Police force in the guise of self-defense goes on killing innocents. It is no great feat to dodge a large stone hurled with bare hands. Any common Joe can do that. But what about a bullet shot through the barrel of a gun at the supersonic speeds, what chance one has of dodging it. Any man with a double digit IQ can tell you that a person in the path of a bullet has 0% chance. He is shot like a sitting duck What has happened to firing in the air, use of rubber bullets or use of batons to disperse crowds or are the methods not applicable to Kashmir and only brute force has to be used. In the Naxal affected states, in spite of the fact that the prime minister has called the Naxals as the biggest security threat to India, still the army has not moved in but unfortunately in the case of Kashmir, to tackle a small problem where protesters pelting stones are to be quelled, the army is summoned to do the rest. Now the simple question arises what the government is doing to protect the citizens who around a year and half ago had braved threats and voted with high hopes. Sadly the answer is nothing. It is as though the government and its ministers are there only to make money for themselves,
The Omar Abdullah government had come in with high hopes and many promises, but sadly through its mediocre and ineffectual policies, it has lost all its support. I myself was an avid and ardent supporter of the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. He was like a ray of hope and a breath of fresh air at least for me and I thought that things were about to change for the better but alas! But how wrong was I? His speech at the time when the UPA was facing the confidence vote on the house of parliament “I am a Muslim and I am an Indian and I see no distinction between the two………………..” is still ringing my ears. It was so emotional and empowering that for once I seriously believed that he was the man who would change Kashmir but that was all before he came to power. I rejoiced that day but sadly that memory has faded and feels as though it was eons ago. It is not me only, my classmates all passionate supporters of this young dynamic leader have lost all hope.

Mr. Abdullah instead of meeting the problem head on and finding a solution has tried to crush the protests with brute force like a bully with his continuous policy of imposing curfews. What I can’t understand is how Mr. Chief Minister expects this to solve the problem. It may quell the protests and smoothen the surface but the anger won’t abate. Instead it will continue to simmer in each Kashmiri. What Mr. Abdullah needs to understand that there is a genuine vacuum between the people and the administration. His policies of imposing curfews and dismissing the protesters as DP or LeT agents won’t help. There is a demand from all quarters calling for his resignation and this demand is completely justified. The responsibility of the current state of affairs falls on the chief minister’s shoulders and if he can’t handle them he should step down, it may bring some calm to the masses.

The fundamental rights which the constitution of India guarantees to every Indian citizen land seem as though they are meant for a distant land. When the police prohibits a sixteen year old to enter the mosque, when Friday prayers aren’t allowed in the Jamia Masjid for a month, when the liberties of the media are curtailed, journalists are beaten, TV channels banned for no apparent reason, - what more can one say of the rights a citizen can enjoy. In a state which doesn’t have slightest respect for human, how can one expect it to protect fundamental rights of the people. Then how can one call this a democracy? And when in a land supposedly governed by the people, people themselves question the very basis of the government and its democratic principles, the government has no business being in power.

(Feedback at jeelani_bhs_10@yahoo.in)

Lastupdate on : Wed, 4 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 4 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 5 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST