Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR: People in Kashmir are sulking over Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s condolences on the death of New Delhi gang-rape victim, saying his “concern” clashed with his “insensitivity” back home.
“Rest in Peace, brave one,” Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site, Twitter.com.
Amanat (not her real name), 23, who was raped by a group of men in a moving bus in the capital died at a Singapore hospital on Saturday. Like elsewhere, earlier this week Kashmiris took out demonstrations to show sympathy with her and to demand sterner punishment for the accused.
“We have experienced and we can feel the pain that the family of the Delhi girl are going through. We want that the culprits should be simply hanged,” said Asifa Khan, a university student.
But many are angry with the state’s chief minister, Abdullah who, they feel, has shown no concern about growing voices for “justice” for rape victims in Kashmir, particularly dozens of those who say they were raped by security forces in north Kashmir’s Kunanposhpura village in 1991.
“For others he prays for peace, but for our daughters he is emotionless. He has not bothered to utter a single word as the head of the state,” says Syed Shamim, a teacher.
“He is doing all this for keeping India happy: he knows his seat is safe as long as New Delhi trusts his sincerity and faith.”
As violent protests and outrage refused to die down across the country for days with the youth demanding sterner laws against rape, people in this region, where human rights activists have often accused security forces of such crimes against women, also found a chance to put forth their own concerns.
Debates and campaigns were rife on the internet, many of them saying it was time for the “Indian civil society to understand what women here have gone through”.
“We want justice for the rape victim in Delhi but at the same time we demand that justice for all such victims in Kashmir especially those who were raped in Kunan Poshpora in early 1990’s,” a group of protesters in Srinagar said.
An online petition read: “We demand action against the perpetrators of 1991 ‘mass- gang rape’ in Kunan Poshpora, Kashmir by Indian Army. We want the Govt. of India to behave sensibly in the matter and ACT NOW….”
‘Ramifications’
Dozens of women were allegedly raped by security forces during a crackdown in Kunan-Poshpora village in Kupwara district of north Kashmir on February 23, 1991, nearly two years after simmering discontent against New Delhi turned into a full blown rebellion.
Anger remains as people and human rights activists believe none of the security forces have been tried for crimes, including rape and staged killings.
Two days ago during the protests over Delhi gang-rape incident, Wajahat Habibullah, the chairman of the National Minorities’ Commission, took a dig at the former army chief, V K Singh asking him if he had ever inquired into allegations of rape against army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir.
“In his (Gen Singh’s) case, I am sorry to say so he was Commander-in-Chief of the army. There are, at least in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, massive allegations of rape against army. Were they ever enquired into? Was an effort made to bring justice?
Here was a case of rape. Regrettable, yes. But if he wants to join in condemnation of the government against that, has he taken into account various ramifications of that,” Habibullah, who belongs to this state told Gen Singh.
‘No action’
The Chief Minister’s comments have not earned him public ire for the first time.
In 2009, Kashmir valley witnessed massive outrage after two young women, sisters-in-law, were found dead in a knee-deep stream in south Kashmir’s Shopian area: Their family and local residents alleged they had been raped and murdered by soldiers of a neigbouring camp.
Abdullah had said: “Although we primarily believe it is a case of drowning but because peoples’ tempers are high, I order the constitution of a judicial commission to probe the incident so that truth is brought out.”
His comments caused anger among the protesting people who accused him of appointing the commission only to cover-up things.
Later, the country’s premier investigation agency, Central Bureau of Investigation, absolved policemen — detained for weeks and against whom the judicial commission levelled charges of destroying vital evidence — of all charges. The CBI said the women had only drowned and not raped or murdered.
But the victims’ families refused to accept the report.
