Shopian and the Struggle for Human Rights in Kashmir

According to The Hindu of July 21, 2009,  “The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s direction to conduct narco-analysis test on the two police officers arrested in connection with the alleged rape and murder of Neelofar Jan and Aasiya Jan from Shopian.” 


The case has moved into a situation where there the case will be tossed from one court to another, be locked in this or that legal technicality and will quite simply be forgotten like the innumerable cases of rape, murder and disappearance in Kashmir unless the correct lessons are drawn from history.

What was striking in this particular case is the series of lies and deception that emerged from the highest levels of the state when the case came to light.  The Chief Minister, Mr. Omar Abdullah has claimed that the case was one of drowning at the first instance.  Protracted agitation that resulted in lockdown of Shopian town eventually forced the intervention of the courts and the detention of four officers.  The people of Shopian and indeed those of Kashmir refused to buckle to the arrogance and high handed nature of the authorities and carried out the struggle that have brought events to this pass.   The struggle for justice must continue in a principled manner under the end is met.

Coupled with the struggle for the justice for the victims of the Shopian atrocity is that against the militarization of life in Kashmir.  At the heart of this struggle is the one for the repeal of the hated Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act of 1990.  The Army, the Central Government and the State Government have to various degrees refused to deal with this principled demand of the Kashmiri people.  By linking the issue of `cross-border’ and other kinds of `terrorism’ to the issue of security in Kashmir successive Governments have pushed the issue of virtual military occupation under the carpet.  This hated act stands as one of the most draconic laws in operation anywhere in the world, where arbitrary arrests and detention, prevention of assembly and essential the right to deprive one of any democratic rights including that of life are the order of the day.  The Army can act with impunity anywhere in the Kashmir valley.  It is no surprise that acts of violence against women by those in uniform go unpunished.  In addition, the state security apparatus, police, companies of other para-militaries such as the CRPF remain deployed across the length and breadth of the state of Jammu and Kashmir making the intolerable militarization of life the order of the day. 

The concomitant reaction of the people of Kashmir against the militarization of life, and in particular the demand for the repeal of the Armed Forces Act is a fact that has to be contended with by every political force in the state.  Prior to the election earlier this year, virtually all parties in the Valley had toyed with the issue of the repeal of the law.  Mr. Omar Abdullah himself had indicated several times that he would be in favour of a phased withdrawal of the law.  Needless to say, soon after coming to power such noises ceased to emanate from the circles of the ruling party only to be replaced now with excuses that the time is now unsuitable for the repeal of the law.  The lesson to be learnt is that neither the National Conference nor any of the main stream parties are unlikely to ever bright succour to the people of Kashmir.

What then are the people of Kashmir to do?  The people of Kashmir are once again faced with the dilemma that all their efforts at civil disobedience and lawful means of struggle are unlikely to bear fruit.   Despite this,  they must  not surrender and be satisfied that their efforts have at least brought the accused in the Shopian case to book.  The struggle must continue until the guilty are punished for their crimes.  The struggle for the victims of Shopian are part and parcel of the struggle for the flowering of human rights in Kashmir.

• JUSTICE TO THE VICTIMS OF SHOPIAN
  
• JUSTICE TO ALL THE VICTIMS OF RAPE AND TORTURE TO KASHMIR
  
• REPEAL THE ARMED FORCES (JAMMU AND KASHMIR) SPECIAL POWERS ACT