A friend, Muslim and Kashmiri, posted on Facebook in an immediate response to the pictures of the devastated survivors of the tragedy of April 22 in Baisaran, a tourist location on the presumably highly secure resort on the route to the pilgrim destination Amarnath, in the meadows of Pahalgam:

“In the blink of an eye, a cherished dream of a Kashmir getaway collapses into a nightmare. A wife sits in anguished vigil beside the lifeless body of her husband, their shared aspirations – perhaps a chance to mend a fractured bond, a hard-earned escape from life’s daily grind or a long-planned journey funded by years of penny-pinching – obliterated by the cold cruelty of a stranger’s bullet.

The terrorist who fired, a faceless shadow with no knowledge of their story, no friendship or enmity, chose them as targets in a fleeting act of violence, leaving a wound in the wife’s heart that time cannot heal. The bullet that stole an innocent tourist’s life will remain lodged in the wife’s soul forever. In this brutal twist of fate, the impersonal hatred of an unknown man binds her to an eternal grief, a scar no justice can erase.”

Advertisement

The responses on Facebook were all positive and sympathetic to the victims, with Kashmiris responding with horror that this has happened in their home.

And the killers, so far unidentified, killed with a declaration of their identity, calling on their helpless victims to pronounce the name of Allah. It requires no guesswork or even intelligence reports to know that this was designed to promote division in Indian society.

So, in the words of my friend in his post, “Tragically, but thankfully also, there is a Muslim name, a local, Syed Adil Hussain among the slain, who, while assisting an injured Hindu woman, fell to the bullets of the terrorists in  yesterday’s Pahalgam attack.”

And the tragedy of Adil himself, an educated and handsome young man, his family’s sole breadwinner, who made his living as a horseman for tourists, compelled my friend of the post to cry out, “Don’t try to make it a Hindu versus Muslims thing.” A cry in vain?

Expectedly and justifiably, our prime minister and ubiquitous minister for external affairs were quick in holding Pakistan responsible for this grievous outrage slaughtering 26 innocents.

Pakistan's reaction has that been of denial. Ahmer Bilal Soofi, ex-federal law minister and Supreme Court advocate, in a letter published in Dawn on April 25 spoke for his government in declaring, “After the dastardly incident at Pahalgam in India-held Kashmir, Pakistan immediately distanced itself in unequivocal terms from the perpetrators,” but going on to remonstrate,

“India, however, continues to insist that the incident was orchestrated directly or indirectly by the Pakistani state though no shred of evidence for its claim has been made public or shared with Pakistan. Obviously, India is acting with mala fide intent.”

Excuse me Mr Soofi, I as an ordinary citizen of India who has served the Kashmiri people through good times and bad, do not need my government or the Kashmiris to ferret evidence from intelligence sources to determine where such a “dastardly incident” originated. What remains is only for the perpetrators to be brought to book. And the government of Pakistan can only redeem itself by cooperating with the government of India, lest this becomes a case of evident connivance.

But what has been our reaction other than denouncing Pakistan? Another friend and social activist, Raja Muzaffar Bhat, has emailed me these questions,

“Post-Pahalgam killings, Kashmiri Muslims feel isolated & threatened once again. Students, businessmen are returning back from different Indian cities…For the last six years we have not even protested on roads, no strikes or hartals, schools are open, business was going well, why now blame us? Why are not security agencies questioned for these lapses even as we had 1,300-plus security forces present in Pahalgam at the time of the massacre?”

But I might add that at the time of the murders, according to those who had hosted the tourists in Pahalgam, there was no security to be seen, either in Baisaran or in the streets of Pahalgam. It was left to the Kashmiris – the hosts, horsemen, taxi drivers, cooks and restaurateurs to shepherd the panicked visitors to their airport in Srinagar, all gratis, while the airlines, as is their wont, and with little concern for the trauma of their fellows, hiked fares.

And here we have suffered a breach of security with widespread ramifications for the wider concept of national defence. And no accountability whatever?

Mr prime minister, you have rightly promised to make Pakistan pay. But what of those who have actively promoted hostility of one section of Indians to another? At a time like this, isn’t it important that we Indians stand together behind you? Are they not co-offenders? Why has there been not even a whisper acknowledging a gross security failure from the administration of a Union territory directly administered by your government?

Wajahat Habibullah was commissioned as a Jammu and Kashmir cadre IAS officer and served as chief information commissioner and chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.