Tragedy in middle mountains,yet another ‘incident’ in probe files risingkashmir.in/news/tragedy-in-middle-mountains-51616.aspx Zafar Choudhary | What has happened in the doomed village of Gool in Ramban district of Chenab Valley is not a case in isolation triggered by misconduct of the border guards with kin of local Imam resulting into angry reaction by villagers which is in turn responded to by the Border Security Force troops by bullets. The incident is symptomatic of larger problem which makes almost all parts of Jammu and Kashmir a powder keg ready to explode anytime in any situation. As far as today s case goes the Home Minister of India and Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir have led the State response by cautious choice of words in mentioning any alleged excesses in dealing with the protestors. A couple of junior ministers have been rushed in to the spot where they are being attended to by top brass of regional administration. The Deputy Commissioner of Ramban district who is not even remotely connected to the initial happening and the first few spirals launched by the BSF has been removed apparently to send a message that the government seriously believes in zero tolerance to human rights violations. In next couple of days one full cycle of reactions genuine, superficial and customary will complete by shutdown calls, curfews and possibly (God forbids) more killings. As has been said initially that this is not a case in isolation, the incidents like the one in Gool have become a sport in the post violent conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. It was precisely an incident like this in the summer of 2010 which gave governments at New Delhi their toughest moments in decades. The tragedy is compounded by the well known fact that nothing concrete happens by political process or governance reforms to avoid recurrence of such incidents which are consigned to the inquiry files as yet another incident . Symptom of the problem We said that the Gool incident is symptomatic of the larger problem. The larger problem is that despite dominant yearning for peace and reconciliation and evidences of real or perceived external and internal threats to the State waning out fast, Jammu and Kashmir still remains a highly securitised state. We are not using much clichéd term to describe the situation as highly militarised which is an established fact. People continue to live in such a securitised atmosphere in which almost everyone is a suspect in the eyes of law enforcing agencies. The kin of the Imam who first came in contact with BSF troopers, deployed to guard an upcoming railway bridge in Dharam village of Gool, was the first such suspect last night. The next incident: altercation between a BSF party and the villagers in the premises of mosque was not an interaction between guards of soil and sons of soil but a confrontation between the two naturally warring enemies. The killing of unarmed party at the hands of armed party had to be a natural result of such a confrontation. The separate inquires ordered by the Home Minister of India, who is chief of all internal security forces, and the government of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is not going to do any wonders. It is important to change the ground rules of engagement which no one is willing to do. The first question that they need to address is what the hell BSF is doing in the villages and around the mosques (or temples) when Jammu and Kashmir finds pride in having one of the largest police force (in ratio to population) in the country. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah need to do some brainstorming on the roles and mandates of different forces that operate in the state. For example: Border Security Force, the force meant for guarding borders, has myriad roles in Jammu and Kashmir ranging from internal security (ordinarily a job of paramilitary forces), law and order (job of local police) and building project security (mainly job of Central Industrial Security Force). Life in everyday scare Arguably in first such show of solidarity in over two decades, people in six districts of Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal regions have hit the streets to protest the State barbarism and shown solidarity with the victims. Unlike the initial urban centric mobilisation in Kashmir which later started drawing angry reactions from villages as well, this morning s incident in Gool saw thousands of villagers trekking miles together to the nearest township to make their presence and the anger visible. Many locals this writer spoke to suggested that protests of today s intensity and numerical strength have not happened even during the height of militancy in the 1990s when militants and security forces (of course, including the local police) would run amuck frequently. While as the barbaric killing of unarmed protestors in the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast in the day and pray most of the night would evoke emotional and angry reactions anywhere but today s wave of protests had something unique a common phenomenon people identify themselves with. The common feature in entire belt of Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal is the fact that the cordon and search operations and other interventions of security forces without knowledge of magistrate or local have never stopped even as top security bosses have long been declaring these areas free of any significant militant presence. Most places in these regions are those where even passenger buses have not reached easily. The media and human rights groups would not know what still continues to happen in Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal ranges in the thick of nights.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 06:37:24 +0000
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