At a time when Narendra Modi-led Indian govern-ment is hell bent upon stoking the communal discord in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmiri Muslims keep the communal harmony and spirit of brotherhood alive in the territory.
This is being witnessed during the ongoing an-nual Hindu Amarnath Yatra as the local population is not only welcoming but also assisting the hundreds and thousands of Hindu devotees in their religious journey.
Irrespective of the political atmosphere or secu-rity scenario in IIOJK, the support of the local Mus-lims has been instrumental for a smooth conduct of the Yatra year after year. The Muslims put up tents for the yatris to stay, provide palanquins and pony services for those devotees who cannot undertake the difficult trek to the Amarnath cave located at high altitude. They are also the first responders in case of any emergency.
A Hindu yatri, Sadhu Nagaraj, said, the neces-sary arrangements and other things that we need are taken care of by our Muslim brothers. “From cleanliness to the ‘prasad’, pony, palkis – all the help is rendered by local Muslims. This brotherhood is an example for the world. I have not witnessed a better example of brotherhood than this anywhere else and I travel across India,” he said.
A local who works as a caretaker for the belong-ings of the pilgrims said they provide their services for free because of the age-old brotherhood. “We come here for the yatris. We keep their bags, cam-eras, mobile phones here and take care of those for free. This is our brotherhood. We are keeping Kashmiriyat alive,” he said.
A Hindu pilgrim while expressing satisfaction over the support of the Muslims said the locals have left no stone unturned to make the yatra successful.
For the locals, the yatra is also an opportunity to earn their livelihood. “We come here when the yatra starts. We earn our livelihood for the month by car-rying the bags of the yatris up to the Amarnath cave and back. The yatris cannot carry the heavy bags, so we carry those for them,” a man carrying the bags of yatris on his shoulders said.
“We carry the pilgrims, especially the older ones, on palkis,” another local service provider who carries the yatris on palanquins said. “We carry them on our shoulders. It also provides us an opportunity to earn our livelihood,” he added.
For many locals, the yatra symbolises Hindu-Muslim unity. “We Muslims help the Hindu com-munity members. It symbolises our unity,” one of them said.—KMS
