Another Kashmiri friend who I have communicated with often through message has had his account deleted for ‘verification’. It’s the social media way of silencing the voices of Kashmir.
Video of protest today in Soura neighborhood of Srinagar after Friday prayers:
Such an important commentary by Imam Omar Suleiman on the grace of forgiveness displayed by Botham Jean’s younger brother toward Officer Guyger & the outrage expressed & accountability demanded by his mother.
Omar Suleiman
October 3 at 7:56 AM ยท
If you’re going to amplify the grace of his brother, you must also amplify the outrage of his mother.
Firstly, Brandt Jean was 16 years old when his brother was murdered. He showed the nation yesterday what type of family he comes from. He tried to emulate the faith and forgiveness that his brother modeled for him. It’s important to understand that that was the type of young man Botham was also. At his funeral last year, every testimony of him was similar. This should make it all the more tragic. An 18 year old shouldn’t have to be burdened with that type of moral responsibility. I’m proud of him but don’t want to see a teenage boy put in that situation again.
Secondly, the way Brandt’s grace is being exploited to silence his family and all that are calling for police reform is dishonest and disgusting. “His family forgave her so why can’t you” is deliberate ignorance. Botham’s mother Allison spoke minutes after Brandt saying that while officer Guyger had 10 years to reflect on her actions (likely much less with parole), those of us in Dallas need to fight the blatant corruption in the police department and system here. There were many mothers standing beside her yesterday whose children were murdered without even getting a trial.
Grace and accountability are not in contradiction.
Officer Mike Mata and Martin Rivera need to step down and be investigated immediately for their corruption. We need to continue to push for consistent standards. We all know what would’ve happened if Botham was the one who walked into Amber’s apartment and murdered her without even trying to revive her, then tried to cover it up. We would be looking at the death penalty right now. Is calling for consistent standards really that radical? For officers to not be able to turn off their body cams when they feel like it, delete incriminating evidence which shows their racist past, or not be pampered by the system that allows them to operate without accountability in the first place? I haven’t even started with the thousands of people in prison for longer than what Guyger got for committing non-violent crime, many of which are questionable in the first place.
I’ve said from the very start we should center the family, and broaden the discussion on policing. I personally am forever indebted to the Jean family for what they brought to Dallas. Botham’s mom brought attention to the ugliness of the corruption of the city, and consistently tried to uplift the mothers of other victims who didn’t get the attention her son got.
I will never forget these words from her and hope they reverberate through our souls since we suddenly love the family so much after witnessing Brandt show such grace yesterday:
“When you lose a child, you feel the labor pains in your womb again.”
I’m sorry you’ve experienced so much pain Momma Jean. Your son’s life clearly meant something to many people. So too will his death God willing.
This is what Kashmiri journalists have to go through to report from their own country. This is photojournalist Junaid Bhat who could be arrested or shot.
The Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society has several reports on their website (jkccs.net) that are gruesome reading but rigorous investigations by human rights activists. The JKCCS is an invaluable resource for those who want to understand the character of Indian colonial occupation in Kashmir. You can find their February 2019 report on India’s use of torture against Kashmiris by going to their website & accessing their report menu.
jkccs.net
Now that the Modi gang has India’s judicial system acting like whipped puppies, those Indians, even celebrities, who protest the rise of fascism face prosecution. Fifty celebrities wrote an open letter expressing concern about the rise of mob lynching in India & the government filed legal action against them alleging that they “tarnished the image of the country & undermined the impressive performance of the prime minister” as well as they are “supporting secessionist tendencies”.
There are hundreds of photos of Indian soldiers in Kashmir with their faces covered in this counterinsurgency equipment or in balaclavas. Some of the images are of them facing off against unarmed protesters, others of them terrorizing little schoolchildren on the streets. So when Indian media reports that soldiers sustain injuries from stone pelters, it’s really hard to take that seriously let alone justify the use of pellet guns or the arrest, incarceration, & torture of 13,000 Kashmiri boys as stone pelters & rioters. Cry us a river.
Indian Army General KJS Dhillon–commander of Indian forces in Kashmir & summoned by a US District Court for human rights crimes in Kashmir–told a press conference just before the siege & blockade began that ’83 percent of Kashmiri ‘terrorists’ were once stone-pelters’. He’s just making that up. India has no idea if stone pelting leads to guerrilla warfare. It more often leads to being shot, blinded, arrested. He also said, “Seven percent of terrorists die within 10 days, nine percent in a month, 17 percent in three months, 36 percent in six months & 64 percent in a year.” By his own statistics, there is no problem with “radical Islamic terrorism’ in Kashmir because India has operated more than one hunt to kill operation every day for the past several years. Reliable Kashmiri sources reported just a few years ago that only about 200 armed militants operated in Kashmir. Most of them were killed in hunt to kill operations that also killed & injured civilians.
Not everyone agrees with stone pelting but it’s used by mostly working class youth in Kashmir & in Palestine. What bothers Indian & Israeli troops is not that they sustain serious injuries from stone pelters so much as the defiance of youth, the fearlessness, the obstruction stone pelters, who function as civilian defense guards, present to shooting down unarmed protesters.
We stand with stone pelters. So shoot us. We demand the immediate release of all Kashmiri political prisoners & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian forces from Kashmir.
(Photo of Indian soldier in Kashmir from Pinterest)
61 days
This is how India’s judicial system is collaborating with Indian fascism to destroy human & democratic rights.