Wait for Ramban firing probe report, then blame
While the violence in Jammu & Kashmir's Ramban district last Thursday that claimed four lives and injured more is tragic, the blame game that has ensued in its aftermath, is as disgraceful. As of now, there is no clear and confirmed version of what happened on that fateful day. All that we know is that an angry mob clashed with security personnel at the BSF's camp in Gool town after a maulvi claimed that the troopers had desecrated the Quran. We do not know for sure if the BSF personnel opened fire first, as Jammu & Kashmir Police has claimed, or if the police fired the first shot, as the BSF has claimed. We also don’t know if the protesters first turned violent and prompted the security forces to respond, as the troopers have claimed. And, we also do not know if the BSF's response, even if it was in self-defence, was reckless and indiscriminate, as some have alleged. Finally, there is no evidence yet that a trooper even desecrated the holy book. These are all aspects that are presently being investigated by the authorities. The State Government has initiated a magisterial inquiry which is expected to submit its report in a month. The Union Government has also ordered a probe while the BSF has begun its internal investigation into the matter. But, instead of waiting for these inquiries to be completed and for the facts of the case to emerge, sections of politicians and the media have lost no time to pounce on the BSF and pronounce it guilty. The finger-wagging began with a top but tainted cop accusing the troopers of indiscriminate firing. Soon after the incident, Ramban’s Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal Mattoo claimed that the BSF opened fire suddenly and that there was no need for it. He also described how his own life was supposedly put in danger in the process. The statement provided just the kind of ammunition that mischief-makers in the State needed to hunt down the BSF for the violence in Ramban. So much so that the troopers have now had to move out of their camp even as their claims and protestations — that it was the J&K police that fired first — continue to fall on deaf ears.
In the meantime, State politicians have done their fair bit to stir the pot. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, for instance, has already made his mind about who is guilty. Terming the incident as “deplorable”, he has ruled that it was “highly unacceptable to shoot at unarmed protesters”. This is despite the BSF consistently maintaining that it fired only in self-defence. Interestingly, Mr Abdullah also regretted the fact that, “many of us wait for such incidents to occur in order to exploit such situations”. He is correct except that by blaming the security personnel even before their guilt has been definitively established, Mr Abdullah has strengthened the argument of state atrocity routinely put forth by anti-social elements to whip up passions. He is not alone in this. His rival and Opposition leader Mehbooba Mufti has done just as much damage with her claims that “a licence to kill has been granted to police and security forces”, even though there is not, as of yet, a shred of evidence to support this allegation. The police and the security forces have often been made scapegoats when politicians find the going tough. But the latter must reserve their comments till the probes give their findings.