Not in my name. That was the clear message that went out from Kashmir on 23 April, Wednesday, with people pouring into the streets across towns and villages to express their anguish and condemn the , mostly tourists.
Srinagar city and other parts of Kashmir witnessed a shutdown, perhaps a first in recent memory. A common occurrence before August 2019, when , this was the first shutdown in Kashmir in nearly six years. And yet, the incident yesterday was just the sort of violence that the abrogation was purportedly to protect.
While Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti apologised to the people of the country and said Kashmiris were ashamed of the incident during a protest march in Srinagar, the ruling National Conference too marched to the Lal Chowk city centre to protest against the attack.
People from all walks of life denounced the attack on the tourists, saying the perpetrators were hitting at the foundation of the valley's economy.
“Islamic teachings value human life to the point that taking an innocent life is akin to killing entire humanity,” Haji Bashir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Srinagar city, told PTI.
Protests were also held in south Kashmir districts, where locals had swarmed the streets in 2016 following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant .
At a protest in Kulgam, G.M. Banday, a fruit grower, said the government should take steps to eradicate the menace of terrorism so that incidents like the Baisaran attack in Pahalgam do not recur.
“Steps should be taken to uproot terrorism at the earliest so that such incidents do not happen again... people of Kashmir have always been against terrorism. However, conspiracies are being hatched to malign the Kashmiri community and hit the local economy. Such acts affect the livelihood of the local youth,” Banday said.
“We are with the government in whatever steps they take to eradicate terror,” he added.
Mohammad Iqbal, a trader from Kulgam, said the attack was aimed at crippling the economy of Kashmir.
“Our innocent brothers and sisters who had come to visit Kashmir were targeted. Every Kashmiri is sad over the killings, which should not have taken place. Our trade is linked to tourism, and if tourist arrivals drop, it will hit the local economy. The local trade has been in doldrums for the past few years,” he said.
Tauseef Ahmad War, a social activist, was among the protesters in Handwara town of Kupwara district in north Kashmir.
“We are protesting here to send a message to the world that Kashmiris are not with terrorism, we condemn the attack on tourists in Pahalgam,” he said.
Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said the perpetrators of the attack were neither the adherents of Islam nor the well-wishers of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Whoever did this, they neither belong to our religion nor to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The people of Jammu and Kashmir are saying that such acts of terror should not be done in our name or in the name of our religion. We hope that the perpetrators are brought to justice soon,” the National Conference leader said.
Despite reeling from the aftermath of devastating flash floods and multiple landslides, the residents of Ramban district in Jammu observed a complete shutdown and staged peaceful protests to condemn the terror attack.
The joint protest by Muslim and Hindu community — probably for the first time in the history of this town — along the strategic Jammu–Srinagar National Highway, was led by Islamic scholars who demanded decisive action against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism to wipe out the menace haunting the region for the past more than 35 years.
“We are has deepened our wound. We condemn this act which is against the teachings of Islam,” Gul Mohammad Farooqi, Imam of Jamia Masjid of Bowli Bazar, told PTI.
“It is not just a protest but our collective mourning. We stand for peace even when everything around feels broken,” Farooqi said amid chanting of anti-Pakistan and anti-terrorism slogans by the protesters.
