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Pahalgam should have echoed with laughter, not gunfire. The valley, one of Kashmir’s most cherished jewels — a place where rivers run like poems and the air itself feels sacred — turned into a site of tragedy when innocent tourists were gunned down in a senseless act of terror. These were not combatants or officials. They were ordinary Indians — civilians, travellers, dreamers. And their blood now stains not only the soil of Pahalgam but the very conscience of the nation.
As an Indian Muslim, I write today with a heavy heart and an unshakable resolve. This was not just an attack on individuals. It was an attack on all of us — on the idea that this country belongs to every Indian, regardless of faith, region, or profession. It was an attempt to destabilize our sense of safety, fracture our unity, and turn suspicion into currency. These terrorists do not just kill lives — they seek to poison relationships, to plant doubt in hearts, and to set fire to the bonds that hold India together.
We must not let them succeed.
This wasn’t an assault on religion. It was an assault on peace. It was a direct strike at India’s pluralism, its soft power, its essential promise that one can travel freely across its vastness and feel at home. These were people on vacation — enjoying the beauty of their own country, celebrating freedom. Terrorists struck not just at flesh, but at the freedom to live without fear, to roam without worry, to belong without conditions.
Our answer must be simple, strong, and unified: we stand together. Not as communities behind barricades, but as citizens bound by something deeper — the belief that our diversity is our strength, not our vulnerability.
Let’s not allow this tragedy to become a pretext for prejudice. When civilians are killed in the heart of Kashmir, our instinct must not be to retreat into camps of “us” and “them.” Our instinct must be to reaffirm the most fundamental truth of this country: that we are, above all, Indians. And the pain of a family in Maharashtra or Gujarat or Bengal who loses a loved one to terror in Kashmir is the pain of every Indian — including mine.
Let me be clear. As a Muslim, I owe no apology for the actions of murderers who hijack faith for violence. But I do carry a responsibility — as a citizen, as a human being, and as a patriot — to speak out clearly and unequivocally. What happened in Pahalgam was not just barbaric; it was an affront to every value I hold dear. And it deserves not just our condemnation, but our collective and constant resistance.
This is not about politics. It is about the soul of a nation.
Our response must not just be limited to words. Our security forces must be empowered with actionable intelligence, modern surveillance, and unflinching political backing to anticipate and neutralize such threats. But alongside state strength must come civic solidarity. Because terrorism doesn’t just seek to kill — it seeks to divide. And if we give in to communal polarisation, we’re doing the terrorist’s work for them.
India has always stood tallest when tested hardest. After every blow, we have risen — bloodied but unbowed. We must do so again. Not with reactionary anger, but with purposeful unity. Not with suspicion, but with strength of purpose. Not with fragmented responses, but with one voice — calm, clear, and resolved.
To my fellow Indian Muslims — we must not grow weary of standing up for the values we hold dear. We are not here to prove anything to anyone, but to protect what belongs to us too: this nation, its peace, and its plurality. Condemning terror is not a favour — it is a moral necessity. Let us be unafraid in our clarity and unflinching in our patriotism.
And to the rest of my fellow citizens — I ask you not to see us as “the other.” We are with you in grief, in anger, and in the resolve for justice. Do not let fringe voices, on either side, define our national discourse. The majority of Indians — Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian — want nothing more than to live in harmony and dignity. We want peace, but we also want justice. And we want it together.
The attack in Pahalgam must not be remembered only as a tragedy. It must be remembered as the moment we looked terror in the eye and answered not with hate, but with hard resolve and national unity. It must be the day we said: We will not be divided. We will not be afraid. We will stand together — as one nation, one people.
Because in the end, this land is not just held together by laws or borders. It is held together by a shared idea — that every Indian, from every walk of life, belongs here. That we are stronger together. And that no bullet can kill that truth.
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