Because military operations are every morning & funerals every evening in Kashmir, there was another siege early this morning on Bandzoo village, Pulwama in South Kashmir. It was another joint operation of the J&K police & Army 44 RR & CRPF special forces. Two young men & a soldier were killed. Indian media reports that 30 militants have been killed in these operations just this month & 100 so far in 2020. They don’t mention the civilians who have also been killed, like the little boy who died from burns over 90-percent of his body.
Here a family member of one of the young men killed cleans up his blood. Indian media never report the emotional weight these military sieges take on civilians & family members.
Stand with Kashmiris & demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian forces from Kashmir.
(Photo by Kamran Yousuf)
“June is the cruelest month
Killing our young Lilacs
Mixing pain and despair!”
–Basharat Shameem, on the deaths of 30 young Kashmiri men this month at the hands of Indian troops
“…in Kashmir, India has faced defeat in all aspects: moral, intellectual and political. today, all of you sit on the cusp of a resistance that has been reinvigorated as an international dispute. that has more allies than it had 30 years before. and that is no mean task. and you all have done it – by giving blood, tears, and sweat – not just on the day of a face-off but each day. your war with India is every day and not just on borders but in homes and streets. you Kashmiris, are no less than the face-off China is giving India. while watching China, make sure you do not undermine how far you all have come and how you can use the moment to uplift each other rather than cheering China. it is a power that Uyghurs are seeing the worst of, and Tibet is all but decimated as a people. i can understand some fun memes from our young ones, but those of us who have seen some days should remind ourselves first in how to behave collectively as a people when the fight is between your mortal enemies and the dispute is occurring on what used to be your own territory. they are both in it for themselves – begin with that thought and rest falls in place.”
–Ather Zia (part of a longer piece about the conflict between China & India in Ladakh)”..
‘What makes you think that people of Kashmir are terrorists?
We wipe blood, that you shed.
We dig graves for bodies, that you kill.
We suffer torture, that you cause.
We re-build our homes, that you destroy.
We fear, because you’ve caused terror.
What defines us & you better now?’
–Tweeted by jehlum @Jehlum___
Kashmiris under complete lockdown last year may not have heard this impressive testimony by Nitasha Kaul at the October 2019 US Congressional Hearing on Kashmir. All of those who spoke for Kashmir were powerful & cogent but her testimony stands out for its passion.
One documentarian reports that since the pandemic began, 50 Kashmiri homes have been destroyed & 300 men, women, & children left homeless. Destroying, vandalizing, & looting family homes is how the Indian Army honors social distancing & quarantine.
“This went south fast. After unilateral territorial disintegration of Kashmir, India screamed Kashmir is an “internal matter.” Year later, Indian rule in Kashmir is symbolized by liquor store tenders and a half-built movie hall, while China is turning LAC into its internal matter.”
–M Junaid @mjunaidr
The Contact Group of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Jammu & Kashmir held a virtual meeting on Monday, June 22, 2020 & issued a statement calling on the UN to ‘make India (which is not a member of the OIC) abide by UN resolutions’ & engage in dialogue to ‘calm the situation between Pakistan & India’. The Kashmiri struggle can’t go far with that kind of wooden rhetoric that manages to exclude the Kashmiris & turn the occupation into a territorial dispute between India & Pakistan!
The OIC is primarily a trade organization, not a human rights organization. Its members include some of the most repressive regimes in the world like Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran. Its campaign for Kashmiri self-determination will be as full of resolutions & as devoid of action as its resolutions about the Rohingya genocide. The OIC has the authority to call on its members to boycott India but they don’t feel that strongly about human rights that they would jeopardize trade & investment.
Kashmiris & their supporters can use the OIC statement to pressure the UN & India but in the long run the OIC will follow the money, not the voices of Kashmiris demanding an end to the occupation & self-determination.
(Photo is screenshot of virtual OIC meeting on June 22, 2020)
