IN a world beset with the two most enervating problems of terrorism and economic slowdown, the media's focus these days remains on the ravages these crises are causing - the loss of life and financial viability of states and corporate entities and the consequent panic and insecurity - and the steps that the various nations are taking to tide over the precarious situation. As for militancy, in particular, the headlines generally deal with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq where it manifests itself in a most gruesome form and, more significantly, where the US-led West has a physical stake. Unfortunately, in the process, incidents of brutal suppression of people living under forcible foreign occupation, and occurring away from these hotspots have to struggle hard to find a mere mention though they might be no less devastating in their impact. What the Indian security forces have been doing in Held Kashmir with periodic regularity is a case in point. Rape, abduction and extra-judicial murder, the tools they employ to stifle the Kashmiris' aspirations to throw off the Indian yoke, are provoking severe reactions from the local population but the pity is that the international community, which rages wild at the slightest deviation of state behaviour from the standards of human rights it has set, turns a blind eye to the cries of the people of Kashmir. President Obama who had, not long ago, talked of resolution of the Kashmir dispute as necessary for a peaceful world, seems to have compromised his stand at the altar of what the US perceives its strategic interests. And New Delhi is letting its security forces operate like a loose cannon. Last May, two young women were abducted and raped and their bodies found in Shopian two days later; a judicial probe pointed a finger at the Indian police. Similarly, a 20-year man was forcibly taken away by the security personnel and killed and elsewhere in the Valley another person was put to death. Ever since, Kashmiris in their thousands have been protesting in the streets against these inhumanities only to face the police heavy handedness. The protests have engulfed almost the entire Held Kashmir. Strike calls have crippled life and business in the valley. Schools, shops and offices have been closed. India has failed to achieve the objective of taming the freedom spirit of the people in 61 years even after its over half a million strong security force has killed nearly 80,000 of them. It is time for India to honour its commitment and let Kashmiris decided their own future.