The recent shoe throwing incident alongwith the drama that followed is too funny a premise  to build a serious argument on. No sane mind can be moved by the sensation this news created. Though it did set off a ripple and has added another chapter to the brief history of shoe-hurling that began with Bush. But the theatrical turn it took the next day and finally the drop scene at Ahad Jan's hometown made it sound all freakish. More than tickling a rib, it couldn't go beyond. Did Ahad Jan aim his shoe at Chief Minister or at Director General Police? Was this really the outcome of a genuine anger against the government that failed to handle the situation or a simple fit of rage against the system that according to Jan denied him the due he deserved as a police employee? Did he actually plead guilty by breaking down and sobbing like a child in front of Omar Abdullah? Then what about the climax at Ajas where Jan was seen regaining his stardom which he had first gained for a day, then lost for a day. This all can only be dismissed as a scene in the Theatre of the Absurd. Unfortunately we as a people more rely on something that brings us a moment of thrill and a dose of excitement, no matter it means anything in the long run or not. In the lives of sense-shorn people like us, fun figures first, sanity counts nowhere. One minute we are spurred by the very heat of the moment to make mountains move and the next we feel like finished. That is how our icons of today become our plaster saints of tomorrow. Heroes become villains, villains heroes.

Amidst all this absurdity, just one question strikes and strikes painfully. Soon after the event fifteen personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir security wing were suspended for this what was taken as a serious security lapse. How could Ahad Jan seat himself just a row behind chief minister did raise some doubts. As a swift administrative measure, some action had to be taken and it was. Though it wasn't that serious a lapse as the man had not sneaked in with a weapon and no one could have stopped him from throwing a shoe.

But since this was a place meant for VIPs only and the sensitivity of the event demanded a vigil stricter than the usual. So the orders of suspension in that particular situation find some weight. Now compare this with more than sixty human lives lost over the last two months, including a few under-ten children somewhere beaten to death and somewhere shot at, this whole shoe-hurling story and the suspension thereof sounds less than trivial. During these two months at many places police and CRPF resorted to naked aggression over the unarmed civilians while dealing with the protestors. Last month in Islamabad, South Kashmir, how three innocent boys were gunned down by men in uniform. If a security lapse that results in a shoe-hurl can be dealt with the suspension of fifteen, what does terror of that enormity demand? If a miss like this can place the whole line of security under suspension till your dereliction is completely disproved, how can cops who kill in cold-blood go unpunished.

Mere instructions to exercise `maximum restraint' can't be taken well when no day passes without a loss of life. Had the same swiftness been shown in punishing anyone responsible for an innocent killing, the situation might not have come to this pass. Every other killing triggers a fresh spate of violence and no respite seems to be in sight. Commission can only deliver if probes are carried through.Forgiving Jan can only be a heart-winning act if it is followed by not forgiving those who have blood at their hands.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST