Srinagar:
A month after 16-year-old Zahid Farooq was shot dead, law catches up with Border Security Force (BSF) Commanding Officer R K Birdi, the senior-most security forces officer in Kashmir ever to be arrested for killing an innocent.
"We had no hope that he will be arrested. The media helped us. Omar Abdullah helped us. He raised the issue with New Delhi. That is why Birdi was arrested. I have never action taken. Never. Children have been dragged from their bedrooms and killed in front of their parents, yet there has been no justice. This is the first time," said Farooq Ahmad, father of the victim.
On February 5, Zahid Farooq and his friends were jeering at BSF jeep. Bidri got out of the jeep snatching the rifle of one of his constables Lakhvinder Kumar, corked the gun and ordered Lakhvinder to shoot the boy.
BSF denied any involvement but NDTV reported Birdi's involvement. As Home Ministry built up pressure Lakhvinder was handed over to the police.
During investigation two BSF jawans testified that Lakhvinder was ordered by Birdi to fire.
In it, Omar Abdullah, facing the heat for human rights violations in the state found a fitting reply.
"For us, zero tolerance regime is not a matter of words. It's a matter of practice. Where avoidable use of force takes place, then law should take its own course," said Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of J&K.
In a place where security forces have been accused of grave rights violations and killings over the last 20 years, Birdi's arrest is seen as a watershed moment: The highest-ranking security forces officer ever arrested for killing an innocent in Kashmir.
Perhaps a major beginning to translate the government's promise of zero tolerance to rights violations into a reality.
"We had no hope that he will be arrested. The media helped us. Omar Abdullah helped us. He raised the issue with New Delhi. That is why Birdi was arrested. I have never action taken. Never. Children have been dragged from their bedrooms and killed in front of their parents, yet there has been no justice. This is the first time," said Farooq Ahmad, father of the victim.
On February 5, Zahid Farooq and his friends were jeering at BSF jeep. Bidri got out of the jeep snatching the rifle of one of his constables Lakhvinder Kumar, corked the gun and ordered Lakhvinder to shoot the boy.
BSF denied any involvement but NDTV reported Birdi's involvement. As Home Ministry built up pressure Lakhvinder was handed over to the police.
During investigation two BSF jawans testified that Lakhvinder was ordered by Birdi to fire.
In it, Omar Abdullah, facing the heat for human rights violations in the state found a fitting reply.
"For us, zero tolerance regime is not a matter of words. It's a matter of practice. Where avoidable use of force takes place, then law should take its own course," said Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of J&K.
In a place where security forces have been accused of grave rights violations and killings over the last 20 years, Birdi's arrest is seen as a watershed moment: The highest-ranking security forces officer ever arrested for killing an innocent in Kashmir.
Perhaps a major beginning to translate the government's promise of zero tolerance to rights violations into a reality.
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