Till yesterday the leaders of the ruling BJP use to challenge the credentials of senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in Rajaya Sabha Gh Nabi Azad as a leader of a national party only for seeking explanations for mishandling of the Kashmir situation resulting in more civilian deaths than the militant killing but the killing of three civilians including a teenage girl should open the eyes of those challenging Azad for seeking explanations for killing of civilians. Though Governor N.N. Vohra on Saturday chaired an emergency meeting of security agencies in Srinagar, he did not announce even a routine inquiry to probe the killings despite the fact that cause of these civilian killings was not the protests by any civilian mob at any encounter site. Like popular governments the governor has reiterated importance of the army ,paramilitaries and police strictly following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to avoid incidents of civilian casualties and collateral damage, even in situations of extreme provocation, but he has announced any probe for identifying the forces personnel responsible for violating Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and punishing them as per law. Since the cause of three civilian killings in Hawoora Kulgam was not the protest at any encounter site but protest against the attempt of army to raid government high school Hawoora to arrest a student. No school can be raided by government forces to arrest a student and that too without the prior consent of the Chief Education Officer and the head of the concerned school and attempt of the army man to raid a school without the prior consent of the concerned authorities is high objectionable and deserves explanations of those who have opened fire on unarmed protesters merely for the fault of taking out a protest march against army’s attempt to raid a school.
The situation itself speak volumes about the necessity of a judicial probe into the Hawoora firing incident as only an impartial judicial probe to identity the violators of SOP and fix responsibility on them can restore the faith of the people in the accountability of army, paramilitaries and police in the state.
Even naives can’t believe this that a teenage girl will pose a threat to the gun wielding army man and give the army men a right to fire on a crowd when the protest march could have been stopped by routine cane charging and bursting of tear smoke shells. The contention of the locals that they pleaded before the army men for restraining themselves from any provocative action but they resorted to indiscriminate firing is a pointer to the fact that Standard Operation Procedure has been violated by the army men. The use of bullets on protesting civilian shows the intents of the army to silence the dissenting voices in Kashmir with the use of absolute force and might and this tendency of the army is responsible for a fearful atmosphere prevalent in Kashmir now a days Even the Peoples’ Democratic Party Chief Mehbooba Mufti who as chief minister was running the affairs of the state till June 19 this year and National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah also a former Chief Minister have sought explanations from the Vohra administration on the violation of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that has resulted in the death of three civilians in Hawoora village of Kulgam district. The situation itself speak volumes about the necessity of a judicial probe into the Hawoora firing incident as only an impartial judicial probe to identity the violators of SOP and fix responsibility on them can restore the faith of the people in the accountability of army, paramilitaries and police in the state.
