“Finally I managed to speak to my parents after 18 days. Breathing sigh of relief. No where it wasn’t a normal conversation from the word go, it was sobbing, angst, agony, perturbation & suffering. Concluded the call shedding tears as if we are bidding farewell to each other ? This is the hardship tale of our native place.
#kashmirclampdown”
–Kashmiri Shabir Wani
Remember, not that long ago, when Turkish president Erdogan postured as a champion of Palestinians even though he was backstabbing them? Two days ago, the Turkish government ordered Palestinian refugees without papers to leave Turkey by the end of October as ‘illegals’. Most of them are fleeing from Syrian & Russian bombing in Idlib.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania #StandWithKashmir rally, August 25th, 2019.
(Harrisburg is about a three-hour drive from Newark, New Jersey for those able to make the trip. Though New Jersey activists are planning their own upcoming events.)
The US State Department expressed concern about Indian respect for human rights in Kashmir & they did so from the Olympian heights built over the millions of Iraqis, Afghans, Yemenis, Syrians, Somalians, Palestinians, Libyans, & others killed in US wars & despite those concentration camps for refugees on the US southern border.
The UAE is honoring Modi with its highest award. Not sure they’ve explained why since his accomplishments are entirely criminal & the hermetic blockade of Kashmir is still front page news. But since the UAE is involved in the monstrous Saudi-led carpet bombing of Yemen for over four years, who cares? It’s like Suu Kyi going to belatedly pick up her Nobel Peace Prize & a raft of other human rights honorifics in 2012 & silent on the Burmese Army then waging a genocidal campaign against Rohingya fleeing for their lives.
Our demands should include India stop the indiscriminate use of pellet guns against unarmed Kashmiris.
https://thewire.in/rights/more-than-150-tear-gas-pellet-injury-cases-at-two-srinagar-hospitals?
A quite good NY Times video report titled “What’s Happening in Kashmir? Our Cameras Contradict India’s Official Story.”
https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000006676350/kashmir-india-article370.html?
Balochistan, Pakistan #StandWithKashmir rally, August 14th, 2019:
(Photo via FREE KASHMIR … End Occupation and Oppression of People of Kashmir Facebook wall)
“I got the most anticipated phone call from Srinagar!! The person on the other side of the phone was Parveenaji (Parveena Ahangar). The phone got disconnected twice before we could actually speak to each other. We cried, we gave virtual hugs to each other but most importantly she said I should communicate to everyone that they are doing fine. She told me that they have seen so much brutal suppression since 1990’s that this does not scare them and it cannot break their spirits. The roads and lanes are sealed with army checkpoints and she walked halfway to her brother’s place to make the call. The resisting, fighting spirit of kashmiri women in these times will be the most important marker for the new history of Kashmir that will be written soon. To hear these resilient voices after 18 days is the hope that we will have to live with for the next few months of vile political precarity.”
–Bhavneet Kaur
apdpkashmir.com
Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson thinks the US should stay in Afghanistan to save Afghan women & “bear witness to the agony of others.” What a disgraceful position entirely rooted in Islamophobia, misogyny, & war mongering. The US has no rights whatsoever to be in Afghanistan & did not go there to liberate women. Or does she consider setting up a nail salon in Kabul, carpet bombing mosques, schools, homes, fields, entire villages for now 18 years a way to emancipate Afghan women?
Bear witness, my ass! We should be demanding the US immediately, unconditionally withdraw all its troops, mercenaries, CIA operatives, & dope traffickers. Any other position is Islamophobic war mongering.