(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist)
Vol. XXXIV
No.
26
June
27,
2010
EDITORIAL
Turmoil in Kashmir
THE
last two weeks have seen Kashmir in
turmoil.
The death of a teenage student, Tufail Ahmed Mattoo, who allegedly died
due to
injuries suffered by a teargas shell fired at a demonstration in Srinagar led to
protests
in the streets. Subsequently, two more young men have died in police
firing
during successive rounds of protests, Rafiq Bangroo and Javed Ahmed
Malla. The
latest incident having occurred on June 20 when a paramilitary police
picket
fired when they came under attack by a crowd. There was a complete
strike in
the valley on June 21 in protest against the killing.
Though
there has been a sharp drop in the extremist violence, the alienation
of the
people is expressing itself through mass protests and strikes whenever
there are
atrocities committed by the security forces. In early May, there was
the
shocking revelation that three young men from villages in North Kashmir were lured by the promise of jobs
and taken to the Line of
Control and shot dead by an army unit, who later claimed that they had
killed
extremists when they were trying to cross the LoC. Such incidents have
further angered
the people and provided a handle for the separatist forces to step up
their
propaganda. Despite the prime minister’s assurance of zero tolerance
towards
human rights violations, little was done to punish those in the armed
forces
who have indulged in such atrocities.
In
order to restore normalcy, it is imperative that the state government
and the central
authorities take firm action against those responsible for the death of
the
three youth.Given the tactics of the
hard-line separatist forces of inciting the youth to confront the
police
forces, maximum restraint should be observed and the stone throwing
youth must
be tackled without resorting to firing.
The
army is working under difficult conditions in Jammu & Kashmir
having to
protect the borders and tackle terrorist violence. But the stance taken
by the
Army Commander Lt Gen B S Jaiswal declaring that the Armed Forces
Special Powers
Act (AFSPA) is sacrosanct and should not be amended, is unwarranted.
The
experience of the AFSPA, both in the North East and in Jammu &
Kashmir,
shows that some of the draconian provisions of the Act tend to be
misused. It
is necessary to amend the Act, so that such arbitrary and unaccountable
provisions are removed.
What
stands out in the Jammu & Kashmir situation
currently is the complete lack of any political initiative by the
central
government.The prime minister’s visit
to Srinagar
in
the first week of June was remarkable for the lack of any worthwhile
political
initiative to tackle the basic problems. The round table talks have
gone
nowhere. The UPA government seems oblivious of the need to revive the
political
process whereby issues such as provision of maximum autonomy for the
state and
regional autonomy for the three regions can be discussed and
concretised
alongwith the dialogue with Pakistan
which is just beginning to resume. In the absence of such a political
initiative and the ineffectiveness of the National Conference-Congress
coalition government, the separatist forces represented by persons like
Syed
Ali Geelani are having a free run.It is
time that the Manmohan Singh government gets down to the serious
business of
providing the political framework for the process of dialogue and the
crystallisation
of a political settlement within the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
People's Democracy