The English proverb, “Washing Dirty Linen in Public” was recently demonstrated practically by the members of Kashmir’s so called mainstream political parties during the brief Legislative Assembly session. On the burning topic of Human Rights the members of the two parties clashed and levelled serious allegations against each other. Immediately on the start of the two day session primarily called for voting in the Presidential election, the members of National Conference pleaded for discussing the “grave issue” of Human Rights before conducting any other business. There were loud protests as the speaker allowed the debate only after tabling of some bills. The National Conference members during the ensuing discussion launched a scathing attack on the Peoples Democratic Party accusing it of imposing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act on the people which gave unlimited powers to the security forces without any judicial accountability. It was further alleged by other members that PDP took the assistance of militants in winning the last election and then got these executed one by one in fake encounters. The PDP members made the counter allegation that it was the NC which had brought forward the renegade killers like Papa Kishtwari, Kuka Parray, and Javed Shah. The NC had provided them seats in the upper house. It was ironical to see the two mainstream parties exposing each others’ misdeeds in full public view. The crux of the debate was that both the parties which had themselves indulged in gross violations of Human Rights or in shielding the culprits violating these rights with impunity, were now loudly clamouring for the restoration and protection of these rights! This is the height of hypocrisy. The stark truth is that the popular leaders and prominent members of both the parties have not only all along sided with those persons who have usurped the rights of Kashmiris right from 1947 but are in fact still doing the same. They have become experts in taking people for a ride. The rights demanded by Kashmiris are the absolute rights. There cannot be any dilution in these rights. If these basic rights are not respected and protected to the fullest extent then these cease to be rights and can be at the best called only concessions. One cannot hand over a glass full of water to a thirsty person and ask him to drink only half of it to quench his thirst. Before these so called leaders of the people who have been misleading them for over half a century start an agitation for Human Rights, they need to know what the Human Rights are. They would be better advised to study the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and then compare what Kashmiris are facing right now. By all universal definitions of Human Rights, the Kashmiris have been deprived of the very basic right to life. They are facing a grave threat to their physical survival as well as to their cultural and ethnic identity. The Human Rights enshrined in the constitution and international documents come into play once a human being has the basic right to live. In Kashmir the Armed Forces Special Powers Act has taken away this very fundamental right to life as an ordinary soldier is empowered to kill a Kashmiri on mere suspicion and also destroy all his property without any reference to or accountability by any judicial or administrative authority. So where does the question of Human Rights stand? Why have these people suddenly woken up from the deep slumber? These nouveau champions of Human Rights seem to have suffered a bout of amnesia regarding their roles in depriving common Kashmiris of these very rights which they are now demanding. One need not recount the different episodes of Kashmir’s recent tragic history to know the active role played by these “defenders” of Human Rights. It is starkly visible by the amount of security enjoyed by these “popular” leaders of the common people! If they are so vociferously pleading people’s cause, they should have the physical and moral courage to go without any security at all like all the genuine popular leaders among the common masses any where in the valley and mix with them to know their real pain. Even some of the more popular leaders of the people’s genuine movement are sometimes scared to do that. The very same leaders have also been demanding troop withdrawal, troop reduction, troop relocation, and there are many other connotations of the demand. It is claimed by them that there has been a dramatic change in the situation and it is possible to lower the security now. None of them has the courage to admit that the real truth is the reverse. There is no improvement in situation as regards the people’s perception of security forces. The gulf between the two has been growing in spite of their efforts to win over the people. Sadbhavana, a battle to win the hearts has not endeared the security forces to the common people. It is rather taken as a compulsive evil which has to be tolerated for personal safety. It is said that during the reign of Dogra Maharaja, Kashmiris were forced to raise the slogan, “Maharaja Bahadur ki Jai” by the Dogra soldiers. They would do it out of compulsion to save themselves. Now the slogan of the present soldiers is, “Jai Hind” and people take it in the same stride. It is a pity that the National Tricolour has got confined to security forces’ bunkers and pill boxes now. Its hoisting is a top security operation and it flutters only atop most highly guarded official buildings and security establishments. However, even in the past whenever the Kashmiris got a chance, they paid back the debt with full interest. This is evident from the frequent incidents where people have attacked and destroyed a number of centres set up under this winning of hearts programme in the event of excesses committed by the security personnel. The champions of Human Rights do not have the guts to speak the truth that the security forces attitude is becoming a liability for the Indian Government and they are demanding their withdrawal to lessen the heat of people’s wrath on themselves. The recent incidents of manhandling of some of these leaders at the hands of people protesting against the excesses of security forces tears away the façade created by them for their people friendly gestures. An English proverb says that one can fool some of the people all the time; all the people some of the time but one cannot fool all the people all the time. These days there seems to be a deceptive calm in Kashmir. People appear to have resigned to their fate. All are working like Zombies. However, off and on there is an odd and unprecedented upheaval here and there. According to an ancient traveller, the most difficult thing for a foreigner is to know what is really in the heart of a Kashmiri. He never opens up before a foreigner. He quietly observes everything. He is very intelligent and has much more grasp of world affairs than his counter part anywhere in the world. However, he never discloses his true feelings to any outsider. Here one is reminded of an incident described by Dr.Josef Korbel in his book, “Danger in Kashmir”. As the head of the UN Commission he was taken with other members on a conducted tour to Baramulla by the National Conference Government. The local administration had brought a number of people favouring Government line to speak to them. A Youngman broke the Police cordon and threw a paper at them shouting that Kashmiris wanted to join Pakistan. The Police immediately whisked that man away which created an ugly scene. The commission members were taken to Dak Bungalow where they demanded of Deputy Commissioner that the particular Youngman be produced. After some commotion a person who obviously was not the same one, was presented before them. On being pointed out that it was not the same Youngman, to the utter embarrassment of the officials the person brought as replacement shouted that the guy was already in prison but it did not matter, as Kashmiris still wanted to join Pakistan! This is a typical characteristic of our people. They listen to everyone and may even apparently agree and support every leader but what they really have in their hearts they never disclose. They will do it only when they get the right opportunity. Thus it would be advisable for these nouveau champions of Human Rights washing their dirty linen in public to see the writing on the wall. They should come out sincerely to speak the truth and project the peoples’ true feelings and aspirations. That is the only right course for them to atone for the past misdeeds and sins. It is only when all Kashmiris get together and muster the courage to speak the truth that the elusive peace can return to this troubled land.