Kashmir: “A land where kids sing eternal lullabies to their fathers. A land where agonies cleave the chest of terrains. A land where orphans are more than a harvest. A land where darkness is overwhelmed by occupation.”
–Aahil Asif
“India: “Kashmiris are simple, gullible people that can be bought, swayed and amused by cheap tricks and sleight of hand. We’ll take everything they got: land rights, autonomy, their language, promised plebiscite, freedom of worship, freedom of movement, phone and internet connections, freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of protest, arrest all their leaders, murder their men, rape their women; torture, maim and disfigure their children with pellet guns.
Then we’ll throw them a “mithai pholl” one at a time:
– We’ll just give them back their mobile phone connections and see them jump up and down in joy..
– A few weeks later we’ll turn their embarrassing ‘Union Territory of J&K’ into a state and they’ll think we’re succumbing under pressure (NOT!)
– A short while later we’ll switch their internet back on and they’ll get excited that they won (NOT!)
– A week or so later we’ll announce that only those Indians who will have lived in Kashmir for 10 or 12 years will be able to buy land in Kashmir and Kashmiris will think their lands and demography are safe (NOT!)
– Then in November the kangaroo Supreme Court of India may revoke abrogation of A370 and Kashmiris will rejoice that they won and the BJP lost and demands for azaadi will fizzle out. But little did the Kashmiris know that we turned their struggle for right of self determination and freedom into a struggle for A370 and “statehood”.”
PLEASE PROVE THEM WRONG! THIS IS THE LAST STAND. AFTER THIS, INDIA WINS FOR EVER!”
–Kashmiri Sultan Magami
“Going to jail or being arrested doesn’t make anybody a martyr/leader. Even thieves, looters, burglars & rapists go to jails. It’s the cause you stand for that matters to the people.”
–Kashmiri Mehboob Makhdoomi
Amit Shah, the Indian Minister of Home Affairs & one of the engineers of the Kashmiri blockade, said ‘western standards of human rights cannot be blindly applied to Indian issues’. He said under Modi’s leadership, India is moving towards a scenario where there will be no human rights violations. Especially if you don’t call denying access to food & medicines, curfews, a telecommunications blockade, school closings, shooting unarmed protesters with pellet guns, & the occupation by nearly one-million troops human rights violations. As Sultan Magami sarcastically pointed out for the halfwit Home Minister, democracy is not a western invention. Damn fools run India.
If some are tired of reading our posts about Kashmir, tough noogies. We stand with Kashmir until the siege & blockade have ended & Kashmiris are back on social media reporting, educating, campaigning for azadi. We stand with them until the last Indian soldier has been withdrawn & they have achieved self-determination. Amen!
Yet another fact-finding commission in Kashmir while Kashmiri journalists are on lockdown or have been arrested.
https://thewire.in/rights/jammu-fact-finding-report-article-370?
“Are we still together?” Mr. Tariq asked his girlfriend, who lives outside the valley. “I thought you might have married someone else.”
His girlfriend broke down sobbing on the phone.”
It isn’t just love that is interrupted by the lack of phone service but the ability to contact emergency services, communication with family over sicknesses & deaths, in all areas of social life, & of course commerce.
Can any Kashmiris give us some insight into the arrest of prominent women including the sister & a daughter of Farooq Abdullah & the sister of Omar Abdullah for protesting? Quite frankly, we aren’t used to seeing images of such well-heeled protesters & are more accustomed to seeing working class women protesting. Is it cynicism to ask if the protest was primarily political grandstanding to help resuscitate the image of collaborators like Omar Abdullah & Mehbooba Mufti into moderate leaders?
(Photo from Leshan Wani on Twitter)
In Indian politics, the touchstone is one’s attitude toward the occupation of Kashmir. One’s attitude toward war & genocide trumps every other progressive view one holds & that is just as true in every other country. Not rah-rah for the working class, not ‘you go girl’ when it comes to women’s rights, but whether you are outspoken & active against war.
So when there is celebration over Abhijit Banerjee winning the Nobel prize in economics, we need find out where he stands on Kashmir. Because if you’re an economist who doesn’t get the effects of militarism on economics, your theory isn’t worth much.
Thank you to Bobby Kunhu for posting this elaboration by Preetika of Banerjee’s views on Kashmir. Let the celebrations end.
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“Nobel Prize winner, Abhijit Banerjee, advocated the “Punjab model” of counter-insurgency to handle Kashmir.
In Oct 11 edition of Hindustan Times, he wrote: “But it is also time to think hard about Kashmir. The best way to secure the border is to get local people to start looking out for terrorists — which is what ultimately helped us in Punjab. For that we need the local people on our side.” [Link in comments]
I have been crying hoarse about why we need to talk about Punjab and the so called “defeat of terrorism”. Punjab model means annihilation of a generation. It means a vicious policy of catch-kill-reward which turns members of a community against their own, where monetary gains overrun legality, community and morality. It means extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, mass illegal cremations. It means a fractured society and pervasive distrust.
It means that after more than three decades we are STILL fighting for justice. To tell our stories about how our brethren were reduced to ashes.
The now almost defunct J&K police was given increasing powers to act as a counter-insurgency arm and not be confined to “law and order” tasks alone. The SPOs are are another notorious legacy of the Punjab model: criminalised and deeply communal. They have been handed out bravery awards despite being accused of human rights violations.
Mr. Banerjee basically advocated for genocide.
Fuck your Nobel!”
This is an interesting article on the Kashmiri anthem of Azadi which includes a video of a protest where it is being chanted.