A Dreamless Night - "Being Human"

How far is Peace ? 

Year 1991-1992. A surprising year for the state of Assam. I was 13 years old than unaware of the political happenings. My daily routine used to include school, little bit study and a lot of cricket. That night I slept off without having my dinner as I was too tired. When I opened my eyes in the middle of the night I saw 3 Army jawans standing near my bed and other two were checking each and everything in the house throwing lot of things here and there. I was wondering who these guys are and why they are in here at this hour and why are they treating us like criminals? My parents were very scared as they have never faced such kind of situation before. After the raid is over my parents went out to see what exactly the scene outside. They took me along. The picture outside was shocking and I am back to my senses. Hundreds of army jawans were busy doing their duties. Each and every house in our locality was charged. Most of the young guys were taken to the army camps for interrogation. Being a kid I was just wondering .The feel good factor in that situation was that a jawan patrolling outside saw me and came to me and kissed me and than gave me packet of biscuit and that’s when I felt like a “Real Hero” among all. It was the most wired night of my life.

For next couple of days my whole town was dead. Many young guys from the surrounding village areas were taken to the camp and most of them never returned to their sweet home. Many were crippled. I started taking interest in listening to the talks and discussions of the aged people and started reading news paper to understand what exactly was happening.

The word “Rape” became a common topic of discussion. I was completely unknown at that age about this kind of hated Weapon of The Indian Armed Forces I was asked to leave the place wherever a group of people intended to talk about this topic. This word troubled me a lot. What is it? Why people sent me out when they talk about it? Etc etc. Finally I decided to ask my father about it as I couldn’t resist my curiosity. When asked, he politely replied “Son, this is not your age to understand this. There is a right time for everything”.

It was an Army operation named “Operation Rhino” by Indian Government to chase down the ULFA militants in Assam.  It’s now been 3 decades and things have not changed much in Assam & other north-eastern states of India. Attack and counter attack between the Arm forces and terrorist organizations have paralyzed the region. One can imagine the life of a man in that situation for 3/4 decades. Universal Declaration of Human Rights ; United Nations Charter, Indian constitution’s guarantee on human rights are still far away to  reach out to the region and do justice.

Woman rights and security is still a far cry in the largest democracy of the world call “India”. Instances of rape have continued unabated ever since women were first raped by CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) men in North Kamrup district in Assam in 1983 when the state was under President's rule.

I still look at this situation with the same eyes of wonder. Is it really impossible to bring peace to this war prone world? Is human right a failure concept? Isn’t “Being Human” is the only solution to the entire problem?