South Asia Citizens Web

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has granted clearance for “First Approach to Criticality (FAC)” of Unit-1 of KKNPP “as the next major stage of its commissioning.” It is pertinent to remember that the AERB gave this very same clearance on August 10, 2012 (No. AERB/ITSD/PRESS/2012/03). That Clearance was to be followed by compliance to various pre-requisites, review of the various commissioning procedures, results, inspection reports etc.

It appears that Hindustan Times and its Delhi based correspondent, Abhishek Saran, are leaving no stone unturned in tarnishing the reputation of Ishrat Jahan. When they can find no material or factual basis to do so, misleading headlines and insinuations are pressed into service.

Whatever the outcome of this case may be, the underlying principle is that the blood money law, along with crippling feudalism, is a major roadblock in the dispensation of justice in Pakistan – especially in cases that involve people from different socio-economic brackets. To put it simply, the rich can murder the poor and get away scot-free. The Qisas and Diyat Ordinance is also a haven for honour killings.

The real challenge is not external. The Indian state and the J&K government would do well to first acknowledge the mistakes committed in the past and engaging with the people of Kashmir to find a way forward.

book review by William Dalrymple in The New Statesman