Sopore killing by militants: Where is the outrage?

New Delhi, July 25 (ANI): Militants shot dead a civilian, Mohsin Ahmed Wani, in Sopore town of Baramulla district, while another person escaped an attack in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir yesterday.

Reacting sharply to the incident, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: "A young man was shot dead in Sopore yesterday for no apparent fault of his. Where the hell are all the irate voices??? Bloody hypocrites."

He also tweeted: "Mohsin was a businessman, doing business in Sopore. Shot by militants last night. No wonder my timeline is silent, as it wasn't by the army/police"

His anger is justified. Last week, when the alleged rape incident happened in Kulgam in South Kashmir, Abdullah was bombarded by tweets, calling him all sorts of names.

With one stroke, the army was vilified, much to the delight of some Pakistani twitterers, who retweeted these tweets with glee.

Journalists on twitter were flooded with calls for Azadi, mostly from anonymous twitterers, supposedly from Kashmir. If any moderate Kashmiri used the word 'alleged' rape in a tweet (which incidentally is the legal way to report a rape incident till it is proved), he was labeled an 'Indian agent' in Kashmir.

Abdullah reacted immediately then, calling for restraint, saying the guilty will not be spared if the case was true.

Sure enough, an immediate investigation was ordered and a special investigation team (SIT) of police formed to probe the alleged abduction and rape of the lady.

She lives in Manzgam, Gujjardar village in south Kashmir's Kulgam district. She alleged that she was kept hostage in the Cheranbal Forests, close to her home.

Preliminary medical examination did not confirm any marks of violence on the woman's body. The Hurriyat was not interested to know the facts, or, in the pursuit of justice in a sensitive case like rape.

It called for bandhs and protests. The bandhs also timed for the arrest of an American of Kashmiri origin, Ghulam Nabi Fai in America, for violating American laws and for lobbying for the Pakistani spy agency, ISI. Absurd did you say? Hmm.

But a bandh call in Kashmir is like a Swiss Army knife. It has multiple uses. Preventive arrests were made and the forces were out on the streets. The peace and calm of June marred once again by rumours and threats of a return of violence.

Editorials and articles with screaming headlines spelling doom and destruction once again for the Valley appeared in ultra liberal newspapers here and the ultra right in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the rape controversy took a new turn, when the husband and mother-in-law of the woman, claimed before the police that she suffered from mental illness and was at her home in South Kashmir on the day she claimed she was sexually abused. This got buried in some newspapers in the inner pages; the bandh and the 'alleged rape' are still on the front page.

Kashmir being a 'conflict zone' has nuances and shades in truth. That is probably the reason that a young man's death yesterday has provoked no outrage. Political parties and the separatists are silent. Militants killed him, so, if they raise their voices, they could be the next targets and be labeled as 'Indian agents' or 'National Conference stooges'.

Jumping to conclusions about the army is so much easier. Gets you fan following. So much harder to stick to the truth even if it takes time to unravel. (ANI)

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