'The Grace Of Kashmiriyat Has Fallen': Condemnation Pours In Over Death Of Chennai Tourist

Condemnation is pouring from across the Valley over the killing of a tourist from Chennai and injuring of a minor girl from Handwara area of north Kashmir as their vehicles were hit by the stone pelters at Narbal on the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday.

The separatist Hurriyat Conference had given strike call for two days against the killings of five stone-throwing protesters and the five militants in Shopian area of South Kashmir.

According to the police, the tourist from Chennai died on Monday evening after getting caught in stone throwing in Narbal village on Srinagar-Gulmarg road during the day. The vehicles were plying on the road when stone-throwers attacked the buses leading to head injury of 22-year-old Thirumani.

Moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said he was deeply saddened by the news of the death of the tourist due to stone pelting. “Condemn such hooliganism and rowdiness. It  is totally against our ethos of treating tourists as respected guests and brings a bad name to the peoples movement”, Mirwaiz tweeted.

While as former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: “This young man from Chennai died in my constituency & while I don’t support these goons, their methods or their ideology I’m deeply, deeply sorry that this happened at all & that too in an area I’ve been proud to represent since 2014.”

“I’m also pained to know that among the injured from the stone pelting in Narbal is a young woman from Handwara in North Kashmir. I pray she & the others injured make a quick recovery,” reads Omar’s tweet.

Omar called it a failure of Jammu and Kashmir government. “The J&K Govt has failed, the CM has failed, the BJP-PDP alliance has failed. How much blood will have to be shed in Kashmir before the Hon PM realises the gravity of the situation in J&K? When will enough finally be enough?” Abdullah said.

Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti expressed deep “anguish and shock”  over the death of R Thirumany from Chennai. The Chief Minister visited the Police hospital late evening and met the family of the deceased and expressed solidarity with them in this time of grief. 

On the social networking sites in spite of the snapping of the mobile internet, there is an outpouring of grief over the incident.

Senior Superintendent of police (SSP), Baramulla, Imtiyaz Hussain wrote on Facebook, “It’s our collective failure as a society to having been unable to prevent our young boys venturing close to encounter sites & getting engaged in stone pelting. When bullets are being fired by either side, it’s no wisdom to interfere in the battle between gun yielding combatants. All claimants of friends of Kashmiris have moral responsibility to come forward and put their best foot forward to save our youth from this mad dance of death. Extremist radical ideology glorifying death instead of life is catastrophic.” “Endeavour of mankind has been to defeat the death and find glory in life- the beautiful & precious gift from Almighty. Our creative/ evolutionary trait has been finding essence in life & avoiding death as much as possible.” He says, “there is absolutely no bravery in embracing death. It’s cowardly. Living a life and struggling through it, helping a fellow human being is the real glory. It just needs few seconds of madness to be dead but years of struggle and commitment to dedicate life for humanity.”

Psychiatrist Mudasir Firdosi described the incident as barbaric. “No justification for any killing, Kashmiri or Indian. How many more will have to die before these countries come to a table and resolve this dispute once for all? No one is safe here any longer... lost count even for last few days. Sad and tragic.”

“The grace of kashmiryat has fallen. The killing of tourist in the valley is not the teachings of any religion. This is choking connect with rest of the globe. It is just not condemnable only but redefines our ethos, legacy and brotherhood, Sanity in hibernation,” writes one Javeed Kakroo, district agriculture officer.

 On Sunday three photojournalists including Outlook magazine photojournalist, Javed Dar, were hit by stones while covering protests at the SMHS hospital in Srinagar. They have been discharged from the hospital after initial treatment.

Last Wednesday stone throwers hit a school bus carrying children, leaving a class II student with a serious head injury in north Kashmir district of Shopian. The bus of the Rainbow International School in Shopian was carrying children to school, when it came under attack from stone-pelters at Narpora village. The stone-throwing protesters were enforcing a shutdown against the killing of two militants, including Sameer Tiger, in an encounter at Drabgam in Pulwama area of south Kashmir. On Monday last week, seven tourists were injured in a similar incident in Ashmuqam village in Anantnag.

That time also the separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had described such incidents as “quite disturbing” and “such hooliganism” will “tarnish our movement”.