Jammu on edge over Kathua horror What pride can there be in losing out on justice?
FAULT LINES Tension over a state police crime branch charge sheet in the January gang rape and murder of an 8yearold in Kathua has strained the BJPPDP alliance
NEWDELHI/SRINAGAR: The gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Muslim community of Bakarwals in Jammu’s Kathua district has polarised the region on communal lines and once again exposed fault lines in the ruling coalition between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jammu and Kashmir.
Two BJP ministers in the state government led by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti questioned the role of the police, which has filed a charge sheet against eight people in the case, naming a retired revenuedepartmentofficial asthemastermind of the plot. According to the charge sheet, the accused wanted Bakarwals to move out of his village, Rasana in Kathua.
On Wednesday, the Jammu high court bar association organised a Jammu bandh (shutdown) to protest against the “targeting of minority Dogras” in the case. The two BJP leaders — industries and commerce minister Chander Parkash Ganga and forest minister Lal Singh — hit out at the police for arresting “one or the other person at will” and demanded that the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). They also took part in the ensuing protest.
The girl disappeared close to her home in the forests next to Rasana village on January 10. Her body was found a week later, with the police saying she had been repeatedly raped.
“PDP has bent over backwards to allow ministers, legislators and proxy support groups of the BJP the space to obstruct justice and shield the culprits,” National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said, reacting to the news of the protests surrounding the charge sheet.
A group called the Hindu Ekta Manch recently held a rally with the Tricolour, opposing the settlement of Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes i n Kathua. It also demanded the release of a police officer accused of involvement in the rape and murder of the girl. Reports said the BJP’S state secretary was part of the march. The BJP, however, distanced itself from the group.
Chief minister Mehbooba has reacted sharply to the rally: “Appalled by the marches and protests in defence of the recently apprehended rapist in Kathua. Also horrified by their use of our national flag in these demonstrations, this is nothing short of desecration,” she tweeted.
The PDP has lost some of its sheen in the Kashmir valley after forming an alliance with the BJP in 2015. While much of Mehbooba’s tenure has been spent trying to douse violence, she has pushed the Centre for talks with Kashmiri separatists in the hope of assuaging the anger of locals. She met home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in the state.
Senior PDP minister Altaf Bukhari had said that his party would end the alliance with the BJP if it fails to deliver justice in the rape and murder case, soon after the National Conference trained its guns on the PDP for the ministers’ participation in the rally. Junaid Mattu, a spokesperson for the NC, attacked Mehboobainatweet..“knowingallthe facts - and seeing how her Cabinet Colleagues openly tried to shield the rapists and murderers of (the girl) - If Mehbooba Mufti still sits with these people in the Government — it will be the lowest ebb of her political career.”
Jammu backed the BJP and the Valley voted in large numbers to keep the BJP out.
Despite the hard political reality that makes the BJP and the PDP strange bedfellows, Mufti was clear that joining hands was the only way forward. In the middle of nail-biting negotiations, Sayeed flew out to Mumbai to play a few hands of bridge.
There, in the financial capital, he also chose to do a few interviews, one of which was with this paper.
“Ideologically we are the North Pole and the South Pole but the state has given us a historic opportunity to unite Jammu with Kashmir and to unite the state with India. It is important to connect the two regions and I believe I can do it. I am saying, delegate the responsibility to me. VP Singh (the late former PM) used to tell me that politics is the art of possibility and of managing contradictions. Let me tell you on record, I want to leave a legacy. I see an opportunity to mend the divide... and I will form a government only with the BJP, or I’m out,’’ Mufti had said to HT.
Mufti had the philosophical wisdom to back the decision he took then, but into its fourth year in power, Mehbooba must ask what kind of ‘legacy’ she is promoting by being part of an alliance that is clearly being stretched to its seam.
She has lost control of south Kashmir – PDP’S stronghold – where statistics back the contention that one young Kashmiri is joining the militant fold every three days. In Jammu, which must appear very distant to her — many miles further than it was during Mufti’s time — the BJPbacked lawyers association is waving the national flag to whip up a fervour in support of rapists and murderers.
Politicians have taken great pride in referring to J&K as the jewel in India’s crown. What pride, they must ask, can there be, in preventing a charge sheet from being filed; from justice being denied and finally, from deepening political and communal fault lines being drawn?
TWO BJP MINISTERS IN THE STATE GOVT HAVE QUESTIONED THE ROLE OF THE POLICE AND DEMANDED THAT THE CASE BE HANDED
OVER TO THE CBI