The tragedy in Kishtwar last week is a grim reminder that the Himalayan landscape, for all its beauty, is an increasingly fragile theatre for human life. In a matter of minutes, what began as an ordinary day on a sacred pilgrimage route to the Machail Mata shrine turned into an unrelenting wave of water, mud, and debris that tore through lives and livelihoods. At least 60 people are gone, many more remain missing, and countless families are left with the unbearable weight of not knowing.

Cloudbursts are not new to the region, but their frequency and destructiveness are intensifying. What sets this disaster apart is its setting ~ along a congested pilgrim route where thousands pass each season, many stopping at Chositi before making the steep climb to the shrine. Here, geography conspires with faith: narrow valleys, fragile slopes, and rudimentary infrastructure stand........

© The Statesman