Kashmir: Cozy partnership snaps off
It hasn’t been too long since United Nations cautioned India against the violation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir, stating India and Pakistan together were engaged in quashing the human rights of the people of the valley. UN had expressed inclination to probe these cases. Though India had refuted the charges against itself, the fact that India was cautioned by UN is a blot on the country’s image. This is the result of having tried to tame the tiger of a PDP and BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir.PDP has always assumed soft stance towards the separatists. That party declared Afzal Guru as a martyr, and have always been open about their preferences towards separatists. BJP entering into a coalition with this party itself was a bad precedence. This meant that BJP joined hands with separatists, by taking their side. More than anything else, RSS and Sangh Parivar began to interfere with people’s impressions about the valley and its politics. They began to scratch old wounds and blood began to ooze out.
Rightists spoke of ghettoization of Kashmiri Pandits, and banning cow slaughter and such emotionally manipulative things. This contributed greatly towards increasing the magnitude of fears and hurt Kashmir was already experiencing. More than anything else, citizens of Kashmir who came out to protest were deemed as extremists. The government tried to build a negative public opinion against everything that was happening here. The deployment of pellet guns against protesting civilians became a topic of discussion at international level. Killing of Burhan Wani, didn’t go down too well and sent tempers flaring in Kashmir. It was the first time that the massive support began to pour out in support of an extremist. Extremists used the fact that a civilian being tied as human shield to police jeep, much to their advantage and to build a public opinion against the ruling dispensation. The government failed to identify the difference between disobedient civilians and extremists.
BJP never tried to get to the pulse of Kashmir, instead the party tried to generalize the whole problem by making statements such as the stone-pelting civilians were doing so since they were paid for it by detractors. More than this, the party also tried defending demonetization saying the step had brought down stone-pelting incidents in Kashmir. This had an impact on local businesses too. People, mainly the youth lost jobs. Extremists and trouble makers began drawing the jobless youth towards them. But by the time the central government realized what fiasco it had created, things had gone so beyond control that the United Nations took cognizance of the matter and even addressed it in a meeting. By this time, BJP and PDP had realized they had to restrategise their coalition.
PDP didn’t want to speak against separatists, let along acting against them. The party couldn’t take a stance against police and army meting out assaults against civilians in the area. The Kathua incident laid bare the discontentment PDP nursed against BJP. The rape of a 9 year old child by members of Hindu organisations, to ‘teach a lesson to her community’ earned international shame for the nation and held mirror to inhumanity in Kashmir. In the meantime, Sangh Parivar members took out a rally in support of the culprits when they were arrested. PDP insisted that two of the BJP MLAs who were also ministers who supported this rally must be thrown out of the government. This caused great embarrassment to BJP. After this, PDP made no bones about its differences of opinion with its ally. BJP also felt peace won’t return to the valley with its force exerting tactics. This ceasefire was also one of strategies government adopted to bring some peace into the area.
Though BJP has differences of opinion on this matter, its attempt to engage with the extremists may send wrong signals. BJP fears the opposition backlash if it decides to hold talks with the separatists. Hence having known neither force, nor talks can ensure peace in Kashmir, BJP decided to withdraw the support unable to ride the tiger of coalition. This is also to ensure BJP goes to Lok Sabha polls cleaner than before. Now both partners have parted ways with Kathua case as the pretext. The divorce is through. But a bad precedence has been set about Kashmir at international level. United Nations has already trained its eyes on Kashmir over human rights violation. Unless people wholeheartedly accept India as home, it is impossible to ensure Kashmir’s unflinching integrity towards India. The political parties need to understand this simple truth.
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Ex-Army officer assaulted, robbed at gunpoint by woman he met through matrimonial website
Mathura(UP), Apr 5 (PTI): A retired Army colonel from Haryana has filed a police complaint here, alleging that he was held hostage, assaulted, looted and forced to participate in an "obscene video" at gunpoint with a woman he met through a matrimonial website, police said on Saturday.
The woman from Mathura, who was allegedly in on the plan to rob him, was working with other accomplices, the ex-armyman said in his complaint filed on Thursday.
According to Barsana Station House Officer (SHO) Raj Kamal Singh, Colonel Rajneesh Soni (retired), a resident of Gurugram, reported that he was contacted by a woman from Barsana on a matrimonial website in January. The woman allegedly agreed to marry him, and they began communicating.
The woman allegedly persuaded the colonel to visit Barsana on January 25, requesting that he visit the Radharani temple. When he arrived, she arranged for his stay at a guest house and took him on a tour of the area, including a visit to the temple, the complainant said.
After returning to the guest house, the woman and her accomplices allegedly told the colonel that her brother had been involved in an accident and they needed to leave immediately. They then led him to a waiting car.
"Once outside the town limits, the colonel alleges that he was attacked by the occupants of the car. They seized his phone, physically assaulted him, and forced him to contact relatives and friends to transfer money," the SHO said.
"He was then taken back to the guest house, where he was allegedly forced to participate in obscene videos and photographs at gunpoint. He was threatened that the videos would be made public if he reported the incident," the officer said.
The colonel has alleged that his purse, bag, gold chain, debit card and Rs. 12,000 in cash were stolen from the guest house.
After an unsuccessful attempt at locating the perpetrators himself, the colonel finally reported the incident to the Barsana police two days ago, he said.
"A case has been registered under relevant sections of the BNS and all facts are being investigated. Further action will be taken as per facts found in the investigation," the SHO said.
