Srinagar: There has been a significant change in the public mood in the Kashmir valley as even villages that were once synonymous with the very faces of terror and separatism join the condemnation of the massacre of 26 people in Pahalgam.
Areas previously known as strongholds or symbolic centres for so-called commanders of banned Hizbul Mujahideen terror group Burhan Wani and Riyaz Naikoo witnessed residents raising powerful slogans of “Stop terrorism” and “Stop killing innocents”.
The Kashmir valley witnessed an unprecedented display of public sentiment on Wednesday with widespread spontaneous protests condemning the killing of 26 people, mainly tourists, in Pahalgam on Tuesday.
Over the past 35 years of onset of militancy in the region, the valley has rarely witnessed such an immediate and widespread outpouring of public anger against terror violence.
Political leaders, including Nasir Wani from the National Conference and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, were seen leading protests across the valley.
Tral village in south Kashmir, which shot into limelight for the intense stone-pelting protests after Burhan Wani’s death in 2016, presented a different picture on Wednesday where residents marched with candles to register their dissent to terror action in Pahalgam.
Tral, historically a den for outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, echoed with slogans of “Dehshat Gardi bandh karo (stop terrorism)…masoomon ka qatl-e-aam bandh karo (stop killing innocent)”.
Similarly, Beighpora in south Kashmir, the birthplace of Riyaz Naikoo, once the so-called commander of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen, saw its residents walking through the lanes and bylanes and raising their voices unitedly against the terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam carnage.
The display of this anger in the village of Naikoo is a drastic departure from earlier times.
The apple town of Sopore in north Kashmir, infamously dubbed “mini-Pakistan” in the early 1990s due to the strong presence of banned Jamaat-e-Islami cadre, reflected the same feeling.
Locals came out in the streets and marched to the main market chanting slogans against terrorism and squarely condemning the brazen attack.
PDP legislator Waheed Para termed the outpouring of people as a “historic moment” and said “for the first time in the history of Kashmiri violence, we are seeing a strong, spontaneous public protest against terrorism”.
“People in the valley — in Lal Chowk, in villages, particularly in Pulwama and Tral — have stood up in pain and solidarity,” he said.
Para highlighted that this collective denouncement of violence, even in regions previously associated with militant leaders, represents a “significant shift” at a time when “the people are united in denouncing violence and standing with the nation”.
The mass protests throughout Kashmir, especially in those places once considered the stronghold of militancy such as Tral and Beighpora, indicate a possible turnabout, where society itself is spurning the violence that has seen the region tormented for so long.
