Indoctrination
of the Masses
While
the Pandits always offered a hand of friendship
and amity to the Muslims, the latter found ways
and means of excluding them from their share of
progress and development in the State. Side by
side, the 'Maktubs' (schools for imparting Islamic
religious teaching) and mosques were used a
breeding grounds for indoctrinating the Muslims in
religious intolerance and communal hatred towards
the Pandits and towards India.
Even
political platforms were used openly not only by
leaders of fundamentalist parties but also by
people of the State representing the so-called
secular national parties for preaching Islamic
fundamentalism, communal prejudice and secession.
Private and State institutions were rife with
anti-national and communal elements and they
received encouragement and incentives from the
government.
Terrorists'
propaganda.
This
systematic and planned indoctrination of the
majority community had its direct repurcussions on
the minority community in the valley. They became
the easy targets of urchins, hooligans and other
anti-social elements. They were abused and
manhandled even during sporting events between
India and Pakistan, be it hockey, cricket, Asiad
or Olympics, irrespective of the outcome of the
games. During the celebration of national days
like the Independence Day and the Republic Day,
the Kashmiri Pandits used to be the targets for
assault and humiliation. Events in neighbouring
Pakistan, be it the hanging of Mr. Bhutto or the
air-crash involving Gen. Zia-Ul-Haq, had a direct
bearing on the cathartic rage against Kashmiri
Hindus. Even happenings in remote areas of the
Middle-East like the Arab-Israeli was and the
burning of Al-aqsa mosque had a fall out on the
Pandits in the valley who were targetted by Muslim
fundamentalists. In fact they were blamed for all
the ills ailing the society, for all the
corruption and nepotism indulged into by the
Muslim rulers of the State, themselves. They had
become the whipping boys of the administration and
of the majority community in the valley.
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