New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) An acid attack on a 24-year old female in Srinagar’s old city has created ripples across Kashmir. The victim had reportedly refused the proposal of the accused which led to him taking the revenge in a barbaric way.
Till 1990, when the Pakistan sponsored insurgency engulfed Kashmir, acid attacks were not even heard of in the land of sufi saints and rishis.
Soon after the gun totting militants appeared in the Valley, they used acid as a weapon to terrify the fairer sex. In the beginning acid was thrown on women to make them wear a veil and later on it was used as a tool to confine them within the four walls of their homes.
Pakistan along with a gun also gifted acid as a weapon to people of Kashmir to keep them engaged in a conflict, which has not given a common man anything except pain, miseries and sorrows.
In 2001, a militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jabbar after carrying out an acid attack on a 14-year-old student issued a diktat that all women in Kashmir must wear a veil. The attack was carried out by four youths who were believed to be indoctrinated by the outfit for carrying out such heinous acts in the name of religion.
Lashkar-e-Jabbar carried out a series of acid attacks in the Valley in the end of 2001 to ensure that edicts issued by the outfit are followed by women in letter and spirit. In some cases activists of radical women group Dukhtaran-e-Millat were also accused of throwing acid on females who refused to follow the diktats issued by the Lashkar-e-Jabbar. However, after the security forces tightened their noose around the militants the outfit was wiped out providing respite to the women.
Roadside Romeos settle personal scores
The tactics used by the militants to stifle the fairer sex were used by the disgruntled roadside Romeos to settle scores with the women, who dared to say no to them. And unfortunately acid attacks like drug addiction have become a part of the Kashmir society. Thanks to Pakistan and its stooges in the Valley.
During the past three decades Pakistan has left no opportunity to pollute the minds of Kashmiri youth. The guns that were provided to them by the neighbouring country to fight the Indian Army—which defeated the Pakistan Army in conventional wars— have taken these youth to graveyards and have devastated the lives of their families.
Security Forces fight psychopaths
The barbaric acid attacks on women have ruined many lives. But the security forces in Kashmir have been at the forefront to curb such acts. The acid attacker involved in the recent crime has been arrested along with his two accomplices. The victim has been provided all the assistance by the government and is likely to be moved to Chennai for specialized treatment as she has lost her eyesight. No words are enough to express the trauma the young girl has undergone. Her face stands de-shaped and she has turned blind by an act of a psychopath, who will rot in jail for the rest of his life.
Youth want gun-culture to end
People of Kashmir too have realized that Pakistan during the past three decades has done no good with them. Instead it has used them as a tool to fight its proxy war. The recent acid attack has evoked condemnation from every section of the society. Young boys and girls have responded angrily and are mincing no words to make it clear that such heinous crimes have crept into Kashmir society due to the courtesy of Pakistan and the militants sponsored by it. People in Kashmir are civilized and they don’t approve such acts. They are no more interested in Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan or the so-called Azadi. They want to get rid of the gun culture which is the root cause of all the crimes prevalent in Kashmir. But Pakistan seems in no mood to let the people of Kashmir live a peaceful life. It wants the violence to prevail even after losing the three-decade long proxy war.
Disruption part of Pakistan’s Kashmir policy
Acts like acid attacks, stone-pelting, shutdowns and vandalizing public property are the part of Pakistan’s Kashmir policy as it helps the terror sponsors to keep the pot boiling. People of Kashmir are caught in a web and are finding it hard to come out of it. They don’t support separatist ideology anymore. The militant sympathizers have realized that the guns which they reared have turned towards them and are devouring Kashmir’s generation-next. But the people sitting across the Line of Control (LoC) are not ready to accept the defeat.
The advent of guns into Kashmir has had serious repercussions on the people. The youth who could have become torch bearers turned into criminals. Had the security forces not tightened the noose these miscreants would not have allowed anyone to even come out of their homes?
Till August 5, 2019—when the Centre announced its decision to abrogate J&K’s special status and divided it into two Union Territories—stone-pelters at the behest of Pakistani stooges used to take entire Kashmir hostage by resorting to violence on streets.
Call spade a spade
But during the past two years Kashmir has changed for the good. The hate mongers have been dealt with sternly and the ones who preached secessionism, violence, separatism and hatred have been put behind the bars. The radical organizations preaching and justifying violence have been banned.
People of Kashmir need to understand that the government only cannot help them. They have to stand on their own feet to end the gun-culture — the root cause of all the crimes prevalent in Kashmiri society — to live a dignified life. Till the gun and the militants sponsored by Pakistan keep on getting the support in Kashmir, people will continue to suffer. Senseless killings, acid attacks and other subversive activities will continue. If the people of Kashmir want to secure the future of coming generations they need to muster courage and call spade a spade. They can’t act as mute spectators and expect the government to spoon feed them forever.
–IANS
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