Not Murders but selective genocide

The Killing of Zubair Ahmad Bhat of Sopore through forcible drowning & cold blooded murder of a seventy year old person in Handwara comes close on the heels of killing three teenaged boys earlier namely Inayat, Warmik & Zahid Farooq. If We had thought that arrest of Virdi & his subsequent trial in the Zahid Farooq’s murder would deter others or put a stop to such killings in future, We were badly mistaken.
Badly mistaken & embarrassed must also have been our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah , who have never been tired of repeating the rhetoric of Zero tolerance for human rights violations. It must now be clear to the them that it is only & only, the Jawan with Gun who matters in Kashmir. It is his writ which runs here & it is he who can spare our life or take it away depending upon his whim & mood.
I would not be farther from truth if I say that the mindset of the Indian Soldier, belonging to any rank & file, is heavily biased against the native Muslim Kashmiris. He has been tutored to distrust a Kashmiri Muslim & kill him at a slight doubt or suspicion. For him every Kashmiri Muslim is a terrorist, irrespective of his age or status. Let me cite an instance.
In early Nineties, when Militancy was it’s peak, I shifted from Downtown Srinagar to relatively calm uptown area of Wazir Bagh. My neighbourer was one Mr. Sita Ram, a noble soul, popularly known as Pappa Ji in the area.There was a BSF Camp in an house adjacent to his and pappaji would often talk to jawans or their officer through a window in his Kitchen. One day a firing incident took place in the vicinity & jawans from this camp were directed through wirless to handle the operations there. After two hours or so when they returned back, Pappa ji enquired the details of incident from them.Their reply was “ Firing Hui thi-Aur Hum ney Do Mohemmedans Ko Mar Giraya”.Being in his Company at that moment, pappaji felt highly embrassed to hear that stuff, closed the window & hurled an invective or two at them ,of-course outside their hearing range.
By the way the draconian laws of AFPSA & Disturbed Area Act also require him
precisely to do that & further extend him a legal shield against any proceedings what-so-ever. The problem is also compounded by his immunity from proceedings under the State Human rights Commission. The recent statement of new Army chief opposing repeal or any change in AFPSA law puts the soldier further in the comfort Zone & he feels that he has a licence to kill.
Lately the security forces have also, like politicians, mastered the art of changing statements. In the murder of 70 year old Habibullah, the Army first claimed that that its “6 Rashtriya Rifles killed a terrorist during an encounter in Rainawari forest near Pahaldagi village in Handwara in north Kashmir” around 4 am. The statement issued by defence spokesman Lt Col J S Brar said “Our patrol parties along with police had an exchange of fire with a terrorist in Rainawari forest. In the ensuing encounter, the lone terrorist was killed,”. The statement further claimed to have recovered an AK rifle along with four magazines and 67 rounds from the “slain terrorist”.
After the facts of victim Habibullah started coming to fore, the statement was revised to suggest that Victim was a guide of Militants. The revised Army statement read as ““On the night of April 13 and 14, a surveillance cum ambush party of 6 Rashtriya Rifles observed suspicious movement of three to four terrorists in the Rainwari forests. On Being challenged a firefight ensured between the militants & his party.After the encounter, which lasted 10-15 minutes, the militants managed to break contact and escape into the thick jungles,” said Brar. “After daybreak, a body was recovered, with an AK-47 rifle and ammunition near it. Possibly the deceased was being exploited as a guide or human shield”
If you read the two statements carefully, you will notice the revision in statement from lone militant to Guide or human shield of militants is a ploy to cover the cold blooded murder of Victim Habibullah. This trait is typical of politicians which are now adopted by Indian Security forces with profit.
This naturally begs another question. If the politicians, to whom we have voted 70% in the last elections, as claimed by Indian authorities, have not been able to save our lives & properties, then why not try to vote the security forces itself. Let security forces together float a party and publish the names of candidates. We will come out enmass & vote for them. May be that puts our politicians to shame & the selective genocide of Kashmiris is put to an end.