Ethnic cleansing of minorities: Only Jain temple in Valley destroyed

[Justin Joseph]

Ethnic cleansing of minorities: Only Jain temple in Valley destroyed

Hemali Chhapia & Mansi Choksi | TNN

Mumbai: Two years ago, a family from Mumbai built a temple in the lap of snow-capped mountains miles away in Srinagar.

The derasar (temple), carved out of teak, decked with marigolds and installed with three idols of Jain tirthankars, was set up for the thousands of Jains who streamed into the volatile region every holiday season.

But last Saturday, the only Jain temple in the Kashmir Valley was burnt down by a mob.

‘‘It is now ground zero. There is nothing left, nothing to go back to,’’ says Jyotin Doshi, chairman of Gem, a travel agency in south Mumbai whose family built the temple. A shaken-up Doshi recalls speaking to the priest, the lone caretaker of the temple, on the night the violence errupted. ‘‘There was curfew in the valley but he noticed people gathering outside the temple,’’ he says. The priest, who is disturbed and has now returned to his village near Lucknow, quickly gathered the three idols, which were sculpted out of panchdhatu (an alloy of gold, silver, copper, iron and zinc), and hid them in a hotel room. ‘‘And exactly three hours later, the mob struck and destroyed whatever we had built,’’ says Doshi.

Two members of Doshi’s team from Mumbai, Apurva Bhansali and Jiten Dharod, flew to Srinagar the next day when the curfew was lifted. They packed the idols in cardboard boxes and flew to Sabarmati in Gujarat. ‘‘Before the two had reached, the news had spread in Sabarmati. When the idols were installed in Chintamani Parshwanath derasar there, there were more than 14,000 people who came for darshan,’’ he says.

The idols, that has been taken to safety, were built in Kalikund in Dholka, Gujarat. Doshi says that his family set up the temple to realize his 68-year-old mother’s dream.

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[Prometheus]

well it seems like some freedom fighters hated that temple

 

[Patriot]

Where are your security forces?

 

[Prometheus]

Where are your security forces?

I think "our" security forces are concentrating more on "non-State actors" of "your" country

 

[arihant]

Minorities are not safe in any heaven's terrorist and separatist.

BTW, I never knew we have our temple built in Valley.

 

[Spring Onion]

mmm why Indians from their country went all the way to the country of Kashmiris called Jammu and Kashmir to build the temple

and the most noted thing is that it was not some Stone, cement built, hard structure, but a small derasar (temple), carved out of teak . means not a building cant be termed as TEMPLE in strict sense.


Anyway you are blowing it out of proportion by terming it ethnic cleansing lolzzzz.


The act is condemnable so is blowing it out of proportion

 

[GreenStar]

This is a sad case...but the Indian Goverement is at fault, simply because it has failed to solve the issue that has plagued Kashmir since 1989. Obviously I am not defending the mobs actions, but in a sense people are beiing forced to do such actions, when the State has killed numerous Kashmiri people.

 

[arihant]

mmm why Indians from their country went all the way to the country of Kashmiris called Jammu and Kashmir to build the temple

and the most noted thing is that it was not some Stone, cement built, hard structure, but a small derasar (temple), carved out of teak . means not a building cant be termed as TEMPLE in strict sense.

Anyway you are blowing it out of proportion by terming it ethnic cleansing lolzzzz.

The act is condemnable so is blowing it out of proportion

Then why Pakistani sent terrorist to same Kashmir. Tit for tat.

And about building a temple, I suppose same Muslims from Persia were allowed to built mosque in a total Hindu nation, so you oppose all those acts right ?

And your comment about small template hmm..So that way all small dargah's should be removed....

 

[Ganga]

Kashmiris have become very intolerant.A simple issue like the allocation of land to the Amarnath shrine board had caused such a huge uprising.Now it is the case of the Jain temple.

 

[arihant]

This is a sad case...but the Indian Goverement is at fault, simply because it has failed to solve the issue that has plagued Kashmir since 1989. Obviously I am not defending the mobs actions, but in a sense people are beiing forced to do such actions, when the State has killed numerous Kashmiri people.

Why people are force to do so may I know if you have real thinking idea about all those things.

All started in 1989.
Terrorist came, killed Kashmiri Pandits.
Lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits leave valley.
Threats letter to Sikh comes. Geelani says it is govt doing as it did in 1989.
Now, Jain temple destroyed. While they have nothing to do with Jainism or to their community.

I am Jain (minority) and live in Jain area. There is one small dargah here. What should I do ? Should we destroy it. It would be same to do so and there would no difference in us, kashmiri and VHP.

 

[niaz]

I am against destroying any one's place of worship. This shows lack of tolerance and civilized behaviour.

Assuming that the said temple was built on legally purchased land; I condemn the act without reservation. Islam that I believe in, teaches me to respect other people's faith.

 

[GreenStar]

Why people are force to do so may I know if you have real thinking idea about all those things.

Well like I said before, I condone such actions, simply because by the mobs destroying this Jain temple it will not solve the Kashmiri problem, just cause ethnic religious tension.

But the reason why I have said that the people have been forced to do such actions, is because many of there fellow brothers have been killed by the State, and there sisters raped by the State, as Indian soilders have been prone to do so. This has resulted into hatred directed at others, who seem to be with the state. So you should question your government, in why it has been so inept in solving Kashmir, and also it should stop resorting to violence on the Kashmir people. Maybe then this scenrio would not happen again.

All started in 1989.
Terrorist came, killed Kashmiri Pandits.
Lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits leave valley.
Threats letter to Sikh comes. Geelani says it is govt doing as it did in 1989.
Now, Jain temple destroyed. While they have nothing to do with Jainism or to their community.

That may be true however your Goverment has killed thousands of Kashmir's, there have been reports of mass graves being found, furthermore Kashmir women have been raped by Indian security forces....so that in a sense gives a picture in why the mobs are so angry.

 

[GreenStar]

Kashmiris have become very intolerant

They have become intolerant, because they want to become independent, which you are denying them.

 

[Ruag]

So, here is what Kashmiri Muslims have done in the past 3 decades --

A) Violently driven out more than 400,000 Kashmiri Hindus from the Kashmir valley and carried out horrendous anti-Hindu attacks such as the Wandhama massacre.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

1998 Wandhama massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

B) Continuously terrorize the Sikhs in the Kashmir Valley with attacks such as the Chittisinghpura massacre and forcing them to convert to Islam.

Chittisinghpura massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

India: Kashmir: Islamic groups pressuring Sikhs to convert | Spero News

C) And now destroy the only Jain temple in Kashmir.

And then these same Kashmiri people wonder why the rest of Indians are so indifferent towards their needs and aspirations. Maybe these Kashmiri Muslims could learn from other moderate and tolerant Indian Muslims.

 

[arihant]

That may be true however your Goverment has killed thousands of Kashmir's, there have been reports of mass graves being found, furthermore Kashmir women have been raped by Indian security forces....so that in a sense gives a picture in why the mobs are so angry.

Its not mine govt. that kills Kashmiris. Whoever kills is one who should be declared guilty.

And about killing by security forces, in Karachi in a single day some 10-20 people got killed by security forces. Well, I am not saying Security forces killed those mobs but they were forced to do so to put law and order in the state.

And about graves, I am really sad to find the same in the Kashmir and if true Justice should prevail.

They have become intolerant, because they want to become independent, which you are denying them.

The term independent should be added in clause in the UN. As far as I know Azadi means freedom to live, do and work. Which is accepted by Indian Constitution.

Moreover, we are not given Azadi to live there while others are allowed to live on our land. Still we don't say anything.

India will not tolerate any movement that is just because of religious thing. Hindus represented 10% of Pakistan and now they are just 1%. Indian Secular would never want this to happen again unlike 1947.