“Pandit” is not a race, an ethnicity, a nation or a people. The race/ethnicity/nation/people is Kashmiri, most of whom are Muslims. The Pandit identity signifies nothing besides a Brahminical caste identity. And in a democracy, caste is not something to take pride in identifying with. This means the identity assertion of Pandits, if done democratically, can only be as Kashmiris, not as Pandits. Otherwise it is an assertion of Brahminism, which incorporates the Tamil Brahmin and the Kashmiri Pandit into a common mythology of ‘Kashmir to Kanyakumari’. What makes this India ‘one nation’ is the millennia-old Brahminical-colonial system called caste — the unity of Brahmins and other caste elites against the societies they dominate and subjugate.
“I was born to a Brahmin family and my father did not give me the family surname because it served no purpose other than declaring the caste as if it were something to be proud of, whereas it should have been a tag of shame among people oppressed and separated from each other by Brahminism.”
–Satyadeep Satya
While India celebrates the return of downed fighter pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, Kashmiris still grieve & wait for India to release the remains of freedom fighters Maqbool Bhat & Afzal Guru who were hung in an Indian jail & buried in unmarked graves. They demand the return of the honored freedom fighters for a respectful burial. Maqbool Bhat was hung in February 1984 & Afzal Guru in February 2013.
The photo is Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar where two gravesites have been reserved for Maqbool Bhat & Afzal Guru.
MC Kash rapping about the return of the bodies of Maqbool Bhat & Afzal Guru:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U00V9Ue_KkE&fbclid=IwAR2l_1QgmuR1B-
“It is funny how Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah are celebrating the return of captive Indian pilot Abhinandan because ‘they could not imagine the pain his family must have been going through’. Mehbooba, you jailed my mother. Every single day I spend without her love is on you. Omar, you prolonged the imprisonment of my father to death. You cost me the guidance of my father. And your late grandfather is why Kashmir has had over 100,000 war orphans. You turned our home into an orphanage. You know nothing about the pain. You are just power-hungry politicians who provide impunity to bloodthirsty occupational forces.”
–Ahmed Bin Qasim, Kashmir
Since Pulwama attack in which 49 Indian soldiers were killed, India multiplied its hostilities against Kashmiris by arresting hundreds of activists in Kashmir, persecuting Kashmiris across India and then followed it by aerial strikes in Pakistan. Nobody talked about Geneva Conventions, international humanitarian law & justice. Ofcourse we want Indian Airforce pilots to be released respectfully by Pakistan, but why should hundreds of Kashmiris continue to suffer in jails. Activists in India & Pakistan, don’t just hypocritically say #NoToWar, but ask for cessation of all hostilities, from all sides and more importantly against Kashmiris, who have been facing the brunt of this mindless war from last 70 years.
–Khurram Parvez
“Blessed are peacemakers.
19-year-old Hilel Garmi spent 107 days in Israeli jail for refusing to serve in Israel’s army. “I’ve thought the occupation of Palestine was immoral at least since I was in eighth grade. But it was the March of Return that played a large role in sustaining the courage to say no to military service.”
–from Nes Lowe
Mir Laieeq was addressing Indian antiwar activists who support the occupation of Kashmir when he said, “Reclaim your humanity by opposing war in all its forms & manifestations & not selectively.” His words should be a clarion call to the entire corrupted international antiwar movement that opposes only US & Israeli intervention but supports Iranian intervention & Russian & Syrian bombing of civilians. We urge them to reclaim their humanity & their political principles & ‘oppose war in all its forms & manifestations & not selectively’.