WHEN DELHI TURNED KASHMIR

By: Bilal Bashir Bhat

Police fired teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge and use of water cannons on Saturday to disperse thousands of people who had gathered at Raisina Hill close to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against the gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman in a bus seven days ago. 

These types of stories can only be reported from Kashmir, as Kashmir is the hub of Stone Pelting whatever the reasons are.

After 2010 Kashmir agitation National channels felt mum regarding the same type of protests related to Kashmir. Indian Media while showing their Hypocrisy broadcasted the whole coverage live throughout the day. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within no time directed home minister Sushilkumar Shinde to ensure sense of security in Delhi. Central Cabinet Minister RPN in a live interview said "Government is hearing them (the protesters) loud and clear”.

These types of statements and initiatives was also the need of hour since June 2010 after Tufail Matoo was brutality killed, perhaps that could have saved almost 120 precious lives. 

However generally world and particularly Kashmir understands the significance, pain and the grief of these protests held in Delhi as whole Kashmir was boiled consequently after the gory year in 2009 after the alleged abduction; gang rape and murder of two young women in mysterious circumstances came into news. There were violent protests against the incident, as it was alleged that CRPF personnel are behind raping and murdering of Neelofar and Asiya. Shopian rape and murder case agitation gripped the whole valley which results the death of almost 60 youth. Finally the case was handed over to CBI.

This incident and those protests of 2009 were too unnoticed in National Media against recent rape incident in New Delhi. 

History is the witness of another incident of Kunan Poshpora Kupwara where at least 53 women were allegedly gang-raped without any consideration of their age, married, unmarried, pregnancy etc gang raped by  Indian army during a search and interrogation operation in the village Kunan Poshpora village.  The United States Department of State, in its 1992 report on international human rights, rejected the Indian government's conclusion, and determined that there was "was credible evidence to support charges that an elite army unit engaged in mass rape in the Kashmiri village of Kunan Poshpora.  Even according to Human Rights Watch statics the number of raped women could be as high as 100.

Despite these quoted statements the Indian investigations agencies termed this incident as "baseless. 

Anyways such cases and incidents are condemnable according to my opinion it’s only the path of Islam which not only secure girl but felicitates her respect too.  However Indian media and the people of India should also feel the pain of Kashmiries who witnessed such various incidents during past many years.

(The writer can be reached at: bilalbashirbhat@gmail.com)