Punjab: Bullets in Bansri (Part 2)

In 1992, for the first time Hindu families of the Ratuwaal were made to realize that their village where they lived for centuries, is no longer a safe place for them. This happened on Feb 5th, 1992 when Kashmir-Solidarity-Day was observed. Almost 200 people under the lead of a local Jumat Islami leader from neighboring Sialkot, invaded the village and demanded that Hindus don’t belong here and they should leave for India. The local Muslim population of the village didn’t like the demands of hooligans and defended their non-Muslim village mates. A fight ensued and outsiders were made to run. They were told that Hindus are as much dwellers of that village as any Muslim does. But this event left a deep scar on the secular face of Ratuwaal history. Please also allow me to interpret the word ’secular’ As in Pakistan a vast majority considers it equivalent to ‘Atheism’. Infact the secular attitudes are the true teachings of Islam whereby you allow every individual of the society to spend his/her life according to the belief he/she is imparted with. At the same time in a Muslim society it is the responsibility of the society to defend and protect the non-Muslim minority population and their places of worship. But for the sake of record, Ratuwaal didn’t have any Hindu temples or Christian churches.

As the story goes, by the end of 1992, the Hindu population of the village got scared because after the first attempt to eliminate them there were couple of more events of the same nature happened. But after the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhia by hooligans accross the border, the Hindu men who would go to Sialkot for the employment quit their jobs as they were afraid that someday they will be killed by somebody there. As of now only Five Hindu families are left in that village and that too because of their financial situation didn’t permit them to migrate to India while 18 other families quietly moved across the border and currently living in Jalindhar. There are so many emotional tales that emerged from the migrated families and how they missed their native land but I want to remain confined to post-migration chain of events

Also important to note is that Hindus that moved to India might not have done so had the threat remained external however their prime concern was the local Jihadis who after getting trained from Afghanistan and Kashmiri training camps were on the mission to eliminate Hindus from their own village and neighboring villages of Harpal, Anola, Cylum, Beni Sulehrian, Jodhay Wali, Krishna Vali, Bajira Garhi, Mendowaal, Ramo Chak, Akhnore, Bhalore and Chobara. Their message was simple either convert to Islam or move to India.

Because of relatively thicker Hindu population Ratuwaal was the prime focus of the Jihadis. One night three Hindu girls of this village, Kamlesh Vanti, Lajwanti and Ganga were abducted. The local police station failed to register a case against perceived kidnappers. Three days later the news was broken that abducted girls have converted to Islam. On this occasion one of the Jihadi group distributed sweets in the village and aerial shots were fired. But this was not true. The unfortunate reality of this episode, almost two weeks later ended with a sorry ending. Two of the abductees committed suicide and one of them fled to Peshawar with her husband.

Now something about the the only Ahmedi family of Ratuwaal which faced a different fate. The head of that family was a school teacher and a widely respected person of the village. The day he died one of the Jihadi outfit, obtained fatwa and distributed the literature in the village that an Ahmedi cannot be buried in a graveyard for Muslims. In favour of this another Jihadi group staged an armed protest and declared that if the deceased was buried in the local grave yard, he will be exhumed (out of the grave) and his body would be set on fire. Seeing this his grieving family quietly took his body and moved to Rabwa where he was buried and the family got a house on rent and opted to settle there.

After seeing this, the most poverty sticken Christian families had other reasons to worry about. Especially they were scared because of the events of Gujranwala and Sumandri where some Christians were murdered by the crowd because allegedly they committed blasphemy. Also they had seen the fate of Hindu and Ahmedi families of their village already. Hence, majority of them, who could afford, moved to urban centers like Lahore and Fasialabad.

Currently there are three mosques and one Imam Bargah in Ratuwaal and the young khateeb of main mosque gladly tells everybody that, Alhamdolillah, Ratuwaal is now almost a complete Muslim village and most of the minorities have left the village while remaining will follow the course.

( Continued ….)