Kashmir limps back to normalcy-II

In Tulmul Col. Tikoo met an older looking person who went about his daily routine of attending to the needs of the Ragyinya Mata as also her devotees. His name is Mohan Swaminatri. He is a retired Deputy Director of Door Darshan .His story is pretty fascinating. In his own words “At the height of terrorism in 1990, while I was still living in my home in downtown area, I had gone out to buy something from the market. While moving towards a shop, I was accosted by a rough looking person who asked me to stop, which I did. He came closer and said, ‘I have received orders to kill you.’ I walked a little closer to him and knowing very well that nothing could stop him from doing so, as was the case those days, I said, ‘go ahead’. He came closer, took out a pistol from his pocket and quietly placed the barrel of the pistol on my chest, and said , ‘I will count three and fire, in the meantime remember your Deevi ( referring to Ragyinya Deevi)’. Within no time he counted three while I remembered Ragyinya Devi and he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The pistol did not go off . I survived. He quietly walked off while I cursed him loudly. All along I wondered why he had asked me to remember Deevi. He would normally have asked me to remember Khuda, Allah or at the most Bhagwan. Why Deevi , who is part of every KPa’s conscience. Therefore you see me here now , taking care of Deevi and her devotees. It is apparent that all out efforts are being made by the vested interests , with the active connivance of the large sections of the population to rid the valley of its Hindu relics. For example the Devi Angan at Hari Parbat has entirely been encroached upon. There is nothing left of it. Similarly at Tulmul the flats constructed for the Kashmiri Pandits (KPs), who are going to return to the Valley in the near future, have been located too close to the sanctum sanctorum. The lurking suspicion is that in the due course these flats will be allotted to the local muslims who will then have a free run of what is left of Tulmul.