I was shocked to read the comments from the Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar at a press conference recently. His assertion that the 2010 unrest protesters had ‘personal problems’ and ‘they were drug addicts’ is nothing but an insult to those who lost their lives in the unrest and also to the people of Kashmir, who took to streets for justice. How can the police officer reduce the crisis of such a magnitude to a small problem in a family? To call protesters drug addicts without any authentic data and survey is completely illogical, to say the least. It is just an attempt to defame the protesters who took to streets against the killing of civilians by police and paramilitary CRPF. The police seem to be making an attempt to isolate the stone pelters or protesters from rest of the society as if they are not a part of it. But such words and comments would only add fuel to the fire and cause more alienation. If my memory supports me, the anger among the youth was acknowledged even by the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi who recently said that there was need to address the anger of the Valley youth. She didn’t call the protesters as drug addicts. Also, I baffled to understand how the SSP could speak on behalf of the Valley when he belongs to only a particular district. The details seem to be quite fishy and only aimed at demoralizing and defaming the protesters. That is highly condemnable.

Shafiq Khan
Baramulla Kashmir

Lastupdate on : Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 13 Feb 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:00:00 IST