Lynching Humanity

News Kashmir Desk

The rampant shabby phenomenon of mob lynching so common in mainland India, Pakistan seems to have made its way in Kashmir as well. According to Wikipedia, Lynching is an extrajudicial punishment by an informal group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate a group. It is an extreme form of informal group social control such as charivari, skimmington, riding the rail, and tarring and feathering, but with a drift toward the public spectacle.

In a clear incident of gruesome lynching, Mohammad Ayub Pandit, a deputy superintendent of police was stripped naked and beaten to death by a mob outside the historic Jamia Masjid in Jammu and Kashmir’s Nohawatta district during the night-long respected prayer of Ramzan on 22 June, 2017 . Pertinently, Thousands of people had visited from all over Kashmir to observe ‘Shab-e-Qadr’ (the night of power) when the incident took place  around midnight .

The historic Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta has always been a center of spiritual and moral upliftment and it was painful for one and all to see lynching happening at this great place and that too on an auspicious night .

Entire sane fabric of Kashmir society is shell shocked after this gruesome lynching .

Noted intellect Hassan Zainagiree in his column in Daily Greater Kashmir expressed the anger felt by society of Kashmir in these words – “ What happened in the precincts of historic Jama Masjid in the midst of Lailatul Qadar the past week is ghastly, shameful and cannot be justified. Of all the forms of violence that Kashmiris have experienced in their life, the least expected was the specter of lynching.  Unheard of, unwitnessed. But the mob lynching of DSP Muhammad Ayub Pandit stripped us from that halo. The precedent, though, ‘integrated’ us with India. We would shudder to think of it, even if, let alone a fellow Muslim, victim would be the  suspected non-Muslim.  That it was committed during auspicious night and at sacred place shows the lowest of low the perpetrators have plummeted down to. The valley, cringed in shock, is yet to reconcile the unbelievable. And we all condemned the heinous crime in strongest possible words. And that is where we strike different from the Hindutva saffron brigade who enjoy public lynching of Muslims and Dalits, and the worst, defend the indefensible. Let me state clearly—without holding myself hostage to the glory of sentiment—stripping naked the JK police officer, raining stones on him and goring him to death is  anti humanity and anti Islamic as well.  How high the provocation from the cop, how inviolable the sentiment, nothing justifies it.”

IGP Muneer Khan , while talking to news Kashmir stated -“Without doubt the act of lynching was a brutal one and nobody expected this to happen , but let me make one thing clear that the amount of condemnation from the society coupled with tears , huge attendance in funeral showed society does not approve this shameful act.”

Undoubtedly society of Kashmir has in unison defined Ayoub Pandit lynching act as lynching of human values.