[Indian Kashmiri girl Insha Malik, 14, lays unconscious in a hospital bed after being shot with pellets fired by Indian security forces, with doctors saying she had lost vision in both eyes, in the surgical ICU hospital in Srinagar on July 14. (AFP)]
New Delhi: Lambasting the government for its Kashmir policy and taking it to the task for the civilians killed and injured in the last twelve days, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi during the ongoing monsoon session of the parliament said Kashmiris deserved affinity and empathy, rather than iron fist and ruthless excessive use of force.
“You have miserably failed in Kashmir where you are in power since last more than one and half years. Kashmiris deserve empathy. The Rambo and James Bond approach will not be successful here”, he said in a clear reference to the excessive force used by the security forces.
“You should use statesmanship to tackle the situation, and the statesman approach ask you to initiate dialogue as early as possible”, he said.
Demanding the formation of a Commission of Inquiry, he said, “The children in Kashmir have the right to know why their parents were killed. Kashmiris are citizens of our country and they look to us for justice.”
Citing the reports by AIIMS doctors, Owaisi said that in just 12 days more than 1800 people have been left injured. Out of them, about 600 are injured by pellet guns. About 125 sustained bullet injuries and about 150 of those 600 injured by pellet guns have lost their eye sights.
“These are not my statistics. These figures have been provided by the AIIMS doctors who said they had never seen such a brutality in their entire career. It was, they said, as if the injured have been brought from a battle field or a war zone”, Owaisi said.
Citing the Pattidar and Jat quota stirs, Owaisi said when excessive force was not used in Gujarat and Haryana why the same standard was not followed in Kashmir. He wondered if the government really considered Kashmiris as citizen of India.
“The question here is if we consider Kashmiris as citizens of India then why the use of excessive force. Why this iron fist?” he asked.
“We had promised them ballots instead of bullets. But what we are doing today? We are using bullets in retaliation to stones? Is it for this they have voted you to power?” he asked.
“You are in power in Kashmir since last one and half year. People of this country want to know about the initiatives you have taken to bring the situation to normalcy in the Valley”, he said.
“What can be more painful than the fact that we need CRPF Jawans to guard the grave of former chief minister?” he said.
“You have agenda of alliance with PDP which says you will remove AFSPA from Kashmir. We didn’t you do it despite being in power for one and half years. Your agenda of alliance talks of dialogue. It says you will talk with all stakeholders including separatists. Why didn’t you start political initiative and dialogue?” he asked.
During his ten-minute speech full of passionate appeal to the government, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President also said Pakistan has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of India.
Refuting Rajnath Singh’s statement made in the Rajya Sabha that Pakistan is inciting Indian Muslims, Owaisi said they have nothing to do with Pakistan.
“This is a painful allegation that Indian Muslims are incited by Pakistan. The fact is that Indian Muslims had never been and will not be so in future”, he said.
He said there was a flare-up in 2008 due to some land dispute, and we did not do anything. In 2010, Kashmir burnt because of the death of Tufail Ahmed, and we didn’t realize the gravity of the situation. And, now in 2016, the death of a militant has created a violent situation.
“This is the time for us to think why thousands of people are participating in funeral of the dead militants. This is the time for all of us to explore how can we remove the Azaadi from the minds of Kashmiris.
“We all have to work now so that the Kashmiris start loving Indian tricolor instead of Pakistani flags.
“We all have to think how the Kashmiris will regain faith in the great Indian democracy and our system which of course is based on justice”, he said with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh listening to his speech.
"The government should now clearly define its Kashmir policy. Those in power should clearly state what kind of vision their government has to keep the Kashmiris away from militancy", Owaisi said.
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