Prem Singh
The
cry seeking justice for Asifa is becoming stronger and deeper. From Delhi to
the United Nations, from social and civil rights organizations to civil society
citizens, more and more people are out on the streets shouting slogans
and demanding justice for Asifa. The social media is parading her
pictures, right from happier times to the horrifying end; protesters unfurl
their respective banners and flags, and suggest varying degrees of
punishment. From Kathua to Delhi, and in many other cities in the
country, protest marches and candle light vigils are being carried out for
Asifa. Children are also joining and participating the protests in large numbers.
A woman officer in Delhi government has gone on a hunger strike on the issue of
women’s security. She says that if Modi can carry out demonetization in one day , why can’t he show similar promptness
in ensuring women’s safety? Beside the furor on the social media which is
deluged with messages for justice for Asifa, newspaper columnists and
intellectuals too are writing angry letters and articles demanding justice for
Asifa. The gruesome news has shocked the international media too. The anger
against the rape in Unnao had not yet subsided when this incident of
kidnapping, rape and murder in Jammu and Kashmir shook every conscience.
Asifa,
whose innocent life was snuffed by this act of barbarianism, did
not know that there exists a real judicial system in the country, where great
law-givers and judges and lawyers dispense justice on the basis of witnesses
and evidences. She did not know about the United Nations Organization
(UNO) which also works to ensure justice for the citizens of the world.
Asifa did not know that governments mete out justice equivalent to
specific sums of money handed out to the parents of young
girls like herself who are killed with such gruesome violence. Asifa did
not even know that fascism has arrived in the country, and that concerned
people will later rue the fact that her fate was
the result of that fascism, and that true justice for her consists
in defeating those fascist forces. She perhaps wouldn’t have even dreamt that
she was being ministered 'Hindu justice' in that temple. Asifa might have been
ignorant about the tricolor that was hoisted by those nationalists who, in
support of accused, marched from the courts to the streets, brandishing
their love for their country.
God
knows how well Asifa register the simple fact that she was a Muslim. But she
certainly did discover in her eight- year old life that hell is not
placed in another world, it is right here , on this earth - on a
territory touted internationally as a paradise on earth. Before leaving the
world she also learnt that Satan is not just the adversary of God, he also
mauls tender limbed children. What more justice will she hope for God to
give her on the day of judgment?
If
there is such a thing as soul or spirit, Asifa must surely be wondering
now, in absolute amazement, as to why only after her tortured
end, have so many people and so many organizations suddenly become
active and jumped to her defense. Talib Hussain, the lone lawyer from her
native village who protested against the horrific act when her kidnapping
and death first came to light, may not appear so alone to her now. As a
part of the infinite soul, Asifa would marvel at how huge this country
and the entire world is, and how full of debates and arguments, beset with
beliefs and questions, riddled with attacks and counterattacks.
She
would completely understand why this world will not give her justice.
Whatever justice is there in this system - social justice, economic justice,
civil justice, human justice and child/juvenile justice - she has been kept
away from them all. Which is why it was so easy for her entire being to
be thus trampled and crushed. She would understand that this passionate
furor over justice for her would soon get cold. Another furor will swell and
ebb with the next incident. She would understand, like other souls, that this
swelling and ebbing is an everlasting process.
Asifa
must be wondering why do these people pretend so much? What compels them to do
so? But perhaps, it may be that they are genuinely disturbed. They are truly
concerned. They want to usurp the entire
share of Asifas and appear ‘just’ themselves. They
want to tell themselves and the world that they are not party to
this savage mind set. They want to demonstrate that none of this is happening
in their names. Souls perhaps have no hatred for anyone. So Asifa would smile
and say “Just killers”!
Just three suggestions, if you deem them fit, towards
the fight for justice for Asifa. Firstly, the national flag
should not be used to support just any purpose. It should be used only for
national programs. The 2014 decision of the Supreme Court, which allowed
anyone, at any time for any reason, well within his rights to hoist the national
flag, should be revoked. Two, we learn to quiet down, and have more
introspective, inner conversations with ourselves. Perhaps then we might
understand that we all are complicit and responsible in various ways for
this situation. Three, the RSS should understand that the Pandora's box
of ‘Hindutva’ that they’ve opened has no use for society, nation, civilization
or human race - none at all. The nation’s politics, economy, education, culture
- all have been almost taken over by corporate . Any organization
feeding off the corporate powers can rise to power. But as long as human
civilization survives, social and human ostracization, such as the kind that
the RSS advocates, will continue to find stiff opposition.
Asifa’s
soul might find solace in this hope, and her parents and siblings might find the
strength to bear the trauma. And for the rest of the country's citizens,
the government and juridical system will do something, to calm down the
agitation. They have to justify their existence. Two resignations of BJP
ministers have been tendered in the Jammu and Kashmir government. Some court
procedure or the other, too will happen in time .
No comments:
Post a Comment