Provocations on fueling anger in Kashmir

While there is outrage against the treatment of some CRPF men by angered protesters in res of India, no one from the opposition in Delhi musters the courage to seek clarifications from the Home Minister Rajnath Singh on his ministry’s failure to dig out the roots of last year’s unrest and reach out to angered youth in Kashmir. Last year when Home Minister Rajnath Singh headed a multi-party parliamentary delegation to Srinagar with an agenda to know the roots of anger in Kashmir, he and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said some fringe elements totaling to note more than 5% of the entire populations are creating unrest at the behest of Pakistan in Kashmir but now when 95% population has boycotted the bye polls in Srinagar parliamentary constituency comprising three central Kashmir districts-Srinagar,Budgam and Ganderbal on the call of joint resistance leadership the Union Home Minister as usual is blaming Pakistan and the fringe elements in Kashmir. The ground reality is that as per the reports of the local newspapers the government had put in two companies of police and CRPF at each polling station but even then people did not come out to vote not because of the stone pelting incident but due to heavy presence of security men in and around the polling station. Eight people were killed in about forty sensitive areas of Budgam district but people elsewhere in the Budgam district and Srinagar and Ganderbal districts did not come to vote. In the majority of the areas in Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts where polling was not disturbed by violent incidents, people did not bother to come out to vote on the day of polling on April 9, last Sunday.
In this atmosphere of chaos and confusion the leaders of ruling PDP-BJP alliance instead of owning the responsibility for the failure in creating a conducive atmosphere for bye polls are eye shut putting the blame on the opposition, joint separatist leadership and Pakistan. In such a scenario Home Minister Rajnath Singh was expected to announce an impartial inquiry into the killings of eight civilians on the polling day but unfortunately he is warning both stone pelters and as well as joint resistance leaders again and again only to add fuel to the fire.

The leaders of BJP and PDP commanding and controlling the governments in Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir respectively don’t bother to muster the courage to restore the shattered confidence of people in the working of the law enforcement bodies including police and paramilitaries and the justice delivery system.

This is not the time to create hostilities but this is the time to announce a time bound probe for investigating the causes of the killing of eight civilians on the polling day to cool down the rising tempers of kashmiri youth against the central government’s repeated denials on the demands of political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir state. This not only also the time to lock horns with the political forces who advise New Delhi to wake up from deep slumber and reach out to angered populations in Jammu & Kashmir. Any attempt to seek support for excessive use of force to restore peace in Kashmir won’t cool down the tempers in Kashmir valley but the situation demands that measures are taken to heal the wounds of the families who lost their loved ones during last year’s unrest and on the day of polling in Budgam areas of Srinagar parliamentary elections. Unfortunately the leaders of BJP and PDP commanding and controlling the governments in Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir respectively don’t bother to muster the courage to restore the shattered confidence of people in the working of the law enforcement bodies including police and paramilitaries and the justice delivery system.