Kashmiri Pandit in Rajkot Pyarelal, brother of Girja Tiku, talks about the 1990 incident.
‘The main woman in the recent film ‘The Kashmir Films’ who is publicly cut off is Pyarelal’s cousin. Pyarelal is a Kashmiri scholar from Rajkot. They lived in Kashmir with a family of three brothers and two sisters. Pyarelal’s cousin’s name was Girja Tiku (Bubbly). She was a lab assistant in Kashmir. She was raped on June 11, 1990, in the Kupwara district of Kashmir and then killed in public. List of Kashmiri Pandits being made, killing in order.’
“I was born in a small village in Baramulla, Kashmir,” says Pyarelal, a Kashmiri scholar from Rajkot.
We lived in Kashmir with a family of three brothers and two sisters. We were accompanied by other Kashmiri Pandits, Hindus including Sikhs. My marriage took place on October 14, 1989, just three months after the marriage took place.
He further said, “Women used to call us infidels, they used to see us telling us to become Muslims, run away or die, but we will give Kashmir freedom from Pandits.”
The worst-case scenario was in 1990, but it was already well underway. The leading woman in the recent film ‘The Kashmir Films’ who is publicly cut off is Kashmiri Pandit in Rajkot Pyarelal cousin Girja Tiku.
Her name was Girja Tiku (Bubbly). She was a lab assistant in Kashmir. She was raped on June 11, 1990, in the Kupwara district of Kashmir and then killed in public.
When I opened the window, I put a gun to my forehead: Pyarelal.
Pyarelal says, “In Kashmir, those people were making a list of Hindus, including Pandits, and killing them in order. My name was also on the list.
I was supposed to be killed on the day of Shivaratri on 23rd February, but I managed to escape from there with my wife the next night. We hid in a truck overnight and reached Jammu, and I escaped.
By killing Hindus, including Kashmiri Pandits, they danced around their corpses. One day the window of our house slammed shut, I opened the window, and the terrorist put the gun on my forehead. I panicked and fell backward. Then they started firing at the house.
The recently released film ‘The Kashmir Files’ has not misrepresented even 1%, all the scenes, story have shown the facts, but what has been shown in the film is only 5%. The days that we have seen there, the days that have passed cannot be seen or said.
He says, “Women are raped in public, cut off and killed, and children are not spared.” It was so painful to shoot some in the eye. It was as if shivering, still remembering the scene in front of the eyes.
Eventually, the government repealed Sections 370 and 35 (A) and granted relief. We were in Jammu till 2019, and my son came to Rajkot to do engineering, so we shifted to Rajkot.
