Editorial
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| | Unjustified curbs | | Srinagar was under siege for 5 days to prevent people from expressing their shock and grief | | Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s justification for the curbs placed on the movement of the people to prevent them from demonstrating their shock and anger over the devastation due to fire of the shrine of Peer Dastgir Saheb in Khanyar betrays both the ruling elite’s arrogance of power and fear from freedom, The shrine was not only a great architectural marvel but is also considered one of the most revered places of worship in Kashmir, It has been a symbol of Kashmiris spiritual and cultural heritage. The protests against the destruction of such a holy place, which hurt their spiritual and cultural sensibilities, were not only natural but also spontaneous. To describe this people’s demonstration of reverence for the shrine and anger over its destruction as some kind of mischief is indeed uncalled for. There was certainly no justification for preventing the people from visiting the site to express their shock over the grave tragedy.
For five days Srinagar city was virtually under siege with all roads blocked with barbed wires and barricades, securitymen posted in every nook and corner of the city, preventing people from moving out of their houses. The people passed through nightmarish experience due to this undeclared curfew with the educational institutions closed. The people were not allowed even to go to the places of worship to offer their prayers. Brutal force was used to disperse those who managed to come out of their houses to visit the gutted shrine. A large number of separatist leaders were either put under house arrest or arrested to prevent them from visiting the shrine while the leaders of the ruling alliance were facilitated to visit the shrine under tightest security measures. The government may claim, under a false notion, that it prevented the “ mischief-mongers from disturbing the peace. But what actually prevailed was the peace under the shadow of guns, peace of the grave yard.
If the peace and normalcy returned to the city after five days trauma, the credit goes to the people who certainly desire peace, not the peace of the graveyard for which the authorities claim credit, but peace with dignity and honour, peace with justice, which has been denied to them. It is indeed a tribute to their political maturity and sense of responsibility that instead of prolonging the shutdown, caused by the official curbs, they resumed their normal activities.
The chief minister has justified the curbs placed on the people’s movement through an undeclared curfew saying that some people wanted a repeat of 2010. He needs to understand that the mayhem of 2010 was caused due to the human rights abuses committed by the police and other security forces, use of brutal force to prevent peaceful protests against such abuses and the failure of the government in ordering independent probe into such violations of human rights. It was the State violence that provoked the youngsters to come on the streets for lodging their protest. The situation worsened only when the security forces opened the mouths of their guns to disperse the demonstrators, some of whom were retaliating by pelting stones on them. It was the state action in killing over 200 youth, arresting hundreds of them, including children, under the draconian Public Safety Act which escalated the trouble. Instead of learning appropriate lessons from the events of 2002 the chief minister and his government have been adopting the same strong-arm methods to stifle the voice of the people. |
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