Bigoted Killers!

My happiness was taken over by a deep sense of grief when a journalist friend of mine sent me the news of a suicide bomber blowing a school bus.The suicide bomber was blown to pieces as were nine people including five children.The school bus belonged to the Kamra Air Force base school,Attock,Pakistan.My friend had sent a note with the news clipping, It read” This is getting ridiculous! It seems like Kashmir all over again, only this time in a different valley”

I traveled back many years and was reminded of an equally gruesome murder by Yasin Malik and his band of terrorists killing four un-armed IAF officers who were waiting to board a bus.In a bizarre twist of fate, Yasin Malik today is a “protector of human rights and a victim of the State” .His erstwhile accomplices vie for the same media attention that he commands thanks largely to the pro-separatist(read terrorist) English Channels like CNN-IBN and NDTV. They too try and emulate him in every conceivable way from sitting on Dharnas to taking peace marches but alas!Yasin Malik can get visas to any country, has an Indian Passport despite dozens of criminal cases pending against him his former accomplices are still stuck in Kashmir both metaphorically as well literally.

That Kashmir evokes strong emotions was a passé yesterday.It evokes ever toddlers to shout”Jis Kashmir ko khoon se seencha…who Kashmir Hamra Hai”.Walking alongside these 40 odd kids (dressed in Kashmiri attire and RIK head bands)I realized we are walking with the future and the past at the same time.There was a gory past that forced us out of our motherland but here alongside me walked hope.I was immersed in a sea of joy and the response to the event made my joy even greater.However as I was trying to collect the press clippings to assimilate them for posterity,the bad news of this bigoted suicide bomber killing innocent people much like Yasin Malik (who did the same on chilly winter morning in 1990) pulled me into the abyss of grief .

Nietzsche resounded in my ears

When you gaze into the abyss,the abyss gazes back at you.

In grief......

Rashneek Kher