Pandits celebrate Janmashtami, take out rath yatras in Kashmir

Men and women converged on Srinagar’s Lal Chowk and took out a religious procession

Kashmiri Pandits celebrated ‘Janmashtami’, birthday of Lord Krishna, with religious fervour in Srinagar on Monday and took out ‘rath yatras’ for the first time in north Kashmir’s Handwara district. Kashmiri Pandits, a majority of whom migrated outside J&K in the 1990s in the face of raging militancy, converged on Srinagar’s Lal Chowk and took out a religious procession. Men and women were seen dancing and showering flowers. Pandits also participated in a procession in Kupwara's Handwara market. “I want to thank the majority community and the administration for making it a success. We were able to celebrate the occasion like in the past,” M.Y. Yogi, a Kashmiri Pandit, said in Lal Chowk. “We prayed for peace in J&K on the occasion.”