Dual standards for justice won’t bring peace

Maoist guerillas allegedly removed the railway track leading to several civilian deaths. Several CRPF personals were killed in an ambush while an army petrol jeep was blown up to pieces. CRPF men are being attacked day and night in Maoist affected areas.
Yet we are talking of initiating discussions with the Maoists. No serious counter-offensive operation has been planned yet.
Cut to another scene! A young man goes missing from the village. After a long search, he is not found. People tell that he was picked up by the army. Army men themselves point out where his corpse could be located. People gather around his funeral to protest. Stone pelting started. Army started firing indiscriminately on protesting civilians, leading to deaths of more people, including a woman.
Justice is denied at both places. While in Maoists affected areas, no action against those who are killing the CRPF men is injustice to all those army men and general people who laid their lives to Maoist insurgency.
Injustice is also being done in the Kashmir Valley, when we are denying the basic right to protest for the Kashmiris and resultantly indulging in gross human right violations.
Lately, we ourselves have started treating Kashmir and its people as if they are foreign people. To some extent Kashmiris are themselves to be blamed for this because they kept a separate identity for themselves even during times of peace.
But why are we indulging in actions as if the poor Kashmiris belong to occupied territory. This is the kind of treatment that was done by erstwhile kings when they occupied other territory. Youth were killed, women were raped and the people in general kept under strict control. It is said right to protest is the basic fundamentals in a democracy. We are not even allowing the Kashmiris to protest.
We are talking of coming to discussions with the Maoists, we are talking of coming to discussions with the separatist elements in North East and we are talking of discussions with Pakistan on Kashmir. Never ever have we talked of discussions with leaders of our own Kashmiri people. Why?
Peace cannot return to either of the two places because of our flawed policies. Neither will the Maoists come to have carrot without a stick on the back. Nor will we be able to win the confidence of Kashmiris through unwarranted use of force. Particularly not, if we continue to treat the Kashmiris as ‘the other people’!
These discussions were carried out by the forum members consisting of prominent journalists in a meeting of JATI – Journalists in Action for Tomorrow’s India.