One more killing, one more probe!
So, after a brief calm, it’s back to ‘square one’—violence and innocent killings. After a couple of year’s short lived respite from death, destruction and human-rights violations we are again caught in the vortex of unprovoked violence and killing. We all know the root cause of this trouble (long pending Kashmir issue) and the violence that erupts out of it. Unfortunately for the last more than two decades this festering sore has turned into a political cancer that has annihilated a considerable number of innocent people for no fault of theirs. Unfortunately, over the period of time all stake holders have been exploiting the fluid political situation in Kashmir with poor Kashmiri people as fodder for their political canons.
Narbal killing is the latest of a chain of carnages that Kashmir has experienced during last many decades. Narbal village, located on Srinagar Gulmarg road, is another under-developed, least organised dwelling of humble rural folks, mostly occupied with farming. They have very little to do and influence the overall political developments in Kashmir. However, the pattern of violence and innocent killings in recent past, particularly 2008 onwards has left a horrifying impact on the mind and psyche of younger generation of Kashmir. Exposure to extreme exploitation has made Kashmiri youth volatile and impulsive. A slight spark of unwarranted force and injustice can ignite the volcano within the young Kashmiris. Thus, Narbal incident disturbed the fragile calm! It astonishes that in a village with a population of few odd thousand people authorities could not handle less than a hundred angry youth and they resorted to lethal gunfire against unarmed youth that robbed a sixteen year old boy of his precious life. A budding life got trampled under the heavy boots of power and force. Flouting all norms of so-called SOP (standard operational procedure) the security forces resorted to extreme force to quell a small gathering of angry youth. Did the youth of Narbal carry guns or any other lethal weapon? Did they try to kill anyone? They were simply registering their protest; giving vent to their anger and frustration against excesses. For no justified reason the unruly, trigger happy forces resorted to shooting; because the past experience shows that they are least accountable. No forum can ever dare to challenge their authority and use of excessive force.
Behavior of unruly security agencies apart, the responsibility of excess use of force to contain a small protest resulting to death will surely come on the shoulders of existing government and the political dispensation. In a democratic system they are accountable before the masses. It is the present political dispensation that few months earlier had made a strong resolve—not to repeat the mistakes of previous regime. On a firm promise and assurance of accountability and justice, Kashmiri people voted them to power, regrettably, knowing least that political promises are made to be broken with impunity. Narbal incident is an eye opener for the present regime. They have to ensure that its probe is taken well to its logical conclusion with highest standard of justice. Earlier, after many extrajudicial killings investigations were ordered, commissions were setup to probe the killings, but at the end of the day nothing substantial could be achieved. People have now lost faith in inquiry and commissions. They want an out of the box solution for such senseless killings. This ill-fated nation has reposed trust in a political setup after routing many and if they find no significant change on ground they will feel cheated.
Frankly speaking, people of Kashmir have opted for a lesser political evil. Knowing that present leadership is vibrant and responsible, they reposed their trust in their ability. It is now up to these leaders to behave and deliver like true trustees of power and people’s expectation and deliver to the satisfaction of common masses. Any negligence will be construed as sellout for power and materialistic urge.
This nation deserves good governance not political experimentation. It has suffered enough of political exploration and cannot afford to take any more. Hope a situation of accountability is ensured where no innocent soul gets killed and inquiries will be commissioned only for the sake of justice and not for diverting the attention of suffering people. Otherwise it will be the same old story of ‘one more killing, and one more inquiry’.