E-Paper
A quiet Eid in strife-torn Kashmir
SRINAGAR: On the picturesque Foreshore Road surrounding the Dal Lake in Srinagar stands Arshid, a sheep trader with his herd of twenty. The plump sheep are ready
SRINAGAR: On the picturesque Foreshore Road surrounding the Dal Lake in Srinagar stands Arshid, a sheep trader with his herd of twenty. The plump sheep are ready to be sold to families for Qurbani, the ritualistic animal sacrifice on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, but Arshid isn’t optimistic about business.
“Families who bought three sheep are now buying only one. Our rates have not decreased, but we will end up selling fewer animals,” says Arshid. The fattest in the herd is up for sale at Rs 15,000.
Sahil Safiq, another sheep trader, said: “Because of the situation, the spirit to celebrate Eid has been dampened. And hence, business is completely down.”
The situation he is talking of is a two-month-long streak of violence that has enveloped the Valley following the killing of insurgent leader Burhan Wani.
In the middle of the turmoil, Kashmiris feel this year’s Eid al-Adha celebrations on Tuesday in Muslim-majority Valley will be lackluster.
Families that HT spoke to explained why Eid will be “no Eid at all for Kashmir”. First, they say the violence has left a deep impact on the psyche of the larger population.
As this resident of the old city in Srinagar explains, “I bought three sheep for my extended family on Saturday, only to come home and hear that two young men have been killed by security forces. I became sad and asked myself how can Kashmir celebrate in such times?”
A woman from the old city says, “My family has decided to purchase only one sheep and give the rest of the budgeted money to charity, probably to the injured at Srinagar’s SMHS hospital where victims of state-sponsored violence are being treated.”
Second, state-imposed curfew and the separatists’ call for shutdown have resulted in a clampdown on markets and festival shopping is taking place with much difficulty, if at all. “Usually, the shopping starts four-five days before Eid. But look at what’s happening now. Markets are shut, there are restrictions, people can’t move and children are asking their parents why we aren’t getting new dresses,” says Shuja Ahmad, a Srinagar resident.
At 6pm, as the 12-hour-long ‘relaxation’ of the shutdown begins, Srinagar lights up. Traffic snarls occur on most roads, people throng shops and buy the essentials for Eid. But on Saturday evening, even with the ‘relaxation’, most shops did not open in protest against the killing of two men earlier in the day.
Reacting to the development, Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said: “Eid is an occasion of ‘khushi’ (happiness), but how can we celebrate when there is no ‘khushi’ at all in the region. Yes, businesses have suffered, but as we have been saying, all that takes a back seat in view of the civilian killings, blinding and maiming.”
