A traders’ body in Kashmir has warned of protests if the government didn’t act against the lawyers who blocked the challan in the horrific rape and murder of the eight-year-old Asifa Bano in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Kathua yesterday.Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) chief Haji Muhammad Yasin Khan “has given an ultimatum to the government to book the erring lawyers and other similar forces or face counter protests in Kashmir region.”“Support for rapists doesn’t make you activist but accomplice. Chief Minister, who is also the Home Minister, must get a police case registered against such satanic faces who have left the entire humanity ashamed by supporting the rapists,” Khan said, in a statement.Khan, who also heads the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF), said it was the failure of the state government to gag forces like Hindu Ekta Manch, which initiated pro-rapist rallies in Jammu region.“Hooliganism has now reached a level that Crime Branch is being stopped from taking the investigations to its logical conclusion.”Khan appealed to the civil society of Jammu region not to look at rape and murder of a nomad Muslim girl on communal lines but as a crime against humanity.“Cutting across communal and political ideologies every human should look at Asifa as her own daughter. Her rape and murder was crime against humanity and we accept sane voices in Jammu region to uphold this cause which is to seek justice for Asifa,” Khan said.He asked the government to crush with iron hands the voices supporting the rapists. “If innocent Kashmiris are killed for no fault of theirs, why no action {is being taken} against those supporting rape and murder?” he asked.He questioned the silence of Indian civil society over the issue of rape and murder. "How is this Nirbhaya different from other Nirbhayas?" (CNS)