Tourist’s death widely condemned in Kashmir, culprits booked

Bilal Bashir Bhat
Srinagar, May 08 (KNB): Politicians from right to left have equally condemned the tragic incident in which a tourist identified as Thirumani from Chennai died after a bus came under stone pelting on Srinagar-Gulmarg road. The masses also in unison lambasted this inhuman act. Meanwhile, Police Tuesday said that stone-throwers responsible for the killing of a non-local Chennai youth have been identified and efforts are on to trace him.
On Twitter, CM Mehbooba Mufti tweeted – “it’s truly heartbreaking when a family saves for years to realize their dream of visiting Kashmir & while they are here they face their worst nightmare. I have no words strong enough to condemn this tragic incident or even begin to condole the family.”
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted “we’ve killed a tourist by throwing stones at the vehicle he was travelling in. Let’s try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death while we glorify these stone pelters & their methods.”



“Every killing is sheer condemnable; this is a sad incident which should not have happened. Unfortunately, instead of condemning this incident there should be some concrete and honest steps to address the root cause i.e. Kashmir issue which led to such unfortunate incidents,” stated president Travel Agents Association Kashmir (TAAK), Ashfaq Siddiq Dug while talking Kashmir News Bureau, and added, the killings in Kashmir day in and day out are too condemnable but what hurts a particular incident is being manipulated to malign the image of Kashmiries and its rich hospitality.
The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik also strongly condemned and expressed grief at the sad incident at Narbal and said that such incidents go against the grain of our humanity religion and culture. Elements who do so defame the sacred people’s movement by such inhuman actions. The leadership said people of Kashmir have always welcomed tourists as our guests even in the most trying of times and this practice will never change. JRL urged the youth to maintain discipline while protesting against the atrocities and killings of people by the government forces.
Gulzar Ahmad, a Shikrawala stated – “Tourists are our guests and killing a guest is the last level of heinous crime, such mindless stone pelting should be stopped as it brings bad name to entire Kashmir valley and portrays we the people in very bad light. We hope this shameful and goon approach is tackled as soon as possible.”
Station House Officer Police Station Magam said that stone-throwers responsible for the killing of youth are absconding. “We have constituted a special team and hopefully they will be nabbed,” he said and added that FIR No 57/2018 registered in Police Station Magam. (KNB)