Washington: While the left-leaning media houses feed the international audience with distorted news about oppression of Muslims in Kashmir, a Kashmiri Hindu has spoken out about how her rights were trampled upon by Muslim fundamentalists, thirty years ago.
Kashmir columnist, Sunanda Vashisht, gave a highly emotional and strong statement at the US Congressional hearing on Human Rights, which was organized by the ‘Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’ on Thursday.
Sundanda Vashisht also welcomed the abrogation of Article 370 and said that now women are enjoying the same rights as rest of the country. She said that she is delighted that now Kashmiris have the same rights as any other citizen of India.
She spoke about the brutalities she and her fellow Hindu pandits faced at the hands of Islamic fundamentals in Kashmir thirty years ago. She has not still returned to her home state nor is she welcomed there.
Sunanda Vashisht said, “We have seen ISIS level of horror and brutality in Kashmir, 30 years before the West was even introduced to the brutalities of radical Islamic terror. I am glad these hearings are happening here today because when my family and everyone like me lost our homes our livelihood and our way of life the world remained silent.”
She asked in strong words, “Where were the advocates of human rights when my rights were taken away?”
Vashisht also spoke about the chilling moments that she and thousands of other pandits faced during those times.
“Where were they on the night of January 19, 1990, when there were voices blaring from all mosques in Kashmir that they wanted Kashmir with Hindu women but without Hindu men?”
“Where was the saviour of humanity when my feeble old grandfather stood with kitchen knives and an old rusted axe ready to kill my mother and I in order to save us from the much worse fate that awaited us?”
She said that around 4 lakh Kashmiri pandits fled after that night. They were given three choices – flee, convert, or die.
