Right mix, will it blend?
Omar Abdullah has finally come in to his own. The composition of his cabinet and the allocation of portfolios is by far his most significant political move after having come to power.
Introspect before it is late
Hamidullah Dar
The recent spurt of gory incidents reflects the criminalisation of our society to an extent where even beasts hate to stand a comparison. It is not that there have not been such occurrences in the past but the way these got publicity by protests and stone pelting incidents, brought them to the notice of all and sundry. It happens only in Kashmir that a Juliet (girl) is sitting in the amicable ambience of her drawing room in Delhi and two Kashmiri Romeos are mad after her; mad enough that one friend hacks another to death. Going by the very logic of romance, an unseen woman is not worth life of a handsome teenage lad; that too when Kashmiri youth know that there are other unseen hands ready to snatch their lives and reduce their numbers. But then those who could tell them have themselves gone astray. Parents are in the delusion of the uprightness of their children till they (children) turn to be otherwise. Teachers (though a small number) have started dating their minor students and even some dastardly incidents have occurred in this regard. In Qazigund area, a high school student was found pregnant and four teachers were accused of being responsible for this heinous crime on the student- teacher relation. The reports from many educational institutions are not encouraging.
Reduce Numbers
If there is one lesson that has come through in the last 20 years of militancy it is that the gun is not solution – be it in the hands of the army or the militants. If this is the basic premise, then a decisive move has to be made to reduce not only the physical presence of the armed forces
A brief analysis of Kashmiri angst
Arshid Malik
“Terrible are the wounds of a broken dream”, wrote Jiri Wolker. Beyond doubt every dream that Kashmiri people have dared to dream - be it of peace, stability or security - has been fractured halfway and the wounds are so terrible that perhaps we might never ever dare to dream again. It is known that when the tendency of a people to dream is contained it generates tremendous angst. This is the very characteristic angst that boils in the streets of Kashmir today. Our dreams have been snatched away from us, somewhere in the shape of our sons and sisters and elsewhere as pure hopes to lead a secure life.
All attempts made at measuring or molding this breed of angst by “standard” means and measures only aggravates the situation, and that is just what has been happening around here in the past one year. The present governing r?gime led by a young Chief Minister has been incessantly attempting to comprehend and judge the present scenario in Kashmir from a fixed, traditional and immobile point of view.
Over powering
It is only a 12 MW power project. To put it in perspective, this is 0.0005 percent of the hydropower potential of the state. So why make such a big deal about it, one may legitimately ask. The reason is neither the size of the project
Police Public Relations
Dr Syed M Afzal Qadri
The recent incidents of uproar against police in valley, particularly at Shopian and Baramulla, have given indications of the poor Public-Police Relations in the State. The Police is supposed to be the friend of the people and while performing their duties, policemen have to uphold the rule of law on one hand and respect the public sentiment on the other hand. Once this balance is lost, the causality is “administration of Criminal Justice”.
Police is the principal law enforcing agency in the country. Their duty is to promote order and tranquillity in the society. But unfortunately public-police relations are strained not only in this State but in the entire India. It is the primary reason for National Police Commission in its 3rd Report to categorically state that police-public relations are in a very unsatisfactory state. The Commission has attributed several reasons for such as partiality, brutality, and failure to register cognizable offences.
The recent incidents of uproar against police in valley, particularly at Shopian and Baramulla, have given indications of the poor Public-Police Relations in the State. The Police is supposed to be the friend of the people and while performing their duties, policemen have to uphold the rule of law on one hand and respect the public sentiment on the other hand. Once this balance is lost, the causality is “administration of Criminal Justice”.
Police is the principal law enforcing agency in the country. Their duty is to promote order and tranquillity in the society. But unfortunately public-police relations are strained not only in this State but in the entire India. It is the primary reason for National Police Commission in its 3rd Report to categorically state that police-public relations are in a very unsatisfactory state. The Commission has attributed several reasons for such as partiality, brutality, and failure to register cognizable offences.
Prioritize
In a free market economy, protections are a problem. They are barriers and roadblocks. But in places like J&K, one of the fastest growing consumer markets in this corner of the world,such principles lack relevance, at least for the time being.
Babudum(b)
The regrettable performance of some top civil servants during Home Minister’s meeting is symptomatic of a much deeper malaise than just pure incompetence and inefficiency.
First Information Report
Dr Syed M Afzal Qadri
The refusal by the police at Shopian to register an FIR in the rape and murder of Nilofar and her teenage sister-in-law Asiya has tarnished the image of state police. Policing in Kashmir is a highly suspicious exercise. Some unscrupulous and dishonest police officers have maligned the police image to that extent that people have lost faith in the entire system of administration of criminal justice. It is not the personal failure of a one police officer but the system failure which is dangerous to the society. One fails to understand why the police at the initial stage skipped registering a case for the crimes that no system in the world can ignore.
As a student of law, I wonder what were the compelling constraints for not registering a case that triggered a Kashmir wide crisis. The law (read section 154 Code of Criminal Procedure) is clear that as soon as an information with regard to commission of a cognizable offence is given to an officer in charge of a police station (SHO) he shall reduce it in writing and write it faithfully, and a copy is to be given to the informant. If the SHO refuses to accept it the informant can approach the concerned superintendent of the police who if satisfied that a cognizable offence has taken place shall direct to start the investigation.
The refusal by the police at Shopian to register an FIR in the rape and murder of Nilofar and her teenage sister-in-law Asiya has tarnished the image of state police. Policing in Kashmir is a highly suspicious exercise. Some unscrupulous and dishonest police officers have maligned the police image to that extent that people have lost faith in the entire system of administration of criminal justice. It is not the personal failure of a one police officer but the system failure which is dangerous to the society. One fails to understand why the police at the initial stage skipped registering a case for the crimes that no system in the world can ignore.
As a student of law, I wonder what were the compelling constraints for not registering a case that triggered a Kashmir wide crisis. The law (read section 154 Code of Criminal Procedure) is clear that as soon as an information with regard to commission of a cognizable offence is given to an officer in charge of a police station (SHO) he shall reduce it in writing and write it faithfully, and a copy is to be given to the informant. If the SHO refuses to accept it the informant can approach the concerned superintendent of the police who if satisfied that a cognizable offence has taken place shall direct to start the investigation.
Battle of ideas
Undeclared curfews, barricaded roads and preventive detentions are again becoming a routine in Kashmir. In the aftermath of the Shopian crisis,
Demilitarise now
Sheikh Showkat Hussain
Rape and killing of two women in Shopian evoked widespread condemnation throughout the valley of Kashmir. Everyone blames Indian security agencies for this crime and demands probe by international agencies. Establishment of an enquiry commission by state was out rightly rejected on account of previous record of such enquiries being used as a device to cool down outraged sentiments and pave way for shielding of culprits.
While Kashmir was burning for eight continuous days, Indian media and civil society remained a silent spectator. This indifference and silence by media and civil society depicted that it is not only government and security agencies which tend to treat Kashmir as aliens but also its civil society and so called human rights activists have the same attitude towards Kashmir. One should not get surprised over the response of Kashmirs to such an incident. The Incident is part of a pattern that is being pursued for past several years in order to humiliate Kashmir society.
CRISIS MISHANDLED
For the last one week, Kashmir is literally on fire. A young mother and a teenager were found dead in isolated peripheries of Shopian
Cities within Srinagar City
Gull M Wani
Srinagar is the city I have known all through my life. I first came to see it as a small boy with my father and later to join the NCC camp as a student of middle school Panzath Qazigund. It was really fascinating then to come to Srinagar from a really rural setting and be a participant in certain socio-religious activities. As I joined Degree college Anantnag I used to come to Kashmir University to take part in inter-college volley ball tournaments. Interestingly the physical college was located at Naseem Bagh campus where after some time I had to join the department of political Science as a postgraduate student. Today I live in Kashmir University campus as a professor in the same department and as a family man. Srinagar has now so to say become my second home. I do make frequent trips to Qazigund –my ancestral home and it continues to be my political laboratory to understand politics in substantive terms.
Damned and Disgraced
The civil society of Kashmir has seen it all; be it political treachery, ideological immorality, financial corruption
Existential crisis
In the process of emerging as a genuine alternative to the National Conference (NC) in the state politics,
