Pandits in Kashmir to celebrate Dusshera after 20 years

Srinagar, Sep 26 : The minority Pandit families living in the Kashmir valley have decided to celebrate the Dusshera festival in the city for the first time after more than two decades.

The festival was being organized by Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS).

According to the General Secretary of the KPSS Rattan Chaku the function would be organized at Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) ground here on September 28 at 1730 hrs.

Inviting everyone to attend the celebration, Mr Chaku said Dusshera marks the success of good over evil.

Prior to eruption of militancy in Kashmir in 1990, the festival was celebrated at Hazori Bagh, now Iqbal Park, adjacent to Bakshi stadium on Srinagar-Airport road.

Workers from Uttar Pradesh (UP), mostly Muslims, were engaged in preparing the effigies of Ravana and others after hard work of several weeks.

Thousands of people, not only Kashmiri pandits and Hindus, but even Muslims used to witness the burning of Ravana in effigy.

However, after the migration of Pandits from the valley no celebrations were organized here.

Now after a gap of more than two decades, the Kashmiri pandits, who did not migrate and remained with their Muslim brethren, facing all odds together, have decided to celebrate the festival together.

For the past six years, a change was being witnessed in the Kashmir valley, where more than a dozen temples were reopened with the help of locals, even in some far flung and remote villages.

The number of devotees visiting Khir Bhawani temple at Tulmulla has also increased.