Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is more than justified in questioning the silence of the opposition and his detractors on the killing of the 17-year old Suhail Ahmad Sofi of Sopor by the militants. They have no answer to his question why the opposition did not stand up on their feet, did not raise slogans, did not hurl microphones, did not pound the desks, and did not create ruckus in the assembly on this killing. The victim was fleeing to seek shelter in a sacred place but the gun-wielding militants did not spare him his life. If there is a fatality in Kashmir related to firing by the security forces, the opposition and even some members of ruling party see to it that hell is let loose in the assembly, and abuses are hurled from all sides on the security forces calling them anti-Kashmiri, anti-human and what not. They cry for the dismissal of the Government and hold the Government responsible for everything. But why they are mute on this incident, asks the Chief Minister.
The incident exposes the hypocrisy of the crudest type on the part of the critics of the Government. Its double-speak is self explanatory. Killing of a innocent persons by the security forces is a heinous crime in their eyes, while it is a pardonable and ignorable act if committed by a militant. Not only the opposition, the so-called human rights activists in and outside Kashmir are also tight-lipped as if the life of a 17-year old boy has no value. It is this double-speak of the separatists and even politicians that has brought untold suffering to the people of Kashmir. Spontaneous reaction by the separatists on incidents of fatality caused by the security forces, and their total silence when the killer is a militant clearly shows that they are not bothered about human values. This trend needs to be reversed.
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