Valley dream shattered, tourist tries suicide

Koichiro Takata came to Srinagar from Japan chasing a dream sold in the travelogues and tourist brochures about the Valley. What he saw instead was a ‘‘bunkered’’ city, with helmeted and guntoting security personnel far outnumbering the happy people he hoped to see. Depressed, the 22-year-old student tried to commit suicide yesterday.

Walking down the nine-kilometre stretch from Srinagar airport to Lake View Boulevard, Takata confesses he went ‘‘crazy and anxious’’ thinking of all the security surrounding him and stabbed himself several times with a pair of scissors.

Sitting on the SMHS Hospital bed, where he is convalescing, the ophthalmology student says in broken English: ‘‘I was afraid and went crazy after seeing so many guntoting men in the city. I thought my safety is in question and the gunmen will kill me instantaneously.’’

‘‘This is not the Kashmir I have known and read about,’’ he laments. ‘‘I was hurt.” Police have not registered any FIR. ‘‘This is to ensure Takata does not face court hassles,’’ a police officer said.