Irtif Lone
In George Orwell book Animal Farm when all the animals get together and revolt against Mr. Jones, they adopt seven commandments of Animalism, the most important of which is, “All animals are Equal”. But with the passage of time the seven commandments are reduced to a single commandment, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.
This commandment of, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”, depicts the position of India while taking decisions related to Kashmir, its people and the rest of India. We have these two stories, one where a Prime Minister is killed in a suicide attack and the conspirators are later arrested and sentenced to death for plotting the assassination. And then there is this second story of a Kashmiri man, who is held responsible for having connection with the conspiracy to attack parliament. He is arrested and convicted for the same and later sentenced to death.
If one does not get into the details of these two cases and considers the capital punishment given to conspirators of both the cases, one where the Prime Minister was assassinated and the other where the parliament was attacked, it primarily looks like the early part of Animal farm, where all animals are equal. Not getting into the details of evidence found against or the judgement to satisfy the collective conscience of the nation.
And then there is the latter part of the book, where even though all animals are equal but some are more equal. On 11th of February, 2013 one less equal was hanged with no prior information given to his family or the people he belonged to. That day when the people in Kashmir woke up, they were house arrested, already, not allowed to move. The communication was gagged. And everybody mourned not only the death but the fact that his wife and his son was not allowed to see him one last time. And the people protested that his body be sent back for the proper burial, but all in vain.
And then there are the people convicted of plotting the assassination of former prime minister who were sentenced to death much before the parliament attack had even happened. But they are yet to be hanged. And will never be, because of the Supreme Court verdict which commuted their death sentence citing the delay in deciding their mercy pleas. This judgement came a year after the Kashmir’s less equal was hanged. And then the Tamil Nadu government even went to say that they would release all these prisoners.
Not that the death of these men would satisfy the collective conscience of people of Kashmir, but what’s humiliating is the fact that when it’s Kashmir there is not even a single voice which is for the people of Kashmir. Kashmir somehow has these magical powers of uniting India, where everybody speaks the same language. No political party of India has shown any respect for the sentiments of the people of Kashmir not even the AAP party, which probably is re-writing the rules of political discourse.
Even the media, where every night the Nation wants to know the answers to all self presumed question with the exception of Kashmir’s commoners and buck stops somewhere near Lakhanpur border, stands in one voice against the people of Kashmir.
The worst is not even the Kashmir’s mainstreamers can speak in one voice to redress these issues. Al they can do and have been doing is to show their helplessness at these situations. But the love for the chair does not allow them to dissociate with their offices and stand by the people and represent them.
