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| Rumours are spread with malicious designs | | |
Rumours with some malicious designs
can set the forest on fire. And a false
rumour that a girl in Handwara was molested by an Army official, that was spread with the purpose of robbing the Kashmir valley of peace and tranquility, created a major law and problem on Tuesday , Wednesday and Thursday when besides Handwara and Kupwara areas under six major police stations were placed under curfew restrictions. It was but natural that the Government agencies had to deal firmly with the separatists who were quick in stoking fire during such incidents. As the new, rather rumour surfaced in Handwara about the molestation of a girl by an Army official enraged people clashed with the security forces and the security forces were compelled to open fire in which so far four people have died. As the death toll in security forces' firing reached four with a woman succumbing to her injuries, curfew-like restrictions and separatists' sponsored shutdown brought normal life to a standstill. Raja Begum, 70, who was hit by a bullet succumbed to her injuries in a Sringar hospital late Tuesday night.
The authorities imposed curfew in Handwara and Kupwara towns. Large parts of Srinagar were also placed under curfew-like restrictions. Most separatist leaders were either placed under house arrest or taken into preventive detention. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who has spoken to Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, said, "The Defence minister has assured me an inquiry and action against those who were involved (in the incident). The victim families too will be compensated. We will ensure such incidents do not take place in the future," said Ms. Mufti. The Army has regretted the killing and already ordered an inquiry. The probe will also look into the facts if the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was violated. The Army, however, has circulated a video of the girl on Wednesday wherein she claims she was not molested by the Army men, as alleged by the locals. The video is apparently taken by the police. "Under law circulating a video like this is a crime. It was recorded by the police and under police custody," said J-K Coalition of Civil Society (CCS) coordinator Khurram Pervez. Kupwara Deputy Commissioner Kumar Rajiv Ranjan, who has instituted a magisterial inquiry, said, "There are conflicting reports about who opened the fire. Some people say the police opened the fire and some say the army. It is a matter of investigation now."
The coalition Government led by Mehbooba Mufti is faced with severe challenges. The first shot was fired from the NIT, Srinagar where the local and non-local students engaged in a row over the former celebrating Indian cricket team's defeat at the hands of West Indies and the latter trying to celebrate India's win against Pakistan cricket team. These are two divergent postures adopted by the local and the non-local students. Since the non-local students were not aware of the growing anti-India feelings among people in the valley they felt shocked and scared over the developments forcing majority of the non-local students to stay away from the examinations as most of them have returned to their homes outside Srinagar demanding that a separate branch of the NIT be set up in Jammu which the Government has turned down. More important that the NIT developments has been the incident of killing of three people in the fire opened by the security forces. And if the probe confirms that either the police or the Army had opened fire it would add to the suspicions of people about the growing human rights violations being committed by the security forces. Now that the Army has ordered a probe and if some officials were given some exemplary punishment it would lower the level of anger among people. But if the probe establishes that there were people who were misled by rumours which resulted in the clashes between people and the security forces. It would be better for the Government agencies to expose people who had spread rumours about alleged molestation of a girl by an Army official. If that is done it would remove a number of misunderstandings and allow Mehbooba peaceful time so that she is able to carry out people friendly development schemes. |
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