This refers to your statement regarding the AFSPA in Kashmir wherein you are reported to have said that the “Army would decide its own course” (Home Ministry on Right Track in Kashmir, Greater Kashmir 24 December 2009). Your deference to military authority and the Home Ministry would be amusing were you not a public figure and the leader of a major political party. As you may be aware, for over two decades the AFSPA has been synonymous with unlawful violence against citizens and the collective misery of people in the Valley. May I remind you and the Congress Party that in a “democracy” the role of the military is limited to that of external defence. No democratic state empowers its soldiers to violate, detain, kill, torture, or sexually abuse citizens. Your statement is all the more outrageous since Kashmir’s great humanitarian tragedy has much to do with centrally-backed subversion of the rule of law by the military – exemplified by the AFSPA. While this policy has been endorsed by successive regimes in New Delhi, Kashmir’s tragedy is inextricably linked with the self-serving politics of the Congress at the central and state levels. It is bad enough to have a central government persist with an immoral and illegitimate military control; it is worse to witness an endorsement of such a policy by those who claim to represent the people of Kashmir. Just in case you are unaware of mass sentiment – as politicians often are – a short conversation with a few ordinary citizens down the road shall enlighten you about public opinion regarding the AFSPA and the Home Ministry. Instead of cringing deference to a bankrupt policy dictated by your political masters in New Delhi that has brought Kashmir to such a grievous and tragic pass, may I suggest that for a change, you reorient your political priorities by realigning yourself with the interests, aspirations and security of  citizens in the Valley? Doing so may, to some extent, redeem the faltering credibility of the Congress party and, I dare say, your own integrity.
Seema Kazi
New Delhi
skazi@vnsl.com

Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:00:00 IST