Appeared in Kashmirwatch.com on December 21, 2009. http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showarticles.php?subaction=showfull&id=1261390377&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&var0news=value0news

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Kashmir Watch, Dec 21
Nyla Ali Khan
News & Views
Another travesty of justice; a young girl cut down in the prime of her life;
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hopelessness pervades the sociocultural fabric yet again; conflicting reports presented
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.: Kashmir Global by governmental agencies; blatant lies given legitimacy by political institutions;
.: Articles political organizations vying with one another to gain mileage at the expense of two
.: World Watch Kashmiri women; the vilification of those two Kashmiri women in order to protect the
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games continue for eternity? Do the regional political players of J & K have an
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write inscriptions that work to their advantage? Will the melodramatic performances of
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Whether hapless Asiya and Neelofar were brutally violated and killed by security
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personnel or whether they drowned while trying to ford a shallow stream is beside the
View ads about: point. The Shopian tragedy underscores the fragile existence of the inhabitants of J & K
» who have dreams, aspirations, diligence, and resilience, but whose lives have been
diminished by the rhetorical strategies of orators, rhetoricians, and strategists who either
implicitly or explicitly insist that J & K is an 'integral' part of India which lacks
empowerment, a coherent voice, a unique cultural identity, and above all the right to
Focus exercise self-determination.
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.: Human Rights Watch The tragic deaths of Asiya and Neelofar have led some to iconicize them; to portray
.: Interviews them as victims of counter insurgency and police oppression; to write about them as
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research subjects; to glorify them as martyrs to the cause of the freedom of Kashmir;
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.: Society & Culture and others to bemoan the miserable deaths of their unfortunate 'sisters.' These young
women who have become more famous in death than they were in life are not icons;
they shouldn't be treated as political pawns; they were not the sisters of any politician;
Select Language they were not the daughters of any demagogue; they were not the disseminators of any
English hollow ideology. For once, can we humanize them? Can we protect their dignity and the
dignity of their families? Can the judiciary of J & K function without being manipulated
by New Delhi and its minions? New Delhi doesn't waste a minute when it comes to
Ads by Google protecting its lackeys, paramilitary troops, counter insurgency forces, co-opted
War in Iraq militants, co-opted regional political players, but the 'impeccable' demeanor of New
Delhi is exposed as a fa�§ade when it comes to protecting the dignity of Kashmiris
whose only subsistence is unflinching faith and unrequited hope. The various
governmental agencies involved in the investigation of the Shopian tragedy have cast
doubts on the veracity of the findings of independent commissions/ organizations. The
inferences drawn by the CBI vis-à-vis the deaths of the two young women in Shopian
have generated questions that didn't exist earlier. Is New Delhi attempting to legitimize
the non-performance of the government of J & K in the wake of the Shopian tragedy? Is
the CBI lending sanctity to the doleful apathy of the state government in the aftermath
of the protests engendered by the deaths of Asiya and Neelofar? Have mainstream
political organizations that are exploiting the loss of these two women to their political
advantage lost credibility now that a 'highly reputable' investigative agency is

2. publicizing the deaths of Asiya and Neelofar as 'unfortunate drowning accidents'? These
questions remain unanswered. New Delhi, however, has succeeded in reinforcing the
hostile factionalism in Kashmiri society; the in-bred hatred and festering doubt that
entrenches divisiveness more deeply; the culpable gender violence that gets put on the
back burner; the indebtedness of regional political players to New Delhi; the brusque
dismissal of the hopes of our younger generation.
Posted on 21 Dec 2009 by Webmaster
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