Never target Students, Tourists

Street violence has become a routine affair in Kashmir and lately an attack on a school bus in South Kashmir’s Shopian district and a tourist vehicle on Gulmarg-Srinagar road led to public outrage irrespective of political affiliations and ideologies across Kashmir. Mere condemnation and sympathy can’t satisfy the security concerns of students and tourists but the answers to such concerns lie somewhere else. Very rightly the Hurriyat Conference (G) Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in his response to the attack on a school bus in Shopian resulting in injuries to two students exhorted people to show discipline which he rightly said decides the destiny of nations. Tragic part of the current phase of public uprising in Kashmir is that youth hurt and angered by the killing of civilians in post gunfight clashes don’t pay heed to the calls of retrain from the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL). Since the intensity of the public outrage against killing of a tourist on Gulmarg-Srinagar road was harsher than the condemnation of the attacks on a school bus in which two children were injured, neither a single statement of Hurriyat Conference (G) Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani nor an advisory of Jammu & Kashmir Government’s tourism department on the security and safety of tourists can’t satisfy the concerns of people but for stopping attacks on students and tourists the stronger response could be a collective effort of the people of all shades particularly the civil society groups. A collective effort for neutralizing the tendencies of attacks on school buses and tourists has to come from the civil society groups known for their political neutrality in the present hostile political atmosphere in the state. It is the duty of the civil society in Kashmir to make youth understand that children going to schools are our future and tourists are the ambassadors of peace. True it is that streets protests are an expression of anger but not a license to attack the students and tourists. We cry over violations of human rights by police, paramilitaries and army but can we deliver sermons on rights violations when our own youth will tend to attack school and tourist buses? Attacks on students and tourist buses can silence the voices raising alarm over the killing of civilians and blinding of youth by pellets both within and outside Kashmir but offering students the opportunities to attend classes and tourist the hospitality for which we have earned fame world over for decades together can bring legitimacy to our indigenous public uprising. It is for civil society groups to reach out to youth in angered populations to make them understand the essence of education and tourism in Kashmir. Toursim is our economic strength and education the process to nurture our talent.