JAMMU: Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, 62, returned after performing ‘Umrah’ (pilgrimage to Mecca) last month. He lives in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, but his current visit to Jammu has a special purpose and meaning.

He has brought walnuts to greet Girdharilal Daftari, his 68-year-old Kashmiri Pandit friend who lives in Jammu after shifting out of the Valley in early 1990 after outbreak of militancy. Walnuts are traditionally offered by Muslims to their Kashmiri Pandit neighbours and friends ahead of Shivratri.

Bhat and Daftari have been friends for over 30 years. The turbulence of time has upset many equations in Kashmir, but the brotherhood between Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims has somehow survived.

Read more: Communal Harmony