Use of religion to achieve political ambitions is nothing new; religion, as a tool, has been used for centuries and all across the globe. We may call them extremists or fringe elements or crusaders, the fact remains that religion-based motivation to wage a war has been part of modern history of humankind. Jihad, as per Islamic belief is supposed to be a struggle towards self-betterment by each individual as also a holy war when the faith is in jeopardy and needs to be safeguarded. It is, by no stretch of imagination, is an act of aggression though vested quarters have been preaching skewed interpretations of the same with underlying hidden motives of all kinds.While it is now well-established that the highly publicised word, Kashmiriyat, is nothing but a political invention of mid 1970s, the life in Kashmir Valley has always been dictated by its majority since 14th Century. There has, however, always existed a fine ‘quantity-quality’ balance between two communities with a small community of Kashmiri Pandits invariably holding high offices and brute majority of Muslims dictating the social life. At a practical level, it boiled down to the inter-dependence between the two. That delicate balance, too, was tampered with when Pakistan-sponsored terrorism arrived in the Valley. Killings and rapes of minority community then saw the sixth mass exodus from the Valley over as many centuries. The fire, so cleverly ignited by the Pakistani agencies who left no stone unturned in selling the idea of Islam being in danger and Jihad as an obligation to the Kashmiri Muslims, however, soon started scorching the Kashmir itself.This story is an effort to showcase what happened and how did it happen.

Unholy Jihad: A True Story from Kashmir PDF

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