Soz questions silence of Indian civil society, opposition killings in Kashmir

Srinagar: Questioning the silence of Indian civil society and opposition over civilian killings in Kashmir valley, senior Congress leader and former union minister Prof Saifudd Soz on Saturday said the National Human Rights Commissioner (NHRC) was already inactive.
“While Government of India (GoI) has instituted a command to produce peace at all costs, one doesn’t understand how India’s Civil Society, particularly, the National Opposition is completely silent on the Civilian Killings that are caused in Kashmir, in routine.
It is today that three civilians have been killed and many injured by the forces in Kulgam, Prof Soz said in a statement this afternoon.
He alleged that it is so tragic that GoI has adopted a deliberate policy under a Command to open fire with an “intention to kill, not merely to hurt”.
Prof Soz further alleged that as is well known all over the country, the civilian people in Kashmir get killed in firing that aims at killing and this practice has become a routine under a Law like the AFSPA which has been proved several times in the past to have been misused.
He said “under these circumstances, when the so-called National Human Rights Commission is already inactive, the National Opposition of India could be the institution to, at least, ensure strict adherence to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in Kashmir, which is being flagrantly violated, in routine, under the cover of a law like AFSPA which gives enormous powers to forces who can fire on individuals or a crowd without any need to seek orders even from their own officer, much less from a Magistrate.