Inaction of Omar’s govt

The communal violences in Kishtwar, Doda and other parts of Jammu region is the result of the sheer inaction of the Omar Abdullah government. It was forewarned a few months earlier by the Intelligence bureau and a senior police officer that there might be communal violence in Kishtwar. But the Omar govt. did not take any notice. It has utterly failed to control violences and their spread to other districts of Jammu region. The communal violence in Kishtwar is not new. It has been a communally sensitive district of Jammu region. So, the government should always be alive to thwart the attempt of communal forces to create communal violences. The developing situation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in view of the LoC incident in which five Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush by the specialist group of Pak army had already charged the atmosphere communally in the region. It is true that a certain political party leaders gave anti-India slogan in the tense atmoshphere of Kishtwar and they deliberately created communal tension to cause violence to polarize the community and take political benefit of the situation in the coming elections. Though Chief Minister Omar Abdullah asked state Home Minister Sajjad Kitchloo to resign as he was charged by the opposition BJP and others to instigate communal violence in Kishtwar, which is also his assembly constituency, he resigned but Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his father Union Minister Farooq Abdullah did not restrain themselves from politicizing the Kishtwar communal violence by asking the BJP why its Chief Minister of Gujarat Naraendra Modi did not allow any one to enter Gujarat in the aftermath of Godhra train burning tragedy that led to one of the worst riots in 2002. The opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was not allowed to go to Kishtwar as he was detained at airport itself and so was done with PDP boss Mehbooba Mufti by disallowing her to visit there. With the beginning of communal violence in Kishtwar that took three innocent lives and injured scores, eight districts out of 10 have come in the grip of communal violence. It is not only in Jammu and Kashmir but also in the entire country the first and foremost responsibility of both the state and central governments is to protect the lives and property of the minority community wherever they are living from the wrath of majority community so that there could be no migration and their resettlement . The experience of the exodus of minority Pandit community because of one-sided violence against them by the secessionist forces of majority community of Jammu and Kashmir in 1990s is still fresh. Pandits of Jammu and Kashmir were driven out of their homeland by the secessionist elements who were getting support from across the border in 1990s. So, the state government of Jammu and Kashmir with full support of the Centre must take strictest action to stop the communal violence and develop communal amity forthwith. Otherwise, our enemies are sitting across the border to fish in troubled water so that communal flare up could not be stopped. Though Omar Abdullah government has already ordered for judicial probe of the Kishtwar violence, the role of his former Home Minister Kitchloo must also be probed. His order for banning social site like twitter as preventive measure against the spread of rumors is understandable but preventing the entry of mainline media in Kishtwar reflects attemp to conceal his failure to control the communal violence. The leaders of All-party delegation must also visit communal violence affected Kishtwar and other places to help the government restore peace and communal amity. No political motive should be pursued to take political advantage out of communal violence by any political party.