“If Indians are under the impression that abrogation of the dead shell that was Article 370 will lead to integration of Kashmir into India, they are so mistaken–the Indian State has never had a democratic face in Kashmir, having always relied on deceit, Muslim-hate and brute force to hold on to power through Congress/secular rule and now Hindutva rule. We are still trying to process what has happened. In my mind, Article 370 only signified the promise made to the Kashmiri people by the Indian State–that the ‘instrument of accession’ was temporary, and that the political future of Kashmir was subject to the moral, legal principle of self-determination. This is still the case.
Hindutva majoritarianism, as expressed through the removal of Article 370, will change some things in Kashmir. We don’t yet know how or when, but most importantly it will change ‘Indian democracy’ until the ugliness it has brought to Kashmir seeps into it and slowly eats away at whatever little remains, until what Indians think they are exporting to Kashmir comes knocking at their own door.
Till then.” #StandWithKashmir #RedForKashmir
–Mahum Shabir