When 26 tourists were killed on April 22 in the Baisaran Valley, Pahalgam, Kashmir, a photograph of a newlywed — and newly-widowed — woman sitting on the ground beside her slain husband was circulated widely. The image was even run through the AI Studio Ghibli filter by official online handles of the BJP. The deceased was Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, and he was on honeymoon with Himanshi Narwal. Himanshi Narwal was initially held up by many as a symbol of collective grief over an unprovoked attack on civilians.
But once Narwal stepped out of the frame of that picture onto which so much had been projected, and emerged as a real person with reasonable opinions, she was vilified. While expressing the desire for justice and for prayers for her late husband, she told the press: “I see hatred growing, directed at Muslims and Kashmiris. We do not want this. We only wish for peace — nothing else.”
Narwal’s statement should have been nothing but an ordinary comment, a reminder of ethical, Constitutional, basic values. Instead, a flare-up of online trolling has been unleashed against her. The same handles that made a puppet or a prop of her have turned on her. Old social media posts have been dug up to slut-shame her. People who claim they knew her in college have made risqué posts about her past, sowing lewd rumours. Others suggest that she is happy her husband has died, and that she will enjoy his pension. She has deleted her social media accounts.
There is little doubt that the attack in Pahalgam will prove to be a negative turning point for the region, particularly for Kashmiris who have already long lived under curtailed circumstances, as well as for India-Pakistan relations. While the attack was initially claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), the militant group has since made a retraction. It is unknown at the time of this writing who the perpetrators are, but a variety of actions have been initiated by the Indian government against Pakistan, from a blanket ban on imports to the blocking of online accounts of Pakistani celebrities.
Given the raised tensions on the subcontinent, Narwal’s statement was merely the thoughtful reminder of any fair-minded person. In a different time, or perhaps just in a different place, it would have been seen as either a perfectly normal remark, or at best magnanimous given what she has experienced. Today, here and now, harmony is a revolutionary — and therefore, in the eyes of far too many, seditious — concept, and speaking of it has resulted in fellow Indians increasing Narwal’s suffering, without a shred of compassion for her bereavement. The moment she stopped being a pawn for an agenda of hatred, she became a public enemy.
Himanshi Narwal is neither the first nor the last person who has been targeted at a difficult time in their lives because they spoke the truth. We may be on the brink of war — war that some people appear to be salivating for, without considering the repercussions for us all. Now, more than ever, speech and action towards peace matters. What kind of nation torments someone who promotes that cause?