
Three surprises from a visit to Kashmir - uber1geek
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26847362
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rrrazdan
Obligatory comment on the ethnic cleansing of the Hindus from the valley. Over
700k Hindus left the valley in 1990 as a result of the Islamic insurgency.
These Hindus were original inhabitants of the valley, of the same stock as the
Muslims. They were not outsiders. Even the most hardliner Kashmiri Separatist
will not consider them outsiders. Yet they were forced to leave in violent
circumstances.

Hence when the reporter writes that the political culture is tolerant, I am
immediately reminded of not making sweeping generalizations based on one visit
to the valley and interviewing the people there.

PS: I was one of the people who had to leave in 1990.

~~~
uber1geek
Governor of Jammu & Kashmir Jagmohan at that time engineered the exodus of
Kashmiri Pandit community from the Kashmir valley in 1990. Kashmiri Pandits
were unnecessarily forced to leave the Valley by Jagmohan. Hindus and Muslims
lived together for Centuries in Kashmir. Governor Jagmohan used his entire
state machinery to facilitate the migration of Pandits.

~~~
uber1geek
I would suggest anyone to read the book "Kashmir in Sunlight and Shade by CE
Tyndale Biscoe". This book highlights the autocracies by Kashmiri Pandits on
Kashmiri Muslims (who were poor, illiterate and the peasant class at that
time) for centuries. Everything was like a radical dictator state.

Another book: Cashmere Misgovernment by Robert Thorp

What goes around, Comes around.

~~~
uber1geek
Cashmere Mis-Government:

Robert Thorp was the son of a British army-man. Army man Thorp had come to
spend his vacations in Kashmir. At the first sight he only fell in love with
an extremely Kashmiri beautiful girl and there-of married her. This marriage
was sternly opposed in Kashmir and eventually the two moved to England. They
had a son named Robert. From his early childhood, he had heard the tales of
Kashmir, especially from his mother. He wished to see the land of her mother.
On arriving to Kashmir, he was very upset by the Maharaja's mis-governance and
the misery of the masses. He wrote a book, 'Cashmere Misgovernment'. The
Maharaja came to know about it. Fearing the consequences that his tales of
mis-governance may reach to the British authorities, in haste, he ordered his
men to kill Rober Thorp. This book was published posthumously. Robert Thorp
gives a micro level study about Kashmir and all the mis-governance,
oppression, miseries and all the fails of the government. He details the
taxation system, the shawl industry, beggar system and all the non-justified
oppressions Kashmiris faced.

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cardigan
Reading this while visiting family in Srinagar :-)

Lots of brilliant young people who speak English but end up working dead end
jobs because of the political situation's impact on the economy. And they want
to live with their families, so they don't leave the area.

One of countless places all over the world where remote work over the internet
would be life changing for millions, yet barely anyone does it: because the
company to bring it to them doesn't exist yet

~~~
uber1geek
I am a self proclaimed Geek and a Kashmiri. I can relate to this.

