Pahalgam, Kashmir.

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”
— Howard Zinn

It took a long time for us Indians to trust Kashmir again.
Years of rebuilding. Of silent healing. Of tending old scars and allowing fragile hope to blossom.
We began to believe that it wouldn’t end in red.
That we were safe in a land that had bled enough — that its blood-red Chinar leaves wouldn’t taint us too.

But how long will it take this time?
How long before we forget — like always — until this tragedy, too, is reduced to old news?
How long before we forget the fathers, husbands, brothers — slaughtered not as humans, but as a statistic, a fleeting headline?

Will we never learn?
Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of our fellow brethren, again and again, until all that defines us is no longer humanity, but bloody betrayals?

In the Mumbai terror attack, the terrorists came from the sea.
But Kashmir is landlocked.
Surveillance is tight. Army presence is massive.
So I ask — is it truly possible for such vile creatures to enter and exit with such agility without local support?

If they have not exited yet,
is it truly possible for them to remain hidden even a single hour without someone shielding them?

The question is no longer how they entered India…but who saw them, and stayed silent?

And to those vile heathens — the Joffrey Baratheons of the world — I say this:

You are no warriors.
You are no protectors of Islam.
You are no agents of God.
You are cowards —
cowards dressed in borrowed righteousness.

You kill the unarmed because that's all you can kill.
You avoid the army because soldiers shoot back.
You shoot the joyful, the oblivious, the vulnerable —
not out of bravery, but because you lack even the courage to face resistance.

To the families of those betrayed —
to the fallen —
I have no words large enough for your pain.
I don’t know what I would have done in your place.
I only know this:
I will not forget.
Not now. Not ever.

And to you, Kashmir —
The beautiful, bloodstained paradise —
I say this:

I’m sorry these creatures failed you.
Your red is the colour of love, not war.
Your green is the green of trees and fresh breeze, not poison.
Your blue is the stillness of glassy lakes, not the void of death.
This hatred is not what you stand for.
You were only the stage, never the sin.
Your only crime was to remain beautiful, despite it all.

I am not going to say much because I don’t hold full knowledge on the intricate history and conflict surrounding Kashmir but this incident—massacre—was tragic. may the souls of the victims rest in peace and power. may they get the justice they deserve, if not in this life, then in the next one. may the families of the victims receive comfort and the space to grieve during this tragedy.