Daily Times

The fate that befell poor Asifa Bano, an eight year old Muslim Bakarwal girl from the Kathua district of Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) should not come as a surprise to anyone. It is but a replay of 1947, when Muslim girls and women of all ages were rounded up, gang-raped and killed in Jammu. The rape and murder of Asifa is but a mini replay of these crimes, which finds its roots in the Hindu Mahasabha Martyrs’ Day organised on August 30, 1947 in Delhi.

Asifa’s abduction was engineered by eight local Hindus. They took her on the afternoon of January 10, 2018. She was held at a ‘Devisthan’ temple — which is supposed to be the ‘abode of god’. She was drugged and gang-raped before they strangled and bludgeoned to death. One of the culprits, Deepak Khajuria, was so remorseless that he insisted on raping the poor girl one last time before she was killed.

The alleged ringleader, a retired bureaucrat Sanji Ram, looked after this small Hindu temple where the girl had been held captive and assaulted. Two of the eight on trial are police officers who stand accused of being bribed to stifle the investigation. Meanwhile, Hindu fundamentalists, including two BJP ministers and Hindu lawyers, have proven they have no humanity by holding protests in support of the accused.

Though the rape and killing of the girl in Kashmir had been known about for months, the public backlash erupted after the charge sheet bearing gruesome details of the crime was finally filed last week. It alleged that the attack was part of a plan to drive the Muslim Bakarwal nomads out of Kathua district in Jammu. This is a region which has seen ethnic cleansing happen before — when Muslim men, women and children were subject to genocide in 1947. Asifa’s rape and murder has been like a mini-replay of the barbarity which occurred 71 years ago.

The use of a Hindu temple for the gang-rape of a child has disgusted people of all faiths. However, the religious dynamics in India, particularly Jammu and Kashmir cannot be ignored

Prime Minister Modi has been slow and exceptionally late in his condemnation of this heinous crime. His parent party has a history of anti-Muslim sentiment that dates back to December 20, 1931. This was when RSS volunteers marched through the streets of Lahore in favour of Hindu rule, and against the Kashmiri Muslims.

Modi has left India for a week long official visit of Europe. He will be attending the CHOGM-2018 in London. Before leaving for Europe this week, Modi received a letter from 50 former police chiefs, ambassadors and senior civil servants rebuking the country’s political leadership over its weak response. The letter states, ‘The bestiality and the barbarity involved in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old child shows the depths of depravity that we have sunk into… In post-Independence India, this is our darkest hour and we find the response of our government, the leaders of our political parties inadequate and feeble.’

The letter goes further and blames the BJP and likeminded right-wing Hindu groups for promoting a culture of ‘majoritarian belligerence and aggression’ in Jammu, and in the Uttar Pradesh case. The letter has blasted the party for using feudal strongmen, who behave like gangsters, to shore up its rule.

This time, Congress was quick to capitalise on the sentiment in the country, with party leader Rahul Gandhi leading the first major protest in the capital last week. On Monday, Gandhi tweeted that there had been nearly 20,000 child rapes in India in 2016, and urged Modi to fast-track prosecutions ‘if he is serious about providing ‘justice for our daughters’’.

The brutal rape of an eight year old girl has shaken the conscience of all decent people in India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Europe and other important capitals of the world. The New York Times has covered the details of the crime. Nidhi Razdan, Anurada Bhasin, Advocate Deepika Ahlawat (belonging to a Pandit family of Kupwara), Shehla Rashid of JNU, and tennis star Sania Mirza have successfully and heroically invited the attention of India to this heinous crime.

The use of a Hindu temple for the gang-rape of a child has disgusted people of all faiths. However, the religious dynamics in India, particularly Jammu and Kashmir cannot be ignored. The militant Hindu organisation, the Hindu Mahasabha organised ‘Martyrs Day’ on August 30, 1947 in Delhi. The organization distributed a leaflet in the city, titled Remember the 30th of August 1947 and it advised all its members:

‘When you have to observe ‘Martyrs’ Day’, the day should begin with the mass murder of Muslims, children and women alike. Forcible occupation of Muslim buildings should be your objective. Set fire to Muslim mohallas’ (quarter of the town) ‘but beware that fire does not spread to Hindu and Sikh localities’. (Source 228th Meeting of UN Security Council — Speech by Sir Zafrullah Khan 17 January 1948)

Since then the Hindu Mahasabha has worked hard to infiltrate the Kashmir Valley. Its members are embedded in the Indian security forces and administration. It is currently engaged in brutal violence against Kashmiri Muslims. Now these people have defiled their own place of worship with their barbarism. Hindus all over the world must now ask if these criminals should be allowed to represent them.

The writer is the President of JKCHR — NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations. He is on UN Register as an Expert in Peace Keeping, Humanitarian Operations and Election Monitoring Missions. He is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court. Author could be reached at dr-nazirgilani@jkchr.com

Published in Daily Times, April 18^th 2018.