Harsh Mander: Pahalgam and after – the singular burden of apology

The true mettle of a people is most tested amidst the raging fires of mind-numbing tragedy and loss. More so when lives that are most precious to us are snatched not by the furies of nature, not by the ravages of illness, but by ferocious mindless hate.

After the brutal terror slaughter of at least 26 men in Kashmir on April 22, many parts of India were swept up in an inferno of hate. Twenty-five of them were tourists, and one was a Kashmiri pony worker who lost his life trying to save the tourists. But the loved ones of those suddenly brutally slayed and the ordinary people of Kashmir elevated the moral bar sky-high.

Lieutenant Vinay Narwal was just short of 27 years old. A young naval officer from a village in Karnal in Haryana, he was posted in the Kochi port in Kerala. Married to Himanshi a week earlier, they chose the scenic climes of Kashmir for their honeymoon after they could not arrange a visa on time to travel to Switzerland. They made an achingly handsome couple – photographs show their faces lit up with happiness.

The couple was enjoying bhel puri at a stall in the Baisaran meadows of Pahalgam, fabled...

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