Stop witch-hunting

Indiscriminate arrests of innocent youth, political activists by misusing PSA

REGRETTABLY, the State authorities are again engaged in a dangerous game of creating fear psychosis by exaggerating the incidence of infiltration and militancy-related violence to justify the use of strong-arm methods to silence every voice of dissent and suppress the genuine political urges and aspirations of the people. Instead of restraining the trigger-happy police and other security forces from using brutal force to deal with the popular unrest and protest demonstrations, the authorities have embarked upon a course of witch-hunting. The indiscriminate arrests of innocent youth, political activists and others opposed to the ruling establishment under the infamous Public Safety Act will only further vitiate the atmosphere. It appears that abandoning the healing touch policy to heal the wounds caused by years of repression those at the helm have again opted for strong-arm policy to suppress the voice of the people, which in the recent past had proved counter-productive.
Instead of bridging the gulf, such methods will only result in further alienation of the people.
To create a fear psychosis and justifying the use of brutal force the State authorities have embarked on the course of witch-hunting by blowing a few incidents of stone-pelting, provoked by the blanket ban on protest demonstrations and indiscriminate firing and teargassing by the security paraphernalia, out of proportion.
Instead of putting an end to grave human rights abuses including the death of innocent youth and taking action against the culprits in the security forces, the PSA is being blatantly misused to resort to indiscriminate arrests. According to the State police chief Kuldeep Khoda as many as 25 persons have already been booked under the PSA while "substantive action of law" has been taken against 419 others including some political activists and businessmen in connection with the incidents of stone-pelting in the Kashmir valley. According to the police chief 700 to 800 "stone pelters" have been identified and there was a move even to haul up some businessmen and other "supporters and financiers" of the stone-pelters, alleging that all of them were "lending direct or indirect" support to the terrorists by diverting attention of the security forces and the police". Khoda's revelation and threats follow the chief minister's statement that his government intended to "deal with the stone-pelters sternly".
The police inefficiency in the State is too well-known and in almost all cases of strikes by the militants it has always been caught unaware, exposing the incompetence of its intelligence network. How is it possible for such a force to identify a large number of alleged stone-pelters from among the mob of thousands ? Undeniably, it is a clear case of finding scapegoat to victimize the opponents of the ruling establishment and resorting to a kind of witch-hunting.
These are clear designs of stifling the voice of dissent by using undemocratic means. On the one hand the chief minister has been talking of dialogue and a policy of conciliation to put an end to years of confrontation, which have brought only miseries to the people, and on the other his government backed by the lawless state police is sparing no effort to perpetuate the climate of confrontation.
Already a large number of political leaders and activists have been detained under the draconian laws. In pursuance of the policy of victimization, they have been shifted to jails outside the valley and even the court orders for their release have been defied. The State government has even backed out from its commitment on the question of repealing the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), reducing the level of deployment of the troops from the civilian areas and releasing the political prisoners languishing in jails for years. The police chief has cheeks to categorically state that the deployment of troops cannot be reduced, clearly a matter to be dealt with by the political executive. He even threatens the political adversaries of the ruling coalition of stringent action including arrests under PSA and is creating a kind of fear psychosis to justify repressive measures, which have proved counter-productive in the past and their result can be no different now.