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Tough to win Kashmir's heart with guns in hand
Published on Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 07:22, Updated on Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 09:31 in India section
Tags: Face The Nation, Jammu And Kashmir
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Jammu and Kashmir government finally acted on Thursday, almost 11 days after two young women were reportedly raped and murdered in Shopian that triggered off violent protests across the Valley. Shopian Superintendent of Police has been transferred, powers of the CRPF clipped and law and order has been made the sole responsibility of the Jammu and Kashmir police. Home Minister P Chidambaram on a tour to Jammu and Kashmir also conveyed the Union Government’s concern.
It took 11 days for both Central and the state government to wake up to the protest in Kashmir over the alleged rape and murder case in Shopian. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah first said that the two women had died of drowning, leading to the accusation that the state government was trying to cover up the case.
The alleged rape and murder of young women in Kashmir is a particularly brutal assault on the Kashmiri psyche. It is immediately reminiscent of the Kunan Poshpora rape of 1991 where many women were raped by security forces. In this kind of situation, has the Omar Abdullah-led state government really committed a grave error in not being able to sound in compassionate enough tone? Can Government, with its slew of damage control measures, ever win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiris?
Face the Nation debated: Can the Indian Government win hearts and minds in Kashmir? The panel included political analyst Amitabh Mattoo; Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti.
Jayanti Natarajan reacted to the Shopian incident saying, “I am sure there is total compassion. I would not like to say that the government of Kashmir has not be compassionate but there is absolutely no doubt that the rape of these two young women, particularly if it is true, as apparently now the Jammu and Kashmir government has accepted is something that is deeply offensive to the Indian and not just the Kashmiri psyche. But I do believe that the government will take all steps to bring the perpetuators to book.”
It took many days of violent protests for the Central and state government to act. Has the honeymoon period of Omar Abdullah ended with this incident? When Omar became the Chief Minister, he was supposed to herald a new dawn but now we find that the image of the people’s Chief Minister of a new Kashmir has slightly eroded because he simply wasn’t there with his people when the incident was taking place.
Amitabh Mattoo said, “Frankly, if there has to be blame apportioned it has to be pinpointed toward the establishment, the Government of India, it is reflective of the mistakes that we have made and continue to make over the last 62 years. Shopian, once known for its delicious apples and cheese, is now symbolic of the lack of trust that the Kashmiris have in the Indian state. We had a moment of opportunity after the election where we had the most inclusive elections in the history of Jammu and Kashmir but that moment of triumph was reduced to a moment of triumphalism. That window of opportunity, also because we had elections in the rest of India later on, was not used and unfortunately unless we act now, much more imaginatively, Kashmir will be back on the boil. What we require is political sensitivity and imagination. I know the Prime Minister himself is much more sensitive than most people in Kashmir but what is required is that the establishments, the agencies, security forces and the bureaucracies develop the same attitude.”
The conversation coursed over to the state politics of Kashmir over the Shopian incident where the Opposition had been leading protests.
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To win the Kshmir's heart there should be an allround development of Kashmir by increasing the job opportunities for the
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