By the Editor: Siddharth Sehgal

Before I begin this article I’d like to write here that in my last editorial, I went a bit too far with my words. In criticizing the politicians of Kashmir and their puppets, I knowingly or unknowingly painted all Kashmiris with same brush which I felt was wrong. There are good, patriotic people in this state, even if small in number, who stand by us. Our anger is justified towards terrorists and their supporters but that price should not be paid by innocent bystanders. I did not mean harm, I am a human too but often sometimes we look back at things we do and realize we could have done it differently.

Now coming back to the topic of discussion, it has come to news in wake of Pulwama attack that Kashmiri students have been harassed or beaten up in different parts of the country, some news have elements of truth while others are pure WhatsApp fiction but how we respond to a national crisis should be a matter of concern to us. Our rage should be directed towards Pakistan and its radical Islamic cronies who believe killing innocent people will be a ticket to heaven but our collective rage should not be pointed towards fellow citizens. Bullets, bombs and stones should be dealt with bullet, their puppets should be tackled with law and policy changes but thoughts and words should be matched with ideas. Let’s not mistake our enemies.

In past few days we have seen diplomatic and economic responses to Pakistan and be it cutting their water supply or withdrawing our cricket team from ICC world cup if it comes to protesting Pakistan’s participation in the event but in our own country there are some intellectuals, media outlets and journalists who do not leave any stones unturned in justifying the cowardly actions of our neighboring state or demean the sacrifices of our soldiers. We can only pity such souls and counter their narratives with facts but our response should never be in violence. These people are scared that our unity in times of difficulty is giving bowel movements to the other side and they come up with such shenanigans to either gain some cheap publicity, decrease public morale or both.

We have a moral high ground in this war against terror, other nations understands and stands with us that’s why our unity becomes of paramount importance in this hour. Let not our divisions come in our way in this fight.