Why I compared Burhan Wani with Indian Army's slain Lt Ummer Fayaz
When I heard about the murder of Lieutenant Ummer Fayyaz this morning, I found myself scribbling on that piece of paper you see in the following tweet.
A comparison no one wants to make. pic.twitter.com/BtXnZZYJHd
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) May 10, 2017
Here was another young Kashmiri, just like Burhan Wani. They were the same age. Both from villages in restive south Kashmir. Both of humble origins. That piece of paper you see up there has spread wide on social media and on WhatsApp groups.
Some see it as a sickening "Good Kashmiri vs. Bad Kashmiri" toss-up. Others see it as a blasphemous comparison of a terrorist with a soldier. I have tried explaining the note in a Facebook live chat as well.
Frankly, I was filled with no overpowering sentiment when I wrote it. I merely wanted to put the data down as it swam in my head, hoping the order that rows and columns bring would provide me with something to cling to in the torrent that is Kashmir.
It didn't. It doesn't matter what that piece of paper conveys, or what you take home from it. To me a simple, unrhetorical question remains.
If Burhan Wani's death could spark a season of meticulously manipulated turmoil and hostility in the Kashmir Valley, could the murder of Lt Ummer Fayyaz turn the tide?
Nobody in Kashmir deserves less than that.
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