Wanting to re-read the 2015 report titled “Structures of Violence: The Indian State in Jammu & Kashmir” co-authored by Khurram Parvez, I went to the website of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). In that 800-page report, the JKCCS, the International Peoples’ Tribunal & Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons had documented cases of extrajudicial killings, forcible disappearances, & sexual violence back to the early 1990s.

I have accessed the JKCCS website countless times but every way I tried to access it today this warning alert came up disallowing me access.

What’s up with that?

I’m honored to have become friends with some Kashmiri doctors/rebels recently. Not because they’re doctors but because I respect so much their work in treating the victims of occupation, especially pellet gun victims, which must be emotionally & psychologically exhausting.

More than just their medical work, there were frequent photos last year of doctors & medical students protesting the use of pellet munitions & also protesting in solidarity with Syria, Palestine, Rohingya, & others.

We should take a moment to honor those men & women who see horrors the rest of us can’t even imagine, who treat them, & protest them.

Knew I’d seen that pucker-puss before: Nero (on the right) fiddled while Rome burned; Trump makes an ass of himself on the world stage while impeachment & criminal charges proceed at home.

Comparisons are boundless. Especially in derangement.

Got a friend request from a guy still hammering on about 9/11–as if life hasn’t moved way beyond that episode into full-blown Islamophobia. He had a post calling it a controlled demolition as part of an occult ritual to create a New World Order. He had me at occult. I had to let him go. We’re not going through those debates again.

Kashmir Reader published a report today that two “militants” killed by the Indian army last Thursday night in the town of Uri turned out to be elderly men who appeared to be in their 80s, far too old to be identified as militants.

This was discovered when local police brought the bodies late Friday night to the Gantamulla graveyard “where unidentified militants are buried.” The reporter suggested they were hoping to bury the bodies (evidence of a human rights crime) without scrutiny. But the gravedigger & locals, who were shocked at the discovery, are demanding an investigation.

This incident raises several concerns. When the Indian army reports on these hunt to kill operations, they say they were acting on reliable tips or “specific information” from their network of snitches that militants are holed up in an area or a house. But it’s quite clear in reading many of these reports that the army has no idea who they are hunting. So what exactly are these operations all about if the army doesn’t really know who it’s targeting. Is there no concept of due process in Indian law? Of course the answer is no, not governing the Indian military in Kashmir. The Indian army has impunity under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

Does a militant have to be accused of an actual crime to be subject of one of these hunt to kill operations? Or does just being fingered by someone in the snitch underground suffice to condemn them to execution? Clearly, if two elderly men were assassinated, the snitch underground is not working reliably. Maybe someone just had a grudge against them. Maybe the army targeted the wrong house. Maybe the seniors were related to a militant or got caught in crossfire or were killed just for the hell of it.

Since the Gantamulla graveyard is a designated burial ground for “unidentified militants,” we are led to believe that mistakes are often made by the army, that taking innocent human life in Kashmir is a “comme ci, comme ça” kind of thing. No big deal if you execute a couple old guys, someone’s beloved fathers or grandfathers. The Indian army reported that it executed 10 more militants since Friday. Will all 10 be identified & their families notified? Or will some end up in the graveyard for the unidentified?

This Indian soldier is eyeballing blood pouring under the entrance to the house following a tip that a “suspected militant” was hiding there. This is the site where Sabzar Bhat & Faizan Ahmad were killed. So based on reports from the Indian army, we are led to believe that the army, based on a tip, shows up armed to the teeth & starts shooting without knowing for sure who the hell is in the house. All sorts of mistakes must be made. Which is why they have a graveyard designated to hide them from public scrutiny.

Maybe the Indian army has impunity under the AFSPA but it doesn’t in the court of public opinion. We must stand with Kashmiris in demanding: End the occupation; Self-determination for Kashmir.May the two elderly gentlemen & other unidentified victims at Gantamulla Rest In Peace.

(Photo/Dar Yasin/AP

There’s a misanthropic fallacy circulating that Americans “in Ohio,” meaning working people, don’t care about Trump’s connections to Russia; they just want to know about jobs. They don’t care about US wars; they just want to get their hands on more consumer goods.

In fact, polls show 80-percent of Americans want an independent investigation of Trump & Russia. Not because they oppose peaceful US relations with Russia but because they oppose corruption. For years, polls have shown majority opposition to US wars. But with a compromised & fractured antiwar movement, there has been no place to express that.

So much for misanthropy. It’s a dead-end that gets you nowhere.

India means business with this internet block in Kashmir. There are almost no tweets from Kashmir, usually a source filled with on-the-spot photos & videos. Getting news won’t be easy but we trust in the commitment & inventiveness of Kashmiris, including those in diaspora, to let us know what is happening.

Just wondering if anyone knows about Basit Zargar who was covering the encounter in Tral yesterday?

There have been references recently to India’s “dirty war” in Kashmir. Due primarily to media’s use of the term, “dirty war” has taken on a meaning contrary to its intent when it was first used by the Argentine military junta & then US Secretary of State & international psycho killer Henry Kissinger. They used the term for their campaign between 1974 & 1983 to hunt down & execute leftwing guerrilla fighters. It was in fact not just a war against guerrillas but a reign of mass terror which included crimes of unspeakable savagery.

Survivors & human rights activists in Argentina object to the term in no uncertain terms as disrespectful to their children & beloved. Among those who object is Estela de Carlotto, the head of the group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who said “It was not a dirty or clean war; it was state terrorism.” The objections of these activists to using the terminology of the oppressors should be respected because it was directed against the victims, including guerrillas, & does not signify the criminality of the junta & its murderous ally.
Kashmir is under military occupation which is a reign of mass terror. One only has to read the twitters of Indian nationalists about the executions of the three young men yesterday to see the hatred & violence it spawns & why the anti-occupation movement in India is so weak.

When Indian Army Chief of Staff Bipin Rawat said yesterday “I would have been happy if the protesters were firing weapons at the armed forces instead of throwing stones,” it was a provocation to Kashmiris. He was taunting them to abandon mass social opposition with stone pelting civilian defense guards & return to a strategy of armed resistance so it would be easier for India to portray them as “jihadi terrorists” & no level of military violence to suppress them would be condemned.

This young boy sends terror into the hearts of Bipin Rawat & Narendra Modi because socializing the young into submission is a prepossession of the oppressors from the Black & Latino communities in the US to Kashmir, Palestine, & Arakan state. Standing just beyond the camera in this photo of a young Kashmiri boy are tens of thousands of unarmed protesters who will become emboldened by the violence against them, not terrorized into submission. Sustained mass opposition fortified by international solidarity is the force that will end the occupation.

The struggle of Kashmiris must be fortified by international solidarity so they do not stand alone against the military might & terrorism of the Indian army. Their struggle is our struggle because a victory would resonate around the world & change the relationship of forces to the advantage of the oppressed.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

Je suis Kashmiri.

(Photo from Twitter; photographer’s name is on photo)

Lest we be misled that protests against the executions of Sabzar Bhat, Faizan Ahmad, & Aaqib Rashid Lone are limited to youth (the most frequent targets of military execution), these women were at the viewing of Sabzar Bhat’s body prior to his funeral services. It is, after all, their sons, spouses, & brothers who are targeted. This is a social revolution against Indian occupation, not a phase that youth pass through in life.

The occupying army anticipated the funeral corteges would be massive & become protests & though it was the first day of Ramadan imposed strict security measures to thwart the groundswell of participation. They imposed a curfew & erected barricades on the roads to the funeral sites along with heavy deployment of troops.
You cannot stop a revolution with barricades. Thousands came on foot from all over the region, detouring around the barriers & chanting independence slogans.

The funeral prayers for Sabzar had to be repeated seven times back-to-back to accommodate the number of mourners honoring him as a freedom fighter. Thousands also attended the funeral of 16-year-old Faizan. There are no reports yet on the funeral for Aaqib.

Our fullest solidarity with the people of Kashmir & our sincere condolences to the families of the three young men. May they Rest In Peace after a life well-lived.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

(Photo from First Post)

More information is coming out about the encounter yesterday in Tral, Kashmir where Sabzar Bhat & Faizan Ahmad were killed. According to one report, the protester shot dead by Indian forces was part of a group of villagers trying to break the security cordon so that Bhat & Ahmad could escape. Does anyone know that young man’s name or anything about him? He should be specially honored.