An important Thread on Silent and less known migration of Kashmiri Sikhs.
Kashmiri Sikhs are a microscopic community that is bravest and purest (when it comes to maintaining Sikhism). Kashmiri Sikhs have suffered a lot and not much is known about it. Let’s talk about it here-

Kashmiri Sikhs face the dilemma of living on double edged sword. I received around 200 texts and calls last night after my thread that please be careful about what you say as we all have stakes back home. Stakes being our parents and relatives in Kashmir. So you understand even

if I’m sitting in Mumbai, I can’t really go strong worded against Kashmiris and the Jihad they have waged. That is the fear psychosis that we are subjected to. One might argue and lot of people bring this fact that “hey but Kashmiri Sikhs didn’t die in huge numbers so what’s the

cry about. This is where they lack information. Everybody is well versed with what happened in 1947 and 48, Chittisinghpora and Mehjoor Nagar among other incidents but no one knows the pain nearly 8 out of 10 Kashmiri Sikh families have lived through. So I will take you through a

migrational journey they haven’t shown on TV yet. March 20, 2000 marked the incident of massacre of Chittisinghpora. What people don’t know is the thread that started from there onwards and is going on since last two decades.
The Sikh leadership of Punjab was fully convinced by

then political leaders of Kashmir that Sikhs are safe here and this incident is just one of a kind. The worst part was that they got convinced and didn’t care to ask us ever again about our well being. Our leadership that has always been weak in Kashmir with corruption pesting

it got convinced by honey coated words of people from Hurriyat and made appeals to us to stay. I was a kid at that time and we lived exclusively in Kashmir. Infact the only time I had been out of state was for Amritsar Darshan. But what started happening in our house from that

point onwards is what happened in 8/10 Kashmiri Sikh homes. In May my dad along with seven close relatives (all men) decided to take a journey to jammu. It wasn’t clear to me why but my mom told me that “we are looking for a new home”. I remember my dad bringing in cash the

night before their departure. I was confused and all of us were looking at our homes like we would have to leave them. The fear wasn’t helped by any govt. My dad and other people along with him spent 15 days in Jammu residing in a Gurdwara and thronging to places to see plots.

the administration knew of this silent exodus. The Kashmiri Sikhs wandering in the heat of Jammu that they despised, it was all known to Kashmiris as well as govt at that time, but no one did anything. We finally owned a plot. My parents spent their entire savings on that because

the statement that still echoes in my head “we don’t want our kids to be in these people”. I’m sure you know who they meant. It took us 10years to make a house in Jammu with whopping bank loans from JK bank. And this story is story of 8/10 Kashmiri Sikhs. We aren’t confident

of our future in Kashmir because no Sikh can live under Nizam-e- Mustafa and it was prevalent in 2008-10 when second wave of migration started, this time from south kashmir. Kashmiri Sikhs have struggled their whole life creating safe spaces for themselves because we lived on

a very tight rope. Nothing much has changed. Unlike pandits we didn’t get any advantage because this migration doesn’t even count as migration, it is called as personal choice by GOI. Trust me it wasn’t personal choice for us to live in 42 degrees of heat. My heart goes for the

families that are eating one meal less so that they can afford a plot and a home in Jammu where they can at least not live in fear.
Please please stop believing that Kashmiri Sikhs are complicit in Jihad. We hate the word. We work our asses off to make sure we get out of that

rubbish. The brotherhood and Kashmiriyat exists because we never speak up.
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