Kashmir is the story of paradoxes. War like atmosphere, stone pelting ,bullets ,pellets , encounters, arrests, strike calls , internet gag, shut downs etc are synonymous to paradise valley. The peace has been in doldrums right from political partitioning of India into two sovereigns. All this happened at the cost of Kashmir. Although it remained independent for a short span of time but the political ambitions of India and Pakistan set the ball rolling for emergence long standing international dispute. After the illegal and forced division of territory between India , Pakistan and China ,it seems that territory is bearing the brunt of bilateral skirmishes. Be it Pak or India the political angle heavily impacts the peace and stability. It worsened after 90’ when armed struggle was initiated and the process is on. The kashmiri quotation” your Gun shu achaan tatei shu saaaf krnei patai nairaan” which translates “wherever the gun becomes part of life the everyone’s life becomes its food”. The situation is repeatedly serving the same proverb. The killing of infamous journalist in press colony is nothing but manifestation of such behavior after entry of Gun. He was a man of parts who served the cause through free, impartial, unbiased analysis of day today happenings in Kashmir. He was famous for his skill among all the journalist fraternity and the nature of response to his innocent killing came as expected. The question of the day isn’t journalism but the reason behind such acts shudders one’s consciousness. Nayeem Akhter rightly questioned”where are we heading to? The killings spree and the Bukhari incident send shivers down one’s spine. Who are behind such grave act? Is this Humanity? Are top brass personalities under scanner of those who want to disturb the peace of valley?
The killing is a many sided story. First of all Bukhari was a human being who was having right to life and personal liberty all alike us. He was a child of Kashmir who ascended the ladder of journalism through patience and hard work. Such a loss of Kashmiri talent is unpardonable. Thirdly the association of Bukhari with 4th pillar of democracy shook the entire Kashmir on Thursday night. It’s because of his assignment as journalism that a huge response against killing was witnessed along length and breadth of valley. He was related to one of top daily newspaper Rising Kashmir. He was very adept in the field who worked day in and day out to bring an impartial analysis of daily briefings in Kashmir. His voice was that of free and freedom loving person who rose to stardom through toil of hard work and patience. Now his killings rings alarm bell for already derailed peace. As he belonged to media fraternity his killing is related to endangered free voice. The media performs incommensurable job in the war torrent Kashmir. They report the news and daily happenings by playing to their lives. Be it the encounter reporting or the stone pelting it is media which bring live telecast of what happens all around us. The killings of mowing down incidents in Srinagar would have remained under cover if not brought to fore by media. They are engaged in check and balance of administrative abuses. Everyone any wrong doings occurs in valley the media fraternity seems restless to reach at its roots to bring truth in public eye. But the voices are shut due to unknown reasons. Without media life in valley would no more be a hell as it is even in their presence.
An international agency Reporters without Borders brings out the difficulties faced by reporter or journalists in day today report gathering. They assess the threat to their lives and families. “Kashmiri journalists provide an extremely challenging but absolutely fundamental service covering the events affecting the valley,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “All parties should respect their work, integrity and right to safety. It is not only wrong for the security forces to target them, but also for activists to threaten or even physically attack them. Journalists should be allowed to cover events impartially. This is an essential condition for resolving the conflict. India is ranked 138th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index, two places lower than last year. Apart from killings of Gori Lankesh , Kalburgi etc india has fared dismally low on the index and Kashmir is highlighted separately seeing the level of difficulties media fraternity faces. The killing, abduction, harassment and threatening of Kashmiri journalists is on rising trend. This time victim emerged editor in chief of Rising Kashmir. Not only this, the report 2018 holds that Kashmir is desperately put at position commensurate to that of Afghanistan where deadliest war is in progress. The living atmosphere of Kashmir is really turning sour and the global warming impacts are changing rapidly. This reign of terror has separated son from his mother, daughter from his daughter and brother from brother. The ground situation is really worse. The life is no more safe in valley. The highly qualified are going rebel ranks. The auspicious personalities are killed in broad daylight. The young qualified are siphoned away from their light and luster of eyes. It indicates that Kashmir is made void off its talented quota what remain after is a pool of illiterate common folk. Dianasours has only changed the shape because brutality is still alive!
Concluded to say as has been the story of Kashmir always. The tense and daily mourned atmosphere is erasing our society from infinite mental wealth. Every rising stardom is waned in quick possible time to shut the mouth of free voice and analysis. Herein lies the space for strategic assessment as the press enclave is closely monitored by security forces. The biggest police post of Srinagar Kothibagh is at stones through. Every time security forces are seen in and around. Separatists were fierce in their response to killing and expected an high level but impartial enquiry. LeT took to messaging service and denounced their hand in the incident. Apart from this POK based UJC chief Syed Salahuddin also denounced their participation and aspired for high level inquiry. But who then ? If all the militant organizations denounced involvement who is engaged to disturb peace by picking soft targets. Riyaz Masrur of BBC was highly cautious to quote the incident as magic amid such a tight security. Therefore the air is filled with suspicion and fear. The cease ops inflicted colossal damage on Bukhari’s family. Sword is trying to turn clock backward to prove converse. But history is filled with rich stories where pen always evolved mighty than sword. A reputed Martin Luther King Jr is always kept at highest pedestal than Hitler of Germany. No one aspires for a ruler like Alexandar but one aspires scholars like Aristotle and Plato. No one seems interested in stories of Lenin than Karl Marx of whose philosophy former tried to implement politically. Let this cycle repeat in Kashmir. The whole valley is down in dumps due to killing of Senior journalists and hope to see the end of this phase now …….
Shahid Majeed Mir hails from Misribehak Machil Kupwara and can be reached at mirshahid363@gmail.com
