“You are alone”: Valley’s collective message to the “Enemies of Peace”

Suhail Khan

SRINAGAR, APR 22: A year to the day after 26 tourists fell to bullets in Pahalgam, the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday delivered its verdict — not with a shutdown, but with a stampede of shoppers, full hotels, and a near-unanimous cry from mosque loudspeakers to college WhatsApp groups: “We are against terror.”

In a break from a painful past where anniversaries of violence often meant empty streets and stone-pelting, April 22, 2026, saw Lal Chowk’s clocks ticking over bustling footfalls. Batamaloo’s shutters stayed up. And in Pahalgam itself — the very site of last year’s massacre — tourists clicked selfies against meadows that locals refused to surrender to fear.

“We were hesitant. But locals told us, ‘Come, we will protect you.’ And we saw that today,” said Ramesh Patel, a tourist from Surat, as his family posed by Dal Lake’s shikaras.

Hotel occupancy touched nearly 65 percent across the Valley, according to travel trade bodies — a figure one hotelier called “a defiant vote for normalcy.”

The message was sharpest where it once seemed unthinkable. In Kulgam and Tral, areas long associated with militancy, residents took to social media and local platforms with anguish, not applause.

“Killing a tourist or a porter from Bihar is not our fight. It only brings more suffering to us,” said Syed Farooq, a shopkeeper from Pahalgam.

Across the Valley, people shared a single sentiment: “Terror has no religion. Stop killing innocents.”

Social and political activist Touseef Raina told Kashmir Convener “Our enemy is not India. Our enemy is not Pakistan. Our enemy is the one who kills an innocent. To that enemy, we say: You are alone.”

He added “Who can take the people of Kashmir for granted? We are peace lovers. Let us live in peace. We are fed up now. Don’t make us suffer. This is the beautiful Kashmir of peace lovers. Let no one attempt to disturb its peace.”

The collective chorus was heard from mosques to taxi stands, from college campuses to the Gulmarg gondola line. No hartal. No law-and-order report from any of the 10 districts. Police officials confirmed a peaceful day across the board.

“The message from Kashmir today is unambiguous,” a senior police officer told Kashmir Convener. “The people are with peace. They are against terror. And they have expressed that through their feelings, their business, and their welcome to every tourist.”

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, reaffirmed the government’s commitment, writing on X “One year on, we remain united against terror and against violence. We remain resolute in our desire to rid J&K of suffering and innocent deaths. We also remain in eternal solidarity with the families who lost their loved ones a year ago.”

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said: “The entire Valley has expressed its deepest feelings of sorrow for the victims. And they have condemned the perpetrators without ambiguity. This is the victory of humanity.”

In a rare moment of cross-aisle harmony, opposition political leaders issued near-identical statements of condemnation.

Business leaders, too, spoke in one voice. The Kashmir business association issued a statement condemning all forms of violence against civilians.

“Our economy runs on peace. Every bullet fired at a tourist or a labourer is a bullet aimed at our own livelihood. We are clear — no to terror,” a senior office-bearer told Kashmir Convener.

A university student in Srinagar summed up the sentiment of many: “We have our political differences. But targeting unarmed civilians while claiming to fight for freedom — that is not resistance. That is madness. We condemn it fully.”

The loudest sound was not a wail or a crackdown. It was the whir of a gondola cable car, the clink of teacups in a garden restaurant, and a million unspoken words that finally found a voice: Enough.