by Nasir Hamid Khan

The painful news of the demise of a young Chennai boy, S Thirumani who had come to Kashmir as a tourist with his family is a sad chapter in the ongoing cycle of violence. We have been surviving this violence for more than three decades now. He fell reportedly to the stone pelting when he along with his parents was on way to Gulmarg.

Thiru Mani, the 21 year old Chennai resident who was killed on Gulmarg Road on Tuesday, May 7, 2018

Prima facie, it shakes the very soul of a person to think that how anyone can attack and kill a young member of an innocent and harmless family coming to enjoy their vacations in Kashmir.

But, if one takes a look at the recent events, it was only a matter of time that such an instance would unfold. Presently one does not know the identity of the perpetrators of this gory act but most people understand that there could be two possibilities, both of them deplorable. I wish not to go to the two possibilities. Leaving it at that, it is a sad commentary about the state of affairs that Kashmir has been brought to.

If we look around, there has been a rapid polarization all over. It is this polarisation that feeds the celebration of death on one side and creation of a false and untrue picture of a war being fought in the mountains.

The fact of the matter is that the jingoistic and cowboy style adopted by the powers that be, over the past few years, has wreaked havoc all around. There is a tremendous increase in killings and skirmishes. The killing of unarmed civilians is higher than ever and is increasing. The number of injured, the incidence of damage to properties and the domination exercises being carried out in the rural areas and the subsequent mental trauma and stress is witnessing a massive upward shift. This all has induced a vicious cycle of violence and conflict in Kashmir.

The social media is stuffed with moving motion pictures of brutal assaults on the youth. The most painful was the recent one showing a youth being run over by a police vehicle in the city of Srinagar. All these real happenings do have an impact on the young impressionable minds of the youth.

I don’t seek to condone the inhuman act of the reported attack on the tourist vehicle, which is otherwise considered a taboo by one and all. The concern of the society over this incident was evident from the unequivocal and mass condemnation by one and all, including political parties, across the ideological divide.

Kashmir’s hospitality sector has suffered the worst. It faced tremendous hardships. It was after the Herculean efforts by the stakeholders in the hospitality sector that we have managed some respectable traffic.

One could argue that linking, almost unnecessarily, the tourism with normalcy and the subsequent politicization of the tourism industry has also led the hospitality sector to become an easy target of various forces which are in conflict in Kashmir. Tourism was brought into the debate by the highest office of the country by comparing it with terrorism. Now, sadly all efforts seem to be going down the drain.

Why should tourism, by the way, be a barometer of the normalcy of Kashmir.

In Kashmir, we have witnessed death and destruction closer than anyone else and understand the pain and anguish it causes. We have witnessed incidents which make the very soul tremble; some involving even eight-year-old boys like Sameer Rah of Batamalloo being trampled to death under jackboots and reports of chocolates being removed from their mouths while giving the final ablutions. More people have been buried since January than ever before. I wish I could somehow turn back the clock and return young Thirumani to his family and would gladly exchange my life for his. But sadly, these are just wishes.

Nasir Hamid Khan

No doubt, politics has already started over his death and various quarters are drawing political mileage from it, but the death of young Thiru Mani along with the deaths of so many innocent civilians in Kashmir calls for a revisiting of various policies which are apparently only adding fuel to the fire. There is a desperate requirement for initiating a genuine dialogue addressing the aspirations the people of the Jammu and Kashmir.

If the situation is left un-addressed, things will get worse. There are no winners in this situation. It is completely loss-making for everybody, even those who count their gains in the crisis. The only thing that remains will be the scars, deep scars, actually.

(Nasir Hamid Khan is a businessman who is currently the Senior Vice President of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The ideas expressed in this article are personal.)

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