Boat Tragedy

The sullen skies over the last few days turned the Jhelum River a merciless monster that devoured six people including four children. On Tuesday morning, no body could have imagined that the placid waters of the river would snuff out six lives in a fraction of a moment, plunging entire Kashmir into mourning.

The images of the backpacks of dead school children circulated on social media platforms are enough to tear one’s heart out. The sight of women chanting dirges as the coffins of their loved ones were being carried for the final resting place melted the hearts of stoic observers.

As I saw the pictures of dead lying beneath the oblong mounds of earth, they made me go weak at the knees. It reminded me of the quote : “No one told me that grief felt so like fear” from C S Lwis’s A Grief Observed.

The families of those missing in the turbid waters of Jhelum anxiously await the recovery of their lifeless bodies. Now, their sole wish is to perform the last rites and lay them to rest with their own hands, seeking solace in this final act of closure.

The boat, according to the media reports, with around 19 people on board split into two after it hit the under construction bridge. The tragedy raised the spectre of a navy boat that capsized in the Waullar Lake in 2006, claiming 21 school children.

An unfinished bridge made the innocent people to pay a heavy price. The news papers reported that the construction work was left half way through for the reason exactly not known to any one. The ordinary citizens don’t know the reasons that stymied the work, they simple bore witness to yet another tragedy and endured the pain.

It is rather unfortunate that after so many years, even in Srianagr, a pedestrian bridge could not been completed. We are selective in blaming the successive governments for leaving the construction work incomplete. It has been a good six years since the region has been put under the Centre’s rule. The administration during this period miserably failed to complete the bridge.

Over the last several years, it tom-tommed about completion of various projects including some big-ticket projects. However, the pedestrian bridge was completely neglected. The political leaders of different parties demanded probe into the incident, upbraided the government, demanding compensation and sent their sympathies to the victims’ families.

The newspaper next day remained plastered with their condolence messages and statements. The irony, however, is that they did not pause their poll rallies even for a day. On Wednesday, from north to south, Kashmir witnessed a flurry of public rallies, meetings and other election related activities.

The political leaders continued with their blame game, criticism and even mudslinging to woo voters. Their workers were busy in festooning the stages with banners for their leaders and installing the best microphones to amplify their speeches. Some pulled out all the stops to castigate their adversaries, while other enumerated their achievements.

The dead remained inside their graves while the search for missing continued at the time this article was being filed.