What we have become?

• Amongst us (Hindus) today who does not have at least one relative or acquaintance who hates Muslims?
• In the independent India where the exploitative British regime was over, it was a country peopled with liberal myths and socialist dreams. It was agreed that the state and the judiciary would follow the western institutions on which they were modeled.
• On January 19, 2018, in Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, an 8-year-old girl, Asifa Bano, disappeared for a week before her dead body was discovered by the villagers a kilometer away from the village. The post-mortem revealed that the girl had been drugged with a sedative before she was raped and murdered. Forensic evidence suggested that she had been held for several days by rapists. Strands of hair recovered from the temple matched those taken from the girl. The forensic examination stated that Bano had been raped multiple times by different men, and that she had been strangled to death, as well as hit in the head with a heavy stone.
• One of the protests, in support of the accused, was attended by two ministers from the BJP. The rape and murder, as well as the support the accused received, sparked widespread national outrage. In the face of widespread public criticism of his silence in the rapes in which either policemen or politicians from the ruling BJP are implicated – PM Narendra Modi on April 13, 2018 condemned the incidents and said justice would be done. He said the incidents had shamed the country and that the guilty would not be spared. Curiously, he refrained from referring to Kathua or Unnao by name, adding that such incidents are an attack on human values regardless of the state or area they have occurred.
• Kashmir's lawmakers marched to save the policemen from being charged with rape and destruction of evidence. Women too marched to defend the rapists: because they are Hindu and the child who was gang-raped and killed was the daughter of a Muslim goatherd. It is impossible, when this level of mental sickness and brutality coalesce, to do anything more than fall into the silence of absolute despair. Until then an overwhelming rage sweeps away the despair.
• There is no horror in these things as they happen to someone else. If you are affluent enough to fly, if you are not a minority, you are forever in a bulletproof, air-conditioned cocoon. But what is it like not to have the cocoon?
• Muslims are silent somewhere. They are feeling cornered, besieged by the sense of hunting dogs coming after them. This is not the country we grew up in together, the necessity of secularism drummed into us. It was still a country in which parents were more likely to teach you about morality and manners, not sheer human survival.
• What can you do as an ordinary citizen trying to survive in a country run by criminals? What can you do when you see your protectors turn into killers? Everyone is not a soldier or a lawyer or an activist. Everyone's usefulness lay in doing their own work.
• 49 former civil servants wrote to the Prime Minister: In Kathua in Jammu, it is the culture of majoritarian belligerence and aggression promoted by the Sangh Parivar, which emboldened rabid communal elements to pursue their perverse agenda. They knew that their behaviour would be endorsed by the politically powerful and those who have made their careers by polarizing Hindus and Muslims across a sectarian divide. Even more reprehensible than such abuse of power, is the response of the state government in hounding the victim of rape and her family instead of the alleged perpetrator that shows how perverted governance practices have become. Prime Minister, these two incidents are not just ordinary crimes where, with the passage of time, the wounds inflicted on our social fabric, on our body politic and the moral fibre of our society will heal and it will soon be business as usual. This is a moment of existential crisis, a turning point -- the way the government responds now will determine whether we as a nation and as a republic have the capacity to overcome the crisis of constitutional values, of governance and the ethical order within which we function.
• Paakhi Jain (15), a student of Delhi's School wrote: During the Navaratras, you worship us, girls. At other times, you rape us. We don't want such worship. Improvising on civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr's speech, she added ... I have a dream that no girl, no woman will be tortured or molested or raped in the future. I have a dream that humanity will be the supreme religion of this nation one day.
• Vrinda Grover, lawyer and human rights and women's rights activist, said: Don't expect much from the politicians. The rape cases today can't just be called sexual crimes. These are hate crimes -- disgusting, despicable crimes of pure hatred. And this hatred that has been planted in us, which is used to incite us every day -- it is done by the ones we handed over the reins of the country to, the ones responsible for the smooth running of the State. These politicians in power want us to hate each other, turn us against each other. The women and children face no danger from the border; they are in danger from within the country. We demand you revisit the Budget. We don't care how many fighter jets you buy, our daughters' safety does not depend on it. If we keep silent when a few powerful men rape us, then these men will keep raping us more. They should know, we can get angry too. We can take to the streets too. We must change this rape culture.
• Deepika Singh Rajawat, lawyer for the eight-year-old girl from Kathua, said: I am the mother of a five-year-old girl. Today when my daughter gets into her school van, I have my heart in my mouth because I want to see my daughter return home to me afterwards. This is the state of affairs in our country, and the man responsible is a custodian of our society. Mr. Prime Minister ... Your MLAs provoke the masses, and say 'destroy compassion, destroy peace'. These politicians tell the accused 'we are with you, the ones arrested will be freed, and we will ensure that no one else is arrested'. Wow, what leadership! What a country! Today, our civil society faces a grave threat from within. We say we are proud citizens of our country, we chant 'Jai Hindustan, jai humanity', Mr. Prime Minister says he will save our daughters. It is your people who are responsible for Kathua and Unnao. Why is our society silent? Why is there only a Deepika who is ready to get her head cut off?

Read the source article

PM Modi condemning the incident after weeks of stoic silence only after public outrage and President Kovind after few more days speaks very poorly about their real intentions. Their delayed condemnation is as good as approving rape of Muslims by Hindu fundamentalists. Modi facing NRI protests in London etc in his recent foreign trip is testimony of his falling graphs. These RSS elements in the seats of power have no respect for individual rights especially of Muslims & Christians. These minority fears were rightly expressed by Hamid Ansari few days before he laid down the office of VP and PM Modi and VP elect Venkaiah Naidu violently reacting and pouncing on him in Rajya Sabha. Where are we heading as a nation?

Special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh

JAGDEEP SINGH
CBI Judge, Panchakula, Haryana

• Jagdeep Singh is Additional District and Sessions Judge at the Panchkula district court and was designated as CBI judge in April 2016.
• The Special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh sentenced Dera Sacha Sauda chief & the self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to 10 years in prison on Aug 28, 2017. He is also accused in two murder cases, and forcing 400 followers to undergo castration at his dera so they could “get closer to God”.
• Singh pronounced godman guilty of raping two women followers, on Aug 25, 2017, is known for his competence and toughness. Eyewitnesses recall how he didn’t let the tense atmosphere in Haryana’s Panchkula -- more than 200,000 dera followers had camped in the city -- to unfaze him as he walked into the court.
• In the aftermath, at least 30 people were killed and 300 injured on Aug 25, 2017 when clashes broke out in this Haryana town after a court convicted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of raping two of his followers 15 years ago, sparking fury among thousands of supporters who had gathered days ahead. As news of the conviction spread, there were reports of violence in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
• He was a bright student and is considered a very hardworking and upright officer. A very competent, tough and upright judge with a no-nonsense attitude. That is how Singh is described by his colleagues in the legal fraternity. Singh likes keeping a low profile and is a man of few words. But all those who know him vouch for his competence and integrity.
• In Sep 2016, Jagdeep Singh was on his way to Hisar from Panchkula when he stumbled upon a group of four people who had met with a fatal accident. Singh first called the emergency ambulance helpline number when an operator told him “Will the Ambulance Come Flying?”, and that was enough to awaken the godly nature of Jagdeep Singh. Without wasting any time, Singh stopped a private vehicle and took the injured people to the hospital without waiting for anyone’s help. Such is the charisma of the justice who stood true to his designation and became the saviour of the innocent souls. All four lives were saved.

Haryana meyhem after Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's conviction

The Indian judiciary holds the key towards protecting Indian citizens and people like Jagdeep Singh make us believe that the system is for the betterment of people and not just a deception. The nation is proud to have a judge like Jagdeep Singh who stood for the truth no matter what the odds were. We definitely need more people like him when it comes to staying true to law, despite facing tremendous opposition.

What army is doing in Kashmir?

Army's role is primarily to secure frontiers from external threats and police to maintain internal law & order.

• Kashmir valley's population is over 9 million of which 96% are Muslims. 60% of the Valley’s population is below the age of 30 with shrinking job avenues. 
• Notwithstanding other achievements of Narendra Modi, Kashmir will be the scene of his biggest failure unless a dramatic breakthrough in the near future. Such a feat will justify J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's belief that only Modi can solve the state's problems.
• The low polling percentage of 7% in last month's Srinagar parliamentary by-poll was a sign of the erosion of popular faith in the electoral process since 2014, when the assembly polls registered 66% voting, a 10% per cent jump from 2008.
• Everyone is feeling choked because the political system has failed to deliver. After PDP tied up with the ultra-nationalist BJP, the space has shrunk even more for the youngsters who have gravitated towards militancy.
• Today, the Army is a part of daily life in Kashmir. New generations of Kashmiris have grown up living next door to military camps while the army too has learnt more about dealing with the Valley. The army lives in the self-belief that it has won the hearts of people in insurgency-hit areas. 
• Kashmir remains the most militarized zone in the world.
• Anywhere between 6.5 lakh to 7.5 lakh [security personnel] are there in Jammu and Kashmir. If you take the Army’s total strength, half of it is there. 
• The ground reality in Kashmir is that in 2013, 31 local youths joined militancy, the number for 2015 (till Sept) jumped to 66, according to police records.
• In Kashmir, security forces are regularly targeted by militants to intimidate people and discourage local youngsters from joining the government forces that have been fighting insurgency that broke out in 1989 and has since killed more than 40,000 people.
• The ratio of police to people is the highest in Kashmir, than any state. 
• It is like a prison-like reality in Kashmir and expect its people to be silent.
• There were only 150 militants in the state last year. Do we need 7 lakh soldiers to fight 150 militants?
• The total number of militants killed in Kashmir since 1990 is 21,000. Of them, only 3,000 were foreign militants.
• If people were told the truth that Kashmiris don’t want to be with India, and the struggle here is sustained by them primarily, and there is very limited external support – the public opinion in India too would change. 
• Not to allow the public opinion to change, campaign about Pakistan-sponsored proxy war are told. Indian electronic media is a part of India’s military strategy in Kashmir.
• The State Human Rights Commission said in an ongoing case that 570 people buried in the three districts in North Kashmir as foreign militants were later identified as local Kashmiris.
• There are at least 8,000 families which claim their members disappeared over the last 25 years. 
• Many Indian soldiers have raped Kashmiris. In the last 25 years, there have been hundreds of women who came forward to file cases of rape. It is very difficult to persuade them to file cases for fear reprisals from the Army. There are also issues of social stigma and non-deliverance of justice. 
• Sexualised and gendered violence cases are about 7,000. This include boys being sodomized, male rapes as well. It would be very difficult to prove a rape. You can hardly call it sex with consent by sex workers, when someone has a gun in his hand and asks a woman to have sex, and she agrees.
• So far there have been no conviction for encounter, rape, custodial killings, disappearances or torture in Kashmir.
• Army using a ‘human shield’ tying a militant in front of Jeep, similar to that of LTTE using children as human shields, and later army justifying and commemorating this action further widens the alienation. This is in gross violation of human rights.
• The utterances of senior BJP leaders are having a direct impact on the ground situation here. Beef was never an issue here and is hardly consumed but after the Haryana CM told Muslims they could live in India provided they stopped eating it, anger is growing and people are fearing the rise of the BJP. Muslims don’t fear death, rather prefer dying with honour rather than living a life of shame under oppression.
• Despite Modi's earlier admonition, the saffron lobby's continuing opposition to inter-faith affairs and the description of Mughal emperors like Babur and Akbar as "invaders", as by UP CM Yogi Adityanath recently recalling the castigation of Muslims as unpatriotic "Babur ki aulad" (children of Babur) during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement further alienates Kashmiris.
• The problem is essentially political. Financial packages announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not the balm people need. You cannot throw money at the problem. If you think Modi will come here and announce a package and people will forget, that’s not going to happen.
• The appearance of schoolgirls on the streets to join the teenage boys to throwing stones at the security forces shows that the familial and social norms are breaking down.
• Hemmed in by bunkers, curfews and frequent internet bans, people are searching for dignity and justice. The tragedy is that like in the past over two decades, neither Srinagar nor New Delhi is wising up to the new reality and looking beyond security perspectives.
• The ground beneath Kashmir’s feet is indeed slipping.

My View:
Army can be used to conduct a specific operation in civilian areas similar to that of "Operation Steeplechase" to weed out Naxalites and "Operation Bluestar" to flush out militants from Golden Temple but it is the duty of politicians and police to establish normalcy and maintain law & order. Prolonged presence of Army in large numbers in Kashmir, while weeding out militants inflicts atrocities on civilians, and will only complicate the issue and alienation would be total and irreversible. The only solution is to make Kashmiris feel that they are equal citizens of the nation and engage them politically and economically, otherwise we may very well end up losing Kashmir and for Kashmiris it would be from frying pan to fire.