An explosion. Our soldiers bleed to death. Scores of bodies lay on the ground, marred with suffering. Kashmir, the heaven on Earth turned into hell. Kashmiris cannot step out of houses without fear of being blown into bits in the streets. There is fire and blood and hatred and revenge painted on their faces.
Kashmiri students studying in colleges away from their homes, trying hard to pursue their dreams are being beaten up. They locked themselves up in hostel rooms and switched off the lights in fear that the mob gathered outside might break in. Such instances have been reported across Haryana, Dehradun, Bihar and other parts of the country.
The amount of violence that Kashmiris are being subjected to across the country is horrific. If the entire conflict at hand is about Kashmir and we really believe it is an integral part of India, then it’s high time we make them feel the same. We need to understand that there are 95% of Kashmiris who want to live in India and who love the country as much as we do. Because of a minuscule fraction of population who think otherwise, we cannot make others suffer.
Forty four lives lost. Forty four families shattered. The screams and moaning are echoing from every corner of the country as the coffins wrapped in tricolour return to their homes. The news shocked me into silence, the heart breaking act of hatred on the day of love. I have never lost a loved one to war. I would be unable to comprehend the enormity of losses of the families, neither would those people who are asking for revenge and bloodshed on social media. The losses will last for a lifetime for these families, unlike ours which will fade till another headline crops in.
You want a war? We’ll lose friends and families and soldiers. They’ll lose friends, families and soldiers. The heart piercing screams of mothers and wives and children sound just the same across borders. The blood looks just the same on both ends. The hatred, bloodshed and suffering know no two different colours for the two different sides of the border.
You want war? Children will stop going to schools and colleges in fear of going out on the streets. Mothers crying over their dead children. Wives washing away the vermillion and breaking the wedding bangles. Babies growing up with childhood marred with suffering. The leaders of both nations will sit in their bullet proof homes, guarded by army security. The story would be same in India and Pakistan. Forty four lives lost. Forty four thousand would follow. More lives, more blood and tears and shattered families. This is what war will give you.
1971, 1999 Kargil, 2016 Surgical Strike – none of it could stop Pulwama 2019 from happening.
The amount of hatred that I see being spewed on the media fills my heart with disbelief. If you genuinely care for those who have been martyred and their families who are suffering, then don’t hide behind your mobile or TV screens and spread messages of revenge on Facebook, Twitter or Television, sitting on your couches or AC newsrooms. Don’t conceal your outcry of revenge under the garb of nationalism. We have no right to make decisions, the consequences of which we do not have to bear.