Army opening fire on people for the only fault of objecting to the arrangement of Iftar party by it shows the respect of the government forces to the unilateral ceasefire announced by Home Minister Rajnath Singh a day before the commencement of the holy month of Ramadan. True it is that army has set a precedence of throwing up Iftar parties for the respectable of people of all shades but keeping in view the present hostile atmosphere in Kashmir and more so in four districts of South Kashmir wisdom demands that army should refrain from organizing such Iftar parties but unfortunately army tried to threw up an Iftar party in Imam Sahab area of Shopian district and civilian population objected to it to demonstrate its anger against the recent civilian killing in the same district. Knowing that unilateral ceasefire has been announced to cool down the rising tempers against the recent civilian killings. Interestingly hours after the firing on the people in Imam Sahab area of Shopian district in South Kashmir Director General Police Dr S P Vaid claimed that ceasefire is bye and large a success without regretting the army action on a public gathering which objected to the conduct of Iftar party in the area. Though Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti accused Pakistan of not showing respect to the holy month of Ramadan hours after the killing of a BSF soldier in cross border firing in a Jammu border area but interestingly she has choosen to remain silent over the army action on a public gathering in Shopian area of South Kashmir on Monday evening.
The army action on civilians in Imamsahab area of Shopian district is a provocation which could have been avoided keeping in view the spirit of ceasefire announcement by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and situation demands that army, police and paramilitaries refrain from such provocative actions in future.
Since no fresh commitment on ceasefire has come from either the militants in Kashmir or the Government of Pakistan in Islamabad neither the army nor the Jammu & Kashmir Government can accuse Pakistan border guarding forces and the militant in Jammu & Kashmir of ceasefire violation but the central government has to take care of the implementation of its own announcement of the unilateral ceasefire. The army action on civilians in Imamsahab area of Shopian district is a provocation which could have been avoided keeping in view the spirit of ceasefire announcement by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and situation demands that army, police and paramilitaries refrain from such provocative actions in future.
