A lot has been said about the Gurmehar Kaur incident. People have taken positions based on their ideological leaning agreeing or disagreeing, supporting or dissing her stand. The left-biased media has been indulging in its agenda of obfuscation and muddying of the waters to ensure that the “right” point-of view is either not heard or is drowned in the cacophony of their “righteous outrage”. In all of this the concept of balance has been completely forgotten.
The question no one is asking, the real elephant in the room is this: Does being a martyr’s daughter/spouse/son bestow special favors on someone?
Every time someone, has chosen to point out the error in what Gurmehar Kaur has said with regard to her father’s death – “that it was war that killed him and not Pakistan”, the leftist-secular cabal that dominates media houses today and who are increasingly feeling threatened by the rise of the Social Media, is quick to jump in and abuse the person with a contrarian view – obviously and quite clearly, Freedom of speech for these people is a one-way street – they can walk all over it but will not allow anyone with a different view point to even step onto it.
The fact that Gurmehar ’s father was not martyred in Kargil and instead fell to terrorist bullets while fighting a Pak incursion is now a moot point and of little consequence.
What is however relevant is the fact that both the Kargil war and the particular incursion that snuffed out her father’s life were both Pak sponsored acts of war, unilateral moves of aggression – therefore when she says that Pak did not kill her father but war did, she makes the false equivalence that both India and Pakistan are responsible for the prevailing situation on our border when nothing can be further from the truth. Even this nuanced argument is either not being made or is being deliberately brushed aside in order to push an agenda. Mr. Kiren Rijiju was quite right when he posed the question “Who is poisoning this girl’s mind?” Indeed…
The Question whether being a martyr’s daughter, son, or spouse confers someone with immunity and that they should be treated leniently, really is a stupid question. The fact is everyone bar none is equal before the constitution and the laws of the land. Would it be justified for example, for Americans to ask that the Navy war veteran who shot an Indian in Kansas a few days ago be treated with kid gloves just because he had paid his dues to the country?
The last point is that Gurmehar Kaur chose the platform and mode of protest herself and she is well within her rights to do so. However, if you choose to go public on Social Media and then expect that everyone who agrees with you is good and anyone with a different point of view is evil then you are either naïve or plain stupid and it is more likely the latter. She also chose to stand with two people who are clearly anti-national and secessionist in both their outlook and publicly stated views – Shehla Rashid and Umar Khalid – there is no disputing this fact. These two are free only because in this country although secession and a stated desire to break the country into pieces is a crime under the constitution and law, the people who implement the law are lenient and prefer to allow these elements a long rope.
If taking a differing stand and voicing an opinion is wrong and right-wing fundamentalism then I and all who do so are guilty of it, but then so be it. The need for a strong, coherent, and intellectual right-wing movement is even more relevant in these turbulent times…