By: Gowhar Geelani
Mehbooba Mufti should buy herself either a made in New Zealand or made in Singapore mirror. Both these countries score an impressive 9.3 points on Transparency International's corruption perception index of 2010. Made in India products are not trustworthy. India's score is paltry 3.3 and the country is ranked 87th. In that mirror of durable quality she'd be able to see the real face of her party and her own as president of the Peoples' Democratic Party [PDP]. Before making a passionate demand for Omar Abdullah's resignation in relation to the mysterious death of the National Conference [NC] sympathizer, Syed Mohammed Yousuf Shah in Police custody, September 30th, Friday, deceptive Mehbooba should have gone through her own party's history first. In a state of abstract musing and daydreaming, Mehbooba wants to make Kashmiris believe that Omar Abdullah will resign under her pressure. The words moral and morality have long been deleted from Kashmir's political lexicon. Omar Abdullah didn't feel the need to resign on moral grounds even when more than 112 persons, mostly teenaged boys, were killed in brutal Police action in 2010. Expecting him to resign over the death of one individual, and that too a party worker, in 2011 only means getting lost in reverie!
Normally, Kashmiris are used to give a patient hearing to the sermons delivered by religious clerics in mosques on Fridays, but Omar delivered his sermon in the guise of a press conference on Monday soon after the ugly display of tempers in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Moulana Iftikhar Ansari--known as dexterous cleric while delivering religious sermons to his followers and fans in some parts of the Valley --tried his hands on the pedestal fan present inside the J&K Assembly to hit the Speaker, Mohammed Akbar Lone. Perhaps with an intention to enhance his fan following, who knows? The Speaker, on his part, reacted like a disgruntled ticket collector of a flop circus show. In all such theatrics and exaggerated mannerisms, the focus on the death of NC sympathizer, Yousuf Shah vanished into thin air.
Mr. Omar Abdullah has dismissed all the allegations made against him by saying these were "beneath contempt". He's made all of us believe that the judicial inquiry ordered by his incredible government would separate water from milk. "Mera Qaatil Hee Mera Munsif Hai, Kya Merey Haq Main Faisla Daiga" [My murderer is my judge, will he deliver justice in my favour]. In a place as volatile as Kashmir Valley, the history of judicial probes has been no different from those locked wardrobes hidden in the basements, where everything fishy is kept secret. And this is an open secret. One doesn't require intelligence of a rocket scientist to understand this basic problem with judicial probes in Kashmir, a conflict-hit place.
I, for one, certainly don't know exactly under what circumstances did Mr. Yousuf Shah breathed his last. I don't know whether his was a natural death or otherwise. I don't know whether he was tortured first and murdered later. But, as a Kashmiri, I want to know. Like many Kashmiris, I too want to get to the bottom of the story, the truth, and all the facts leading to the death of Mr. Shah. For that to happen in ideal circumstances, all those suspected of playing any role whatsoever leading to his death must go. But, many of us know that is unlikely to happen in Kashmir.
Two fellow party workers, Muhammad Yousuf, Ganderbal, and Abdul Salam Reshi, Kokernag, have accused the 61-year-old Mr. Shah, a NC worker from South Kashmir's Anantnag district, of taking Rupees 1.18 crores from them for "assuring them a ministerial berth and a berth in the J&K Legislative Council." The government version on the issue is that the trio was called to the Chief Minister’s camp house on September 29th, late Thursday afternoon. All three, according to the statement issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Government, were handed over to the Crime Branch at Mr. Omar's residence for an inquiry in the matter, on the same day. "Yousuf died at police hospital following 'cardiac arrest' next day," the statement said. And this official statement itself raises too many serious questions than it seeks to answer.
Let's ask some of these questions, if not all, to Mr. Omar Abdullah, hoping that asking questions has not been declared a crime until now. There are, however, undeclared curfews. And most of us are also aware that only last year Mr. Noor Mohammad Bhat, a college lecturer, was arrested for asking a question: "Are stone pelters the real heroes? Discuss." But, let's take a chance and run the risk nevertheless.
If there were serious allegations of corruption levelled against Mr. Yousuf Shah, why a complaint was registered at Chief Minister's residence and not in a Police station? Is it that even the ruling party members have no faith left in the Police system? Why did Mr. Omar chose to act as a judge, jury and the hangman himself rather than advising the complainants to report to the Police? Mr. Yousuf Shah reportedly died while in police custody early on Friday morning. He was handed over to the Crime Branch by Mr. Omar for allegedly promising two party members senior positions in the government in exchange for huge amounts of money. Was Mr. Shah that influential and so close to Abdullah family that he could promise so big and so much? And if he was, is this how this government functions?
Mr. Omar has appealed the media to refrain from presenting an opinion in the guise of an objective report, not to editorialize the serious matter, not to twist the facts or distort them. But, Mr. Omar should also know that the journalists ideally have to present all sides of the story, that is, the version of the family members of the deceased Mr. Shah, the opposition in the PDP, the opinion of the common masses, and the views being expressed by the civil society on how this matter is being handled by the State Government; etc.
Despite an unprecedented gag on the media and censoring of free speech in Kashmir, Kashmiri journalists will still endeavour to behave a little differently than the Chief Minister's Public Relations Office or the State Information Department. Profuse apologies for this, Mr. Omar. An embattled politician, we assume, should know that the cases of criminal nature are neither solved at Chief Minister's residence/office nor by tweeting on the social networking sites. At least, you should trust the dubious institutions whose credibility is questioned by the majority for genuine reasons. Kashmir is a region where the two former heads of the State Human Rights Commission [SHRC] have described the institution they headed as "toothless tiger" and "dead horse".
After all, it is a grave matter. A death of a human being. Irrespective of the deceased Mr. Shah's political ideology, the questions about the human rights violations, if any, have to be asked. It is quite possible that for some sections of the populace in Kashmir, Mr. Shah may remain only a NC worker whose death shouldn't matter to them anyway. But for many Kashmiris he will remain a human being, who died in extremely questionable conditions. And all those important questions leading to Shah's suspicious death, therefore, must be asked and possibly answered too.
Fact Finding in a Valley of Versions, however, is almost daydreaming! Yes, a reverie.
Gowhar Geelani is a Kashmiri journalist with more than 10 years of professional experience, both at the national and international level.
feedback at gowhargeelani@gmail.com
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