I have witnessed sufferings of Pandits and Muslims:- Manoj Sheeri Book Khusboo-e-Kashmir reflects the trauma faced by both communities

Manoj Sheeri  Author of .Khusboo-e-Kashmir (Fragrance of Kashmir)

A J&K police officer has come up with a collection of short stories based on the relations of Kash

miri Pandits and Muslims since 1990, the year anti-India insurgency broke out in the state.Khusboo-e-Kashmir (Fragrance of Kashmir), written in chaste Urdu, reflects the trauma faced by both Muslims and Pandits and how they dealt with it over the years."The book is based on my firsthand experience as an ordinary Kashmiri who lived in the Valley as well as in Jammu during the years of turmoil," said author Manoj Sheeri."I have witnessed the sufferings of Pandits (living as migrants) and Muslims."Sheeri said the collection, though fiction, has been tailored out of different situations encountered by the Kashmiris in general.The author hails from the small village of Sheeri in Baramulla district. Like many others in his community, Sheeri's family too migrated from the Valley and settled in Jammu city.Away from his home village, he added his village's name to his name for a sense of belonging. In Jammu, Sheeri worked as a senior reporter with a local daily for a couple of years and later joined the police force. Currently, he is the incharge of police Media cell or J&K Police spokesman.In almost every story of his, Sheeri brings in the component of syncretic 'Kashmiriyat' to show that the ties between the two communities are intact.One story is about an andhi maa (blind mother), in which a gunman befools an old woman. Doctor Sahab is the story of a pharmacist who has to face the wrath of both security forces and militants.Hasrat natamam (unfulfilled desire) is about the abject life in the migrant camps of Jammu. Doctor Sahab is Sheeri's favourite.Set in the Sogam area of picturesque Lolab in Kupwara district, close to the Line of Control, Doctor Sahab, a lone Kashmiri Pandit Radha Krishan, decides not to migrate during the early 90s.Though a pharmacist, Krishan would travel several kilometres to treat patients. One day, militants abduct him to treat their commander. They keep him for the night and release him the next morning. However, after his release, Krishan is detained by the security forces for going with the militants. The forces release him after three days. Later, militants capture him again, asking him he was in the army camp.All this frustrates Krishan and he decides to migrate. But the next morning, when he moves out with his baggage, he finds villagers begging him not to leave.

PDP Minority leader seeks support for MLC candidates

Srinagar, Nov 30: PDP minority leader Nana jee wattal urged Panches and Sarpanches of the state to support PDP candidates in the coming MLC elections scheduled on 3^rd of Decmeber.Urging the Panchayat Memebrs not to fall prey to the tactics of the present government led by NC who have betrayed people of Jammu & Kashmir for its personal luxuries and benefits. He said that Kashmiri people who are anxious for return of Kashmiri Pandits should strengthen the party and ensure its candidates success so that the dream of return of Pandits would come true through PDP’s pro people policies and programmes which have been used only as a propaganda and hollow slogan by the present dispensation. Blaming the present dispensation Nanajee said that it has exposed the State to the worst failures both on institutional and governance fronts and people now desperately want to get rid of this anarchist regime, sooner the better. He said plagued by ineptitude, disorder and corruption, the political structure of the present coalition government has completely collapsed resulting in the paralysis of the state’s administrative structure as well.Expressing dismay over the worst power crisis being faced by the people across the state in general and the electricity supply has hit the worst levels since 2002, before which also the NC government had ensured that the state is starved of electricity. Wattal said,while power tariff has been hiked manifold but the supply is decreasing everyday, the power reforms initiated by the previous government have been shelved, the LPG crisis has also reached its limits and the people are suffering badly during these harsh winter days and the present government is keeping blind eye on this core issue.