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Time for return gift: Overwhelmed Kashmiris open heart for Valley Sikhs
As a goodwill gesture, the locals are now reaching out to the Sikh community by offering free admission, discount at shops, free tours and stay in hotels. Some advocates have even offered not to charge any money for legal consultations.
It is raining love for Sikhs in Kashmir with the locals reciprocating the community’s heartwarming gesture of helping students and businessmen from the Valley, who were targeted in many parts of the country following the Pulwama terror attack, in which at least 40 CRPF soldiers were killed.
In the past many days, posts and photographs of Sikh youths and voluntary organisations helping Kashmiri students in Jammu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttrakhand have been doing the rounds on social media. Some students, who reached the Valley, also told their relatives and friends how Sikhs came to their rescue when things turned hostile for them. The Sikhs guarded the hostels during night when they were threatened by mob and offered free accommodation, food and transportation, the Kashmiri students said.
As a goodwill gesture, the locals are now reaching out to the Sikh community by offering free admission, discount at shops, free tours and stay in hotels. Some advocates have even offered not to charge any money for legal consultations. At present, more than 80,000 Sikhs live in the Valley.
“If any Sikh brother needs legal aid, I will provide him free assistance till disposal of the case,’’ wrote advocate Hilal Ahmad Dar in a social media post. Another message, posted by Usmania Coaching Centre, Srinagar, offered free coaching to Class 10, 11, and 12 Sikh students. In another post, the owner of a hotel in the city said: “If any Sikh brother needs accommodation in Srinagar he will get it free.’’
In a Faacebook post, Mateen Banday from Handwara in Kupwara said: “My sale and service centre near old fire service station, Handwara, will be giving 15% discount to Sikhs on generator sets, invertors and power spray motors.’’
The owner of a shop at Bijbhera town in south Kashmir has promised free school uniform to Sikh students.
Shaheen Ahmad Lone, who owns a private school in north Kashmir’s Kanispora area where around 500 Sikh families live, has offered free admission and free education to Sikh students from nursery to Class 10. “I was moved by the goodwill gesture of the Sikh community in Punjab, Haryana and Jammu. Some Sikhs even spent thousands of rupees from their pocket to save Kashmiri students and traders. I want to do something for the community,’’ he said.
Members of the Sikh community are also welcoming this gesture from the people of the Valley.
“As a community, we deeply felt the pain of losing innocent young ones during the 1984 riots all over India. The Sikhs volunteered themselves to provide food, shelter and transport to Kashmiri boys so that the 1984 incidents was not repeated,’’ said Nirmal Singh, a retired engineer and now a social worker.
He said the gesture of so many Kashmiri Muslims in offering free and concessional services to the Sikh community was appreciable. “These kind deeds will deepen our bonds,’’ he added.
J&K Sikh Coordination Committee chairman Jagmohan Raina termed this as a great gesture from the people of Kashmir. “It is not the first time that the people in Kashmir have shown goodwill towards the community. We have been living here for decades and have seen how communities help each other in the time of distress. Whatever Sikhs have done outside the state for stranded Kashmiri traders or students is not a new thing. In fact, our volunteer organisations have been trying to reach every place where people need help,” he said.
