Who Is Responsible for Violence in Kashmir?
The article “Fuelling the Rage in Kashmir” (EPW, 10 July) by Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal has given some hope that there are persons in the media who observe things closely. Otherwise you would only have national news channels like Times Now calling the stone pelters “rented mobs”.
Just hours after the recent all-party meeting conducted in Srinagar, 36 youth were booked under different acts; some of them under Section 307 of the CrPC (attempt to murder) and most of them under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Does it not show that the meeting was held for some other purpose?
The words of the Congress spokesperson are revealing in this regard. He said to Mehbooba Mufti on CNN IBN on 12 July in a televised debate “We have seen cycles of violence in the past in Kashmir, our coalition will complete its tenure”. These words were appreciated by Mehboob Beg of the National Conference which is heading the present government in Kashmir. Does it not prove they are committing mistakes as in the past and are blind when it comes to Kashmir?
The chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance publicly condemned the death of Amman, who died due to delay in receiving medical aid because of the security arrangements for the prime minister when he visited Kanpur. Why does not Sonia Gandhi speak out when there are deaths of innocents in Kashmir – whether about the horrifying act of Shopian in which two young women were raped and killed or the deaths of 15 young men in just a month, in June.
It is not the Lashkar-e-Taiba or separatists who instigate the youth to pelt stones in Kashmir, it is the union and state governments together which are responsible for the violence. It is the centre and the state which alienate the people of the Kashmir Valley by making absurd statements and conducting staged commissions and investigations. Being so-called educated, I am infuriated by the approach of the government and want to pelt stones myself.
http://www.epw.in/letters/who-responsible-violence-kashmir.html
