Ambassador Speaketh!

“Every life lost is a tragedy for all. Respects to those killed on Sunday and Monday and condolences to the families.”

“Salaamu alaykum!”

This was the German Ambassador to India Mr. Michael Steiner who was in Kashmir University early today. This is not an official press note or a news report (that you’ll find in tomorrow’s newspapers) but just a collection of few observations from his speech.  I am not even remotely touching any things relevant to the topic of the discussion.

While we was entering (I managed to enter without an Entry Pass even without an Identity Card, Alhamdulillah!), Aarif remarked, “Why are these Angrez always smiling in their potraits?” referring to the photograph of the ambassador on the wall hanging! I replied, “Because we do the opposite”!

I was expecting that he would start with Namaste (as foreign dignitaries do in India) or Salaam (a special case for Kashmir) and he did. But that condolence to the families of those killed on ‘Sunday and Monday’ was particularly surprising to me at least. In the convocation complex of the institute which is remote controlled from Delhi (I guess or from Raj Bhavan) such a politically inconvenient utterance (for the State) from the highest ranking official of a foreign country was pretty much surprising to me.

Before his speech, it was the Vice Chancellor of KU Talat Ahmad who introduced the German Ambassador to the jam-packed audience. While he was mentioning the various achievements and previous postings of the Ambassador, once he mentioned that Mr. Steiner has been a special envoy to Afghanistan-Pakistan region in the past, this particular mention was met with a thunderous applause from the 3000 strong convocation hall. It was as if this was happening in Pakistan, not in India! Nevertheless, the love for other-than-India in the cream of the Kashmiri youth was visible and manifest!

So, after he was done with the initial introductory notes, Mr.Steiner again surprised by saying, “Khush aamdeed, saeni tarf’e”.  He is a good fellow and we saw that. He even greeted the toughest questions with a smile!

But one thing which was heartening to hear throughout his speech was that he always talked about, “Germany, India and Kashmir”. This was what made me happy.

“Dil ke khush rakhne ko, ye khayaal achchaa hai!”