The Continuing Tragedy Of Kashmir
Father killed by militants for being policeman, son killed by state forces for being militant associate
It is known to all that violence brings death and destruction to the society which is hit by the conflict. Violence only complicates all issues. It has never been a means of resolution. Violence has offers a viable roadmap.
Families are devastated and traumatized by violence. On July 12, Police Sub Inspector Mushtaq Ahmad was killed by militants in Srinagar. He hailed from Kulgam in South Kashmir. His killing is a case study of how a single family is uprooted by the contending forces in two different contexts. Mushtaq Ahmad was killed by the militants for working with JK Police. His son Aqib Mushtaq was killed by the police in April 2020 for being a militant associate.
This is not the first case where a father and son duo or members of the same family were killed by the contending forces on the basis of their affiliations and associations with either militants or security forces. Many such unfortunate incidents have been recorded in the last 30 years of violence and bloodshed. This is how the violence razes societies to the ground. Violence creates more problems and complicates the existing ones on the basis of which societies and their opinion leaders justify violence.
Because of the involvement of foreign countries, there seems to be no end to the sufferings and the miseries of people in Kashmir. The most tragic sufferers are the families whose loved ones are killed by state and non-state actors in two different contexts. We may contextualize the killings. But the harsh truth remains that these families are ripped apart and bear the trauma for long. The humanitarian crises of Kashmir are worsening, while the narratives of the contending forces remain contextualized.
