“Gar firdaus, bar ruhe zamin ast,
hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin ast.”
“If there is paradise on this earth, it is here, it is here, it is here…”
-- Amir Khusrau
We just returned from a visit to Kashmir (week ending 28 May). This blog is not really about the places to visit - that you can get from a Google search which will return a plethora of sites.
No, this is more about what I felt on the ground.
Disclaimer: My sample set is really small. One driver who was with us continuously for a week. A few local drivers that took us around at various tourist spots, shopkeepers that we met, hotel employees.
Tourism is booming in Jammu and Kashmir right now. Travelers from all over India are swarming there. Hotel availability is an issue. All good from that point of view.
The talk with locals starts on expected lines. "We have no problems with India. All our earning comes from there. We are all one people anyway. Unrest is just a media creation. Don't believe all that you see on the TV channels."
Scratch the surface, wait long enough, and something slips through.
One of the local drivers, who took us to Betaab valley (named after Sunny Deol - Amrita Singh's movie by the same name) said "Betaab valley is so beautiful, that you won't feel like going back to Hindustan from there." Slip of tongue, but very noteworthy.
Our continuous driver was all business generally. But in a week, there will be times when you do speak your mind.
We asked him about how the situation was during COVID times. He said that they were confined to their homes. No phones, no internet for 6-10 months. "Aap ke saath aisa ho jaaye to kaisa lagega aap ko? Mere dost ki Ammi ko COVID hua. Na landline, na mobile phone chal raha tha. Humein hi pata hai hospital kaise le gaye unko."
"Internet nahi hota hai to bahut dikkat hoti hai Sir. 2010 mein band kiye the. Jab Burhan Waani shaheed huye the tab bhi bahut dikkat hui thi."
Burhan Wani. Shaheed. Terrorist for us. But shaheed for him.
Another time our tempo traveller was stopped because of a passing Army or CRPF convoy. This has been started since the Pulwama attack where 40 of our CRPF jawans were martyred in a suicide attack in 2019. It's very inconvenient. But necessary from my point of view.
Chat during one such stoppage. "Sahab, kitni security force hain yahan par. 80 lakh Kashmiri. Unko sambhalne ke liye 16 lakh force (Army + CRPF + J&K police, etc.). Jagah jagah par rokte hain. Humein bahut dikkat hoti hai."
During our trip, Yasin Malik's sentencing happened (life in prison). He is a classic case of how we lost the plot and turned a killer of 4 Air Force officers into a Nelson Mandela type of figure for the Kashmiris (hard to achieve this, but we did it). Our guide said that "Accha hua unko maut ki sazaa nahin hui. Warna shaayad aap ki trip yahin pe khatam hoti. Mein kuch nahin kar paata."
We chatted with our tour operators (local and Mumbai). The feeling that they have is that people in Kashmir have not earned for 2+ years due to COVID. Coffers are empty, and money is low. So this year their priority is to earn. And get their houses up and running. Which is understandable. When your stomach is empty, first thought is to put food into it. That is why the locals are not even entertaining any requests from terrorists / insurgents.
The Amarnath yatra this year will, God willing, pass off peacefully because nobody wants any risk to their income.
The issues (if any) may start next year. Once stomachs are full then we shall see if the love still remains. I don't want to go into the politics of it. But hearts and minds are not won in a day. It's a tough balancing act that our government and agencies have to do.
Some people may never be fully in India's favor. But if enough get firmly behind us - hopefully for love of India, worst case purely for financial reasons - we may yet turn the tide. Best is if the "shaheed" turns into "terrorist". Hope is eternal.
