Provocation and ceasefire in Srinagar

The disproportionate use of force by police and paramilitaries on the protesters after the weekly afternoon prayers on last Friday was by all standards of understandabilities a provocation which could have been avoided in the larger interests of public security and this kind of provocation is a blatant violation of the unilateral ceasefire announced by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for the holy month of Ramadhan. Interestingly the time when Army Chief General Bipin Rawat was dropping hints about the possibility of extending the unilateral ceasefire after the holy month of Ramadhan the police and paramilitary CRPF sleuths were using tear smoke shells and pellets on protesters almost the same time in the Nowhatta area in the interiors of the Srinagar city. When words are translated into action the conflicts deepen and crisis heads for no dead end and this is what has been happening in Kashmir for the last several decades. Announcements show the gestures but actions on the ground change the perceptions and the responses of the people. Force when used to control angry crowds is bound to trigger violent clashes and wisdom demands the restraint is exercised to control angry crowds particularly at religious places like Jamia Masjid Srinagar. Undisputed is the remark of Mirwaiz Molvi Umar Farooq over the deployments in Jamia Masjid area on the eve of weekly afternoon prayers on Friday as even naives can understand that rushing deployments nearer to places of huge religious congregation is tantamount to invite provocations from the people.
After the announcement of the ceasefire the government forces have to try to reduce levels of provocation and the demand of Mirwaiz Molvi Umar Farooq not to send deployments to Jamia Masjid area on the eve of weekly afternoon prayers on Fridays deserves a serious thinking and an adequate response from the government. If ceasefire is to be extended beyond the holy month of Ramadhan all possibilities of reducing the levels of provocations have to be explored by the government forces.