Reward To Major Gogoi Sends Out Chilling Message

The Government seems to convey that it won’t stop pursuing a militaristic policy to quell the current unrest in Kashmir, even if it requires using human shield as a counter-insurgency and a war strategy.

- Riyaz Wani

Rewarding security personnel following human rights violations is not new to Kashmir. Brigadier Ajay Sax-ena who CBI enquiry concluded was responsible for the “cold-blooded murders” of the five innocent Kashmiris at Pathribal on March 24, 2000, retired as Major General. And the then Senior Superintendent of Police Farooq Khan who the Army blamed for misguiding and misinforming them about the identity of the victims rose to the rank of the Inspector General of Police. He later joined BJP which appointed him as the administrator of Lakshadweep.

There have been similar rewards to security officials involved in other excesses. Or if not rewards, the Army has ensured that none of its personnel accused of crimes face punishment. The only exception has been the life imprisonment to six army personnel, including a colonel-rank officer, by a General Court Martial in the infamous 2010 Machil fake encounter case in which the three youth were taken to Sona Pindi on the LoC, shot dead in a staged encounter and later dubbed as unidentified terrorists.

So for Kashmir, the commendation medal to Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles for using a civilian Farooq Dar as a human shield during the parliament by-poll in Srinagar is of a piece with this long history of impunity. The only difference is the disproportionately greater visibility of Dar’s case which has made it emblematic of New Delhi’s approach to the festering conflict in Kashmir.