By Pratik Goyal:
If there is heaven on earth, then that place is Kashmir. Kashmir is without a doubt the crown jewel on the face of the earth, always exquisitely beautiful, the most picturesque state in India. Located in the lap of the Great Himalayan range and covered in south by Pir Panjal range, Kashmir is the source of the river for the valleys below. But beauty may become a curse sometimes and similar has been the case with Kashmir. Since 1947 Kashmir has been torn down into three parts, one controlled by India, second by Pakistan and third by China. Rebellion in 1947 and hence has put many scars on this paradise and anyone with idea that that wars which have been fought over Kashmir has made people suffer then they should think again.
The recent WikiLeaks cable has projected a blood-chilling face of the Indian Army and the law enforcement agencies in Kashmir. As per these reports, International Committee of Red Cross had briefed the US diplomats of the gross human rights violation of the detainees including measures like electrocution, beating, and sexual humiliation etc. as a systematic method of getting information of militants in the valley. Others basic rights denied include denial of fair trial, suppression of religious freedom, suppression of freedom of peaceful assembly and association, suppression of freedom of speech and press, opprobrious treatment of elderly, repression against holding peaceful demonstrations. And the timing of these leaks could not have been worse with the rising internal tensions in Jammu and Kashmir over the abuse by security forces when the militants insurgency has fallen. Kashmir separatists also took advantage of the leaks and strengthened their positions.
2005 Briefing cable of ICRC on Wikileaks indicates that Government of India condones or overlooks these tortures which have been going on. While some of law enforcement officers have questioned the credibility of report and while others have completely denied it, but even if there is 1% truth in this report then that it is a shame for our nation, for us as its people and for the ever so proud Indian Army and the other law enforcement agencies.
While countries like US are maintaining a neutral stance on this issue as is revealed by the cables, this dispute over Kashmir has to be solve because this may take an even uglier turn since both India and Pakistan have a considerable arsenal of nuclear weapons, Kargil War was one thing, we don’t want a nuke war added to the history of the nations. Even after the leaks, are we doing anything?