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Mufti on the back foot

Mufti on the back foot

Author: Khursheed Wani
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 30, 2003

"For a skeletal Chunni Lal, 65, the lone survivor of the March 23 massacre at Nadimarg village of Kashmir, where 24 innocent Kashmiri Pandits - including women and infants - were gunned down, the words of sympathy and solidarity mean nothing. Even on the day the funerals took place, journalists, medicos and hordes of politicians and administration officials came out to console Chunni Lal, but vanished as dusk approached. Lal, and many of his relatives and neighbours, had to go off to sleep without taking any meals till new groups of "sympathisers" arrived the other day at their remote South Kashmir village.

For the common man in Kashmir, Nadimarg is yet another mass killing of innocents, just another statistic among the dozens of massacres that have taken place during the 13 years of insurgency in the troubled state. The official machinery may claim to have achieved many breakthroughs, but the real culprits of the carnage are unlikely to be caught and brought to book. There have been instances when massacre files were closed down. A testimony of the assertion lies at the Ganderbal police station, which has closed down the file of January 26, 1998, Wandhama massacre in which 23 Pandits were ruthlessly killed.

The Nadimarg massacre has, however, exposed many skeletons in the government's cupboard, as well as the designs of vested interests whose relevance stands exclusively by perpetuating terror. The blood bath took place despite the fact that the victims, who had got wind of what was in store for them through the unprecedented movement of unknown gunmen in the village and nearby areas, tried to seek help from the authorities.

`We approached the nearby Zainapora police station and the District Commissioner, Anantnag, for additional security. We also informed them about the suspicious-looking people moving around,' said Satish Kumar, who gave the killers a slip on the fateful night but lost his wife and son. The state administration is yet to explain why the Pandits' concerns were summarily ignored. It may punish police personnel for surrendering arms, ammunition and wireless sets, but the officers concerned would get away unscathed.....

If the statistics maintained by a prominent newspaper are any barometer, the Mufti's phase of governance has not brought down the level of violence, and it is also the general perception."
 


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