[Reader-list] Selective condemnation of rape and murder has become bane of J&K politic

[Junaid]

Hi Sonia,

Thank you for sending across a slew of sordid reports suggesting how
Kashmir has become a den of sex, sleaze, and hypocrisy. Your posts are
complemented well by Kshmendra Kaul's post which asserts that
Kashmiris are compulsive liars, and Pawan Durani's forwards that
underscore how Kashmiris lie about human rights violations by the
Indian troops. Between the three of you, you have finally nailed the
true psyche of Kashmiris! But you know since sleaze is something that
defines the present state of politics in and about Kashmir, the nature
of what is written about it cannot entirely escape its shadow.

We have a history of making "noises" about rapes and molestations and
almost invariably we have been told by the Indian agencies and the
Indian media that we are wrong. The rape of dozens of women in
Kunan-Poshpora in Kupwara by the Indian army has been declared a
fabrication by the Indian govt and its intellegentsia. A number of
books (authored by pro-establishment people like Manoj Joshi, Tavleen
Singh etc) and tomes of news-stories have been manufactured to silence
our "hypocritical" "noise". Press Council of India put a stamp of
innocence on the Indian army units involved. (Only, we came to know
later that BG Verghese hadn't even visited the village or talked to
any victims). But that is too far in the past.

The reports of sexual abuse and exploitation of underage Kashmiri
girls by the pro-India politicians, the bureaucrats, and the top
officers of the paramilitary forces and the police, and the subsequent
investigations have led to nowhere. CBI didn't particularly prove
itself to be objective or free from political influence in that case.
See: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/highcourtnamesstringofvvipsinsexualabusecase/226255/

It is quite understandable that, after all this, the Kashmiri people
(and the sane people in India who see what CBI did to the Bofors case
and the Hawala scandal) don't trust its "reports". See:
http://kashmirprocess.com/news/20100104_GK_Wani.pdf

So, when you say "Based on the evidence that we have at the (moment) I
do not believe it was either rape or murder", I would like to know
what "evidence" are you talking about. What evidence do you have to
suggest that the two women found dead in knee-deep water were not
raped and murdered? If you have "evidence" it means you are suggesting
that the evidence points to an alternative scenario. What is that
scenario? Unless you are suggesting that both the women happened to
drown in the rivulet, in which even fish didn't have water enough to
swim! (Well, that scenario would not need evidence but a miracle... or
a dopey imagination!)

I am asking this because it seems you have an opinion on what actually
happened to the two women. After all, you call it a "tragic death": "I
feel wretched that 2 women died a tragic death and then they were
subjected to the worst kind of public scrutiny for months, their
sexual lives speculated upon, their characters ground down to the
dust.." You are right about the second part, of course. But the
question is who speculated on the character of the two women, or cast
aspersions about the role of Neelofar's husband? Who was most
interested in showing the women as bad-charactered?

Have you read these two reports:
http://www.kashmirprocess.org/reports/shopian/ and
http://www.kashmirtimes.com/shopian-report.pdf ? But these are
independent reports. What happened to the findings of the Jan
Commission? It was a govt report, right? It established rape and
murder. See http://www.hindu.com/nic/shopian/index.htm

In reality, even if I accept your (self-appointed) three-member
bench's unanimous conclusion about Kashmiris as liars, hypocrites, and
manipulators, don't you think it still keeps pointing to the single
most important thing about Kashmiri opinion about Indian rule over
Kashmir: that they don't like it at all. That Indian rule over Kashmir
has no democratic legitimacy?

Junaid