Commendation for Major Gogoi raises eyebrows

Major Leetul Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles was honoured with 'Commendation Card' for his 'sustained efforts' in counter-insurgency operations during Army Chief General Bipin Rawat's visit to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) last week.

“I am shattered,” is how Major Gogoi’s victim, Farooq Ahmad Dhar, the 26-year-old Kashmiri who was tied to the jeep and paraded around for several hours during the Srinagar by-poll, reacted in an interview with The Telegraph.

A resident of Chil village in Budgam, Dhar added, “I was wrong to expect any justice.” He had this question for the Army Chief, “If his son faces similar treatment at the hands of the officer, I would see whether he would still reward him.”

He also told the daily that nobody—from Army or police—had approached him to record his statement. “I want to ask only one thing, was I an animal that I was tied and exhibited,” he was quoted as saying by The Hindustan Times.

“My ankles and muscles still ache. What is worse, however, is that I am unable to leave my village. Even if I step out of the home, I take someone along,” he told the paper.

Lieutenant General Panag tweeted:

“Image of a 'stone pelter' tied in front of a jeep as a 'human shield', will forever haunt the Indian Army & the nation (sic),” Lt Gen HS Panag, former Northern Commander, had tweeted after the incident came into light during Srinagar by-poll last month.

The incident was widely criticised by many human rights activists, writers, academicians, retired army officers and journalists.

The fact that the honour for Major Gogoi came in the wake of the Indian government approaching the International Court of Justice (ICJ) wasn’t lost on some commentators.

“The use of human shields is considered a war crime by nations that are parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. And incidentally, award for Major Gogoi has come at a time when India approached International Court of Justice against death sentence to Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav by a military court in Pakistan. Jadhav and Dar may lie at two ends of the political spectrum but the fact is that the Indian government has never taken international law and its institutions and obligations very seriously,” wrote one of the founding editors of the Wire, Siddharth Varadarajan in a recent article.

The author of The Collaborator and The Book of Gold Leaves, Mirza Waheed, questioned morality of “world’s largest democracy” in a series of tweets.

The news regarding award to Major Gogoi also evoked reactions from mainstream political parties in Kashmir. “Feel ashamed, disgusted and hopeless. What a travesty (sic),” National Conference spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu tweeted.

Janata Dal United leader Sharad Yadav reckoned that the award to Army officer will only aggravate the situation in Kashmir valley. “Even before the probe in the case is complete, awarding a commendation certificate by the chief will further provoke Kashmir situation,” he told media here.

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja said, “The Army must not react this way. We should be sensitive towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir. This kind of action will further deteriorate the situation in the state.”

Prashant Bhushan tweeted:

Senior journalist, Sukumar Muralidharan posted on Facebook, “A huge perversion of the system of rewards and incentives has been a feature of the army deployment in Kashmir. Remember the Machhil killings and the months of strife that followed? Here's evidence that the lessons remain unlearnt.”

Meanwhile, Kashmir’s Police Chief Muneer Khan told local media that the FIR against Major Gogoi would not be quashed and investigations would continue.