Vinod Bansal is national spokesperson of the Vishwa Hindu ParishadWho rules or doesn’t is unimportantDavinder Singh RanaIn the backdrop of the gory incident in which seven innocent Amarnath pilgrims were killed and many others wounded, I strongly feel this is not the time to find fault in others or speak about security lapses.There were definitely serious lapses in the security arrangements. Governments come and go. The Amarnath yatra is a symbol of a built-in feature of Jammu and Kashmir’s composite culture and ethos.No matter which political party is running the government in J&K, if that government cannot protect Amarnath yatris and provide security, then it has no right to continue.

Politics is just for electoral gains — one may win or lose an election, but everything should not be looked from the prism of electoral politics.The attack on the yatris was carried out as part of the gameplan to threaten the pilgrims.It’s high time that a fitting response be given to those who play politics over such issues. That should be our prime responsibility.We all know that it is the Army that has provided security cover to some of the police stations in the region. I have no doubt in my mind that the July 10 act was a deliberate attempt to spread communal disharmony. We had very specifically wholesale Beige Indian Leopard Print Faux Fur Fabrics demanded that the entire route be sanitised and the security should be beefed up. Hence, the foremost thing we did the other day was to declare a bandh and get all communities together for a peaceful demonstration against violence.

It is time for all of us to get together irrespective of our politics, faith or region.Unless and until we join hands to make an effort to resolve the issue of Kashmir we will be standing nowhere.All of us in Jammu are feeling the pain like the people in the Valley and the rest of the country. I am myself going there next week.Why has no firm action been taken against these separatists? Why are they being given security cover?Why are they even allowed to enjoy facilities that are for citizens of this country, when separatists are nurturing anti-India elements?Actions should also be taken against those who sympathise with the separatists and stone-pelters, who run a systematic campaign against the use of pellet guns and who in the name of secularism try to give a communal colour to everything in the Valley. In this blind alley, I feel there is, however, an opportunity for motivation. We all are deeply hurt.Whether it is the PDP, Congress or any other party, we all must join hands to defeat the evil. They have suffered themselves but never went against the pilgrims or the pilgrimage. This has been their genuine longing.Even the media, specially the local media, which indulges in one-sided reporting, needs to be banned.Everyone knows how separatists are getting support from across the border.

Now when this gruesome incident has happened, we have to ensure that the secular fabric of J&K is not disturbed. It has brought people from all faiths and regions together. But if these thugs think that they can scare us, they are wrong. I think there is no match of such a secular activity when Hindu devotees are going to have darshan of a natural shivling in a cave and seek the blessings of Lord Shiva, and Muslims are facilitating their journey. We also know how they are grooming stone-pelters in the Valley and supporting terrorists, but the government has failed to check that. Yatris have been visiting the Amarnath cave even when terrorism was at its peak in the state, and they will continue to do so no matter how difficult the situation. Who rules or doesn’t rule is not important.Given the current volatile situation in J&K, the VHP had specifically requested that the Indian Army should be given charge of the overall security arrangements of the yatra and not the state police.How can J&K police be trusted?Vinod BansalIt was due to the failure of the Jammu and Kashmir government that terrorists managed to carry out such a dastardly attack on the Amarnath yatris. If we do that, it would be the greatest disservice done to the nation and J&K. Let us not try to point fingers at each other, instead let’s give politics a break and evolve a consensus. Already there is an effort on to create the narrative that J&K will be trifurcated. The state will disintegrate. Even right-thinking people in the BJP who genuinely feel for J&K think along the same lines.A very sad incident has taken place. The civil society and other groups in the Valley came out on the streets to protest and express solidarity with the victims. We should not try to cast aspersions on a particular religion or community.Terrorism has no religion.

Right now, putting the blame on the PDP is not going to ameliorate the situation.This is also a fact that the Kashmir Valley’s Muslims have always protected the yatra even in hostile situations. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.Davinder Singh Rana is an MLA and a senior National Conference leader. And the Army should take over the security arrangements 15 days ahead of the commencement of the yatra. Now it is time for Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and other leaders across the political spectrum to come together. Nothing one can stop us, and such incidents cannot scare us.Nobody in Kashmir wanted the yatra to be attacked.How can we trust the state police when we all know that it harbours many supporters of terrorists and separatists in the Kashmir Valley? There have been many incidents when local policemen had joined the forces which have been waging war against our country. The Supreme Court and the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board also recommended this, as this route requires less time and pilgrims can return the same day in the evening after the darshan. It was not a usual condemnation but a genuine outpouring. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad had raised these issues with the Mehbooba Mufti government in May itself.We had also requested that the alternative Kargil-Drass route to be opened

In that case how can you allow consensual sex at 16 when girls can only marry, legally, in this country at 18 years of age The government says that you can have sex with our daughters once they are 16 years of age but cannot marry them. Within this cultural framework, it is a struggle to award adolescents the right to space, identity and respect. Globalisation introduces new information and communication technologies, increases urban migration and the dissolution of the traditional family — all of this affects adolescent sexual behaviour as well.Recent discussions about the age of sexual consent that stemmed from the Union government’s decision to lower the age of consent from 18 to 16 have been highly influenced by traditional and patriarchal social norms that associate women’s sexual desire with marriage. What kind of contradiction is this On one hand you talk of giving better education and professional opportunities to girls and then you try to give legal support for indulging in sexual activities with them at 16.

Teenage is considered an age where children need education to ensure a better future for the country. As a society we must decide what age this is. It is obvious that the real concern is controlling women’s sexuality. Throughout the world, marriages often take place later, while sexual activity starts earlier.

Arguments have been made that if the age of consent is lowered, the age of marriage for women must also be lowered. In our society, where customs/traditions and religious dictates are interpreted to a woman’s disadvantage, a society where still a huge number of women are kept in pardah, a society where even the expression of a woman’s desire is considered a sin, the government has to be very careful in enacting laws because law is the only strength a woman has in such a society. Traditionally, the body and being of a child is the preserve of the family.Laws concerning adolescents’ sexuality in India, as in many other parts of the world, tend to have a paternalistic approach, based on the assumption that persons below a certain age (mainly 18) are unable to make their own decisions. Furthermore, women’s decision to engage in consensual sex should not be conflated with the moral fabric of Indian society. If at 16, an 11th class school-going girl becomes pregnant, will there not be large-scale school dropouts Think of teenage pregnancies and the mental, physical and emotional transformation teenagers go through in such an event. If you argue that teenagers today are advanced in every field as compared to their parents at their age, agreed. Consensual sexual intercourse between two young adults occurs throughout rural and urban India and should not be connected to, or confused with, the institution of marriage. But even now child marriages are rampant in certain regions mainly because of orthodox, patriarchal society. While enacting the Child Marriage Act, our policy and lawmakers took into consideration the fact that a girl below the age of 18 is physically and mentally not fit to tie the nuptial knot. Laws are formulated as per the society in question and not by what is going on in other countries. In India, the words “child” and “adult” are loaded with deep-rooted cultural connotations. Those arguing for 16 years as the age of consent probably don’t count women as part of the country’s future! The child marriage law was a big reformational step in modern India.The age of consent for sexual intercourse and the legal age of marriage are two separate issues.

As per the existing law, a rapist who is below 18 years of age is considered minor, but the victim below 18 should be considered adult Is this the formula of justice you are offering to women’s struggle for dignity Consent is the only basis for determining the offence of rape and the whole trial in rape cases revolve only around proving and disproving “consent”. Therefore, “consent” has to be very carefully defined. The increasing number of habeas corpus petitions filed in various Indian high courts by young persons seeking the right to exercise their choice in personal relationships reflects this trend.There is a growing demand, especially after the Delhi gangrape case, that a rapist of 16 years of age should not be considered a minor. As the formation and proliferation of the family is of extreme importance, there is little attention paid to the needs and desires of the adolescents. We must break free of arguments that aim to reinforce traditional social structures Beige rabbit fur faux fur fabric that control women’s sexuality and restrict women’s sexual freedom.

Access to magazines, movies, TV and the Internet provides contact to an increasingly globalised and sexualised youth culture that leaks into what may already be a confusing milieu of expectations and ideologies. Knowledge of an act is not enough to make a person wise enough to “consent” for that act.Fourteen to 18 years is an impressionable and gullible age. But how many Ours is a country of 1. However, we must ensure that these decisions are not influenced by traditional connections between sex and marriage. The expanding horizons of young adolescents are filled with explicit and implicit messages about sex and gender — some clear and consistent, some ambiguous or conflicting.2 billion people and, even so, information of sex is different than handling the responsibility and consequences of indulging in sexual activities.Don’t mix sex and marriage Ranjana Kumari***In India, where the legal age of marriage is 18 years for a girl, how can you enact a law which makes 16 to be the age of consent for sex A great deal of thought and study went into fixing the age of valid marriage at 18.Define ‘consent’ carefullyRanjana Shahi***. For God’s sake use cohesive and holistic approach while formulating a law.Discussions regarding the age of sexual consent must focus on women and men’s biological and emotional maturity to engage in sexual intercourse and to fully consent to intercourse