Mr. Chief Minister

For those of you who are not aware, chief minister is the head of the state, his equivalent being a governor in the US.

When Omar Abdullah came into Kashmir main stream politics (supports accession with India), I was wary of him. He had spent most of his life outside of Kashmir and I had never heard him speak Kashmiri either. I wasn't sure he associated himself with the people of Kashmir. I mention not ever publicly hearing him speak in Kashmiri, because a language of a place is closely associated with its culture. If you don't know the language of a certain people it becomes very hard to understand their culture in entirety and therefore feel their pulse. This is important for a person trying to lead them out of misery.
However, he surprised me with his pro kashmiri arguments on Indian national tv during peoples massive reactions to the transfer of Kashmir land to non-state subjects (according to the Indian constitution, article 370, nobody other than a kashmiri can own land in Kashmir). This transfer violated this article. His eloquence of speech and moral position made me feel that after all he does seem to be different. Infact I found him to be a better representative of the kashmiri sentiments at that time than some of the separatists, who claim to understand the kashmiri nation better than the mainstream political parties. I became his fan when he said the following words on Indian National TV ' How come whenever kashmiris come out on streets to protest, they are showered with bullets. Use of less violent measures like water cannons is totally unheard of in Kashmir' . The sentences may not be exactly the way he said them, but he used these words. This was long before he became the head of the state.
Now that he is the head of the state, more than a month ago 2 young girls, Aasiya (17) and Neelofer (22) were raped and murdered in Shopian, allegedly by the security forces. One man judicial inquiry initiated by the chief minister indicated security forces agency to be responsible without naming the real culprits. According to one of the ministers in his government, Abdul Rahim Rather, four police personnel, the former Superintendant of police, Javaid Iqbal Mattoo; the deputy superintendent of police, Rohit Baskotra; the station house officer, Shafiq Ahmad; and sub-inspector, Gazi Abdul Karim, already under suspension, would be arrayed as accused in the case registered with the Shopian police station “in so far as their role in the destruction, dissipation, and suppression of evidence is concerned.” Following this incident a month ago, people came out to protest in large numbers thoughout the valley.

With Shopian fresh in the memory, in yet another incident, in Baramulla, people came out to protest the alleged molestation of another woman by the police. Four young men were shot dead and a number of others injured by bullets. I don't know whether that woman was lying or telling the truth, what I don't understand is why the lives of those four young people were snatched for being part of a protest demonstration. What happened to the water cannon argument Mr. Chief Minister? You are in charge now, aren't you? One of the dead was a second cousin of my wife, shot in the head. I have seen friends and neighbors die during the past 20 years but this time the loss was closer to home. Amir was only 19.