I think today's headlines were the most optimistic thing I've read since picking up my first Indian newspaper. Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, is taking a no-nonsense legal approach to the harassment spawning from the social boycott and fatwa called against the Kashmiri girls in the band.
Until everyone does everything in their power to ensure that people are treated fairly, regardless of their sex or age, we will continue to see the senseless violence against women and girls that has been in the news since my arrival but only recently brought to the attention of the masses. It's easy to look at cases like this and let them ride: what does it really matter if three girls sing? Most everyone decided their own hides were more important than young dreams and kept quiet in the wake of the controversy.
Thank you, Mr. Abdullah, your actions are a ray of hope in the effort to change the violent manifestation of something so much deeper than what we are exposed to in the news. While groups debate the death penalty and juvenile justice, I am uplifted knowing that people are out there, tackling such problems at their long and amorphous roots.
(and, no, I'm not just talking about India)
Until everyone does everything in their power to ensure that people are treated fairly, regardless of their sex or age, we will continue to see the senseless violence against women and girls that has been in the news since my arrival but only recently brought to the attention of the masses. It's easy to look at cases like this and let them ride: what does it really matter if three girls sing? Most everyone decided their own hides were more important than young dreams and kept quiet in the wake of the controversy.
Thank you, Mr. Abdullah, your actions are a ray of hope in the effort to change the violent manifestation of something so much deeper than what we are exposed to in the news. While groups debate the death penalty and juvenile justice, I am uplifted knowing that people are out there, tackling such problems at their long and amorphous roots.
(and, no, I'm not just talking about India)