta. We are alsotold about the custom—howHindus of Rajouri would gavetheir babies in temporary adop-tion to Labhan as for ensuringtheir longevity. Such customsfostered good inter-communalrelations. The memoir focuses onthe events leading to massacre,the carnage and the displace-ment/survival trauma of the vic-tims/refugees. There is a brief ac-count of Rajouri’s history. Till1194 Rajouri was governed byHindu Kings. The Jarral dynastycame to power when a PunjabiDurbari, Noorddin led revoltagainst Raja Amna Pain and killedhim. The Jarrals ruled till 1846,Rahimullah Khan being the lastruler. In 1847 Maharaja GulabSingh appointed Mian Hathu asGovernor. Previously a part ofBhimbar district, Rajouri was laterclubbed with Reasi district(1904), Poonch district (1947) andbecame separate district in 1947.

EVENTS LEADING TONOVEMBER 1947:

In 1932 in the wake of agita-tion by Muslim Conference theentire J&K State was rocked bycommunal violence. In Rajouritehsil also many people died inthe riots. Lala Pishori Lal’s fam-ily was uprooted from Jhinjot

Kedi and trekked forthree days to reachRajouri town, whichhad preponderanceof non-Muslims.Rajouri town wassaved by the timelyarrival of Stateforces. ThoughRajouri was not af-fected much, thefear started lurkingin the minds ofpeople on whatwould be the condi-tion of the minorityin the days to come.

Next event waspartition of the In-dian sub-continent.On 14th August,1947 there was large-scale communal vio-lence in J&K. InRajouri Hinduspoured into townfrom neighbouringareas, while town’sMuslims retreatedinto villages. The leaders of boththe communities proposed to setup an Aman Committee. For somereasons this proposal wasthwarted.

Soon there was tribal invasionof the state. After capture ofSensa in Mirpur by Pakistan theMaharaja had sent forces underCol. Rehmatullah Khan to defendRajouri. As part of the Pakistaniconspiracy Rehmatullah andMajor Nasrullah had joined theRaiders. They killed the Gorkhasepoys of their own companies,collected more deserters on theway and reached Chaccherajungles in the vicinity of Rajourion 28th October, 1947.

R a j o u r ihad just 2platoons todefend itself. Col.Rehmatullah,well familiarabout thelayout ofthe terrainand vulner-able defenceof Rajouri,began to putpressure onthe town.Two tehsilsof Poonchhad alreadycome underthe sway ofraiders by24th Octo-ber. As Col.

Rehmatullah Khan reachedChacchera, Sardar Ibrahim Khansent another group of Pakistanisunder Sakhi Diler to join him infirst week of November. MirzaFaqir Mohd. writes that he andother prominent citizens ofRajouri were already in touchwith raiders. He was President of

the local Muslim Conferenceand was also active in interac-tions with the Rajouri’s Hindu mi-nority.DESPERATE SITUATION:

With Rajouri so vulnerable,local RSS volunteers asked theSHO to release ammunition tothem for defence of Rajouri, ademand which was rejected byhim. Many members of the mi-nority community left for Jammuthough RSS tried to hold themback thinking that ‘strength layin numbers’. Thousands of mem-bers of the minority communitybegan pouring into the town.The local minority populationwas 38 thousand at the time ofattack.

As situation turned grimmany people of Rajouri met Sh.Meher Chand Mahajan, thePrime Minister in Jammu, mak-ing request for more troops. Hedid send some units towardsRajouri but Sheikh Abdullah, thehead of the Emergency adminis-tration diverted these to Reasito restore law and order there.

On the evening prior to attackthe members of the minoritycommunity learnt that no Indianarmy was coming to defend them.Some members managed to leaveunder cover of night. Those whoremained in Rajouri included per-sons unable to move. There wereyet others who were confidentthat their own status as promi-nent citizens would buy themimmunity from attackers. Theyincluded Messers Dina NathKaila and Lala Narsingh Dass,maternal uncle of Sh. AN Saraf.Lala Narsingh Dass had beenamong the first members fromthe local minority community tojoin National Conference in 1941at the instance of SheikhAbdullah. Lala had progressiveideas and attacked usury in nouncertain terms.

Sh. A.N. Saraf

A view of Rajouri Town.

(Contd. on Page 19)

13BOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWBOOK-REVIEWKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

By. P.N. Raina

Jeet (win) Ya (or) Haar (Defeat)is a novel based on the Tribal

Raiders’ invasion of J&K Statein 1947. Its author Prof. BalrajMadhok claims that the novel isbased on the actual incidents,events he had recorded regu-larly in his daily diary. Actualnames of some characters havebeen changed to protect theiridentity as the novel was firstpublished in 1953. Real incidentshave been dramatized to give itthe shape of a novel. Many ofthe events narrated by the au-thor have been corroborated byindependent observers whowere witness to the era.

Sh. Meher Chand Mahajantook over as Prime Minister ofJ&K State on 15th October 1947.His shrewdness, administrativecapability and political foresightwere well acknowledged even byhis adversaries. His appoint-ment unnerved Pakistanis whofelt that their game-plan to grabKashmir may run into roughweather with Mahajan at thehelm. The Pakistanis were work-ing overtime to create vast sub-version network in the J&K Stateto prepare the ground for exter-nal invasion. They were tryingto buy the loyalties of their co-religionists in state forces, train-ing a section of local populationfor subversion in Jammu prov-ince. They were also dumpingarms and ammunition in selec-tive areas of Jammu region. Allthis was being planned meticu-lously, keeping the strategic de-tails and the D-Day a top secret.While all this was being done thesenior officers of State forceswere kept in good humour thateverything was hunky dory.

Prof. Balraj Madhok’s well-written novel throws light on allthis. It also covers the actual in-vasion and the author’s escapein the aftermath of invasion.Many canards were spread byhis political adversaries to dis-tort his role and twist events tosuit them politically. A dispas-sionate history detailing the pa-triotic role of all those forces whoworked overtime to see the Kash-mir remains with India duringthose, fateful days still eludesus. ‘Haar’ Ya ‘Jeet’ will obvi-ously help in removing manycobwebs of confusion and facili-tate in reconstructing the au-thentic history of that phase.PROF. MADHOK’S ROLE:

Prof. Madhok was among thefirst 15 RSS workers of Undi-vided Punjab. He stood first inMA (History) in Punjab Univer-sity. He came to Srinagar in 1944and was appointed Vice-Princi-

Raiders’ Invasion-New Revelationspal of DAVC o l l e g e .P r o f .M a d h o kwas alsochief of RSSorganisationin Kashmir.A dynamico r g a n i s e rP r o f .Madhok was able to create agroup of 250 cadres in Srinagarwithin a few years. During hisstay in Lahore he had also beenworking in coordination withRSS workers in Rawalpindi dis-trict, Peshawar, Hazara,Abbotabad, Lahore etc. Due tohis contacts with Sh. MeherChand Mahajan frmo Lahoredays Prof. Madhok had direct ac-cess to higher-ups in Maharaja’sadministration.

As per Prof. Madhok’s testi-mony he harnessed all his con-tacts to unearth the invasionconspiracy even as early as 9thOctober i.e. 12 days before theactual invasion. Had his infor-mation been acted upon muchof the death and destructioncould have been averted. TheMaharaja’s administration wouldhave been on a firmer wicket toface the Raiders (read Paki-stanis). But then these are ‘ifs’and ‘buts’ of history.DR. S.K. ATRI’SINFORMATION:

On October 8, 1947 Prof.Madhok got the first clue regard-ing the intended invasion fromDr. SK Atri. A medico frmo UP,Dr. Atri had been practicisingmedicine in Srinagar for over twodecades. He was an influentialand a renowned doctor in thecity. Some of his elderly Muslimclients who had po-Pak viewshad visited him in the eveningof 7th October and requestedhim to leave Srinagar along withhis family at the earliest becausePakistan would be invadingKashmir soon and members ofthe minority community wouldbe soft targets. A little scared Dr.Atri took Prof. Madhok into con-fidence the following day.PUNJAB MUSLIM HOTEL:

During those days PunjabMuslim Hotel at Pratap Chowk(now called Lal Chowk) wasknown to be the rendezvous ofPak spies and agents. Prof.Madhok took a few of his topcadres into confidence and de-cided out a strategy to dig outmore details about the Pakgameplan. He decided to utilizethe services of some cadres whohad come to Srinagar fromPunjab and NWFP.

Prof Madhok managed to in-

filtrate his confidents intoPunjab Muslim Hotel. Withintwo days he was able to unearthmajor elements in the Pakistaniconspiracy. He got precise de-tails about how Pakistan wassubverting loyalties of a sectionof the Maharaja’s forces. Manytop officers at Civil and Militarylevel were working for Pakistan.These included Col. AdalatKhan, Ch. Faizullah Khan, WazirWazarat Baramulla. Prof.Madhok also learnt that inva-sion was to come from the direc-tion of Abottabad, the invaderswere to include Pak army person-nel in civies and Pathan tribes-men. The Maharaja was to betaken captive, and then Pakistanwould make declaration aboutKashmir’s accession with Paki-stan. Prof. Madhok says thatsoon after collecting this vitalinformation he managed to con-vey it to Maharaja and Brig.Kashmir Singh, the Chief of StateForces. Madhok made a sugges-tion to disarm the section of stateforces whose loyalities hadraised a question mark.HARISH BHANOT:

Two days later HarishBhanot, RSS Chief of Abbotabadreached Srinagar. After partitionBhanot had been working under-ground as a RSS activist inAbbotabad under the covername of ‘Nawab of Boi’. He hadlinks with top officials of Paki-stan and had gathered vital in-formation from them about theinvasion. Before the cover couldblow off Bhanot managed toreach Srinagar by Car. On 16thof October, Prof. Madhok ap-prised Sh. Meherchand Mahajanabout the information broughtby Bhanot. Prime MinisterMahajan in view of limitedstrength of state forces made arequest to Prof. Madhok to lendhis helping hand.

On 17th October Brig. Kash-mir Singh met Prof. Madhok andinformed him that details sup-plied by the latter have beenfound to be true. The Brigadieralso expressed helplessness ofthe government in acting uponthe information in view of lim-ited troops at its disposal.Srinagar had just one company,with loyalty of a good numberof troops under doubt. Brig.Kashmir Singh also talked aboutnon-availability of arms and am-munition (which used to comevia Rawalpindi road) and petrolstocks. Three was no enoughpetrol for army trucks. Brig.Kashmir Singh’s another worrywas that Col. Narayain Singhwas refusing to accept the grav-ity of the situation as related by

H e a d q u a r t e r s .The Brigadierasked Prof.Madhok to sendsome of his ownactivists to Domelto convince Col.Narain Singh. Ac-cordingly, HarishBhanot was senton motorcycle toDomel on morn-ing of 22nd Octo-ber. At Uri helearnt about theraiders’ attack andreturned toSrinagar in theevening.

A few hoursafter Bhanot hadleft for Domel, Sh.Mangla Sein, aRSS Pracharak ofTeetwal reachedSrinagar. He in-formed Prof.M a d h o kabout raid-ers’ attack onMuzaffarabadand told himthat non-M u s l i m swere fleeingt o w a r d sSrinagar andPoonch toescape re-prisals. Bhanot later joinedHindustan Times as a columnistand belonged to an influentialfamily. He lives in Chandigarh.Mangal Sein later became leaderof opposition in Haryana Assem-bly.RSS HELP CALLED:

In the intervening night of 23/24 October, Maharaja’s ADCtook Prof. Madhok to Maharaja’spalace in Srinagar. The Maharajawas closeted with his Prime Min-ister and Brig. Kashmir Singh.Sh. Meher Chand Mahajantalked about the grimness of thesituation, aggravated by deser-tions in State forces. The PrimeMinister said that his govern-ment expected Indian forcessoon and asked Prof. Madhokto get his cadres so that theycould be of help in maintainingorder in Srinagar. At that timeBrig. Rajender Singh was stillholding on at Uri. While meet-ing was on the Maharaja tele-phonically ordered Brigadier tohold on to the last man and thelast breath. On 24 October, Prof.Madhok collected 200 workersat the premises of Arya Samaj,most of them were college stu-dents. They were given twohours training in using .303 riflesat Badami Bagh.

On 26th October, somegroups of raiders had alreadypositioned themselves aroundShalteng. Prof. Madhok hadgone to Badami Bagh Cantt toknow whether Indian Army wascoming in time or not. At 3 PM itwas clear that Indian forces wereexpected any moment. Soon af-ter this news NC and Commu-nist Workers came out on streetsof Srinagar for organising CivilDefence of the city. Sameevening 200 RSS workers wereput in 2-3 army trucks byMaharaja’s administrationMaharaja’s administration anddespatched to Shalteng to holdback raiders till the time Indianforces landed in Srinagar. Whenthe trucks reached Hari SinghHigh Street (Amirakadal) NCworkers intercepted them. Theysearched he RSS cadres andfound most of their rifle maga-zines empty. The NC workersthrashed them, telling them thatraiders would lynch them withinno time at Shalteng. The RSSworkers were disarmed andasked to disperse. Later, a mis-chievous rumour was floatedthat RSS plan to create mischiefin the city had been foiled. Thismistrust later led to a bigger con-flict, which paved way for SheikhAbdullah’s dismissal in 1953.

Prof. Madhok’s novel alsomakes a revelation that Maha-raja cancelled his visit to Bhimbaron 20th October on the basis ofinformation supplied by him.The Maharaja and his PrimeMinister were on a tour ofJammu region to take stock ofthe latest situation. Pakistan,having come to know about it,had hatched a plan to attackBhimber and take the Maharajacaptive.

Prof. Madhok

Col. NarainSingh

14PHOTO-ESSAPHOTO-ESSAPHOTO-ESSAPHOTO-ESSAPHOTO-ESSAYYYYYKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

Raiders surrendering before Indian Army in Kupwara Sector. Corpes of raiders after the battle of Shalteing in November 1947.

A Raider lorry. MIRPUR NOV. 1947--A seen of destruction as a result of Raiders invasion.

This was the fate of Baramulla in 1947. Uri Rest House burnt down by Raiders.

15PHOTO-ESSAPHOTO-ESSAPHOTO-ESSAPHOTO-ESSAPHOTO-ESSAYYYYYKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

Major Som Nath Sharma Brigadier Rajinder Singh Col. D.R. Rai

SKARDU FORT: Kashmiri Pandits and other Indians under the leadership Col. Sher Jang stayed hereduring the 6-month siege.

National Conference Volunteers staging a march inSrinagar in October 1947.

Jammu girls undergoing self defence training to fight Pak invaders. Maharani Tara Devi is also seen in thispicture.

By Doordarshi Pandit

Wajahat Habibullah's interview is an eye opener and

needs to be studied andanalysed in detail. He being theinterlocutor of Govt.of India withthe separatists of the Valley,makes this interview a very seri-ous affair and can not be treatedlightly. Has GOI made up its mindto give up Kashmir ,or even ifthe State of J&K is retained inthe territorial map of India is itgoing to be a new state createdas per the dreams and vision ofYaseen Malik, whose caseWajahat seems to be pleadingforcefully and endlessly.

Wajahat builds a case forKashmiri separatists, but his thevery foundation is faulty.Wajahatji can not afford to pleadignorance to the fact that it washis great HOPE, Yaseen Malikwho as the founder of JKLFstarted the insurgency in 1989and his slogan no doubt wasHUM KYA CHAHTEY AZADI,but he did not stop at that. Hedistinctly clarified and explainedthe meaning of AZADI vizAZADI KA MATLAB KYA---LA ILLA HA ILLALLAH. He fur-ther elaborated his vision andmeaning of AZADI: PAKISTANSEY RISHTA KYA---- LA ILLAHA ILLALLAH. And you don'thave to be an extra ordinarily in-telligent person to understandthe meaning of this kind ofAZADI. Quite simple!!! SoYaseen Malik's AZADI meantKashmir should merge with Pa-kistan and in absence of any newevidence to the contrary, he ob-viously continues to plead andpropogate the same old visionof AZADI. Then how doesWajahatji say that his Safar-i-Azadi is not pro Pakistan?

Wajahat Habib Ullah is theson of an illustrious Indian -LateMaj Gen E. Habib Ullah a greatsoldier and a great lover ofhorses. Wajahat scored veryhigh when he quqlified for theelite Indian Administrative Ser-vice and obviously rose to oc-cupy high offices in the govern-ment, both at the Centre and alsoin the state of J&K. So everyword that he uses and utters inhis interview has a meaning andhas been used after giving a duethought. Sample a couple ofthem:

He laments the absence ofseparatists from the RTC(RoundTable Conference) and adds itamounts to the British holdingan RTC without nationalists. Sofriends separatists who want tosecede from India have beencompared to nationalists!

Yaseen Malik's SAFAR-I-

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Once a Sufferer, always a SaffererAZADI, says Wajahatji, has justthree dimensions:a, rehabilitation of Kashmiri

Pandits (now don't laugh, hedoes not say return andrehabilitation)

b, support to Indo Pak dia-logue process and the GEM

c, DEMAND FOR INVOLVE-MENT OF KASHMIRIS indialogue process.

and adds, this Safar is to re-store the 'secular fabric' of thesociety He strongly recommendsthe youth - Kashmiri youth -toplay a part in DECISION making?Calling Yaseen Malik a democratwho would any day like to provehis popularity in a free and fairelections, Wajahatji reminds usof 2002 when Hurriyat Confer-ence had asked Yaseen Malik toset up an Election Commissionto organise elections. AndWajahatji, do you also want usto believe that the elections heldby Election Commission of Indiaare neither FREE nor FAIR?

Complimenting Musharaff'sself governance Wajahatji saysthat Hurriyat was the first to saythat they wanted a Prime-Minis-ter and a President and furtherelaborates that there was verylittle difference of opinion be-tween Autonomy slogan of Na-tional Conference and Self Gov-ernance slogan of Hurriyat andhe pleads that young leaders likeYaseen Malik, Umer Farooq,Omer Abdullah and MehboobaMufti could sort the nitty grittyout and arrive at a consensus.Agreed, but what does thatmean? Azadi, Autonomy and SelfGovernance convey the samemeaning.To use a very mild word,it means DISTANCING from In-dia. A relevent question arises -BUT WHY? And why don't yoube as sincere and honest asYaseen Malik and tell us thetruth.

Wajahatji very cleverlyequates India and Pakistan whenhe says J&K state as part of In-dia (and its democratic system)and POK as part of Pakistan (andits undefinable army dictatorialsystem)"will bring maximum selfgovernment that is achievablewithin these systems". He paysa tribute to Kashmiri womenwhen he says,"...........kingpins ofinsurgency were also the women.They virtually led it as I PERSON-ALLY saw it" Prey Wajahatji, didyou ever ask these women WHYdid they virtually lead the insur-gency? What was there problemand has it been resolved by now?AS it is, these Kashmiri womencare a fig about poor AsiaAndrabi who seems to have re-duced herself to DUKHTAR-I-

MILAT.Wajahatji once again gives

himself out when he creats newMALAMASSIS andBANAMASSIS BY DIVIDINGTHE MINISCULE MINORITYOF KPs INTO THOSE "INSIDETHE VALLEY"and those KPs forwhose return Yaseen Malik hasroped in 2 Kashmiri Pandits inhis Safar......... He also pleads fa-vorably for the representation ofvalley based KPs in theRTC.(Please draw your own con-clusions, and about those KPsSAFFARING with Yaseen Malik-bear with me for a littlewhile).Shedding tears for YaseenMalik's so called arrest at the verybeginning of his SAFAR andterming it as ABSURD, Wajahatjiforgets that his pet Yaseen Malikhad not bothered to take the per-mission of the district adminis-tration to start his Safar, a man-datory requirement when thereis Sec.144 prohibiting the assem-bly of four or more than four per-sons, in force. Wajahatji ofcourse must be in know of thefact that Yaseen Malik did applyfor the permission which wasduly granted, and he isSAFFARING since.

What takes the cake in thewhole interview is when Wajahatji says the aspirations ofKashmiris "are the same as thatof a Tamil for Tamil Nadu, aKannada for Karnataka or aTelengi for Telengana and ex-plains that when a Tamil talksabout his aspirations, he hasnothing to do with the Tamils ofSri Lanka. What a comparisonand don't forget the sloganAZADI KA MATLAB.......... andPAKISTAN SE RISHTA.........When Wajahatji talks ofKashmiris be it Kashmiri women,Kashmiri youth, Kashmiri un-employed etc, he meansKashmiri Muslims but does notsay so.(It is, as such, requestedthat in the foregoing whereverthe word Kashmiri appears itmeans Kashmiri Muslims).Had itbeen an ethnic aspiration,Wajahatji must realize that aKashmiri Pandit would havebeen a part of it but what is theground reality, we find Afghanis,Pakistanis, Chechians, Arabs etal fighting for Kashmiri aspira-tions. They are ethnically as dif-ferent as cheese and chalk, yetsomething very strong bindsthem and a person of Wajahatji'sintelligence should know whatthis ADHESIVE is. He himselfmakes it clear when he favorscreation of autono0mous As-semblies for different regions ofthe state, ONE for Kashmir whichis just 80miles by 20 miles but

TWO for Jammu in which dis-tricts of Rajouri, Poonch andDoda have nothing common withthe rest of Jammu, hence theneed for a separate Assembly. Isit not ditoo what Musharaff pro-poses, Wajahat ji? Does he stillcall it anethnic(Kashmiri)'aspiration'. Hashe not let the cat out of the bag,perhaps unintentionally?

Wajahatji is very sad that'Kashmiris feel they have beenleft out of dialogue.....'and pre-dicts it will have ' adverse effect'.Adverse effect on what? Andwhat is this dialogue all aboutand who are these Kashmiriswho feel they have been left outof dialogue? Why don’t we cometo the point straightaway? Weknow what Pakistan wants. Orelse the very existence of Paki-stan gets more and more doubt-ful. A muslim majority state re-maining a part of secular and plu-ral India is the very anti thesis of2 Nation theory on which thePakistani state was carved outof India. Pakistan is justified inexporting terror and a normalsovereign state is as much justi-fied in defeating this proxy warand so be it. Instead, we arebending backwards to ‘negoti-ate’, have a ‘dialogue’ and reachsome sort of an agreement withthose whose only claim to lead-ership is that they picked up anAK against the state. Till date,nobody has tried to find out thecause/s of so called alienation.The tragedy is that we knowwhat Pakistan wants, what itsfactotums(in the shape of vari-ous Hurriyats and their ilk) wantbut nobody has bothered to tellus what GOI wants. If this inter-view is an indicator of what GOIhas in mind, then an Islamic statewithin Indian Union is going tobe delivered soon. But don’t beatabout the bush and say so .

Wajahadji makes a faux paswhen he says that the forestwealth on the LOC CAN BE EX-PLOITED FOR THE ECONOMICGOOD OF TWO Kashmirs(Stateof J&K and POK). BesidesChinars, he counts silver birch,saal, oak, teak as the other tim-ber producing trees. I for one amnot aware that Chinar was/is be-ing used as timber and if it growsin the forest on the LOC.I am notsure if silver birch, saal, oak andteak are grown in the forests ofKashmir, I always thought it waspine, deodar conifer which wasabundantly available in the for-ests of the state and was ex-ploited to an extent that todaywe have to import from outsidefor construction activity in thevalley. As for Chinar is

concerned,just before our exo-dus, Chinar was a protected treeand there was a law banning thefelling or hurting the same. It wasprobably the rarest law whichwas not violated by Kashmiris.They loved Chinar and preservedand protected it. I atleast knowof one of the Chinars which is400 years old, it used to exist inBijbihara, I wonder if its there. Ihope the law to protect Chinarsis still on the Statute books ofKashmir.

Wajahid Habibullah’s reply toa simple query, whether North-ern Areas (Gilgit, Skardu, Bonji,Chilas etc)are part of the J & Kstate, is shocking in the least .Instead of replying emphaticallyand in no uncertain terms with acategoric YES, he gives an ex-planation often given by Paki-stan. He even justifies the ced-ing of territory from the North-ern Areas to China by Pakistanon the plea that since Pakistandid not consider Northern areasas part of the so called disputedterritory of J&K State, it had nohesitation in ceding part of it toChina. No Mr. WajahatHabibullah, Pakistan gave awaya part of Northern areas to Chinabecause it did not belong tothem, because it was MINE andit is always very easy to give incharity what does not belong toyou.

TALE PIECE : Now about thetwo KP’s SAFFARING withYasin Malik in his SAFFAR-E-AZADI. One of them has beenidentified as Sampat Prakash.

Poor Sampat Prakash hasbeen suffering all his life, wag-ing the struggle of have-notsagainst exploiting haves as atrade union leader. He was aleader of Govt. low paid employ-ees federation. As a communisthe had to fight the exploitingclass, in his case the exploitingclass meant class 1 officers of theJ &K state. Now look at the trag-edy, when it comes to foot slog-ging and delivering fieryspeeches against the presentday exploiting class – this classnow meant those Muslims whono longer are a part of the Move-ment-it is Sampat Prakash whoaccompanies Yasin Malik. Butwhen it comes to visiting Wash-ington DC, USA, it is not SampatPrakash, who is accompanyingYasin Malik but another KP be-longing to the exploiter class viza retired Chief Engineer, againstwhom Sampat Prakash hadlaunched number of agitationswhen both were in service.

Conclusions drawn : Once aSufferer, always a SAFFERER.

(Source: kpindia, kpnetwork)

Margaret Bourke-White was acorrespondent and photog-

rapher with American magazineLIFE. She authored many books,based on her coverage of Africa,England, France, China, Russia,Italy and Germany during theSecond World War. Bourke-Whitealso covered tribal invasion of J&Kin 1947-48. Her reportage onKashmir— "Democracy in theHimalayas' and 'Struggle forKashmir' form part of her book onIndia 'Halfway to Freedom' (NewYork, 1949).

The 'Struggle for Kashmir'deals specifically with Raiders'invasion. Bourke-White was inPakistan when invasion was be-ginning. Pakistan government wasreluctant to let her cross intoKashmir. They feared that anupright journalist like Bourke-White would not hesitate to tellthe world truth about Pakistan'scomplicity in the invasion. Pakista-nis trotted out excuses to put heroff saying, 'there was nothing tophotograph', 'it was verydangerous for a woman,''Tribesmen abducted women'.When she insisted on visitingplaces which were bases forinvasion local officials escortingher would drive her over'picturesque but deserted roads tothe border of Kashmir and showher 'a breathtaking vista ofmountain scenery which had finepicture-postcard value but littlenews value'.

On occasions Bourke-Whitewas able to slip out unescortedand meet tribal Pashtun invaders.She narrates her conversationwith one Invader leader, BadshaGul of Mohmand tribe. Gul hadbrought one thousand tribals, aconvoy of trucks and ammunitionfor invasion of Kashmir. The trucksand buses would at times comeback within a day or two "burstingwith loot, only to return toKashmir with more tribesmen, torepeat their indiscriminate"liberating"—and terrorising ofHindu, Sikh, and Muslimvillagers alike".

About the buses and lorriesBourke-White writes "taxi compa-nies (in Rawalpindi) were donat-ing twenty or ten or a couple oftrucks each, the number I sup-pose depending on the intensitywith which the owner believed theMuslims in Kashmir needed'rescuing'.

Bourke-White debunked themyths that arms for the invasioncame from tribesmen themselves,some of whom owned arms facto-ries. She writes, "I photographedone of the larger of these munitionworks, belonging to the Afriditribe. It was a rock-bound shackwhere five men worked. Since ittook one man a month to make arifle, it is doubtful whether all theshacks on the North-West Fron-tier would account for more thana fraction of the equipment with

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Tribal Invasion: An American Reportagewhich the tribesmen pouredinto Kashmir during the fallof '47. Certainly theseminiature ballisticsestablishment would hardlyexplain the mortars, otherheavy modern weapons, and thetwo aeroplanes with which theinvaders were equipped".

In an eyewitness accountabout the delivery of arms shewrites, "In Pakistan townsclose to the border, arms werehanded out before daylight totribesmen directly from thefront steps of the MuslimLeague headquarters".

She makes revelations e.g.'From Pakistan's Capital atrain loaded with medicalsupplies and volunteerpersonnel left everyWednesday morning for theKashmir frontier, "some of the'Azad Kashmir' soldiers,taken as PoWs by the Indianarmy, were found to have paybooks of the Pakistan Army intheir pockets'.

While Bourke-White wasstill in Abottabad she had theopportunity to meet the nunsfrom St. Joseph Hospital inBaramulla who survived thecarnage. They had escapedover the border at dawn. Anurse gave her a detaileddescription of how raiders ran-sacked the babies' ward on theConvent grounds. She said,"the tribesmen begansmashing up X-Ray equipment,throwing medicine bottles tothe ground, ripping thestatuettes of saints out of thechapel, and shooting up theplace generally. Two patientswere killed: an Englishmanand his wife who werevacationing at the missionwere murdered; and two nunswere shot".

For nine days Baramullawitnessed reign of terror underthe forces of occupation.About the situation in theConvent Bourke-Whiterecords, "The nuns, theirhospital patients, and a fewstray towns people who hadtaken refugee at the missionwere herded into a singledormitory and kept under rifleguard. On one of these days,after an air attack from theIndian Army had left thetribesmen in a particularlyescited and nervous mood, sixof the nuns were brought outand lined upto be shot. It wasthe accident that one of themhad a conspicuous gold tooththat saved the sisters. One ofthe riflemen wanted to get thattooth, before his colleagues hada chance at it. In the scuffle thatfollowed, one of their chiefsarrived; he had enough visionto realise that shooting nunswas not the thing to do, even in

an invasion, and the nuns weresaved".

Bourke-White visitedBaramulla soon after its libera-tion by Indian forces. Sherecords, "The once lovely town,straddling the Jhelum River atthe gateway to the Valley, wasas heaped with rubble and black-ened with fire as those batteredJewels of Italian towns throughwhich many of us moved duringour war in Italy...the desertedconvent on the hill was badly de-faced and littered...We made ourway into the ravaged Chapel,Wading through the mass oftorn hymnbooks and broken sa-cred statuary. The altar was deepin rubble". She also gives agraphic account of how martyrMaqbool Sherwani was killed byPakistanis. Bourke-White metSherwani's father and brothers.On seeing Sherwani's photo-graph Bourke-White notes,"Even the soft-focus effect of thefuzzy studio portrait could noterase the intensity of the eyesand the look of strength in thehigh forehead".

(Sentinel Research Bureau)

RAIDERS' EVIDENCERAIDERS' EVIDENCERAIDERS' EVIDENCERAIDERS' EVIDENCERAIDERS' EVIDENCE

Major General Mohammad Akbar Khan was in active service in thePakistan Army in October 1947. He commanded the raiders under

the pseudonym "General Tariq". Excerpts of his interview published inthe "Defence Journal" (Karachi, June-July, 1985) are reproduced be-low:

Planning of the Invasion:"A few weeks after partition, I was asked by Mian Iftikharuddin on

behalf of Liaquat Ali Khan (Prime Minister of Pakistan) to prepare a planfor action in Kashmir. I found that the Army was holding 4,000 rifles forthe civil police. If these could be given to the locals an armed uprising inKashmir could be organised at suitable places, I wrote a plan on this basisand gave it to Mian Iftikharuddin. I was called to a meeting with LiaquatAli Khan at Lahore where the plan was adopted, responsibilities allotedand orders issued. Everything was to be kept secret from the Army. InSeptember the 4,000 rifles were issued at various places and the first shotswere exchanged with the Maharaja's troops and the movement gatheredweight.

He (Khurshid Anwar) had joined the Muslim League and he hadbeen appointed commander of the Muslim League National Guards. InSeptember 1947, when the Prime Minister launched the movement ofthe Kashmir "struggle" Khurshid Anwar was appointed Commander ofthe Northern Sector. Khurshid Anwar then went to Peshawar and with theapparent help of Khan Qayyum Khan raised the Lashkar which assembledat Abbottabad... Thereafter he (Khan Qayyum Khan) continued to takeactive interest in Kashmir and helped with the tribal Lashkars throughthe Kashmir operations."

On Looting of Non-Muslims:"It was part of their (Pakistan Govt.) agreement with Major Khurshid

Anwar of the Muslim League National Guards who was their leader thatthey would loot non-Muslims. They had no other remuneration".

(Contd. from Page 1)India could make effective prepara-tions to foil Pakistan's nefariousgame-plan. Kalkat made noteshurriedly, making a point-by-pointcopy of the plan.

'Operation Gulmarg' had deviseda three-pronged operation:

Hit and Run attacks along theborder with J&K force dispersalof state forces of J&K into smallgroups.

Unleashing of systematicpropaganda on the border areasinciting the Muslims to fight theforces of the Maharaja and re-sort to religious-cleansing oftheir non-Muslim neighbours.

Finally, thousands of tribalwarriors were to cross the fron-tier into J&K and occupy everybridle road and mountain tracks.

According to this plan, as re-vealed by Major Kalkat, everyPathan tribe was required to enlistone Lashkar of 1,000 tribesmen.The tribal detachments were to becollected at Baftnu, Wana,Peshawar, Kohat, Thal andNowshera by the first week ofSeptember, 1947. The BrigadeCommanders at these places had toissue them arms/ammunition andessential clothing items. EachLashkar was to be commanded by aMajor. A Captain and 10 JCOs ofthe regular Pakistan army were alsoto be provided to each Lashkar. Theinvasion was to be commanded byMajor General Akbar Khan, whowas assigned the code name 'Tariq'.

As per 'Operation Gulmarg' allLashkars were to meet atAbbottabad by October 18th. Six

Lashkars were to advance along themain road—Abbottabad-Muzaffarabad-Uri-Srinagar, withthe specific task of capturing theSrinagar Airport and subsequentlythe Banihal pass. Two Lashkars wereto march from Haji Pir Pass directon to Gulmarg, ensuring the securityof the right flank for the main forceadvancing from Muzaffarabad. Twoother raiders' detachments were tomove from Tithwal through theNastachchun Pass for capturing vitaltowns of erstwhile Baramulladistrict—Sopore, Handwara andBandipore. 10 other Lashkars wereassigned the task of capturingPoonch, Bhimbar and Rawalkotbefore advancing to Jammu. Detailedplans were made for procuringguides/informers to be provided todifferent Lashkars. These guides/were to come from pro-Pak elementsin J&K State forces.

Arms/Ammunition and otherrequired items were to be tran-shipped to Abbottabad by October15th. These were to be subsequentlymoved to Muzaffarabad and Domelafter the D-Day.

The D-Day was fixed as 22October, on which date the Lashkarswere to enter J&K territory.Pakistan's 7 Infantry Division wasto concentrate on the Murre-Abbottabad area by October 21stand was ordered to be ready to backup Lashkars entering J&K territoryand help these consolidate their holdon the Kashmir valley. Another in-fantry brigade was to be kept readyat Sialkot to move on to Jammu. Themain attack was to be launched alongthe motor road. The raiders force

was supplied rifles, the LMGs, 300civilian lorries were put at theirdisposal.

Kalkat after finishing the notesasked his two Sikh batmen to stayback for the nightwatch. This madehis junior Lieutenant spying on himsuspicious. Kalkat concealed theenvelope he had received in utmostsecrecy. Then he talked to BrigadierMurray on radiophone. Kalkatconveyed that a code-named‘Operation Gulmarg' had been drawnup by the Pak Army and describedit as an astounding plan—an inva-sion by Tribals.

Brig. Murray asked Kalkat tokeep the plan to himself and not toreveal more on the radio. He warnedhim that any leakage would put his(Kalkat's) life in danger.

Kalkat believed BrigadierMurray to be a part of conspiracyand took his advice as a veiled threatto keep quiet. Murray reachedBannu the following morning. It issaid that the Pakistani Lieutenanthad overhead Kalkat's radio-talkwith Brigadier Murray.

The next morning Kalkat was ona stroll. The Lieutenant, accompa-nied by a British officer surroundedhim, putting him under arrest. TheBritish officer told him, 'you justpoked your nose into something toobig'. Kalkat was taken in a jeep forLahore. He believed that thePakistani Lieutenant or Murrayhimself had summoned them fromPak Army Headquarters.

At the helipad Kalkat was putbefore Major General Akbar Khan.Murray was also brought there.

(Contd. on Page 19)

There was enough evidence about Tribal Raid

Aug 1: Two CRPF men were killed and a civilian injured as terrorists struck at Batmaloo.In yet another attack, terrorists gunned down two BSF personnel from pointblank range at Kaksarai in Srinagar. A police constable and two terrorists werekilled in an encounter in Pulwama. Four terrorists were arrested and arms, ammu-nition and currency recovered from them in Doda. Satellite pictures showedterror camp near Balakot.

Aug 2: Two terrorists were killed and three others injured while making IEDs. Two moreterrorists were killed in encounters at Awantipore and Bandipore. Four civilianswere injured in an IED explosion in Sumlar, Bandipore. Two terrorists and ajawan were killed in an encounter at Kochal, Chatroo in Doda district. 20 personswere injured in a blast at Bus Stand in Surankote. Union Foreign Secretary deniedany stalemate in the peace process.

Aug 3: A terrorist was killed, six jawans injured and Kulhand massacre accused AshrafGanai trapped in a fierce encounter at Gundana, Doda. A serial train blast accusedAbdul Hameed was arrested by a joint team of Mumbai Police and JKP (CID)from Surankote.

Aug 4: Kulhand massacre mastermind alongwith other associates managed to escapewhile a police cop was injured as terrorists attacked a Patrol Party in Mendhar.Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad claimed in Assembly of improvement in secu-rity situation and accused Hurriyat of showing distinterest in peace process.

Aug 5: Two terrorists were killed in an encounter at Helmatpora, Kupwara. Six CRPFjawans and two civilians were injured in a grenade attack at Sopore. A Panch wasshot dead by terrorists at Marhot in Sangla, Surankote. GoC 15 Corps Gen. SSDhillon said that arrest of three Armymen for terrorist links was not a cause ofalarm.

Aug 6: A woman was killed and 16 others, including five police personnel, injured in agrenade attack at Sopore. A HM Battalion commander alongwith an associate waskilled in an encounter at Kulgam. IGP Jammu Zone Dr. SP Vaid said that 60militants have crossed over to this side in recent past. Accusing India and interna-tional community of wasting the opportunity by not responding to CBMs ofParvez Musharraf, Salahuddin the Jehadi leader threatened to spread of terrorismto other states.

Aug 7: Two terrorists and a soldier were killed and three hostages rescued in an encounterat Shripora. Terrorists gunned down two soldiers and looted their weapons inQazigund-Kulgam belt. Two terrorists were killed in Machil sector. A HUJIterrorist was killed at Ballana, Kishtwar. A Bangladeshi exfiltrator was arrested inRS Pura sector. US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher admitted thatcross border terrorism continued in India.

Aug 8: SOG gunned down two fidayeens in an encounter at Jagti near Nagrota. 17 peoplewere injured in a grenade attack at Handwara while tragedy was averted by timelydetection of an IED near Bijbehara. Terrorists hurled a grenade towards policestation Zakoora that failed to cause any damage. An IED was defused in Srinagar.A JeM top terrorist Hassan Bhai was killed in Keshwan forests in Kishtwartehsil.

Aug 9: A student of Amar Singh College Ghulam Mohd. Sheikh, alleged to be a topranking terrorist, was killed by CRPF in Srinagar. A HM terrorist was killed inShopian. Police arrested a SPO accused to be mastermind of Mangnar-massacrein Poonch district in the intervening night of July 12-13. Army returned a Pakwoman who had inadvertently crossed over LoC at Krishna Ghati in Poonchsector.

Aug 10: A LeT commander, Army source, a cop and a timber smuggler were killed inKashmir valley. Students and politicians protested while police maintained thatSheikh was an active militant. Two JeM terrorist were killed at Behri Rakh inMendhar, Poonch. British Police foiled an Al-Qaeda plot to blow up US boundplanes.

Aug 11: Terrorists struck at the lone Hindu family of Ram Singh at Harra Gool killing hiswife, daughter and son while an infant had providential escape. Two terroristswere killed in an encounter at Gursai; Mendhar; two cops and a jawan wereinjured and a civilian killed in the encounter.Six people were injured in an explosion that took place in a tailoring shop in MirMohalla, Baramulla. 14 persons were injured as terrorist hurled a grenade onpolice vehicle near Shalpora crossing at Sopore. A suspected grenade throwerShabir Ahmed was apprehended by CRPF at Hanjveera, Pattan. Two terroristswere killed in an encounter at Manzgam, Kulgam. 10 kg RDX was recovered inBhaderwah.

Aug 12: Civilians protested as two of a family were killed in an ambush in Kupwara. Acivilian was killed in yet another incident of cross-firing at Drugmalla. Threeterrorists were killed in an encounter in Handwara area. Four terrorists surren-dered in Uri Sector. Terrorists launched two rifle grenades at Pihru, Anantnagwhich failed to cause any damage. Terrorists killed two elders for sending theirsons for "Army Recruitment" at Drogian, Bafliaz in Surankote. A terrorist hide-out was destroyed at Karyual, Rajouri. Osama Bin Laden's CD was seized inPoonch.

Aug 13: A HM Commander was killed at Majar, Chatroo; three IEDs were recovered atTanda, Akhnoor. An Army JCO was killed in an ambush in Bandipore. Terroristskilled the wife of slain Pakistan terrorist and injured her sister at Harman, Shopian.A suspect Badar Din was held by police and recovered Rs 1.28 lakh from him atBhimber Gali, Mendhar.

Aug 14: A terrorist was killed and two jawans injured in an encounter at Chrung,Thannamandi; about 100 children were rescued as Angles Nursery School caughtfire in the crossfiring. An IED was detected and defused on Doda-Dessa road. Ajawan was killed and two others injured in an encounter at Haptnar, Anantnag.Terrorists, carried grenade attacks at many places in North Kashmir but failed tocause any damage. Four terrorists surrendered after crossing over from PoK inUri sector.

Aug 15: Two civilians were killed in an encounter which continued at Khandaypora,Ashmuqam. A LeT terrorist was arrested alongwith arms and ammunition inZainpora, Pulwama. A major tragedy was averted by detecting and defusing an

18CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Aug 1-Aug 31 2007)CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Aug 1-Aug 31 2007)CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Aug 1-Aug 31 2007)CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Aug 1-Aug 31 2007)CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Aug 1-Aug 31 2007)KASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

IED on Srinagar-Pulwama road.Aug 16: Five infiltrating terrorists and a soldier have been killed in an encounter in Machhil

sector. Eight teenagers on way to PoK for arms training were apprehended inKangan area and handed over to their parents. HM terrorists targeted a CRPFpatrol vehicle with an IED injuring two jawans and a woman in Yaripora, Kulgam.A civilian injured in Sopore earlier succumbed to his injuries. Hurriyat chairmanMirwaiz Umar described UN a failed institution and accused PDP of adoptingdouble standards.

Aug 18: A terrorist got killed in an encounter at Chak Nowgam, Handwara. An over-ground worker of LeT Abdul Rashid Mir of Chak Cholan, Shopian was arrestedby forces in the same area. A CRPF jawan, injured in a terrorist attack at KokerBazar, Srinagar yesterday, succumbed to his injuries. Three JK youth and a copwere arrested by Punjab police for supplying cars to terrorists.

Aug 19: A terrorist was killed and two more were trapped in a gunbattle at Rainipora,Shopian. A LeT overground worker was arrested in Pulwama; a tractor-driver wasrobbed by armed youth in Budgam. Govt doubled the salary of SPOs to Rs 300.

Aug 20: Gunbattle in Shopian ended with death of one more terrorist, the terrorist killedtoday in the gunbattle was believed to be a Sudanese. An infiltrator was shot-deadwhile two others escaped in Balakote sector. The terrorists injured a JKAP copand escaped with his rifle at the Ziarat of Shah Israr Bagdai in Kishtwar. Punjabpolice arrested three J&K ultras at Madhopur and recovered arms and ammuni-tion and fake currency from them. CM described dialogue as only route to solvecomplex problems.

Aug 21: Anzeer Shah, who had surrendered last year but had joined again LeT outfit waskilled in Pranu Doda. Arms and ammunition and ration was recovered from aterrorist hide-out at Sikri Topa in, Doda. Terrorists killed a PHE employee atSriwarpora Pattan. A LeT terrorist arrested from Wanigam Payeen, Baramulla.

Aug 22: Army claimed to have arrested Tohfeen Akmal Hashmi, a Pakistani nationalconnected with Mumbai serial blasts, from Shopian area. A woman was injured inan IED blast in Bandipore. A police cop Ishtiyaq Khan was arrested in Handwarafor eve-tearing and another cop Asad Joo was arrested from Qazigund for extort-ing money. A SPO was killed and three ultras trapped in a gunbattle in Khari,Banihal. Punjab police hunting for Rafta for her alleged terrorist links.

Aug 23: A jawan was injured in a grenade attack at a BSF camp in Bandipore. Securityforces arrested an HM terrorist in Baramulla and recovered two hand grenadesfrom him. Security forces also recovered arms and ammunition at Gawala-Uri. Acivilian was shot at and injured by terrorist at Turkpora, Handwara. A jawan waskilled as gunbattle in Khan-Banihal continue. Women join VDCs to fight terror-ism. Central government admited that ISI continued to support terror groups inJ&K.

Aug 24: A Hindu terrorist KK Sharma, reportedly to have converted to Islam, was killedalongwith an associate at Kalihand, Doda. 14 persons, including six CRPF jawans,were injured as terrorists lobbed a grenade in Bhaderwah. Two JeM terroristswere arrested in Kupwara. SOG arrested three men alongwith hawala money onNational Highway.

Aug 25: Security forces killed four top LeT and HUJI terrorists, destroyed a terroristhideout and recovered large qualities of arms and ammunition in different opera-tions across Jammu region. A woman employee was shot dead by terrorists inBhaderwah area. Security forces recovered six grenades, one rocket launcher and250 AK rounds from Palli Morh, Kathua. A terrorist was killed in an encounter atLalpora, Kupwara. Hurriyat favoured resumption of talks with Pakistan.

Aug 26: Terrorists shot at and wounded a woman at her residence at Bandipore. A cylinderexplosion caused panic in high security Sonwar and Gupkar area. Mumbai policetook custody of two persons arrested in the Valley connected with Mumbaiblasts.

Aug 27: A HM terrorist was killed at Astan Nar, Ganderbal. Terrorists shot at and injuredtwo contractors at Arwani, Anantnag. Police busted a terrorist hideout and recov-ered explosives in Molsar forests. 36 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested inRamgarh sector.

Aug 28: Police foiled a plot to target DC Colony, Rajouri by arresting four top terroristsand recovering huge cache of arms and ammunition. Two Al-Badr terrorists werekilled at Suyan Saidnar, Rafiabad. Police and CRPF arrested Mohd. Ashraf Parrayin Shopian and described him "District Commander" of HM.

Aug 29: Police arrested government teacher Lal Husani from Darhal and a private teacherfrom Ghambir and put under vigil a cop for terrorist links. A 17 years old Mehraj-ud-Din was slaughtered by terrorists at Raiyar Aribal, Beerwah. A tragedy wasaverted by detecting and defusing an IED at alink road in Palhallan, Pattan. Three LeT ter-rorists were arrested and arms recovered atWangam, Bandipore.

Aug 30: Terrorists shot dead a SPO at Devar, Lolab.Two terrorists were arrested. Police foiled at-tempt of HM to strike in crowded areas byarresting some terrorists and recovering mo-bile bombs. Yet another Hawala operatorParvez Ahmed was arrested from Mendhartehsil.

Aug 31: Two terrorists of LeT and a jawan were killedin an encounter at Boni Bagh, Kangan; anotherterrorist belonging to HM was also killed inthe same area. One more terrorist was killed inQazigund area. Terrorists killed a cop and twowomen across the Valley while a tragedy wasaverted by defusing an IED planted on Srinagar.Jammu National Highway at Doonipora,Bijbehara. Police was hunting for a policeHavaldar for his alleged terrorist links.

JKENG 00333/26/AL/TC/94JK No: 1213/18Regd. JK-219/2007Printer Publisher B.N. Kaul for andon behalf ofPanun Kashmir Foundation.Editor: SHAILENDRA AIMAComputer Graphic:S.K. BabbuPrinted at : The Kashmir TimesPress, Gangyal, JammuOwned by:PANUN KASHMIRFOUNDATIONPublished from PANUN KASHMIRFOUNDATION, 149 Ram Vihar, OldJanipur, Jammu-180007 (INDIA)Tele/Fax: 0191-2538537emal: [email protected]

(From Page 11)be impossible. After David reachedthe road junction roads at Shalteng,1st Sikh opened up with rapidfire,Davids armored cars and rifletroop engaged the enemy from therear 1st Kumaon burst on their rightflank with a bayonet charge. The

stunned enemy was wondering asto what was happening, there wascomplete confusion in its ranks. Thetribal force with two companies ofdeserters of 4th J&K infantry inorder to escape the fire which washitting them from front, rear and rightflank, rushed in all directions bump-

Battle Of Shalteng19CONTINUACONTINUACONTINUACONTINUACONTINUATIONTIONTIONTIONTIONKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINEL

November 2007

ing into one another turned and fledwestwards. 1st Sikh was orderedto attack, the armored cars and rifletroop in turn switched their fire westwards. The fleeing enemy was har-ried with telling effect by strafingfrom air, which had The battle ofShalteng was fought and won in less

than half an hour and Srinagar wassaved from death and destructionthat had befallen the towns of

Muzzafrabad andBaramula earlier.About 500 of theenemy were killedand another 150 laydead betweenShalteng andBaramula. Patanwas occupied sameday by eight in theevening andBaramula next day inthe morningIt maynot be out of placeto mention here thatno sound of the fir-ing was heard in theuptown and airfieldarea probably due tothick mist and aircurrents blowing

from east to west. In spite of thefact that sounds of automatic fireand bursting of mortar shells wasclearly heard in the downtown areabeyond the fifth bridge from weehours of the morning, the residentsof Srinagar were unaware that en-emy was at their doorstep. Infact

marriages were solemnized on theintervening night of 6/7 Nov. inSrinagar and in some housesmehandirat functions were going on.I as a resident of downtown veryvividly remember hearing the soundof firing of automatics, bursting ofshells and Chakri simultaneously.Some people who woke up at nightwere assured by National Confer-ence volunteers patrolling the citystreets that firing was from Indianarmy only to scare away any tribalforces which may have reached out-skirts of Srinagar. It was only afterair force started strafing the fleeingenemy that people climbed to up-per storeys and roofs of their housesto watch the tiny Howard and Spit-fire fighters in action

While paying homage to thebrave officers and men of the 1stbattalions of Sikh and Kumaon Regi-ments together with two rifle com-panies of 4th Kumoan Regimenttroop of 7th Light Cavalry let usnot forget their local civilianKashmiri drivers, guides, and in-formers especially those who alongwith the soldiers sacrificed their livesand saved the day.*(The author is a noted Researcher)

(From Page 12)SAFE PASSAGENEGOTIATIONS:

In the few days preceding theattack Lala Dina Nath Kaila

had been procuring deadly po-tassium cyanide from labs. oflocal school as an emergencymeasure. Before the carnage heand Lala Narsingh Dass were ne-gotiating peace and safe pas-sage, using their good contactswith prominent leaders of localMuslim Conference. This was on8th November, with raiders sta-tioned all around. Lala NarsinghDass also moved a proposal toset up a Debt cancellation boardto provide relief to Muslim peas-ants. This was conveyed toMirza Faqir Ahmed and MirzaMohammad Hussain, the localleaders of MC. Mirza Faqir cor-roborates in his memoir that LalaNarsingh Dass also agreed topay Rs 3crores tor a i d e r salong withR a j o u r itown be-s i d e swho le sa l econversionand alle-giance toPakistan tosave the mi-nority community. In case thisproposal was not acceptablethen the minority community beprovided safe passage to Delhi,he had asked. The proposalswere okayed by Muslim confer-ence leaders of Rajouri, who tookthese to raiders’ camp atKaraiyan on 8th November.When Col. Rehmatullah Khanand Sakhi Diler rejected theseproposals, Mirza Faqir Ahmedand other Muslim Conferenceleaders insisted on safe passage.

On the strong insistence ofMirza Faqir Mohd. the raiders’leaders sent a message to theminority community on 8th No-vember, asking them to move toMaidaan of Baidka with theirfamilies in case they wanted safepassage to Delhi. The messen-ger delivered it to Tehsildar, Pt.Harji Lal. It is not known whathe did with the message but hehimself deserted Rajouri on thesame night, leaving people ofRajouri to their own fate. Heeven carried state forces alongfor his protection.

On 9th November Col.Rehmatullah Khan laid the seigeof Rajouri and resorted to firing.This was replied to some extentby weakened Gurkha platoonand RSS volunteers. On 10thNovember there was no resis-tance to the raiders. The local mi-nority community was desper-ate. It sounds intriguing why nomessenger from local MuslimConference leaders was willingto take the conditions of minor-ity community in writing to raid-ers’ leaders on 10th November.KILLINGS:

The minority community haddecided that the moment the fallof the town became imminent abugle would be sounded to callpeople to assemble at themaidaan. Committing suicidesand resorting to brutal honourkillings of women and childrenwas, in the minds of the minoritycommunity, a fate better than fall-ing into the hands of the raiders.Prominent members of the com-munity in full public view werethe first to consume poison.‘Rajouri Remembered’ givesgraphic details about the sadevent of suicide and honour kill-ings. All this was witnessed 2-3weeks before in Muzaffarabad,Ningal (Sopore), Handwara etc.

Even before the physical oc-cupation of Rajouri the localitiesof the minority community wererazed to the ground. Manywomen and children were ab-ducted and sold in Kotli by raid-ers.CARNAGE: The men wererounded up from neighbouringareas, taken to the Maidaan andbrutally massacred. The raidershad orders from their officers touse axes, daggers and swords inmassacring the members of theminority community. More than4 thousand members were killedin the carnage of 11th Novem-ber. Massacre began on 10th ofNovember and continued forthree days. However, somepeople were lucky enough to runaway and seek refuge in the sur-rounding villages with sympa-thetic families from the majoritycommunity. Some of them werehowever hunted down andkilled. To escape riotous mobsmany survivors even after escap-ing from Rajouri committed sui-cide by swallowing poison.

There are chilling stories ofkillings, suicides etc. narrated bythe author. The latter has alsodescribed stories of survivorshow they were rescued by thesaner elements and given shel-ter by them. Often these familiesof saner elements were threat-ened and humiliated by the riot-ous mobs and elements in leaguewith raiders. Pishori Lal was onesuch survivor, who lived to writethe chronicle which describes atlength all that happened duringthose days and thereafter.

Soon after Rajouri fell a mes-sage was sent to the survivorsto report at a ‘relief camp’ intown. The survivors receivedthe news with skepticism. LalaNarsingh Dass and Durga Dasswent to the Raiders’ Camp inGurdan to consult the raiders’leader Aslam Khan about the

move. His bodyguards in an actof treachery shot them dead.

The author gives credit toMirza Faqir Mohd. for reconcil-ing many families who had gotseparated. He helped to locatethe abducted and used his con-nections in the government tosend these people back to India.

Rajouri Did Not Even Receive....

Col. RehmatullahKhan

(Contd. from Page 17As per one version Akbar Khan himself shot him dead. Kalkat was put

under house arrest in Lahore. He made his escape from Lahore, hiding ina goods train and reached Delhi via Ambala.

On 19th October Major OS Kalkat met Brigadier Kulwant Singh andDefence Minister Baldev Singh and revealed what Pakistan was cookingup. He also met other senior army officers at the headquarters. TheDefence Minister asked his Army Hqrs. to analyse Kalkat's information.

A Brigadier dismissed Kalkat's revelations (Operation Gulmarg) as aCock and Bull story' and said the latter had invented it as his family wascaught up in the riots and that was weighing on his mind. The Brigadierfurther claimed that he had spoken to his friends at Pak Army Hqrs, wholaughed away at any possibility of trouble between India and Pakistan. Buta colonel who knew Kalkat for years disagreed with his Brigadier and saidKalkat was steady as a rock who would never say anything for which he didnot have basis. Kalkat was then taken to Prime Minister Nehru and madeto repeat what he had said earlier to Defence Minister and other officersat Army Hqrs. Angry Nehru stared at his Defence Minister. Before Kalkatcould finish, Nehru let loose verbal barrage against his senior Army officersfor disregarding Kalkat's information. He rumbled through his papers,telegraph messages and army couriers and flung these at them and keptshouting unrestrained.

Nehru turned to Kalkat and acknowledged, "This man (Kalkat) hererisked his life, forgot about his family, to come to us here, to thePMO office, to tell us about an attack, a perfidious attack on ourcountry. He had details, total step-by-step plans of an enemyoperation. And what do my Army officers do, what does the DefenceMinister of India, Sardar Baldev Singh, no less, do. They laugh itoff. Kalkat is a mad man or worse. A paranoid patriot. They donothing". Pointing at the fallen papers Nehru said", There is theproof that every word that Kalkat spoke was true. We have the news nowthat 'Operation Gulmarg' has already started and raiders are enteringKashmir.

Major Kalkat was soon drafted into the Kashmir operations (1947-48) and saw operations in the difficult Tithwal sector. Kalkat had greatpolitical foresight too. He was mentioned for his leadership role in Kashmiroperations in despatches. His plan for settlement of refugees fromMuzaffarabad in 1947 was widely appreciated but ignored by Pt. Nehru atthe instance of Sheikh Abdullah.

Kalkat later commanded 14 Infantry in the Western Sector to recapture32 posts from Pakistanis in Mamdot and Jalalabad sectors in the 1971 war.In the same war Kalkat and Major General BN 'Jimmy' Sarcar had initiallycommanded 'Operation Jackot' in the Eastern Sector. Kalkat also workedas Chief Military Intelligence Officer in the Cabinet Secretariat for twoyears. He wielded a facile pen. His brilliant account—'The far-flungfrontiers' (Allied, 1983) has attained the status of a classic.

Though Kalkat was approved for promotion as Lt. General, he soughtvoluntary retirement at the age of 54 in 1972. This great son of Indiapassed away at Chandigarh on December 3, 2004 after a prolonged illness.

‘Rajouri Remembered’ is awelcome addition to the grow-ing corpus of ‘partition litera-ture’. Its publication coincideswith 60th Anniversary of the raid-ers invasion of the state. Whatbetter tribute can be paid to themartyrs of Rajouri carnage thanrecounting their martyrdom?

There was enough evidence about Tribal Raid

By Kuldeep Raina

PT. AMAR NATH MUTHOO, affectionatelycalled by family members as 'Lala' lived at Bulbul Lankar (Ali Kadal) in downtown Srinagar.

He was born to Pt. Damodar Muthoo and Smt.Vishmal.

Amar Nath had one brother-Pt. Shankar Nath andthree sisters, married in Budgami, Taploo andRangroo families. He was married to Kamla alias Kakni,daughter of Pt. Amarchand Tikoo of Peth Kanihama.

Amar Nath was serving as SHO Kulgam in July ,1947 when he was promoted and transferred toAskardu as SHO with the rank of Sub-Inspector. Histwo close relations-brother Shankar Nath and wife'sbrother Sh. Gopi Nath Tiku too served in State Po-lice. The former remained constable only while thelatter retired as SHO.

Pt. Amar Nath was a man of great taste and livedin style. He loved Bacchus and quite often heldSufiana mehfils at his place. His aristorcratic style ofliving and the authority he wielded earned for himthe sobriquet of 'Hakim Sab'. My grandfather (Nana)enjoyed close friendship with Pt. Dina Nath alias'Dina Patel' and Kh. Saifuddin, who later retired asDIG. Sometime before grandfather had served atMuzaffarabad also. There was a group clash. He hadslapped one of the trouble makers who was quitesick. Though the latter died a natural death, yet acase was slapped against Pt. Amar Nath. An enquirywas ordered, DIG Kashmir was to visit Muzaffarabadin this connection. 'Dina Patel' was Traffic Inspectorin Muzaffarabad. Amar Nath asked for help from hisfriend 'Dina Patel'. The day DIG left for MuzaffarabadPatel manoeuvred to stop traffic at Domel bridge.DIG could not come for enquiry. Meanwhile, AmarNath was able to convince the aggrieved family thatvictim had died a natural death. The matter was sub-sequently closed.

Amar Nath had six daughters but no son. He rearedhis children like boys, keeping male names for them.

20SKARDU-STORSKARDU-STORSKARDU-STORSKARDU-STORSKARDU-STORYYYYYKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELKASHMIR SENTINELNovember 2007

His brother's wife had died young, leaving behind a sonand daughter. It was on Lala's insistence that the sonKashi Nath was sent to college. He subsequently joinedArmy, retiring as Major.

How my grandfather was killed has remained a mys-tery to the family. Shortly before his death he wrote iden-tical letters to his brother and Sh. Gopi Nath Tiku. Inthese he had written, 'I am under siege. It is difficult tosurvive. If I live I will manage to reach home whateverdifficult the terrain might be'. He had also impressedupon his brother that his daughters should be made to

Pt. Amar Nath Muthoo: A Tribute to Grandfathereat food in the Thali (plate) in which he used to takehis food. Amarnath's eldest daughter in 1947 was 12years old, while the youngest was only 6 months.Amar Nath had also written, 'my wife likes Kahwa.She should not have to worry about Sugar. Keep it inplenty for her'. Through the letters the family cameto know that things were bad in Askardu but at thesame time Lala was safe.

Amar Nath as SHO Askardu had the responsibil-ity to take care of treasury at the Fort. It is said Paki-stanis were looking for namesake of my grandfatherwho was probably treasury officer. As per one ver-sion grandfather was dragged, nails were thrust intohis body and he was mercilessly killed. Another ver-sion claims that Amar Nath was abducted and heldcaptive. It is said that he later subsequently startedhis business in Askardu. Amar Nath was just 34 in1948.

My grandmother Kakni could never come out ofshock. Going to Pirs and Faqirs became a daily rou-tine. She would sit often at the window of brerkani(attic) and mutter to herself 'ya yim nata nim' (Eithercome or take me also). One day when Labroo family inthe neighbourhood had called Nandbab to their homeKakni also went there. The occasion was safe returnof Pt. Sham Lal Labroo who too was held captive inMuzaffarabad. When Kakni bowed before Nandbabhe gave her two-rupee note. It was unusual and wasinterpreted as hint to her not to come again. 6 monthslater she died.

Soon after grandfather's martyrdom Kothi BaghPolice Station had received a wireless message fromCol. PN Kak about his death. It was through Pt. AmarNath Taploo (sister's husband) the family learnt aboutthe killing. Grandfather's close friend Kh. Saifuddinhelped the family sort out Insurance claim within notime. Amar Nath's six daughters were brought upunder the affectionate care of Sh. Shankar Nath andSh. Gopi Nath Tiku.

*(The author is Gen. Secretary Panun Kashmir)

PANDIT JIA LAL WARIKOO son ofPt. Tika Lal Warikoo lived near CMSGirls School, Fatehkadal, Srinagar. He

did his B.Sc. from Punjab University and B.T.from Banaras Hindu University in 1937. LateSh. D.N. Raina, a renowned teacher and Head-master of National High School was hisclassmate. Sh. Jia Lal Warikoo after beingappointed as teacher served at Bagh DilawarKhan school at Namchibal, Srinagar as a Scienceteacher. In 1931 Sheikh Mohammad Abdullahwas his Science teacher at the same school.

JL Warikoo was transferred and posted toAskardu as Headmaster of Lower High Schoolin September 1946. He moved alongwith hiswife Prabha (23 years) and children-Uma (12years), Khema (5 years), Ashok (2 years) toAskardu. Son Joti was born to him in October1946. Only his daughter Krishna stayed backat Srinagar with her maternal grand-parents.Valuable inputs for this story have beenprovided by Sh M.L. Tiku.

There were many Kashmiri Pandits inAskardu. These included among othersfamilies of Dr. Khazanchi, Dr. Kashi NathTiku, Master Maheshwar Nath Raina, besidesSHO Pt. Amar Nath Muthu, Pt. Nand LalBambroo, overseer etc.

The Warikoos took up residence near theschool. It was away from the main town. The

Pt. Jia Lal Warikoo's MartyrdomPt. Jia Lal Warikoo's MartyrdomPt. Jia Lal Warikoo's MartyrdomPt. Jia Lal Warikoo's MartyrdomPt. Jia Lal Warikoo's Martyrdom

Pt. Amarnath Muthoo in early years of his serviceat Anantnag

nearest neighbour of Warikoos was the familyof Pt. Niranjan Nath Nadir, a Girdawar in theState Revenue Department.

Headmaster Jia Lal Warikoo had appointeda peon on ad-hoc basis against the leavevacancy of a peon. On arrival of the peon onleave this arrangement was discontinued.

A day before on Amavasi day theHeadmaster had come to know that 300 Pakraiders had entered Askardu area. Next dayneither the students nor local teachers attendedthe school. On the following morning whenall the members of Warikoo family were asleepin the house there was a knock at the door. JiaLal Warikoo smelt something fishy. Muchagainst his wishes he went to respond to thecall. The ad-hoc peon whose services had beenterminated was the caller. Without putting anyquestion the peon hit the Headmaster on thehead with an axe, who fell down on the floorin a pool of blood. His wife Prabha rushedout. Holding her husband in her lap she criedand wept bitterly. There was nobody eitherto protect or offer medical aid to theHeadmaster.

The peon had a few persons accompanyinghim. After killing the Headmaster in cold bloodthey ransacked the house, looting all thevaluables. The other members of the familywere given thrashing and asked not to speak.

After sometime few Kashmiri Panditneighbours came out and found Pt. Jia Laldead. Without putting shroud or performingany religious rites Pt. Jia Lal Warikoo wasburied in a grave just near the school under thecover of darkness. At the time of his death hewas just 28. The family moved to the Fort

Camp along with other Kashmiri Pandits. Mrs.Jia Lal Warikoo and her son Joti died in Fortcamp in June 1948 and January 1948 respec-tively for want of medical aid. Pt. Jia LalWarikoo's martyrdom also finds mention inPt. Sridhar Kaul's celebrated work 'LadakhThrough The Ages'

A view of Skardu Town from the Fort.

KSASHMIR entinel Let Truth Prevail - Panun Kashmir

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