The recent judgment on Pathribal killings by the Indian Supreme Court has been disappointing as instead of convicting the army personnel involved in heinous crime, it gave option of a court martial for the accused personnel to the Army. Through this judgment, the Supreme Court has not only strengthened the military suppressive regime but has also legitimised the impunity to army personnel in IOK.
Another ghost from the past has started haunting India again. It was March 25, 2000 when Indian army personnel killed in cold blood five innocent civilians in a fake encounter at Pathribal in Islamabad district. The drama of fake encounter was aimed at giving false impression to the world that they were foreign militants responsible for the killing of 35 Sikhs in Chattisingpora in the same district on March 20 of the same year.
India’s own investigating agency, CBI has also given finding putting blame of these killings on Indian army personnel. The forensic and other probes also confirmed that the killed were locals having no involvement in the Sikhs massacre. Several reports can be quoted to show that the Sikhs’ killing was also an operation by the elements in the state security structure to hoodwink the then American President Bill Clinton on his arrival in India on March 25, 2000 into believing that Kashmiri Freedom struggle was a fanatic communal movement. To the utter dismay of rouge elements in the Indian Army, Bill Clinton in his foreword to Madeline Albright’s book: “The Mighty and the Almighty”, categorically wrote that the Sikh massacre was the handiwork of the extremists in the state machinery.
In quite disregard to these findings, the authorities in Indian Army gave promotions to the officers involved in the killings at Pathribal. The then Commanding Officer 7 Rashtriya Rifles, Ajay Saxena, who led the encounter, was promoted to the rank of Major General. Promotions were also given to Majors Brajendra Pratap Singh and Sourabh Sharma, who participated in the fake encounter and the then Major Amit Saxena who prepared a false memo showing the recovery of arms and ammunitions.
Be it the incident of the Pathribal killings or of the murder of Sikhs, both were master minded by the Indian Intelligence agencies to bring a bad name to the Kashmiris Liberation movement. The same objective worked behind the kidnapping of six foreign tourists in IOK in July 1995. The Indian Army fabricated a name, Al-Faran saying it was a fighters group who was behind the kidnappings. The facts have now been demystified in a revealing book “The Meadow: Kashmir 1995 – Where the terror began”. This is a staggeringly well – researched book by two respected journalists, Adrin Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark who conclude that the hostages were killed by local mercenaries funded and controlled by Indian Army and Intelligence. The authors argue that the Indian intelligence all knew the hostages’ whereabouts and the episode was part of India’s larger effort to delegitimise the Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom.
India’s true face stands exposed. These tragic incidents reveal that New Delhi can go to any extent to achieve its target of maligning the liberation struggle in occupied Kashmir and paint it as a communal and terrorist activity. Things are about to get worse. The army officer recently appointed as the new Indian Army Chief has been involved in an extrajudicial killing in occupied Kashmir. He was also in charge of Indian peacekeeping soldiers accused in 2008 of sexual misconduct in Congo.
There is no denying the fact that it is the responsibility of the world nations to take cognizance of the genocide being carried out by the Indian occupation forces in Jammu and Kashmir. There is need to have a closer look at the real face of India, which has been wreaking havoc in the occupied territory to accomplish its nefarious designs and to continue its illegal hold on Jammu and Kashmir. All eyes are set on the international community, particularly the United Nations. The SOS call from Jammu and Kashmir should not go unheard.
