Blog # 26 Dated: 17 May 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

Dear,......,

Hello. I hope my last blog post forced you to look back and understand how and what happened to our ancestors. Two years back, I had posted similar analysis in a whatsApp group. One of the group members who is a very serious student of history, reacted and sent back his comments. I am reproducing what he wrote.  

"What I read someplace, the economic persecution of Kashmiris continued under the rule of Ranjit Singh of Punjab when they fought against Muslims....and thereafter under the dogras as well.....I don't know if the portrayal has a political notation, but it was claimed that Kashmiris did better when British control was established....but it may be a false narrative spread by the colonials... This was mostly in the form of heavy taxes… even if they were Hindu rulers… that”s also the time the culture of the plains as well as religious practices were established in Kashmir… some 150-200 years ago…. May be I  am mistaken. It is interesting to note that Kashmiri civilization dates back some 5000 years… where did we evolve from or where did this civilization arrive from to settle in Kashmir…? Do we have some awareness of when and how Kashmir Shaivism was established? There are records of great works delivered around 900 AD by Shri Utpaldeva and Abinav Gupta. but this must be predating their times… it will be fascinating to understand where our culture has evolved from…"

I wrote back and my response is was below.

"Dear Sir, thanks for joining the conversation. There are two different subjects here. The first one is regarding the condition of Kashmiri Pandits. They have faced different types of persecution all the time. They did not seem to be under control and dictating the issues. They had one type of problem when invaders had not come. When the Muslims came, they were crushed, converted, and persecuted. They were able to survive by engaging themselves mainly by involving themselves in reading, writing, and teaching. They did not engage in trade or businesses etc. During Sikh/Dogra rule, although there was no Jazia Tax to be paid and there was no pressure for conversion, jobs which were mostly held by Hindus were now shared by the outsiders imported by these rulers from outside. This caused the Hindus serious problems because their bread and butter were taken away from them. There was an attempt to force them to join the military and this was another torture because they were not used to this type of life. It was these Hindus who agitated and pressured the rulers to impose restrictions on giving jobs to outsiders. (This was which we called Article 370 Later.) As mentioned earlier, we Hindus would all get educated and seek jobs in the system. With time, they learned to be scholars of the language of the court and administration. Thus we find them, master, in Sanskrit, Sharada, Persian, and then English. When Englishmen came, they needed men for police and administration. Bhatta's easily filled the gap for the clerical posts. This naturally helped the community. The community appears to be happier during their rule. When Englishmen started Mission School, it was the Bhattas joining in hordes. They needed to learn English Language. Subsequently, they became teachers when more schools were opened by the administration. The issues listed gave them the means to subsistence. This is a very big and complex subject and probably beyond the scope of the conversation in this group. I had to touch on this subject, in brief, to attempt to draw a picture of the times our ancestors lived so that when we narrate their story we keep the perspective in mind. I do not want them to be ridiculed.  Regarding the evolution of the Kashmiri Civilization and dating it to beyond 5000 years is a much deeper subject. I leave it there. If you individually are interested in this subject, I would suggest a book - Kashmir Its Aborigines and their exodusÈ written by Colonel Tej K Tikoo, Ph.D.  Thanks and God bless you."

I have read a good number of books on Kashmir and its politics. If anyone of the readers is interested to know more, he would be welcomed by me. I would share with him/her all that I have read. I can suggest reading material. However I will continue to post interesting political blogs as we move on.  For sure, I shall not loan my books. My recent experience is that it takes a lot of efforts and energy to get the books back. That distracts me from my normal working. Bye till tomorrow.

Blog # 25 Dated: 16 May 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 

Dear,......,

Hello. Yesterday I mentioned that the events in 1967 in Kashmir meant a setback for us the Hindu community in the valley. I am tempted to  give you a very brief background about the history of Kashmir from Hindu perspective. I have a feeling that even with my best expression, I may not be able to get you to visualize the true picture of the events then. But I will summarize it in such a manner that most of you shall understand the times and circumstances that existed then. I would like to apprise of the situation that existed for our community for around the last 150 years when our grandparents, parents, and ourselves lived. But before that, we have to have some idea of how their ancestors lived and what circumstances they had to endure.  As all of us know, the history of habitation in Kashmir is reported to be at least 5000 years. The recorded history says that initially, we had only Aryans/Hindus living in Kashmir. Subsequently, Buddhism took roots in Kashmir and then reverted back to Hinduism. Around 600 years ago, Muslim invaders came, took advantage of the warring local Hindu rulers, and then took over the job of governance. It may surprise most of you to know, that a Hindu faction in Kashmir invited an Afghani Muslim to take over as ruler so that they could settle scores with another Hindu faction. That was the first-ever Muslim ruler in Kashmir. (So our Hindu fighting Hindu is not a present-day story only. We have been doing it ever since). An arti was performed, a teeka applied on his forehead, and then made the king and rule the public. Then successive invaders came, fought with each other but continued to rule over the Hindu population. Untold misery was piled upon the local population. For most, it was beyond tolerance, they converted to Islam. You must have heard about Jazia Tax. This was a tax levied upon only Hindus. Unfortunately, two to three famines lasting a couple of years in a lifetime each further ravished the community. Then the Muslim priest class (Known as Syeds and Naqsbandhs) accompanied a new horde of invaders and they started more conversions after preaching.  Every day the population of real inhabitants who still maintained their Hindu religion got reduced. Very interesting to note here, one Kashmiri Pandit, Saha Bhat got converted to Islam after it was getting very difficult to survive the tough repression. He took a new name, Salahuddin. He was ruthless against Hindus and piled unspeakable misery on them. He started the first major conversion of Hindus to Islam. Only today, I was reading about "Leeja Bhatta" (They were a group of about 50 Kashmiri Hindu families who would prepare their meals in earthenware utensils early in the morning, hiding the same under shrubs and all-day and then dress and behave as if they were Muslims. When the pressure on Hindus subsided, this group stopped this practice and reverted back to the Hindu religion. But due to the rigidness of the Hindu priest class, these people were not allowed back. Some of them became Muslims and some of them observed the Hindu religion but were boycotted by the Hindus who had not converted to Islam. This one became a distinct group and they would marry within their own group only. We still have some of these Hindus in our society today but with the passing of times, people do not recognize their history and there are marriages between them and the other Hindu groups now.

 Here I would again like to bring to your notice that around 300 years back when there was another major pressure/atrocities on Hindus from the Muslims, a big group of Hindus were forced to convert. They would be Muslims during the day and at nightfall, they would put Muslim texts under their seats and then do puja of Hindu Gods. In the morning they would go to the Mosque and start reciting Bhajans in praise of the Muslim Prophet. The Muslim Mullah class forbade them from this because it was not acceptable in their religion, but they continued to do it. Ultimately the local Mullah had no choice but to allow this. This type of recitation is known as "manqabat" and is still recited in the mosques in Kashmir. Nowhere else in the Muslim world is Manqabat recitation done in the mosques. Anyway, after a generation, when the situation eased, they returned back to the Hindu fold but here again the priest class did not accept them. This class became another group now called Purbee Hindus in Kashmir. There used to be no intermarriage and inter-dining between this group and the other Hindus. It is only with the advent of Arya Samaj during Sikh/Dogra regime in Kashmir that the Orthodox Hindu hold on the community got eased to some extent, but the Hindu population although vastly dwindled, continued to be very poor.  

It has been sad recounting our history. But it is necessary that we should know our history.  Bye. 

Blog # 24 Dated: 15 May 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear,.......,

Hello. I am here again with my narrative after the weekly break. Last time I narrated the story of my tough time with my boss.  Then I described Boss No: 2 too. I gave you details of six Assistant Engineers. I heard about a seventh one too but he had been posted to AIR Lucknow. He was called GMD - short name for Gulam Mohi Din. He was a completely uneducated person. He did not know to read and write any language. He would just speak kashmiri and could also converse in urdu intermixed with kashmiri. He would somehow communicate with non-Kashmiri speaking persons. He would sign in english language as G.M.D. I was told that he was a good workman and would have innovative methods to solve mechanical problems. Some day, he seemed to have impressed a senior officer and he had recommended him to be promoted as Assistant Engineer from the post of technician. I met him face to face in 1981 when he was posted to the same office where I was already working. I will describe him in detail when my narrative would progress to the year 1981. Right now I am in the 1960's. . 

Kashmir was a place where we would find unrest and agitations touching various issues at least two to three times a year. It so happened that there started one around June/July 1967.  That year the first super store started in Kashmir valley. It was called Super Bazar. This was the first time that different items were available under one roof. The items were cheaper than in the general market. The store was under the ownership of the government. Young boys and girls of all section of the society were working as salesmen and sales ladies there. One day there was a rumor that one Muslim boy and one Hindu girl working in the store had married in the court, a stones throw throw distant from the store. The two had gone to the boy's house from the court. The atmosphere got charged in the city. The administration was alarmed and took control immediately. Both the boy and the girl were detained at the local police station at Maharaj Gunj near the place of residence of the boy.  The girl named Parmeshwari was a resident of Rainawari area and was living with her mother. Her father had deceased some years earlier. 

At the Police station, both the boy and the girl said that both of them were adults and they had taken the decision to marry on their own. the police checked their educational documents etc. and it was clear to the police that they could not keep them detained at the police station. The documents clearly mentioned their adult status. Even then, the police got her checked at the local hospital where they also confirmed that she was an adult. The administration, called the Hindu leadership and put forth all the facts at their disposal. But the Hindu leadership had been under pressure to solve their other problems like encroachments on their temple lands etc. thought this to be an opportunity to start with this as an issue. Then leadership wanted the girl to be reunited with her mother. It was later known that the boy had been regularly going to their home at Rainawari for months and her mother knew the boy too. It was also known later that the Hindu leadership was allowed to meet the girl at the police station and talk to her but she did not agree to go to her mother. Unfortunately the Hindu leadership did not tell the public all this. Next day, they announced an agitation. Every day, there would be a demonstration at 4 PM. There would be speeches and seven young people would court arrest. No place of demonstration would get announced in advance but it would take place at random places and there would be seven young men who would be arrested everyday. And all this was happening with curfew in the city. The administration was at their wits end. They made efforts to unravel the agitation control center and the leadership behind the agitation. Some of the local Hindu informants were rewarded for clues to the agitation leadership. The leaders were caught and jailed. The agitation died down after about two weeks of unrest. During the agitation, the leadership raised other issues too that had been affecting the community. There would be fierce speeches. A number of young people got killed during firing by police on the demonstrations. The administration opened a dialogue with the Hindu leadership and it was agreed to appoint a commission to address the issues raised by them. The government announced a commission under Mr. Gajandergadkar a Supreme court judge to look into the grievances of the Hindu community. The commision took some time and the report was submitted to the government. The Hindu leadership had complained about jobs, promotions and admission in professional institutions as main issues. The commission announced in its report that Hindus were already getting more than its dues in all the spheres. As a result of this report, we Hindus lost and suffering got enhanced.

Meanwhile, the Muslim community got a kick to their fortunes and their spirits soared after the report. Muslims at that point of time would not be getting educated generally and most of them were into business. They would not be in government. But the commission changed all that. Parmeshwari became Parmeshwari Akhtar. The celebrations in her household continued for moths. There would be a mela outside their house everyday. Muslim ladies would visit her and gift her with gold sovereigns. This was the usual ritual with Muslims in those times to gift the bride with gold sovereigns. And more and more Muslims got educated. They started going for the jobs which they had never thought of ever imagining.  

 I was able to go to office during the agitation. We the shift staff would be issued with curfew passes. We would be allowed by the patrolling police to move freely. 

Bye for today. Shall be there again tomorrow with a new blog.    

Blog # 23 Dated: 13 May 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

Dear,.......,

Hello. Yesterday, I narrated Din Mohamed story. Today, I will go back to All India Radio. Four AE's have been covered. It is now the turn of AE-5. He belonged to some village in Kashmir and stayed with his family in his family home there. He would stay alone in some rented accomodation in the valley and would request for duties in such a way that he would be able to go to his village home and return only after spending a couple of days every week there. It was said that he did not have arrangements for cooking at his rented place. Since there was not a proper canteen in our office, he would be almost starving himself everyday. He would just take tea and some kashmiri bread. His colleagues would tell me that he was a miser and would save most of his salary. He would buy orchards. This was his ambition to become a big orchard owner. As soon as I joined service, he fell ill and the doctors diagnosed it to be some stomach related ailment. It was told to him that the problem had been created due to his frequent starving and irregular food habits. He got operated upon. He was told that he should be careful and adopt regular eating schedule. He joined back and resumed his duties. He was a changed person now. He tried to compensate for his earlier habit of starving into overeating.  Within a month he was ill again and passed away. Doctors diagnosed his death to have been caused by overeating. It was ironical that someone from his home appealed for financial contribution from us colleagues after his death. Only Rs. 30/- was collected. Everyone counselled the family to sell some of the orchard land instead of begging from us. 

AE-6 was a different type of person. He would doubt that everyone was conspiring against him. He would be extra careful and tense during his duty period. I performed some of my shift duties with him. Even small problems during transmission, would make him very nervous. He lacked confidence. I could not learn anything from him. I would hate to be on duty with him. 

Our boss - the station engineer was a gentleman from Tamilnadu. In short he was a Madrassi. He seemed to me a very knowledgeable person. I was scared of him. He was keeping an eye on me. My interaction with him would prove to him that I was a technically incompetent person. He would put lot of pressure on me. I would usually run away from having to face him. If he would be in control room and I needed to go there, I would avoid going there. I would go to control room only after he had left. But there were occasions that I would be caught unawares when he would come to the control room unannounced and find me there. On one such occasion, I was on the sound mixing console controlling audio levels when a record was being played from the adjacent playback booth. The quality of the record played back was not good. He asked me why the quality was not good. I had no answer. He said that even a lay person would be able to tell that. He asked me to call his wife on the telephone and even she could explain it to me. I got shamed. I did not call her wife.  After a few minutes he returned back to the control room and asked me what had his wife told me. I just mumbled and flushed. He made me call his wife there and then. She told me that the playback fault was called wow and flutter. This was the first time that I had heard that definition. Before leaving the control room, he asked me to meet him in his office the next day. Next day was my weekly off day. I did not dare tell him this. I feared him so much that next day I came to office to meet him. He was there in his office  chamber. He told me that I needed to work hard and learn. He told me to study one section of the one kilowatt transmitter circuit and come back to him after a week to discuss it with him. I worked very hard to learn and presented myself in his room after one week. He examined me and found that my knowledge was poor. But he appeared to be satisfied with my attempt to learn.

At the end of my first year, he had to sign my probation clearance papers. One day I was called by his secretary. He gave me a sheet of paper. He asked me to acknowledge receipt of this paper. It was an extract from my Probation Clearance report. The extract was adverse. It mentioned that I lacked the technical knowledge and I needed to improve it to clear the probation. I read it in the presence of the secretary. I became nervous and my hands were trembling. I thought that this was the end of my job. I enquired from the secretary what it meant. He told me that my job was not gone. This was an advice for me to work harder. I did not show it to anyone. I worked harder and learn from people already working there. Someone advised me to get a book on electronics by Turmen. I got the book - a fat one but could not understand much. My basic knowledge was minimal and this book was too advanced for me to follow. Someone asked me to assemble a radio set from parts to learn electronics practically. I purchased loose parts and assembled a three band valve radio set. A Technician in the office guided me whenever I needed any help. 

Next year, the station engineer got transferred. I was relieved. A new station engineer again from Tamilnadu took over. He was a high profile one and did not have time to keep an eye on me. Before he completed one year in this posting, he was transferred out. My probation was cleared in his period of posting. I was relieved  to get the probation clearance verdict.  I stayed on in the job.

Bye now. Tomorrow would be a break for the blog. I would be there again on 15th.

Blog # 22 Dated: 12 May 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear,........,

Hello. Yesterday, I mentioned that Pakistan planned the embedding of their nationals in Kashmiri homes in early 1965. And then luckily the administration also came to know by accident that there was infiltration. Here in an interesting account of how they came to know of it. 

It was probably the month of August 1965. The month also coincided with Muslim fasting called Ramzan. Those days, we in All India Radio Srinagar, would have a special Sehri Programme early in the morning for Muslim devotees. We used to have an overnight shift at Transmitter and Studio center. The shift would be from 5 PM to the next day at 11 AM. That was two day's duty. I had finished my duty at the transmitter station and just happened to pass through the Studio Centre control room. Just then I found a couple of programme and engineering staff packing recording equipment for taking out for recording. I asked them about the details of the recording just out of curiosity. I was told that the security forces had caught a terrorist and they were going to record him. I decided to go with them to see how a terrorist looked.

All of us next herded into the office jeep and were taken to a house on the banks of the Dal Lake (Called Boulevard Road). The place was a short distance away from Nehru Park. It was the residence of the then Chief Minister Shri G.M.Sadiq. There we found that a shamiana had been erected on the lawn outside the house. A stage had been erected under the shamiana (tent) and about fifty chairs arranged in rows in front of the stage. We noticed that there were a good number of News correspondents including from the Foreign Press seated on these chairs. At that point, we could understand that this was something like a press conference. Near the stage, we noticed one, around 40-year-old Gujar with the typical dress and headdress. We thought that probably he was the terrorist but he was neither hand-cuffed nor chained. Next to him was another man looking like a normal non-Kashmiri person with red blood eyes (he appeared to be drunk at that time). A little distance away we saw a Kashmiri person around 30 years old looking like a gentleman sitting on a chair. We put our mikes etc. on the stands and connected the equipment for recording. Everyone was waiting and looking at the Chief Minister's house doors for him to appear for the press conference.  

Wait over, the Chief Minister followed by a crowd of officers came out of the door. He was made to sit on the stage. Simultaneously one typed sheet of paper was handed over to each of the correspondents. We also got a sheet. The sheet contained a story. One officer got up and read the story from the paper. The story went like this. "There was one Din Mahmud who was a shepherd. (He pointed to the gujjar) He was grazing his sheep on the high reaches in an area near the town of Kangan. Just then, some four people all loaded up with big bags came from nowhere and approached him. They wanted cigarettes from him. He did not have any. They abused him and kicked him to make him fear them. Then he was given Rs. 100/- INR. He was asked to go down to the town and buy cigarettes for them. He came down the slopes and reached the town shop.  He informed the shopkeeper that there were some intruders and he needed to inform the authorities.  An Intelligence office person in plain clothes happened to be near the shop at that moment. The shopkeeper called him and then made the shepherd repeat the story to him.  He questioned him and got all the details (He pointed to the drunk looking person seated on the chair as the intelligence office person)  The intelligence office person informed his boss a DSP in District headquarters though telephone. (He pointed to the 30 year old gentleman sitting on a chair on the dias as DSP) This DSP informed the army. The army organized a raid and engaged the four intruders by evening same day. The raiders happened to be terrorists from Pakistan." As per this introduction, the shepherd had on his own given the information to the intelligence office person.

After the narration was over, the three persons, Shepherd, Intelligence person and the DSP were introduced to the media.  The correspondents questioned all three. When Din Mahmud the gujjar was asked about the incident, he corrected the above story thus. He said that when he reached the town and went to the shop, he handed over the 100 rupees note to the shopkeeper and asked for cigarettes. The shopkeeper asked him for the cigarette brand that he wanted to purchase. He replied to him that he did not know. Near the shop, the CID inspector happened to be there by chance. He also heard the exchange between the two. He suspected something unusual. He questioned the gujjar and the story unfolded. The fact that he had not given the information voluntarily to the intelligence man was apparent in his statement before the press.  

In the evening, the Radio station made a hero out of the Gujjar. It was made up that Din Mahmud was a staunch nationalist, who sought out the CID inspector and told him the story. This Din Mahmud was given a Padam Shri on 26 January 1996. He was accorded an honour at Town Hall in Delhi. The CID Inspector and DSP were both promoted.

 A year later in August 1966, I came on duty in Radio Control Room. I passed the VIP studio. There I found a tall man with a Jawahar Jacket, Long Muslim Kurta, Pajama and a karakuli cap on his head seated on a chair. He was waiting for the Director of Radio station Mr. N.L.Chowla to interview him. (Normally Director would interview only very important people. I, therefore thought that he must be some VIP)  When I looked at him, I felt that I had seen him somewhere, but was not able to recollect.  Just then the recording started. I heard his voice on the recording machine speaker. He was addressed in the interview as Jenab Din Mahmud Padam Shri. The interviewer asked him to narrate what had happened on that day. He in response told the government story word by word like a parrot.

This person lived like an aristocrat after this. It was only in 1990, that the Pakistani Terrorists barged into his house at the start of the insurgency and shot at him point-blank causing his instant death. He was probably the first Muslim who had spoken in favour of India, killed at the start of insurgency. 

Fate is an important issue of life. Right person at the right time/wrong time and wrong person at wrong time/ right time can define the future for any person. The above true story proves that.

I mentioned karakuli cap in the above narration. This type of cap used to be worn only by very rich and moneyed people. It used to cost hundreds of rupees in 1960's when my three months salary would have to be spent to buy me one. The fur for that type of cap is got from a sheep baby cut open from the womb of its mother. The fur is curly. Usually, all political leaders used to wear such caps in Kashmir.  

Bye for today. 

  

Blog # 21 Dated: 11 May 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear,..........,

Hello. Yesterday in my blog, I mentioned about the Pakistani pirate radio broadcast - "Sadai Kashmir." in Kashmir in August 1965. When India got independence in 1947, there were almost 500 princes in control of various areas in the whole country. Before Englishmen left, they broke the country into two by carving out Pakistan from India. The Princes of these states were given an option to either join India or Pakistan. Remaining independent was not a choice. Where it was a Hindu ruler with predominant Hindu population or Muslim ruler with Muslim population, it was easy to decide to join India or Pakistan respectively. Problem erupted when there was a Hindu ruler over Muslim majority area or a Muslim ruler over a Hindu majority area. Some of these princely states were Hyderabad, Junagadh and Kashmir. Hyderabad and Junagadh were Hindu populated areas ruled by Muslims. These areas were surrounded by states who had already acceded to India. There was hesitation with the Muslim rulers in  exercising the option for joining India/Pakistan. (They had expressed the wish to join Pakistan.) It was not a practical idea to have small pockets owing allegiance to Pakistan surrounded by India all around. It was administratively impossible to govern such pockets. India under a strong home minister Sardar Patel, used force to quicken their decision to join India. I will leave it there because otherwise I would be digressing into a different story.

Kashmir was a border state with Muslim Majority population but ruled by a Hindu Maharaja. Here again there was a delay in the process of opting for India / Pakistan. Pakistan feared that the Maharaja would accede to India. So before a formal decision was taken by the Maharaja, Pakistan organised an attack on Kashmir. Pakistan officially said that it was local tribal people of Kashmir (called Kabaali") who were revolting against the Maharaja. But actually it was Kabaali plus pakistani armed force personnel in Kabaali dress who forced the attack on Kashmir. India took the case to United Nations. A ceasefire was announced. About 30% of Kashmir was taken over by the Kabaalis before the ceasefire was announced and agreed upon both by India and Pakistan. This area of Kashmir is called Azaad Kashmir by Pakistan. We  in India call it "Pakistan Held Kashmir." (I will have separate blogs on the raid later on.) 

When Pakistan was carved out from India, resources were separated too. A greater number of armed forces got affiliated to Pakistan which was proportionately much higher than the population of that country. Thus in Pakistan, the army was the big brother who started controlling and managing the country from day one. They initiated the Kabaali raid. While the case was under consideration of the UNO and the two countries, the Pak army was making schemes upon schemes to annex Kashmir for Pakistan. They were aware that in 1947, the majority of Kabaalis were not disciplined and they had resorted to looting on the way which delayed their entry to the seat of government in Kashmir and take over the Srinagar Airport. So they came up with a scheme wherein the mistakes of 1947 raid would not get repeated. The new scheme was made and named  Operation Grand Slam in 1965. Under this scheme they sent Pakistani forces in civilian clothes stealthily to Kashmir since early 1965. They were taught the Kashmiri language. Then these persons were embedded into Kashmiri muslim families all over the valley. But after a month or two, the local hosts got tired of the uninvited guests because these guests started doing objectional activities in their home. They became a financial burden on them.The Pakistan plan was that when Sadai Kashmir broadcasts would start, the Kashmiri population would come out on to the streets. The embedded Pak army personnel would also join them thus taking the government unawares. Simultaneously armed personnel would be ready from pakistani side to cross over. However by some good luck, the local police came to know of the infiltration. The local administration announced rewards to the local population for helping in catching the embedded persons. The locals who were already under strain because of the activities of the embedded persons, indiscreetly informed the authorities and within a couple of days all these persons were arrested. (Some of these embedded persons were reported to  the police in exchange of even one hundred rupees) The Pakiani Plan failed. The broadcasts - Sadai Kashmir ended by the end of August. Subsequently India Pakistan fought a war in the month of September 1965.  But as far as Kashmir was concerned, the status quo stayed unchanged to a large extent.    

I will move on to All India Radio staff description tomorrow. Bye for today. 

Blog # 20 Dated: 10 May 2022 (See Blog # 74 for details contained in this Blog)

 Dear,........,

Hello. I hope you have enjoyed reading my yesterday's blog post. Today I will continue describing the other interesting staff. Next is AE-3. He was a very nice gentleman. He was a graduate. I always wondered how and why he had joined this office at all. His father was a very high ranking public officer - probably Municipal Department Chairman. The family was rich too. His grandfather / father had a big piece of land in Srinagar city. They had made a colony out of this piece of land. The colony was called Bishambar Colony. AE-3 was a down to earth gentleman. I did not have a chance to work with him. He appeared to be good at his work and had good knowledge. He was also well read and had deep knowledge of the history and geography of the valley. He would be performing duties at the transmitter site at the time I was doing my duties at the studio centre. In early eighties,  he was promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer and posted to Doordarshan Srinagar. I was working there at that time. The first meeting that he had with us, he mentioned that he was completely ignorant about the TV technology. He said that he would be completely dependant on us and he would just be a figure head. (And he remained a figure head. We would do our duties and never needed his help. We would respect him a lot.) He had to retire in less than a year from the date he joined. He did one very good job. He planned a tour once every week to different parts of the state. He would tell us that we were good at our work in office but we were ignorant about the history of our place and people. The touring party would consist of two vehicles, technician, a TV Set, a power generator and antenna etc. He would apprise us about the history on the way. The journey would get intercepted by setting up of the TV Set and antenna system and then check the TV signal and reception at the location. This continued for almost six months. At the end, we had a very useful document about TV signal reception at different locations in the valley. This was a very useful survey and helped future planning. Simultaneously we got a chance to see some of the locations in the valley. I had personally planned to see the different places in the valley after my retirement. But God willed otherwise. Kashmir became hell for us after the events that disturbed our community leading to our mass exodus in 1990.  I have seen very little of the valley.

All these AE's 1 to 3 were Kashmiri Pandits. AE-4 was one from Jammu area. He would do duties at Receiving Centre. He would rarely come to the studio centre and the transmitter centre. I did not have a chance to see him much. In early 1965 he was issued with transfer orders for Jammu. I was sent for duty at the Receiving Centre to get acquainted with the set up. I spent one week with him and then took his position when he left for Jammu. His diction was typically Jammu Dogri Hindi.

Srinagar had a huge unbuilt area in the form of a ground in the middle of the city. This was known as Polo ground. It was said that the Maharajah would play Polo here in pre independence time. There were four or five small huts built at different locations on the sides of this ground. It was said that these were for the resting of horses prior to the games. After Independence in 1947 when Radi Kashmir came into existence, one of these huts was given to them for location of the Receiving Centre. Four  broadcast radio receivers - 10 band shortwave sets were installed along with other audio and power equipment inside the small hut where horses would be tied a few years earlier. The place looked awful. Outside the hut, there were special wire antennas suitable for various shortwave frequencies. We had to match the proper antenna to the receiver for best reception. (One important piece of information here - broadcast receives would not work if not connected to an antenna. This would ensure that with properly connected antenna, the reception of the radio signal would be clear and with least noise.)

One very interesting episode happened after I started doing my duties there. I would come to this workplace from home on my bicycle. After I had tuned the news bulletin from Delhi for the last late night relay by us, I would be all ready to leave. The cycle would be on the stand outside. The moments the last word, "that is the end of the news bulletin" was heard, I would switch off the power in in a flash I would be out. The chowkidar would lock the place and the key would be placed in a sealed envelope duly signed by me. The chowkidar would next morning show the sealed envelope to the staff coming for duty and on finding it tamper proof, would the place be unlocked. This was normal practice. One day, just when the bulletin ended and the door was getting locked, the telephone inside rang. I did not bother to listen. I just ignored it and left as usual for home. Next day I was told that this was a call from the unit looking after the duties of the chowkidar. They wanted to convey a message to the chowkidar for a change in duty for the next day. When I had not picked up the phone, someone from the main office came to the Receiving Centre immediately after to convey the message to the chowkidar. It was reported to me next day that when that person reached the Receiving Centre he found no chowkidar there. When I investigated the matter I was told by the Police guard that the chowkidar had always been leaving immediately after we would leave after the last news bulletin and come back early in the morning before the morning shift duty person would come. This had been happening for months and nobody ever knew it. He was supposed to be staying at the Receiving Centre for all night as normal duty.   

One day in the first week of August 1965, my Station Engineer came to the Receiving Centre in the forenoon. This was rare because he would be busy at the studio and transmitter stations most of the time. He started trying to tune the receivers. I learnt from him that a pirated radio station called "Sadai Kashmir" had started random broadcasts aimed at Kashmiri people to revolt against the government. The announcement on the radio would claim that it was being broadcast inside the valley and had been started by freedom fighters.  We were able to locate the station frequency. The broadcast reception was poor but audible. It was both in kashmiri and urdu. Each broadcast would be for about 30 minutes and would be repeated a number of times during the day. The radio transmitter for this broadcast appeared to be located somewhere in Pakistan Held Kashmir near the border with India.    Kashmiri muslim population to whom it was directed started taking notice and were enthusiastically listening to the message. Unknown to most, All India Radio arranged a transmitter within two days and installed it at a safe location in the Srinagar valley.  As soon as the Sadai Kashmir broadcast would start, the signal would be jammed by broadcasting a tone signal on the same frequency through our transmission. Every day the local muslims would tell that the Sadai Kashmir signal had deteriorated and they could not hear anything. They did not know we were jamming the signal Very few staff members knew it too. Only a few staff members would be sent for this mission to the location of our transmitter. I was not one of them. 

Bye for now. More tomorrow. I will touch on the attempt by Pakistan to ferment trouble in Kashmir in 1965. Sadai Kashmir was linked to that.  There were other steps taken by them. God helped us and their plans failed.