Raj Suri is missing his father today more than ever. His eyes were full of tears when he read that article 370 had been scrapped by the government of India.
His first reaction to the news was: “I am in tears. Just today’s announcement is one single huge correction for the wrongs of 30 years and earlier regimes.”
Mr Suri, a Hindu Punjabi, and a resident of Sydney was born in Srinagar, J&K, India. His family had lived in the region for four generations. And yet, many of the families, in thousands, had to flee during the 1990s when thousands of Kashmiri Hindus were forced out of the region.
“He was shot by radical terrorists, point blank in our home in Srinagar, Kashmir. He died within minutes in the arms of my young sister and my mother. He was only 57 years old,” says Mr Suri.
Scrapping Article 370 of the Indian constitution by the government of India has been rejoiced by many Kashmiri Hindus living in different parts of the world.
Many of them celebrated the decisions by distributing sweets. Indian actor Anupam Kher, a Kashmiri Hindu, has hailed the decision. He has shared a video of his mother on twitter saying “Mom’s emotional reaction to Article 370 scrapped is loud & clear. Like lakhs of other KP (Kashmiri Pandit) mothers, she has silently waited for this news for years.”
For Mr Suri it is like a tribute to his father.
“I have waited to give due homage to my late father. I have waited to tribute our fathers and forefathers who have lived and died for peace and development of Jammu and Kashmir and acknowledge thousands of refugees with no hope to return to their homeland in nearly 3 decades,” says Mr Suri.
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He had met Mr Modi the current PM of India, who at that time was the Chief Minister of Gujarat State, at a breakfast briefing for ‘Vibrant Gujarat Utsav’, in Hotel Menzies, in Sydney.
“When I told him, I am a 4th generation minority, uprooted from Kashmir, holding my hand, with his two hands, Mr Modi replied: ‘Hamare hote hue aap ko koi Kashmir se Nikal Nahi Sakta (Till we are around, no one can uproot you out from Kashmir),” says Mr Suri adding that the promise has been fulfilled.
Scrapping Article 370 has always been on the BJP’s agenda. Though, many have criticised the government of India for revoking the special status of Indian-administered Kashmir without following constitutional procedures.
