The Omar Abdullah government knows how to instill faith among the people of Kashmir. By heaping insult upon injury, of course. It has shamelessly been doing so for the past so many months, and it has done so again by reinstating four police officials who had been suspended after the sensational killing and rapes of two women in Shopian last year.
The suspension period of the four police officials has been treated as on-duty and they have been absolved of all charges. They have been reinstated on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) recommendations. So, they were on a paid holiday all these days.
The death of the two women — Neelofar (22) and her sister-in-law Asiya (17) — had triggered off massive protests across the Kashmir Valley last year with people accusing security forces of raping and murdering them. All evidence had pointed at CRPF jawans. Everyone knows what happened, except the CBI, of course. It’s in the business of exonerating suspects.
The CBI, in fact, had submitted its report in December 2009. The investigating agency had said that the duo, wife and sister of Shakeel Ahmad, had died due to a sudden rush in a nearby stream and had been washed away. The CBI ruled out rape, and instead claimed the injury marks were due to forceful water currents and the rocks. Instead of justice, you had a travesty.
The matter is still sub judice in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which has not yet accepted the CBI report as a convincing document. Reinstating the four policemen, thus, is cocking a snook at the judicial system. I will do as I please, seems Omar Abdullah’s way of doing things.
The Independent Women's Initiative for Justice has rightly called the government’s decision “another slap on the Shopian victims.” It has said, “It was due to the deliberate acts of omission and commission by the 4 police officers that crucial evidence which could have led to nailing the accused persons was destroyed and lost. The 4 cops should at the very least be charged with criminal negligence, grave dereliction of duty and destruction of evidence.”
But is the Omar Abdullah government anything about justice?
The government, prior to handing over the case to the CBI, had also set up a judicial commission headed by Justice (retired) Muzuffar Jan to probe the murders. As the protests gathered steam, the government suspended Shopian SP Javid Iqbal Matoo, deputy SP Rohit Baskotra, Inspector Shafiq Ahmad, and Sub-Inspector Gazi Alyas. The Jan Commission submitted a 400-page report which called for more investigation into the role of security forces personnel, but said the killings were likely the result of a family feud misrepresented by the media. It also indicted the four policemen for tampering with evidence.
The issue of justice had also been raised by a six-member International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir (IPTK) team. It found that the police and judicial investigations had not focused on the identification and prosecution of perpetrators, but instead had been looking for collaborators. Omar Abdullah probably threw it into a dustbin. Both figuratively, and otherwise.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had sat on the CBI clean chit all this while. It has chosen the right time to reinstate the four officials – when more than 100 people have been killed by security forces trying to quell civil disobedience protests, when the cries for freedom are at a feverish pitch, when its own existence is at stake over charges of ineptitude.
The Independent Women's Initiative for Justice said quite the same thing, “We are also shocked at the ill-conceived timing of this decision to reinstate the four police officers. Justice in Shopian has been very close to the hearts of Kashmiris for the last one year. At a time when the Valley has been on the boil for over three months, such acts of omission are likely to cause more provocation, hurt and desperation among the already alienated and angered population.”
The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister may be hard of hearing, but he is also what you would call a cool dude. He is extremely polished. The Indian media loves him. Omar Abdullah rocks. He probably needs more stone-pelting (incidents).
