On Saturday while army patrol was moving in a small hamlet in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, the soldiers thrashed a youth that led into confrontation between the army men and villagers.
The Army jawans opened fire on the villagers that left three civilians including 15 year old girl Andleeb Jan dead. All three young people from Hawoora village died on the spot and efforts of doctors to save then failed.
The images of young men especially 15 year old girl is sufficient to remind the officials and those at the helm of affairs that all is not well on ground. While the army says that they opened fire in self defence, however there are sufficient witness accounts that point out that army could have avoided these killings by showing restraint. Though incidents of stone pelting has been common in Kashmir from past many years however killing three young person without any major provocation is unacceptable.
Last month after the J-K came under Governors rule after BJP decided not to support the PDP government, the Valley had witnessed some sort of peace especially when the one month of unilateral ceasefire saw surge in militant violence.
However the killing of three young people has left the peace shattered and people are keeping fingers crossed whether there is going to be any change in the situation on ground. The Army version that Area domination party was pelted with stones has many holes which can be easily contested. Soon after the killing Governor NN Vohra called a high level security review meeting in which army was asked to strictly follow the SOP Standard Operating Procedure – meant to deal in such situations.
Since the Governor rule was imposed in JK more than six civilians have been killed either in firing or near the encounter spots.
These incidents play an important role in the alienation of the people especially youths many among whom are ready to join any militant group. Though these incidents like the killing of civilians has been a routine thing after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani but these incidents have played a big role in anger which is brewing among the people in Kashmir. The Governor who is a seasoned bureaucrat and has almost completed 10 years in J-K has this responsibility to take army men and their officials to task especially for killing the civilians. Though the incident has been condemned by all the mainstream political parties, however of late people have stopped demanding inquiries into such incidents as they have lost all the hopes which is not good sign especially in a country like India which is one of the biggest democracies of the world.
Recently there has been a strong report from the United Nations over the human rights violations in Kashmir though India has rejected that report but the killings of innocent civilians are never going to improve the track record of the government. So time has come when all efforts should be made to restore peace and normalcy in the state. Recently BJP withdrew its support from the PDP owing to law and order situation however if things are left unattended then in future a big incident in which civilians will be killed by forces can’t be ruled out. Time and again the Governor should ask all the law enforcing agencies to adhere to SOPs. The Governor has more powers than the civilian dispensation and he could make use of those powers, though there are rumours spreading that Centre has given free hand to forces to bring “peace” in Kashmir. However those who are at the helm of affairs should realise those military solutions can never bring peace.
This Was earlier published in Print Edition of ‘The Legitimate’
http://thelegitimatenews.com/baigs-baramulla-and-the-pdp/
