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Kashmir conflict-revisited

In early1980s, walking through the lush green fields, on crisp spring and summer mornings, on my way from the student hostel to the chemis...

Saturday, January 5, 2013

And then they talk about conscience

On that December night when those inhuman barbarians were brutalizing a young girl and her companion, the Indian capital Delhi went about its business in oblivion. They were driven around the city for two hours; they could driven them anywhere even close to colonial government quarters of the capital, where the inhabitants still live in Raj era. And then the victims were thrown out on the road naked and almost dead and spectacularly, not a single passerby came to help them. People stopped and gawked at them and left. Even final advent of police personal didn't help much, because they got bogged down in feudal dispute over the turf. One victim had to help another into a vehicle. The young victim has already departed this world and now the remaining victim has tried to tell the real story and as it happens he is the only who actually knows what happened. And instead of some soul searching, the thugs of Delhi police are lining up to deny the account of that night by the only surviving witness. They moved quickly to file charges against the news channel that conducted the interview. Only if they had moved that night that quickly. The only thing that one learns from this barbaric incident is that nobody comes out unblemished. Public apathy was in complete synchronization with disgusting disinterest of the entire political class. The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a man with mentality of a petty bureaucrat that measures everything in terms of stock exchange numbers and growths per quarter, was at his pathetic best. The public apathy, until something triggered a stream of protests, has it origin in induced desensitization. When somebody would mention rape of women in Kashmir by Indian armed forces, those very members of the public would just snigger. The ex-army man, who had temerity to participate in the protests, has been on the record, viciously undermining gruesome Pathribal murders. And importantly, have those protests enlightened the residents of Delhi about the plight of Soni Suri. The unfortunate victim was brutalized by hardened thugs but those who brutalized Soni Suri have been awarded gallantry medals. And then they talk about conscience!
-Rajiv Kumar

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