12th Feb 1990, The infamous betrayal by an old friend that took life of Tez Krishan Razdan, a Kashmiri Pandit

The year of 1990 was a barbarian time, when even the closest of friends had turned foes to their decade old friends in Jammu Kashmir. Terrorism had poisoned the hearts of Kashmir’s Muslim community. Adding to the communal unrest, many turned their backs to the sufferers while others openly supported the Islamic terror unit, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. In the same year, an old resident of Budgam district of the valley, Tez Krishan Razdan, a Kashmiri Pandit too became a victim of such a betrayal.

 

 

In Feb 1990, Tez Krishan Razdan had come on leave to his native village in Budgam District from Punjab, where he was posted as a CBI Inspector. Following the news of unrest in valley and continuous attacks on Kashmiri Pundits, Razdan had decided to move to Punjab with his entire family. On 12th Feb, he met his old friend and neighbour Manzoor Ahmed Shalla, unaware of the fact that he had turned a terrorist who worked for JKLF.

 

 

 

 

Manzoor persuaded Tez to accompany him to Lal Chowk for some work and soon both left in a bus. When bus reached to its next station, a village called Kadal, other passengers started to deboard. At this point, Manzoor Ahmed pulled out his revolver and shot Razdan with multiple bullets, piercing his chest. He then dragged him out of bus and provoked other Muslim passengers to crush him under their feet. Mercilessly, he then dragged a profusely bleeding Razdan further and abandoned his body near a mosque. With an intention to instil fear in the entire Kashmiri Pandit community, he took out Razdan’s identity papers from his pocket and brutally nailed it over his body. Tez Krishan Razdan was killed by his own friend. Lying unattended, the body could only be recovered on Police’s intervention. Later police revealed all the details related to the murder and disclosed how Manzoor was Razdan’s well-known friend and neighbour. The Police then cremated the body along with his identity papers.

The Target-Killing of Kashmiri Pandits had begun. Razdan wanted to ensure his family safety and thus planned to shift to Punjab but little did he know, his own friend would turn his murderer. His body was put on display even after he lost his breath. Pakistan backed terror groups were choosing the most inhuman way of killing the Hindus of valley and the local support that helped them carry out the mass killings only broke down the Kashmiri Pandits from within.