In the summer of 1989, Kashmir witnessed a bloody episode of ethnic cleansing. Jihadist Islamists operating in the Kashmir Valley sent a chilling message to all the non-Muslims in the region:
We order you to leave Kashmir immediately, otherwise your children will be harmed. We are not scaring you but this land is only for Muslims, and is the land of Allah. Sikhs and Hindus cannot stay here. If you do not obey, we will start with your children. Zindabad [Long live] Kashmir liberation!
To propagate this message, jihadist fanatics used all possible means – newspapers, audiocassettes, wall posters – and mosques. They warned non-Muslims:
if you want to live in Kashmir, you have to convert to Islam.
Delivering sermons from the pulpits, radical Islamists exhorted Muslims to take up jihad and drive out the ‘kafirs,’ the non-believers. The mosques in the valley – roughly 1100 of them – blared hate-filled, inflammatory speeches through their loudspeakers. “Islam is our objective, the Quran is our constitution, jihad is our way of our life,” they called out, reiterating the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood and its jihadist offshoots, such as Hamas.
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