New Delhi: As the Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan, harrowing pictures have surfaced showing people trying to escape the country. Fearing what the Taliban might do, a mass exodus of Afghans is underway even as the world watches. The pictures are reminiscent of what happened 31 years ago in Jammu and Kashmir.
Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Thursday (August 19) drew a parallel between the present situation in Afghanistan and the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir in 1990.
Whatever is happening with the people of Afghanistan today, the same happened with Kashmiri Pandits 31 years when they had to leave their homes overnight to escape from radical Islamic forces. Those people are still living as refugees in different parts of India. Those who could not escape were killed.
In 1990, when Islamic fundamentalists forced Kashmiri Pandits to flee from Kashmir, they gave them three options: 1. They should accept Islam, 2. They leave Kashmir and 3. Be ready to die.
31 years later, the Taliban have also put the same three conditions before the people of Afghanistan – Either they accept Sharia law or leave Afghanistan or die.
According to different estimates, in 1990, 5 to 7 lakh Kashmiri Pandits left their homes and became refugees in Jammu and other parts of the country. So many people had to become refugees in their own country. Similarly, today about 25 lakh Afghans are seeking asylum in different parts of the world.
In the 1980s, radicalisation began Kashmir and soon the place became a laboratory of radical Islam. Before that, the situation in Kashmir was different. Films were shot there, women could go out of the house fearlessly and could easily go to schools, colleges and universities to study.
Similarly, in Afghanistan before 1980, women had the freedom to read and write and wear clothes of their choice.
But in the 1980s, as fundamentalists pushed Kashmir into the dark side, Afghanistan got embroiled in a civil war. By 1990, Kashmir became a stronghold of terrorists and the Taliban rose in Afghanistan.
Some time ago Zee News spoke to Kashmiri Pandits who had witnessed that violence of 1990. We also talked to many people who came from Afghanistan. If you listen to the pain of these people, you will find that whenever extremism dominates any country or state, the future generations suffer for decades.
But thankfully, India never allowed foreign forces to enter Kashmir. It not only controlled terrorism on its own, but today citizens living in any part of the country can travel to Kashmir without any fear. One can even buy land, study and live in Kashmir. If India had asked other countries to find a solution to Kashmir, the situation of Kashmir would likely have been very similar to that of Afghanistan.
