KPs take out Janamashtami procession after 18 years

SRINAGAR, Sept 3: It was after more than 18 years that Kashmiri Pandits took out a Shobha Yatra on the eve of Janamashtami in the summer capital of the State.
The Shobha Yatra procession started and culminated at Ganesh (Sidhi Vinayak) temple at Ganpatyar in Habba Kadal area after passing through various lanes and bylanes of the downtown and uptown city.
The procession was taken under the auspices of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS) on the eve of Janamashtami.
As the procession passed through congested areas of the city, a large number of Muslims were seen lined up on the roadside while others, including women, watched it from the windows of their houses.
In a statement, KPSS expressed gratitude to the district administration for providing all facilities such as security, sanitation, power supply, healthcare, ambulance and much more during the procession.
"Our special thanks goes to our Muslim brethern, who made our yatra very successful and extended all sorts of facilities besides offering greetings at several places enroute the procession," KPSS president Sanjay K Tickoo said.
Janmashtami procession in Kashmir after 18 yrs
HINDUSTAN TIMES
04.09.2007
FOR THE first time since militancy broke out in Kashmir in 1989, a Janmashtami procession organised by Pandits passed through the famous Lal Chowk here on Monday, signifying a perceptible improvement in the situation in the strife-ridden Valley Another signifier of change was the participation in the celebrations by separatist leader and chief of the Democratic Freedom Party Shabir Ahmad Shah at the Ganpatyar temple from where the procession began. The Janmashtami procession was preceded by a grand mahayagya at Lord Shiva's temple in Bijbehara last week. Amidst chants praising Lord Krishna on Monday, the Pandits took out the procession from Ganpatyar temple of Lord Ganesha and passed through Jahangir Chowk, Lal Chowk, Maulana Azad Road and Dal Gate. The eruption of militancy had led to a mass exodus of Pandits from the Valley However, with the improvement in the situation- a miniscule number (around 4,000) of them, who stayed back - are re-establishing their links with their culture that had remained dormant for nearly two decades. "This is for the first time since 1989 that the procession passed through Lal Chowk," said Sanjay Tikoo, secretary of the Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, a representative body of Kashmiri Pandits, which had organised the celebrations. Journalist Manohar Lalgami said, "It is the most satisfying day of my life. The march carried the message of the return of good days." Another Pandit participant said the procession was an open invitation to their migrant brethren to return to their homeland. rahmad@hindustantimes.com