In forced exile since early nineteen ninety;Where is the Nation’s might and sensitivity ?

In forced exile, since early nineteen ninety,
Rendered refugees in our own democratic country;
Protect ethnic Hindu minority, no-one’s responsibility?
Where is the Nation’s might and sensitivity?

For precisely the quarter of a century,
Roaming, endlessly, from a city to a city;
Deprived of unique culture and sociability,
That too, seventh time in the recorded history!

That year during the night, nineteenth of January,
The messengers, of “the great God”, supposedly,
From every mosque rooftop across Kashyap’s Valley,
Out they came all, to announce, stridently:

“aye kaafiro, aye zaalimo,
yeh muluk hamara choad do” (1)

“yahaa’n kyaa challegaa,
Nizaami mustafaa” (2)

“assi gatsci pananui Pa’ekistaan,
battav rotsc, battaneov saan” (3)

“ralliv, galliv; yaa tsalliv” (4)

And many more; many tricks, shrewd and preen,
Intentions and actions quite shrill, on full screen;
On every ‘kaafir’, thy mission was to pounce,
Drive out the Pandit community from the scene*!

Hundreds slaughtered, spectacle ghastly, bloody-bathe,
Some maimed; raped and mercilessly put to a lathe;
Age and sex not any bar; only sin-the Hindu faith,
‘Kaafir’ Gods, as well, could not escape the scathe!

Decades of enduring the exile pain and wilderness,
Put life’s every dream and aspiration in an aurally mess;
Confronted all around with despair and unrest,
Generations deprived of their ancestral cozy nest!

Described as “akin to genocide”, our stark condition,
For secularists, merits no human-rights’ consideration;
Pandits** from Kashmir left in lurch, and in deep isolation,
Struggling hard to meet, head-on, the grim situation!

The route to our beloved homeland, short; long back froze,
Twenty fifth year of exile, being Indians, comes to close;
With each passing year, many more questions arose,
Policy makers complacent, as usual, under Kashmiriyat dose!

Journey, back to over five thousand year old roots,
Though, ready to make; scoot and with much hoots;
Ice in Satisar,“the heaven on earth” once, awaiting to melt,
God knows, when that warm situation can again be felt?

The “ray of light” Gandhi saw; nowhere to be seen,
Their actions, now sugar-coated, yet quite mean;
For “Pandit brothers’” rehabilitation pretend to be keen,
Foil challenges of taking aboriginals back to the scene!

Out they come, even now, with no hindrance,
Routinely and more intrepidly to announce:
“Crying like a child”, now and then, of no gain.
Superimposed “Muslim identity” here has to reign!

Forget the illustrious history of any ancient past,
Nilamata Purana, Rajatarangini, other literature, so vast;
Standing ruins, including, holy Martand, Nara’nnaag,
Or, sacred spot of Vishnupaad- the Koa’nsarnaag!

Much touted Indian secularism, saving not any priority,
Restore Indian-ness in Kashmir-crown of the country;
Nobody bothered, Shriman Narendra Damodardas Modi;
Doesn’t prick the consciousness of our great country?

In forced exile, since early nineteen ninety,
Rendered refugees in our own democratic country;
Protect ethnic Hindu minority, no one’s responsibility?
Where is the Nation’s might and sensitivity???


1) O unbelievers, the wicked ones, leave this country of ours.
2) What will prevail here : only the writ of Mustafaa (implying Islamic order),
3) We need Pakistan, without Pandit men, but, surely with Pandit women.
4) Join us; or get killed, or run away (Of the three choices offered, Kashmiri Pandits chose the last one for
obvious reasons)
5) *Ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandit community
6) **Learned Hindu community from Kashmir
(Now reduced to a reverse minority)
7) Satisar : Lake of Sati, the most ancient Sanskrit name of present day Kashmir.


( Recited by me in a public function organized by Panun Kashmir at Jammu Club in Jammu on 19 January 2015 )
[Published in Daily STATE TIMES (Jammu, dated 19-01-2015) ; February 2015 issue of Spade-A-Spade (Bengaluru) and September 2018 issue of NAAD, New Delhi]

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