Jammu, November 12: A small news item in the newspapers on Wednesday went without much interest from the readers except by some who saw yet another incident of gun snatching attempt by a youth in Kashmir.
However those reading between the lines saw the whole incident in the context of the recent developments taking place in the country particularly the ‘intolerance’ debate which refuses to die down despite political pundits predicting otherwise after Bihar elections.
The news that a cop was wounded at Wanpoh Railway station by a youth studying in BA 2nd year trying to snatch his service rifle but was apprehended by the colleagues of the cop on duty might seem a routine news that keeps coming in from different parts of Kashmir but what baffles one is the way these serious incidents are being treated as small incidents not requiring much debate by the journalists as well as the administration in Jammu and Kashmir.
The cops particularly those working with central forces have been bearing the brunt of the militancy as they are fighting with a double edged sword that hurts them more than the enemy because the government they are fighting for is too busy to appease a section of the society to attend to the miseries of these cops.
These central forces are the target of the agitating youth whenever something happens in Kashmir and these cops are the ones who defend Kashmiris whenever anything untoward takes place but the irony is that if they are attacked the attackers are called ‘misguided innocent youth’ but if they defend the citizens by firing a shell or a round towards the attackers the security forces are termed as ‘intolerant’ criminals who misuse the uniform.
This double yardstick to measure the ‘intolerance’ is beginning to tell upon the morale of the security forces who have been avoiding confrontation in grave situations fearing legal wrangles in the aftermath.
The youth attacking cop to snatch gun can never be an innocent or misguided person exactly as the men in uniform can never be called ‘intolerant’ when they are actually following the orders of the government to maintain peace on the streets.
But in Jammu and Kashmir and Kashmir in particular where political setup has been giving new names to every incident according to their convenience or political requirement and here the cops firing on stone-pelters become hooligans in uniform while actual hooligans pelting stones on men in uniform become innocent youth whose human rights are being violated.
These double yardsticks to measure similar act is not good for the state or the nation and must be checked before it is too late and security forces refuse to be deployed in Kashmir for the fear of inviting unnecessary legal problems to defend the nation with the accidental killing of Gowhar being the latest example.
The nation must rise to the occasion and provide legal remedy to such people either under AFSPA or any other procedure as the nation cannot allow its security forces to be humiliated in Kashmir for defending the country and instead of bouquets getting brickbats that too from their own government.
It is a dangerous trend and if one looks back militants had adopted similar strategies in early 90’s when these incidents were overlooked by the conniving administration which later went out of control resulting in thousands of deaths.
Human rights are human rights and they must be same for everybody irrespective of whether he lives in Kashmir or any other part of India, until this balance is implemented in Kashmir, political class would continue to bleed India by adopting the strategy of eating the cake and having it too.