Sunanda Vashisht – gave her personal testimonial, representing the lesser heard voices of Kashmiri Pundits at a recent US Congressional hearing on human rights.
The columnist, who has previously appeared on several media outlets, expressing her opinion on the Kashmir exodus and the abrogation of article 370 by the present Indian government, spoke on behalf of the Hindu communities – that once resided in the Kashmir valley.
Recounting her personal accounts, and calling it one of the most brutal acts of mass ethnic-cleansing in independent India history, Sunanda called out the one-sided view of the international human rights activists – who have raised their voices against India’s decision to taken down article 370 in Kashmir.
“I am a member of the minority Hindu community from Kashmir, victim of the worst ethnic cleansing witnessed in independent India,” Vashisht said. “I speak here today because I am a survivor.”
In her passionate speech, now going viral on social media, here’s what she had to say:
“I am a proud daughter of Kashmir. Terrorism has uprooted me and snatched my home from me. I hope my human rights are restored too someday, and the human rights of my community.
We have seen ISIS level of horror and brutality in Kashmir, 30 years before the West was even introduced to the brutalities of radical Islamic terror. I am glad these hearings are happening here today because when my family and everyone like me lost our homes our livelihood and our way of life the world remained silent.
Where were the advocates of human rights when my rights were taken away?
Where were they on the night of January 19, 1990, when there were voices blaring from all mosques in Kashmir that they wanted Kashmir with Hindu women but without Hindu men?
Where was the saviour of humanity when my feeble old grandfather stood with kitchen knives and an old rusted axe ready to kill my mother and I in order to save us from the much worse fate that awaited us?
My people were given three choices by the terrorists: flee, convert or die on the same fateful night.”
Watch her full speech from the event below: