Women at War with Jihadis

It was the very first day of 2023, Dangri village in Rajouri District of J&K came under jihadi attack. Three houses in particular were attacked. Specifically, Hindus were the target. Indeed, all through the jihadi proxy war in J&K, the Hindus have been the target; the others have been killed as collaterals. The collaterals were not forced to abandon the Kashmir Valley in 1990 or thereafter. The jihadi victims were overwhelmingly Hindus, and indeed some muslims who were suspected of treachery, but the perpetrators were hundred percent muslims. So to say that muslims too were target is misplaced and an odious balancing act. The genocide was against Hindus,

The Kashmiri Hindus migrated to Jammu and other parts of the country. Hindu reaction was inadequate, rather tepid rather timid. In fact , there were any number of influential apologists for Pak sponsored jihadis. The infamous Kashmir industry ensured that the fallout was contained within the country and internationally. This lack of reaction either from the State or Hindu organizations only emboldened the Jihadi machinery in Pakistan and India.

It must be appreciated that self-preservation and self-defence is the sacred duty of any individual. This entails self-reliance as self-defence cannot be outsourced to any court or agency or law and order apparatus. It has been drilled in Hindus that the government will protect you! This may be applicable to VIPs. No country in the world can provide security 24×7 at all places and at all times. The spirit of self-preservation amongst Hindus was killed by the British as well as by MK Gandhi. Historically, it was done by Lord Buddha.

Sans the bravery of an individual Bal Krishan, this New Year attack in Dangri village would have turned into a genocide. He picked up his old .303 rifle given to him in the capacity of a member of the Village Defence Committee (VDC) and fired two rounds. The jihadis then melted into the jungle. Yet, four men were killed in the jihadi attack and the very next morning, two children were killed by IEDs laid by the jihadis. It took only two rounds from Bal Krishan to deter a genocide. Indeed, if we had only understood the flimsy courage that jihadis possess, because they are downright beasts without any character.

Jihadis unlike the original Kashmiris or Paharis or Gujjars belong to no civilization. They have abandoned Sanatan civilization and have been rejected by Persian or Mesopotamian or Sumerian civilizations. They are animals without sanctuaries. Pakistan is one such sanctuary. In India too, there are many pockets of such sanctuaries.

The last time that Bal Krishan had fired was in 1999. He was trained to fire by the Indian Army. He was provided 100 cartridges out of which 10 were used for training. In 2018, the government had began the process of disarming the VDCs, which was first line of defence against jihadi terrorism. Consequently, VDCs had begun to surrender their arms, but in face of protest, it was rescinded. Thus, the VDCs were restored not because of security but political reasons. Obviously, the State thereafter had a perfunctory approach towards the self-defence project.

This is how the old .303 rifle had remained the Bal Krishan, perhaps a  blessing concealed in procrastination as the antiquated weapon prevented another Hindu genocide.

Post 1947, lot of Brahmins had migrated from POJK to the Dangri village in Rajouri district. Some of the ’cause and effect’ theorists are attributing this jihadi terror strike to the Home Minister’s rally on 04-October-2022, wherein the response was overwhelming. In that rally, he had a declared the government’s decision  to extend reservation to the Pahari community. The jihadis resent this, as they consider Paharis to be lesser Muslims, aligned to India. The jihadis did not target the Paharis because they did not want to incur the wrath of another set of Muslims, and therefore chose to kill Hindus, because in their reckoning that is what terrorizes India.

The determination and resoluteness of self-preservation amongst Hindu men and women either does not exist or has been crushed. If the tailor Kanahiya in Udaipur been alert and had he decided to use his scissors to protect himself, probably he would have preserved his life for a larger calling.

This  urgent call for self- preservation  has not been lost out on a 47 year old Rekha Sharma, a resident of the same Dangri village, as mentioned. The soul stirring cries of her neighbour was not lost out on the lady. The neighbour had lost two sons in a matter of two days in the jihadi attack. Rekha Sharma has picked up the gun as one of the Village Defence Guards. As per the Indian Express, dated 12-January-2023, she said, “Like the queen of Jhansi, Rani Lakshmi Bai, who fought against the British till her last breath, we women of Dangri will also fight Pakistan sponsored terrorism… They (jihadis) have spilled blood in my home, my village and my motherland… We will avenge this massacre.” Rekha Sharma, a mother of three, has a Masters and B.Ed. degree from Jammu University. Rekha Sharma’s late father and late father-in-law served in Delhi Police and J&K Police respectively. Her father-in-law’s last posting was an SHO, Rajouri’s Budhal area.

About her widow neighbour, Suraj Devi, whose wails she could not bear, she said (Indian Express): “You cannot imagine the pain of a woman, whose both children were killed in front of her eyes. I could not hear her screams.” She laments that only if Suraj had learnt how to handle a gun, probably her sons would have been saved and the Jihadis would not have escaped. Both the sons of Suraj Devi had Masters Degree in Mathematics.

The message is loud and clear, that if you do not want to suffer the grief of Suraj Devi, turn to Rekha Devi for inspiration and emulation.

Remember, just as every individual is responsible for his own health, he or she is also responsible for self-preservation from these jihadi beasts or the Maoists or the criminals. A dead person does not visit a hospital nor is summoned by the Court of Law.