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Journalism of Courage
The case of the Poonch killings frames a familiar pattern of denial and state inaction.
It took 15 years for the CBI to register a case against police officials and army personnel accused of killing 19 people in Poonch in August 1998. Much has happened in between a state human rights commission report submitted to the Jammu and Kashmir government in the immediate aftermath,a writ petition filed by the families of victims in November 2011,a high court order last year to reinvestigate the case,the CBIs reply that the NIA should look into the matter,and finally,the contempt petition that prompted the CBI to take up the case. The case of the Poonch killings follows a tortuous pattern that has become familiar in Kashmir of denial and state inaction,of the due processes of law remaining frozen until,as in this instance,people are forced to move the courts.
The fact that complainants have been forced to approach the courts underscores a massive abdication on the part of the government. If the governments plan has been to brush these incidents under the carpet,in the hope that they would be forgotten in time,it has clearly not worked. The resentments have only congealed with time. By failing to fulfil its duty and ensure that justice is done,the government has also ceded vital ground to other institutions. It must now make sure that the guilty are brought to justice,both to reclaim its own legitimacy and to bring closure to the people of Kashmir.
