Mass crackdown, burning crops an institutional effort to punish people, says Omar Abdullah

Srinagar, October 5 :
National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the mass crackdown and unabated repression of civilians in Kashmir was unprecedented and seemed like an institutional effort to punish people for the current unrest.
In a statement, the former chief minister said it was imprudent for the State Government to expect that nocturnal raids, PSAs, burning crops and fodder and destroying electric transformers would somehow lead to sustainable peace and normalcy.
“Nocturnal raids, imposing PSAs indiscriminately, ransacking people’s homes and burning their crops and animal fodder cannot be an acceptable modus operandi of the State’s security forces in dealing with a political situation.
“Hundreds of electric transformers in rural areas have been damaged beyond repair in a clear attempt to persecute people en-masse by depriving them of essential services. People in rural areas are now trying to protect electric transformers in their areas with sand bags because security forces are firing bullets to damage them”, he said.
Omar said persecuting people of Kashmir based on a flawed assumption that such measures would somehow arm-twist people into peace and political adherence is a dangerous policy.
“New Delhi accepted that dialogue is the answer to the simmering discontent in Kashmir and their current assumption that the agitation can be seen off by tiring people is fraught with enormous risks because when the fatigue wears out – as it eventually will, the agitation will spark off again. To deal with Kashmir as cyclic problem of agitations and managing agitations defies the overarching interests of peace and prosperity”, he added.
“You have to uphold the fundamental rights of the people in Kashmir as is done in all other parts of the country and the State’s intentional reluctance to do so fuels the perception of isolation and alienation in Kashmir.”
Omar said that treating all Kashmiris as hostile combatants who deserve to be persecuted into ‘discipline’ and coerced into ‘normalcy’ is a validation of those voices that question the State’s sincerity in dealing with the people of Kashmir fairly, humanely and in a just manner”.