Disposable Humans
By Abdul Majid Zargar
08 January, 2016
Countercurrents.org
A retired chief of Indian navy was once in Srinagar along with a civil society group to take stock of the human rights violations in Kashmir. In a post visit interaction he was candid enough to say that Indian security forces have put the Israeli forces way behind in commission of crimes against humanity in Kashmir. He was not farther from truth.
But that was an honest admission made few years ago. Indian security forces comprising of its army, paramilitary forces & police has travelled much distance since then. Today Barbarians of the world, even in their graves, must be feeling envious of them for the artistry and prowess with which it kills innocent people in J&K and other conflict areas in utmost secrecy & total defiance of International commitments & obligations.
But wait-before I broach further on the subject, let me reproduce only two disclosures,from among many spine-chilling revelations, from Kishlay Bhattacharya’s recently released book -‘Blood on my hands-the confessions of a Staged encounter’. This book is about confession by an army officer which splits open the anatomy of staged encounters & extra-judicial killings .Its author is a senior journalist who has been associated with broadcast television for twenty years. He has won many awards to his credit, made several documentaries & is author of few books.
Scene J&K:The confession goes like this:
“In Jammu and Kashmir the battalions facing the international border buy weapons from Pakistani intelligence agencies. Muslim men from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are abducted from Jammu, kept in the post for two or three months, and once these weapons are purchased they are killed and shown as militants trying to infiltrate with weapons, The CO(Commanding officer) gets a thumping report and the unit gets a citation. It is easy to identify the victims. Their looks and dress are not like those of the militants from Pakistan. But who gives flying f**k for all these details?
There is a serving Lieutenant general who commanded the Baramulla Division in Jammu and Kashmir. He had around a hundred kills or maybe more in his time, and I know that he fathered many of the so- called ‘unmarked graves’ that we talk about in Kashmir Valley. Everybody knew. These kills cannot be carried out without others knowing about it. These can be corroborated by many people. When he left the Valley, his officers say he carried home Rs 17.5 crore. He became the MGO ( master general ordnance) and on an average an MGO makes 200 crore. They joked about him,and said he must have made 500.He was once denied a visa to the US, because the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) was tracking him on an arms deal. He flew to Canada and struck the deal. When theCBI caught him at home in india with twenty crore, he confessed to having given 100 crore to the ruling party and eighty crore to opposition. The case was reportedly dropped.”
Scene North-east;An army officer seeks favors from a Police officer
A young army captain is at the door (of the police officer’s room) and tentatively seeks permission to enter. He hesitates to speak but is assured that the visitors are the police officers’ own people; he can go ahead and talk without any worry. This is embarrassing, but I have run into overdraft, so is it possible to borrow some amount? I promise to return the favor as soon as possible, says the young captain.
The police officer, notwithstanding that visitors are around, assures the young man: My balance is rather low, but I hope I can transfer some amount to you by tomorrow morning. It is a tricky time, you see.’
This cryptic conversation between a senior police officer and a young officer in this eastern Indian state is not about borrowing money. It is a sinister exchange in the bizarre interplay of power, politics and violence. Although money will inevitably change hands here, the currency is of human life and murder. The young officer is deployed in counter-insurgency operations and has killed two persons (tagged) as militants in his official record but inadvertently passed the telegraphic message to his senior command that three have been killed. He needs one more to make up for a typographical error. He has none in his ‘kitty’, so he requests the police officer to lend him a live victim. The police officer casually asks him to come to the riverside early the next morning and is favored with a bound ,gagged and blindfolded victim who has resigned to his fate like those before him. After he is taken to suitably isolated location, he is killed by a few rounds from army rifles fired at point-blank range-His body- along with a story of an ‘encounter’ which strains credulity- is produced and an ULFA cadre nomenclature issued to him. Photographs of weapons and foreign currency ‘found’ on the body is fed to an obedient press.
Well- According to Milan Kundera, the celebrated author of the unbearable lightness of being - “Dogs do not have many advantages over people, but one of them is extremely important: euthanasia is not forbidden by law in their case; animals have the right to a merciful death” but in J&K & other conflict areas, the Indian State has relegated humans to a status below animals by covering their inhuman & merciless killings with a large national flag symbolizing democracy & secularism.
(The author is a practicing chartered Accountant. E mail: [email protected])