Location: Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, India (34� 5' 24? N, 74� 47' 24? E)
Date: 15 August 2009 8.30am
Camera: Canon 400D with Sigma 17-70/f2.8-4.5
This was Dal lake of Srinagar a year ago. Just how much things have changed for the Kashmir Valley in just one year. Protests on the streets of Srinagar in the middle of this year descended into killings of activists and protesters by the Indian Army and Police. The death toll was at least 60, mostly rock-hurling civilians shot dead by police. Whilst the Kashmiri issues are complex and intractable, it is still rather hypocritical of the so-called Western democracies for not raising much of a ruckus to India over the killings. The same cannot be said if the country was Iran or China. Civilian lives often became pieces of pawn on a chessboard to be sacrificed for the greater gains. I was blessed to have the opportunity to visit this beautiful place during one of its most peaceful period and I hope that peace and common sense will again prevail in the Valley very soon.
