So, a discussion of Kashmir can not take place without a discussion on islam because islam is central to the issue – islam preaches that it is the duty of every muslim to strive to spread islam in every corner of the world and until the entire world is converted into a “dar-ul-islam”. For a clear understanding of how islam divides the world, pl. refer to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisions_of_the_world_in_Islam

All discussions of Hindu-Muslim relationship should be viewed in this context – there is no point in blaming the Hindu “zealots” for asking muslims to get out of India – they are probably giving back to muslims their own conviction that they should not be living in a “dar-ul-harb” country and it is better for them to go to a country that is “dar-ul-islam”.

No, I am not a Hindu “zealot” and I have quite a few friends who are muslims, but when you are dealing with a philosophy / doctrine that does not accomodate your view point, there is no practical wisdom in getting into an “intellectual” argument. The two parties are coming from an entirely different set of values and pretending that this is NOT the case will not help the party who is pretending.

The muslims do not pretend that they consider Hindus to be their brothers. So, why should the Hindus pretend then?

http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/08/stories/2011010862850500.htm

NEW DELHI: Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah on Friday said the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley is the darkest chapter in the history of Jammu & Kashmir and sought “forgiveness” for the “ethnic cleansing”.

Dr. Abdullah, also a former Chief Minister of the State, regretted that an entire generation of Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits had grown up without knowing each other. “There are youngsters who do not know what Kashmiri Pandits were like, what their habits were; they have seen empty temples, they don’t know what was recited in the temples, for them the Pandits are aliens,” he said.

Referring to the Pandits who have grown outside of Kashmir, he said though they know themselves as Kashmiris, they have never seen the Valley.

Dr. Abdullah was speaking at the launch of a book, “The Garden of Solitude” by Siddhartha Gigoo, that captures the life of a Kashmiri Pandit boy and his journey post-turmoil. The book traces the exodus of Pandits from the Valley and the protagonists’ search for stories that are on the verge of being forgotten by a generation.

i followed the link in comment 16. was not surprised by the Google Ad that came up just belaw the title “My name is not…”

the ad was “how to convert to islam religion…” for the website http://www.islamreligion.com. very very topical ad.

rgds/sridhar

I am not Khan. My name bears a different set of four letters: K A U L. Kaul. As those who know Indian names would understand I happened to be born in a family which was called Hindu by others. Hence, we were sure, we would never get a friend like KJ to make a movie on our humiliations, and the contemptuous and forced exile from our homeland.

It’s not fashionable. It’s fashionable to get a Khan as a friend and portray his agony and pains and sufferings when he is asked by a US private to take off his shoes and show his socks. Natural and quite justifiable that Khan must feel insulted and enraged. Enough Masala to make a movie.

But unfortunately I am a Kaul. I am not a Khan.

Hence when my sisters and mothers were raped and killed, when six-year-old Seema was witness to the brutal slaughtering of her brother, mother and father with a butcher’s knife by a Khan, nobody ever came to make a movie on my agony, pain and anguish, and tears.

No KJ would make a movie on Kashmiri Hindus. Because we are not Khans. We are Kauls.

…
So you make a movie on the humiliation of taking off shoes to a foreign police force which has decided not to allow another 9/11.

The humiliation of taking off the shoes and the urge to show that you are innocent is really too deep. But what about the humiliation of leaving your home and hearth and the world and the relatives and wife and mother and father? And being forced to live in shabby tents, at the mercy of nincompoop leaders encashing your misery and bribe-seeking babus? And seeing your daughters growing up too sudden and finding no place to hide your shame?

No KJ would ever come forward to make a movie, a telling, spine-chilling narration on the celluloid, of five-year-old Seema, who saw her parents and brother being slaughtered by a butcher’s knife in Doda. Because her dad was not Mr Khan. He was one Mr Kaul.

Sorry, Mr Kaul and your entire ilk. I can’t help you.