Killing of a Special Police Officer (SPO), his wife and daughter in a Tral village is the worst example of the ugliness of terrorism and can’t be justified by any kind of whataboutery. It was and will remain a gruesome rime against the basic principles of the humanity. Those who indulged in this barbaric act are the threat to the entire humanity and thus should be caged and punished under the law of the land. From past sometime, such killings are being carried out by enemies of peace and people in a systematic way. Somewhere it is an unarmed police officer who fells to the bullets of these conscienceless terrorists, somewhere it is some elected representative, somewhere a shopkeeper, or a pedestrian who is hit by the splinters of a grenade thrown by such elements. While one would be genuine in questioning the law enforcing agencies’ ability to check such crimes and to arrest the criminals, these killings equally put a huge question mark to the very conscience of all the Kashmiris who love their place and people. How long should such elements be tolerated in the society? Isn’t our silence encouraging them to carry out their dirty agendas, which definitely have nothing good for Kashmiri people? Isn’t our ‘looking the other way attitude’ adding to the blood of our own Kashmiris that is split on Valley’s streets day in and day out? While the security forces are trying their best to save even the lives of militants giving them ample chances to surrender and so far they have been able to save nearly lives of 10 militants who listened to the voice of reason and laid down their arms during encounters, on the other side what is happening with the unarmed cops, pedestrians, political workers and ordinary citizens is really shameful. We, in these columns, have repeatedly been suggesting that there is no scope for violence in a civilized society and therefore such murders should be named and shamed. They should be isolated and condemned unapologetically.
It is time that Kashmiris as a society wake up and understand that such the society can’t afford perpetuation of such crimes and thus should not protect such criminals. And above all, when such crimes are carried out in the name of Jihad, the criminals are indulging in the worst form of blasphemy. Islam never approves killing of unarmed people, women and children. It is religion of peace which advocates that an innocent killing is the murder of entire humanity. These criminals are murdering the entire humanity systematically and our silence as a society is not only encouraging them to indulge in such crimes but is also bringing a bad name to our religion, the religion of peace. If the triple murder in Tral village will not help to prick our conscience then in the words of Martin Niemöller …
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me”.
So let’s wake up, break our silence, lest that times come.
Martin Niemölle
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