Desolation
It all began with deconstruction. In 2022, the roads in Lal Chowk in Srinagar were demolished. The doors of the Press Club remained shut. JCBs blocked the way to the Ghanta Ghar (clock tower). A large area bounded with asbestos near the Ghanta Ghar was surrounded and guarded by armed forces. The construction of Naya Kashmir had begun under the Bharatiya Janata Party’s government at the Centre that had abrogated Article 370 in August 2019. All of a sudden.
Back then, the enclosure was barren except for a few dogs that occupied it. A tiny sapling stood upright amid the rubble. An outsider or a tourist never noticed it, but we, the Kashmiris, did.
This reconstruction work around the Ghanta Ghar culminated before August 15, 2023, and grand celebrations occurred on Independence Day.
On the 77th Independence Day celebrations at the Lal Chowk, while I tried to talk to two boys—the only local youths watching the celebrations from a distance—one of the journos warned me that there were spies among the crowd.
Hundreds of tourists attended the event, swirling flags and chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans.
There was a new clock tower. No Kashmiris stood underneath it that day. Shops remained shut.
Erasure
この記事は Outlook の October 11, 2024 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は Outlook の October 11, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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