Editorial: Why report deserved no action

 

The one man Koul commission setup to probe the civilian killings during 2010 unrest is in news yet again. The commission which took almost six years to reach to some conclusion has failed to unnerve the present government on the importance of the commission’s findings. 

On Monday the High Court heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a social activist who pleaded before the court that the recommendations made by the commission have not been made public nor has the government acted on the suggestions and the recommendations, of course-made by the Commission.

Pertinently, the commission has submitted its 320-page inquiry report to the PDP-BJP coalition government in December last and it has been almost six months now that the government is sitting pretty on these recommendations.

Justice Koul in December last year had strongly indicted the then Omar Abdullah-led NC-Congress coalition government for being inactive in handling the law and order situation.

Over 120 civilians, mostly youth, were killed in forces firing on protestors during summer unrest in 2010.

The recommendations of the Commission which included revisiting the procedural measures while dealing with law and order situations havenít seen the light of day. This in itself can be termed as criminal negligence.

The Commission had also recommended a CBI probe into killing of Tufail Matoo and filing of a case against police men responsible for death of Umar Qayoom in custody.

All these apart, the non implementation of the recommendation of the Commission about compensating the victimsí families and action taken report on the findings, should have been the governments priority. But, what is making the present government to delay any action on the commission’s report is a puzzling question.

The Koul commission’s report could have been utilized by the present government to salvage some of the already lost credibility of the state government to some extent. The government could have used this document to put its case before the public jury and lent some credibility to the fact that the government is serious to see that justice ultimately prevails and the wrongs that have been committed by various government forces will be addressed.

However, good sense has not prevailed on those who hold power in the state. It has taken a social activist to remind the government to invoke some action on the Justice Koul commission report. What an irony.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.