Tag: Pahalgam Terror Attack

‘Indians In Border Areas Are Prepared For Conflict But Pray For Peace’

By LokMarg

Shubham Trikha, a national-level chess player and founder of Amritsar Chess Club, speaks about the resilience of people living in border areas, military conflicts, terror and peace. His views:

As someone living close to the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar, I can say the few days starting May 7 were nothing short of terrifying. For two to three days, the sound of bombings echoed across our skies. We could hear distant shelling, and the tension in the air was something you can’t describe unless you’ve lived through it. Families here were anxious people avoided stepping out unless absolutely necessary, schools were shut, and mobile networks were patchy. The fear of escalation loomed large.

Thankfully, the situation has calmed down now with a ceasefire in place. But even as peace returns on the surface, there’s an underlying awareness that anything can happen. The presence of the Indian Army and BSF (Border Security Force) is still strong here; they remain alert, and so do we. Life has resumed, but the sense of caution remains.

Now coming to the larger question: War or Peace? India’s decision to launch attacks on Pakistani terror bases, in my opinion, was justified. When terror repeatedly crosses our borders and claims innocent lives, a strong response becomes necessary. It was a message not just to Pakistan, but to those who think India won’t respond. Was it successful? Tactically, yes. Strategically, the message was delivered. But whether it stops terrorism permanently is a different matter.

Terrorism isn’t just a military issue. It’s rooted in ideology, funding, and political instability. So while surgical or air strikes may deter or disrupt, they won’t completely stop the “terror tap” unless Pakistan itself takes sincere steps to dismantle terror infrastructure on its soil.

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What more can India do? India must continue to build strong global pressure on Pakistan diplomatically cutting off funding and support systems for these groups. Internally, we need better intelligence networks and border security technology. Education and counter-radicalization efforts also play a big role in the long run.

As for dialogue with Pakistan, yes, it’s important, but only when there’s trust and accountability. Dialogue without results only weakens our position and emboldens terror elements. There has to be concrete action on Pakistan’s part to prove they are serious about peace.

Being in this part of the country, you realize how fragile peace is. If it had turned into a full-blown war, the cost would’ve been immense not just in lives, but in livelihoods, in homes lost, in generations scarred. People here, especially children, still carry the psychological impact of what they heard and saw over those few days.

Peace is always the preferred path, but it must come with security, not at the cost of silence in the face of terrorism. We are prepared for anything but we always hope for peace.

As told to Mamta Sharma

‘Activism Without Empathy is Noise, Publicity Without Purpose Vanity’

By LokMarg

Sahil Nayar, an HR professional and influencer, condemns hateful online targeting of Himanshi Narwal who lost her husband in the Pahalgam terror attack. His views:

Even as Operation Sindoor unfolds and the Indian armed forces deliver a powerful response to the Pahalgam Terrorist attack, showing that the nation stands firmly behind its martyrs, it’s tragic that some citizens choose to attack the dignity of a grieving widow. While the system rallies in action, parts of society respond with outrage not empathy.

It’s a strange world we live in, where a woman’s act of compassion, such as donating blood, becomes a media spectacle. Her photograph is splashed across platforms, and she’s flooded with questions.

Her every word is dissected, analysed, and interpreted not always with wisdom, but through the lens of each person’s intellectual capacity or biases.

There is nothing wrong with expressing support or voicing opinions. That’s the freedom we all enjoy. But somewhere along the way, the lines between empathy and entitlement have blurred. Everyone seems to have a theory, a suggestion, or a piece of unsolicited advice about what the government should or shouldn’t do in such situations. While sharing perspectives is our right, we must remember that emotional intelligence and intellectual maturity need to coexist if we truly want to build a society that prioritises humanity.

Before we rush to post an opinion, share a reel, or give a soundbite, let us pause and reflect, are we truly supporting the people affected, or are we capitalising on a moment to amplify our own voices?

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The people impacted by any tragedy don’t need our armchair activism. They don’t need our hashtags, opinions, or popularity stunts. What they do need is our ability to pause, understand, and offer genuine empathy. To momentarily step into their shoes. To consider how we would feel if roles were reversed, if our life was unfolding and the world was watching with a magnifying glass, not to understand, but to comment.

We need to move beyond performative gestures. We need to reorient ourselves to humanity. The goal should not be to go viral, but to make a difference.

That difference begins with compassion, not commentary.

Before writing a post, offering a hot take, or forwarding a message, ask yourself, if someone were to write this about me, in my moment of vulnerability, how would I feel reading it? If the answer is anything less than comforted or understood, perhaps it doesn’t need to be said at all.

Let us not allow free time, fleeting attention spans, or the desire to trend cloud our sense of judgment.

Activism without empathy is noise. Publicity without purpose is vanity commentary without context is, frankly, a disservice.

There is a woman who’s quietly showing up, doing her bit, giving her blood, literally. Let’s not exploit her dignity for our digital engagement. Let’s bring humanity back to the center of conversations. Let’s ensure that our intelligence, both emotional and intellectual, serves people, not platforms.

As told to Mamta Sharma

‘Are You Playing Into The Hands Of Pahalgam Terrorists By Spilling Hatred Online?’

By LokMarg

Vistasp Hodiwala, an advert professional in Mumbai, shares a toolkit to fight back hatred and bring back Kashmiris into mainstream. Read on:

The first couple of sentiments the Pahalgam tragedy triggered was a deep sense of dread, followed by deja vu. Think! We have been here before, again, and again, and again; so many times since 2014.

Earlier, any such tragedy evoked a healthy debate on policy issues, the whys, wherefores and hows. There were voices clamouring for accountability. But for the past decade and more, the questioning has literally gone extinct. In its place we have hyper-nationalist homilies from our ministers, dog-whistles from the highest posts in the land, and the media openly and monstrously baying for the blood of Muslim community. The courts do not even bother.

When a tragedy like Pahalgam takes place, it’s natural for the citizens to first and foremost empathise with the victims, and feel anger against the perpetrators. A revulsion for terrorists is entirely expected. What is inexcusable though is to hold every innocent Muslim across the country responsible for the dastardly acts of a few who wish to sow such divisions.

This is a territorial war we were mistakenly made to believe we had already won, by a government that thrives on false bravado and typical hubris. A policy failure, essentially. Finding easy targets within one community helps sidetrack this failure in more ways than one. For our rulers and their supporters, this has now become SOP 101.

As we have known since long, the BJP machinery operates 24×7 through thousands of Facebook pages, countless X handles and WhatsApp groups. The idea is to drown out dissent, incisive analysis and alternative views in an ocean of schizophrenic commentary that allows no room for logic, nuance or tough questions.

When the entire ecosystem has been so elaborately designed to protect the higher-ups, it’s not the question of WHO but HOW we will question the government.

Ordinary Kashmiris didn’t drop off from Mars or Jupiter. They have the same human emotions we do. They hurt just as badly.

When an average citizen sees something so utterly ghastly unfold in front of him or her, it is inevitably their best side comes to the fore. It is no surprise therefore to find Kashmiris react in the same way as any decent, normal individual would. The fact that we have to actually make a big deal of this speaks more about the times we are in, than about them.

The relationship between tourists and locals anywhere in the world is essentially a symbiotic one, and while they may not become friends for life, there is a sense of bonhomie that binds such ephemeral relationships. Muslim or Hindu, no one can revel in senseless killing when they happen at a frightfully close range.

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On one hand, Kashmiris have to grapple with the guilt (that some of their own were responsible for the carnage), and, on the other, they had to live with the palpable fear of all-consuming hatred that would follow. They did everything they could; one even gave up his life to save a Hindu family. Survivors were all praise for them. But that narrative won’t suit our chronic hate-mongers whose very raison d’être rests on fuelling divisions.

When institutions fail, citizens must rise. Very few of us, even after a decade, have the guts to challenge hate-mongers within our own circle of friends and family. Our social media handles are yet ‘private’. We are either too polite, too fearful, or too indifferent. This is not an easy battle. When ‘speaking out’ comes with a cost and starts affecting jobs and relationships, the choice is never easy.

But it’s not all dark. We see so many sensible people around us, we must keep faith and plod on. There are no easy solutions here but there is hope.

We must separate the online behaviour of the mob from the offline existence of upright citizens who don’t even have a social media account. Social media has a tendency to amplify hatred much faster than sensibility. But talk to your regular shopkeeper, talk to your students, talk to your friends, security guards, talk to everyone who holds you in good stead, and push back the hate narrative. Go out and share positive stories of communal harmony. Even when they don’t ‘like’ your post, remember that you have created a small dent in the narrative already.

Yes, that’s the only way to fight the unrecognisable beast that has been foisted upon us by our ruling elite.

We consider Kashmir to be our own, but what about Kashmiris who have suffered indiscriminately at the hands of militants as well as our security forces? How many people remember or even know about the alleged story that an English magazine has done about the unimaginable treatment a section of own army has reportedly meted out to innocent Kashmiris

Just as the Gaza crisis did not start on October 7, 2023, the Kashmir crisis too does not find its origin on the date this terrible tragedy happened. Many citizens in mainland India literally cheered when J&K’s statehood was taken away. If we are serious about this land and its beautiful people, we can start by recognising them as human beings first and foremost.

Help Kashmiris feel one of our own, restore their dignity, make them feel an equal voice, give them uninterrupted public services (including the Internet), and see them as people of flesh and blood, not a chunk of land that defines your national ego. Once you do that, you will earn the right to say Kashmir is an indivisible part of India, not before that.

As told to Amit Sengupta

‘Tour Operators Ready To Bear Losses from JK Cancellations, But Don’t Spare Pakistan’

By LokMarg

Jitendra Srivastava, a tour & travel operator in Lucknow, says business has suffered post Pahalgam attack but the industry stands firmly with Govt against terror. His views:

Almost all the tour packages that were booked for Jammu and Kashmir in the past couple of months have been cancelled in less than 24 hours after the heinous killings of tourists in Pahalgam. The incident has not only sent shivers in those who are going or planning to go there but also angered the people at large. Additionally, people have also started cancelling their trips to the Vaishno Devi.

However, be it pilgrims, vacation seekers or travel operators, there is one common thread that binds us all: We want the government of India and our armed forced to take revenge in a decisive manner, not merely a surgical strike but some conclusive action that sends a loud and clear message to the world and the sponsors of terrorism.

Talking about the travel business, there was an unprecedented surge in travellers choosing several spots in Jammu Kashmir this year. These included popular destinations like Gulmarg, Hajan Valley, Tulip Garden and several others. But the horrific incident at Pahalgam put paid to all the bookings in the entire region. Yes, it is getting a bit difficult for tour operators to immediately refund the advance booking funds, especially for flights and hotels, and particularly small operators are staring at major loss of business.

Besides, there is uncertainty from our counterparts in Jammu-Kashmir. We are also not sure if the local operators and hotels will be in a condition to refund the money due to the volatile situation in the Valley. We are also not sure if tourism will remain open in the next months (May and June) which are the peak time to visit hill stations. The element of fear in the mind of tourists will definitely prevent them from going there in the near future.

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I would also like to mention that J&K emerged as the most sought after tourist destination in the past few years, especially after the abrogation of Article 370, because of the good connectivity options as compared to other hill stations. This was helping the tourism industry bridge their losses suffered during Covid years.

Commendably, in most cases, amid the prevailing emotions of grief and fear, people have come forward to share the financial loss with the operators. For, they understand that this is not a time for haggling but to stand united with their countrymen, be it the hotel owner in Kashmir or their local booking agent. No one is in a hurry to, or pestering for quick refunds.

Nevertheless, the Pahalgam terror attack has left such an emotional scar in the minds of the travellers that they are not willing to even shift their destinations to safer states like Uttarakhand, Himachal or Northeast. One only hopes that the coming months will be healing.

The reason is: most of the people are deeply shocked by the tragedy and are not in a mood to enjoy this part of the season. We, as Indians, could also understand the common emotions and the anger. The prevailing sentiment among the tourism industry too is one of grief and anger. We demand the government to take strict action so that things normalise fast and people could fearlessly move around and enjoy what is rightly called the heaven on the earth. Till the time this happens, travel industry is willing to bear the hit on its chin.

As told to Rajat Rai

Terrorism, Religion & Sinister Social Media Solutions

By Chahat Awasthi

Imagine being in a meadow whose beauty is a thing of poetry – bloodied in seconds, changing the landscape of joy into that of brutality, and unspeakable cruelty. Some 26 men on vacation, dead.

The irony? The people who were part of the rescue belonged to the same community as that of the perpetrators – Muslim.

As expected in times of grief, the human tendency of looking for a culprit quickly. And, as expected it led influencers on social media and hurt citizens to demonize an entire community. Isn’t it understandable that the country, currently seething over the loss of its majorly Hindu brethren in Pahalgam, is up in arms against an invisible force that seems to follow a particular religion?

Instagram is brimming with posts that read, “Terrorism has a religion.” And, boy, does it not!

The perpetrators are Muslims, and they hate Hindus, and now we hate them back with a vengeance. This is what entire generations of the nation have grown listening to, internalising, normalising. Whether or not the perpetrators follow Islam, or the victims Hinduism is a different topic.

But, what is more surprising is that no one is talking about the tall post-demonetisation, post-370 Abrogation claims of the ruling party that terrorism in the Valley has now been dealt with.

Jammu Kashmir is still a sensitive zone, its residents not better treated post abrogation of Article 370. Did we actually believe, suppressing a state, a community won’t lead to the pressure cooker exploding? That just the abrogation was enough to reduce deployment of security forces, with no permanent solution?

In a debate with Arnab Goswami, General Gagandeep Bakshi highlighted the concerns surrounding the three-year moratorium on Army recruitment and the reduction of personnel by more than 1,00,000. India’s defence budget as a share of the GDP has been declining too, almost halving in the last decade.

But, if so much security is needed in Kashmir, isn’t Islam problematic?

First, to conflate Kashmiris with Muslims and terrorism is an oversimplification of the socio-political climate in the state.

Terrorists have a lot of tools at their disposal: propaganda, manipulation, force, and blackmail. And, Kashmiris are the biggest victims of these acts of terror. They face a three-pronged attack: by the general sentiment of hatred against them, by the terrorists on their lives, and lastly, the attack on their livelihood that follows from this isolation.

Besides, calling Islam a face of terrorism is not just factually incorrect but also dangerous. To begin with, by that logic, it might not be the only face of terrorism. In 2013, TIME Magazine called Wirathu, a Buddhist monk, the Burmese Bin Laden. But, you would be wrong to think he was the only one involved.

A report from Human Rights Watch highlights the role played by the Burmese local authorities and Buddhist monks in forcibly displacing over hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas in the region.

In fact, in recent years, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which ruled Burma (now Myanmar) from 1988 to 2011, actively pushed for the conversion of ethnic minorities, often through coercive methods, as part of its assimilation efforts. The regime promoted Burmese Buddhist nationalism as both a cultural and political ideology to justify its controversial rule, attempting to merge Buddhism with its totalitarian beliefs.

To add to it, it’s not just Myanmar that showcases a link between Buddhism, and terrorism. Thailand and Sri Lanka are also affected by Buddhist aggression.

In the Middle East, we see Jews taking advantage of the hospitality shown by Palestinians, eventually taking up more than 80% of Palestinian land since 1998.

During World War I, Britain entered into agreements to secure the backing of different factions in the Middle East leading to the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which led to the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. The mandate led to Jewish immigration from Europe to Palestine between the 1910s and the 1940s, which resulted in the Jewish population reaching 33 percent by 1947. On May 14, 1948, the British Mandate ended, and Zionist leaders declared a state, starting the first Arab-Israeli war. About 750,000 Palestinians were expelled, and Zionists captured 78 percent of the land, leaving 22 percent, which was divided into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In 2024, we have land grabs in the name of settlers added to the Israeli government’s annexation registry.

Now, if we take a look at the United States of America, its gun violence statistics, racism, and recent news regarding migrants, we can safely say, there is a certain kind of violence that is rampant in the Christian community too. Remember, several decades back, Christians from the land of the sophisticated, the United Kingdom, inflicted the Jallianwala bagh tragedy, and left the poorest in India to die of starvation? Wasn’t this brutal colonialism just another form of terrorism?

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In recent years, people from Hindu commnity have taken a certain interest in lynching, hate speech, and calls to genocide within and outside their community. Cases in point are the Manipur conflict, the Karnataka-Maharashtra linguistic showdown, and attacks on churches & mosques during Hindu festivals.

One might go on and on and talk a little bit about a few other religions. But, I think, the point is made. No religion teaches violence, yet fanatics across the spectrum find reasons for aggressive conduct. So, there is indeed a correlation between religion and terrorism.

But what happens when you find people like Waheed – the first responder after the Pahalgam carnage, or Syed Adil Shah – the man who sacrificed his life trying to protect the tourists from terrorists? Those Lucknowees who open their hearts to you in Ameenabad? The Hindus who open their homes for Muslims during riots? The Sikhs who feed the Kashmiri Muslims when everyone else closes their doors? Makes the Insta correlation between religion and terrorism a bit imperfect, doesn’t it?

While we have all learnt to hate, and learnt to hate well, it might be a good time to note that in times of communalism, it’s you and me who suffer and not those who fuel it from the top. So, while some of us question their allegiance of every Kashmiri, putting a question mark on their dignity, remember we are making them apologise consistently for crimes they didn’t commit. Going by statistics, it’s clear that Muslims in Kashmir have suffered more from terrorism than Hindus. And, one life is not dearer or cheaper than another.

This is not to say that the terrorists might not have local help, but a blanket hatred towards Kashmiris will only alienate a community that has already felt orphaned since Independence.

Alienating Kashmiris and Kashmir, a state we claim is not occupied but integral to the nation, would mean playing into the hands of those who seek to divide us – neither good for Hindus nor for Muslims.