These photos are from a Washington Post article today titled “The night the soldiers came: Allegations of abuse surface in Kashmir”. They’re phone shots from August 7th of 24-year-old Muzaffar Nabi, a carpenter who was given electric shocks & beaten by Indian soldiers with sticks, rods, & cables. Nabi was bedridden for a week, not only with these abrasions but with episodes of vomiting & loss of consciousness. Afterwards, he needed help to walk or go to the toilet. The ordeal was so hellish that Nabi said, “If suicide was allowed in Islam, I would have done it.” That’s the ‘normalcy’ of how the Indian Army tries to ‘win the hearts & minds’ of the Kashmiri people.
Demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian troops from Kashmir.
Often enough I get invited to like pages in another language. My computer does not have the translation thingy that my previous one did so I have no idea what I’m liking up & in this day & age, that’s unwise. If I decline, don’t take umbrage. I like to know lest I mistakenly sign away my soul to nefarious forces.
So while Kashmiris living under a brutal occupation reach out in solidarity with the oppressed everywhere, Hindutva nationalists comment on photos of Kashmiri pellet gun victims that they are terrorists & “deserve it.” Therein lies the quality that distinguishes the oppressed from the oppressor.
A report on indiscriminate violence by Indian troops in Kashmir. The majority of troops are special forces, counterinsurgency-trained & are just itching to use those skills on unarmed civilians, including women & children.
Demand the immediate, unconditional release of all Indian troops from Kashmir.
One of the most impressive things about Kashmiri activists is their profound humanity & solidarity toward the oppressed around the world. Even at the peril of pellet gun & live ammo attacks, they always protested with Palestinians, Rohingya, Syrians, the Central Africa Republic, & others, though there was then no international movement to support their own struggle. Syed Ali Geelani typifies that quality in the Kashmiri struggle & for that we salute him on his 90th birthday as a representative & leader of the sprit of #azadi.
“Education endows people with the courage to take the right path; education is the power to differentiate between justice and injustice and then stand up for justice. Education is not mere literacy. It is the light by which we distinguish truth from falsehood, it is the consciousness of the wretchedness of slavery and the virtue of the struggle for freedom. Where does this light come from? The light comes from the memory of our struggle for freedom. The light comes from the blinded eyes of our boys and girls. The light comes from the dark dungeons where our youth languish. The light comes from the heavens our martyrs inhabit…. Education is not making one’s self available at the service of a foreign Hindu fascist aggressor against one’s own people. Education doesn’t numb a person’s conscience, but awakens it to the sufferings of people and suffering of the self. It is a shame that those schooled in the art of slavery and collaboration are teaching us the virtues of education.”
“And by Allah, the Indian state is afraid; even though they have a million guns they are afraid of us because we are armed with truth, & no guns could ever kill the truth.”
“I have said it before & I reiterate it today that even if India macadamizes the roads across the state instead of coal tar with the layers of pure gold & diamonds, the people of Kashmir are not going to give up their inalienable right of self determination.”
~Syed Ali Geelani, Kashmiri independence leader who turned 90-years-old yesterday & who has been under house arrest for years.
(Portrait of Syed Ali Geelani by Michigan artist & Kashmiri solidarity activist Lori Dee Desgranges)
Despite the presence of nearly one-million Indian troops & genocidal restrictions, there were 23 street protests within 24 hours just in Srinagar, as reported by Indian media.
