IT IS a real story of North Kashmir. No, I am not talking of any ‘kalyug’ or ‘Ravan Raj’. It is the story of a land once proclaimed to be “Agar bahist-e-bareen bar sar-ey zameen ast; hameen ast, hameen ast, hameen ast (if there is a paradise upon earth then it is here, it is here, it is here)”
It is a story of treachery and hatred, it is story of cold blood murders. Who will guard the guards? Who will pay if the cheques issued by government are returned by government? Could you believe that men from security forces could masquerade as terrorists and kill innocent citizens? If one has to believe the police investigation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the residents of Nadihal town namely Shahzad Khan, Riyaz Ahmed Lone and Shafi Lone were kidnapped by rogue troopers in April and were killed in a staged encounter. Would you like to know the background of these hapless luckless victims? Shahzad Khan used to sell fruits from the roadside cart in Baramulla; Riyaz Ahmed used to repair automobiles in Sangrama; Shafi was a daily wages labour. They all were the bread-winners of their families.
It took more than eight weeks of investigations to identify and nail the marauders. However, the authorities are refusing to hand over the persons indicted for killing to stand trial in a civilian court and it is being said that action would be taken against them under military law. The local authorities had issued the families of the encounter victims Rs 1,00,000 each last month. The cheques were handed over to the bereaved families as a gesture to demonstrate the government’s commitment to support victims of human right violations.
The cheques bounced as they did not bear signatures!
I wasn’t surprised when I read a slogan by a Kashmiri youth “Tumhara khoon khoon hai; Hamara khoon pani hai!”
