Nasheman Farozan Nazir
Amid chaos and confusion prevalent in Kashmir post Handwara killings, I am surprised by the mockery, drama and lenient response of the ruling parties.
Razing a bunker will not help unless killings are stopped and the guilty punished. It is just eyewash to calm down the anguish.
After the innocent killings, CM directed police to “maintain restraint, adopt SOP while dealing with law and order situation”.
Despite specific directions from the CM, as it is apparent, such killings do not come to an end, two things can be inferred; one that the men in Khaki have become trigger happy due to their unbridled powers under AFSPA and feel that they will not be held guilty under any circumstances.
Any kind of probes or investigations ordered will not be effective and they will go scot-free. As such they seem to ignore the diktat of J&K CM.
Second the CM’s assurances have just become a routine exercise to calm down the situation and pacify the people. Else, how it is possible that CM, the ruler of a state is not being obliged to, the orders of CM are being openly violated.
Why allegiance is not demanded from the forces, why they are not punished for the disobedience. Meetings are held, top officials called upon, CM visits the families of the deceased, but as usual no action or deterrent punishment is given to the perpetrators.
Some right thinking people in India have realised that Kashmiris face sheer injustice and are not being treated as humans. Even a report by the State Department of United States clearly reveals that India is using AFSPSA to obscure civilian killings in Kashmir.
How discriminatory it is that a high level Union Government team comes here to assess the situation over a scuffle between local and non-local students of NIT, the Delhi based media creates uproar all over by overplaying misleading statements, but when people are killed brazenly and anyone who opens his mouth against the atrocities too is shot at, Delhi goes silent.
The Prime Minister of India, who in a number of speeches has pretended as a sympathiser of Kashmiris surprisingly never even bothers to utter a single word whenever there are killings in Kashmir. Kashmir, which he claims to be the integral part of India, instantly vanishes from his mind as if it nowhere exists. Is this the way an integral part is treated or it is just that the piece of land designated as Kashmir is what matters to them and not the inhabitants.
And then the UN, the so-called saviour of human rights is nowhere in the scenario. Either the day-to-day killings do not come to notice of Ban Ki Moon or he simply wants to ignore them. It is high time that the international human rights organizations take serious note of the situation and prove that it actually is an organization for peace and tranquillity worldwide and not a stooge acting at the behest of few powerful nations.