Early Times Report
Rassana, Mar 19: Things in Kathua district in general and Hiranagar tehsil is particular have turned quite frightening. People of the areas, especially of Rassana, Hiranagar, Koota, Mareen, Dayalachak, Chadwal, Kattal Brahmana etc, are demanding justice for Gujjar girl Asifa, who was allegedly murdered almost two months ago and whose body was found in the jungle of Rassana village, which houses about 200 people and urging the authorities to not arrest, torture and harass the innocents. "Asifa was like our girl. We want justice. We want the culprit to be given an exemplary punishment so that no one in the future could dare commit such a crime. But we want a fair and impartial probe into the sad episode. We have no faith in the Crime Branch, which is dominated by officers imported from Kashmir. Only a CBI probe could unearth the truth. If the PDP could oppose CBI probe in the Shopian murder case, saying it had no faith in the state police, why can't the state government accept our demand? We will not accept anything less than a probe by CBI," the Hindu Ekta Manch (HEM) are saying. "It is intriguing that no one is listening to us and accusing us of shielding the culprits. We are not shielding the culprits. We are only demanding justice for the murdered girl and asking the state police to not arrest and torture the innocents. We had hoped that the BJP -- whom we voted in 2014 -- would come to the rescue of the people of Rassana and adjoining villages where the police have let loose a reign of terror, but it has completely abandoned us. We will not forgive the BJP for its act of treachery," they are also saying.
On Sunday, hundreds of people met near Rassana to chalk out the future strategy to make the authorities see the reason and hand over the case to CBI. All spoke against political parties, especially the ruling BJP. Many said that "we would boycott and excommunicate all those political leaders who have left us in the lurch" and that "we have to fend ourselves as the administration, political class and police are biased in favour of a particular community". "We will not take rest. We will fight to defeat those who are persecuting us for no reason," many in the meeting said. It would be only appropriate if the authorities appreciate the developing situation in Kathua district before it is too late. |
