We travelled with pain in our hearts to Himachal Pradesh, with our breath hanging on a fragile thread, on the news of the young Kashmiri trader assaulted violently. With chills blooming outside, contrary to the fumes the news brought on people’s minds.
On the 28th of January, earlier this year, Tabish Ahmed (18), along with his brother, was walking on the streets of Himachal Pradesh with a bag on his shoulder filled with shawls and winter clothes, ready to be sold to earn a living. He crossed street after street, calling potential customers, silently doing his work without paying much heed to his hunger.
As the sky turned reddish, unfolding the evening, his hunger became pervasive. Tabish reached a shop to eat and diminish his hunger, but he was met with abuse and violence. The shopkeeper asked his identity and religion.
“I was hungry; I went to the shop and called out to the uncle, but he did not hear me. I then spoke to my brother in Kashmiri, saying that the uncle was not listening and that we should go somewhere else. After that, the uncle came and said, ‘What are you saying about me in your language?’” Tabish told Miles2Smile.
The shopkeeper, who was of Tabish’s father’s age, brewed in anger. The reason Tabish was oblivious to.
“We were speaking in our own language, saying that we should go somewhere else. You are like my father; why would we say anything wrong or disrespectful to you?” Taish replied to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper asked for his identity and religion, and upon learning he was Kashmiri and Muslim, he attacked Tabish.
“He asked me my name, place, and religion. As soon as he found out that I am Kashmiri and Muslim, he abused me and started beating me,” Tabish told Miles2Smile.
The shopkeeper did not listen to Tabish’s words and went on hitting him from all sides. Tabish was hit on his head with an iron rod, making him fall unconscious with blood on the road. The rods kept on coming, fracturing his hand and turning his body blue.
The news soon got wind, shattering the hearts of the people. The love lost its glare, the peace was shrouded, and the assailants instilled fear in the neighborhood of Tabish, as all of them were Kashmiris, sharing the same cause in Himachal Pradesh—to earn peacefully and live with harmony.
“Everyone is very scared; no one is stepping out of their homes. Everyone feels that they too might be attacked,” Tabish’s father told Miles2Smile.
Tabish was next to him, on a bed, with his injured body, fractured hand, and head wrapped in white bandages. He cried silently, making our hearts seem to almost skip a beat. His pain was intense, even more than the love we could pour.
“When we received the news, we felt as if we would get a heart attack,” his mother said, with grief engulfing her body, wrapping it tightly.
The air in the room slowly turned heavy, uncomfortably heavy. Our chest felt a contraction, but was it feeling enough of the pain?
Does the family need only listeners or supporters? The answer was in our action.
Tabish needed medical assistance, with love and care. Miles2Simile provided that immediately and assured him to walk with him and support him in all ways possible.
The small act took a quantum leap in Tabish’s life. This time, he was met with the language of love, heavier than the language of hate that had shattered his life
