#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA

Hundreds rally in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir against India G20 meet

SILENCE IS COMPLICITY

Abu Arqam Naqash
Mon, May 22, 2023 

Protest against the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting, in Muzaffarabad


By Abu Arqam Naqash

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Hundreds of people rallied in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Monday to protest arch rival India's decision to host a G20 tourism meeting in its part of the disputed Himalayan region, said a government official.

New Delhi is hosting the key conference in Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar from Monday to Wednesday, a move which Pakistan and longtime ally China have opposed.

Several protesters demonstrated in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and other cities, chanting: "Go India go back and boycott, boycott G20 boycott!" , said the official Raja Azhar Iqbal.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari visited the region and addressed Kashmir's legislative assembly on Monday. He termed the G20 gathering as illegal, and an attempt by India to seek legitimacy over its control of the disputed region.

"India is misusing its position as G20 chair," he said, and urged the world to take note of New Delhi's "gross human rights violations" since India scrapped Kashmir's special status in August 2019 and converted it into a federal territory.

The G20 tourism working group meeting is the first international event in the region since the conversion.

Indian foreign ministry didn't respond to a request for a comment.

Nuclear-armed nations, Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, which they each claim in full but control parts of.

G20 consists of 19 rich nations and the European Union. India at present holds it presidency, and is set to host its annual summit in New Delhi in September.

India hopes the meeting will help revive international tourism in the scenic Kashmir Valley which has been roiled by a violent Islamist insurgency against Indian rule since 1989, although violence levels have fallen in recent years and domestic tourism boomed.

(This story has been corrected to fix description of Kashmir's status from 'independent' to 'special' and India's action from 'annexed' to 'converted it into a federal territory' in paragraph 5, and 'annexation' to 'conversion' in paragraph 6)

(Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

G20 delegates begin meeting in disputed Kashmir, with region's intense security largely out of view 


Mon, May 22, 2023 

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Delegates from the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations began a meeting on tourism in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday that was condemned by China and Pakistan, as authorities reduced the visibility of security in the disputed region’s main city.

The meeting is the first significant international event in Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the Muslim-majority region of its semi-autonomy in 2019. Indian authorities hope the meeting will show that the contentious changes have brought peace and prosperity to the region.

The delegates will discuss topics such as ecotourism, destination management and the role of films in promoting tourist destinations.

The main city of Srinagar appeared calm on Monday and roads were unusually clean. Most of the usual security checkpoints had been removed or camouflaged with G20 signs. Officials said hundreds of officers were specially trained in what they called “invisible policing” for the event.

Shops in the city center opened earlier than usual after officials asked shopkeepers to remain open. Many shops in the past have closed in protests against Indian policies in the region. But authorities shut many schools in the city.

Mondays’ measures contrasted sharply with the visible security imposed in the days before the event. A massive security cordon was placed around the venue on the shore of Dal Lake, with elite naval commandos patrolling the water in rubber boats. The city’s commercial center was spruced up, with freshly black-topped roads leading to the convention center and power poles lit in the colors of India’s national flag.

Indian-controlled Kashmir remains one of the world’s most heavily militarized territories, with hundreds of thousands of troops. In 1989, a violent separatist insurgency erupted in the region seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which also controls part of Kashmir. India replied with a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, and tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed in the conflict.

India’s crackdown intensified after 2019 when New Delhi took the region under its direct control. Since then, the territory’s people and its media have been largely silenced. Authorities have seized scores of homes and arrested hundreds of people under stringent anti-terror laws. The government says such actions are necessary to stop a “terror ecosystem,” or civilian support for the armed rebellion.

Authorities have also enacted new laws that critics and many Kashmiris fear could transform the region’s demographics.

Indian federal Minister Jitendra Singh told attendees on Monday that Kashmir is changing.

″If such an event was held earlier, a strike call would be given from Islamabad and shops on Residency Road (in) Srinagar would close. Now there is no hartal (strike)," he said. “Common people on the streets of Srinagar want to move on.”

Last week, the U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, said the meeting would support a “facade of normalcy” while “massive human rights violations” continue in the region. India’s mission at the U.N. in Geneva rejected the statement as “baseless” and “unwarranted allegations.”

India’s tourism secretary, Arvind Singh, said on Saturday that the meeting was “not only to showcase (Kashmir’s) potential for tourism but to also signal globally the restoration of stability and normalcy in the region.”

Kashmir, known for rolling Himalayan foothills, has for decades been a major domestic tourist destination. Millions of visitors arrive in Kashmir every year and experience a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers.

The mainstay of Kashmir’s economy, however, continues to be agriculture, and the tourism industry contributes only about 7% to the region’s GDP.

China, with which India is locked in a military standoff along their disputed border in the Ladakh region, has boycotted the event. Pakistan also slammed New Delhi for holding the meeting in Srinagar. Both have argued that such meetings can't be held in disputed territories.

In a speech to lawmakers in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir on Monday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the Srinagar meeting was a “display of India’s arrogance on the world stage" and the region "has become an open prison” for its residents.

India dismissed Pakistan's criticism, saying it is not even a member of the G20.

The G20 has a rolling presidency with a different member setting priorities each year. India is steering the group in 2023.

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Aijaz Hussain, The Associated Press

G20: India hosts tourism meet in Kashmir amid tight security

Cherylann Mollan & Sharanya Hrishikesh - BBC News
Mon, May 22, 2023 

India has stepped up security arrangements in Kashmir ahead of the meeting

India is holding a key G20 tourism meeting in Kashmir amid heightened security and opposition from China.

The working group meeting is being held in Srinagar, the summer capital of the federally administrated territory, from Monday to Wednesday.

This is the biggest international event organised in the region since India scrapped its special status in 2019.

Over 60 delegates from G20 member countries are expected to attend the event.

China, however, has said it will not attend, citing its firm opposition "to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory". The BBC has emailed India's foreign ministry for its response to China's statement.

Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in full, but control only parts of it. The nuclear-armed neighbours have already fought two wars and a limited conflict over the region.

In April, Pakistan, which is not a G20 member, had criticised India's decision to hold the meetings in Kashmir, calling it an "irresponsible" move.

India, however said, that it was "natural" to hold G20 events and meetings in "Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which are an integral and inalienable part" of the country.

In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led federal government had divided the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir to create two federally administrated territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Ladakh is a disputed frontier region along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, and both countries claim parts of it.

The Indian government and several sections of the media have calling the G20 event in Kashmir "historic", billing it as an opportunity to showcase the region's culture.

In the days leading up to the event, India had conducted several security drills in Kashmir. The region has seen an armed insurgency against India since 1989 - India accuses Pakistan of fomenting the unrest by backing separatist militants, a charge denied by Islamabad.

Over the decades, opposition politicians, activists and locals have also accused successive Indian governments of human rights violations and stifling of freedoms in the restive region - which Delhi has denied.

Some opposition leaders have criticised the elaborate security arrangements ahead of the G20 meet

This year, the region has witnessed increased attacks by suspected militants and security officers have told the media that they are taking steps to prevent any threats designed to derail the G20 meet.

Elite security forces - including marine commandos, National Security Guards, Border Security Force and police forces - have been deployed in Kashmir to provide ground-to-air security cover, according to reports.

Security has also been boosted around the Dal Lake and the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar, which is the venue for the meeting.

Schools around the routes that G20 delegates will use have been closed. Military bunkers, a common sight in Kashmir, have been covered with G20 banners to hide them from view.

Local opposition leaders, including former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, have criticised the elaborate security arrangements and accused the federal government of making life even more difficult for ordinary people. In a press conference, Ms Mufti compared the restrictions in Kashmir ahead of G20 to that of the notorious US military prison, Guantanamo Bay. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has not responded to this yet.

A 53-year-old businessman, who did not want to be named, told the BBC that locals had to "face a lot of difficulties" over the past 10 days due to the security arrangements.

"There was a lot of frisking, checking and search operations in residential areas. Many schools and colleges are shut," he said.

He also questioned the federal government's claim that the meeting would boost the local economy, saying that only "permanent peace" could achieve that.

Others have also criticised the decision to hold the meeting in Kashmir.

Last week, Fernand de Varennes, the UN's special rapporteur on minority issues, had issued a statement saying that the G20 was "unwittingly providing a veneer of support to a facade of normalcy" when human rights violations, political persecution and illegal arrests were escalating in Kashmir. The statement was criticised by India's permanent mission at the UN on Twitter.

India has said it will showcase the cultural heritage of Kashmir and promote its tourism potential during the meeting. Delegates will be taken on sightseeing tours and there will be discussions on strategies to promote "film tourism", according to an official statement.

The G20, which includes the world's 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union, accounts for 85% of global economic output and two-thirds of its population.

India currently holds the presidency - which rotates annually between members - and is set to host the G20 summit in Delhi in September.

#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA

Kashmir: India triggers outrage by expanding voting rights

Kashmiri political parties are concerned that the inclusion of 2.5 million new voters in the Muslim-majority region will permanently disenfranchise Kashmiris.

Some Kashmiris fear India is trying to reshape the region's politics

An alliance of Kashmiri political parties has called for a meeting next week to discuss the "inclusion of nonlocals" in the voter list after New Delhi granted voting rights to people from central India living in Kashmir.

The move will allow about 2.5 million potential new voters in India-administered Kashmir to participate in elections set for next year.

Kashmiri political parties have said inflating the voter rolls is an attempt by New Delhi to further cement its influence after the region lost its semiautonomous status in 2019.

"This is the last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy in Jammu and Kashmir," former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, from the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, told DW.

India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in full but rule it in part. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of backing Kashmiri separatists militarily, a claim denied by Islamabad.

Demographic tensions in Kashmir

According to India's last census, taken in 2011, India-administered Kashmir had a total population of about 12.3 million.

"If 2.5 million BJP voters will come from the outside, what will remain value of voters of Jammu and Kashmir?" Mufti said, referring to India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which has pursued Hindu nationalist policies since coming to power in 2014 under PM Narendra Modi.

Kashmiris have long accused Modi's government of trying to alter Kashmir's demographics by encouraging Hindu migration to the Muslim-majority region.

Ather Zia, a political anthropologist from the University of Northern Colorado in the United States, told DW that the BJP is "oiling the wheels of settler colonialism" in Kashmir.

"This latest hegemonic move is free for all, and it is geared towards full and final dispossession of indigenous Kashmiris," she said.

Kashmir resident Reyaz Ahmad told DW that the expanded voter list is an attempt by New Delhi to "perpetually disempower the local population."

"By this tactic, New Delhi wants to control the narrative and sell that Kashmiris have chosen them," Ahmad said. "This will give power to outsiders — and locals will have to beg to maintain influence."

BJP leader Priya Sethi told DW that allowing any Indian citizen to vote would end the "dynastic politics of regional parties" in India-administered Kashmir.

"We believe in the constitution, and the 'one vote, one nation' theory. Our constitution allows every Indian citizen the right to vote, and now no one is an outsider here," Sethi said, adding that the regional political parties should follow the constitution.

What has changed in Kashmir?

On August 5, 2019, New Delhi arbitrarily stripped Kashmir's limited autonomy by amending Article 370 of the Indian constitution, therefore allowing non-Kashmiris to own land and apply for government jobs, which, up to then, had been reserved for Kashmiris.

The Indian government also bifurcated the region into two federally governed territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and also introduced a slew of new laws, which critics and many Kashmiris fear could change the demography of the region.

Since 2019, India has cracked down on resistance to its administration of Kashmir

After abrogating the region's autonomy, New Delhi abolished permanent citizenship and started granting domicile certificates to every Indian citizen who had been living the region for at least 15 years.

Thousands of migrant laborers, Indian employees, and Hindu refugees who had been living in different parts of the region's Jammu province were given domicile and voting rights.

Before 2019, the electoral rolls for local elections only allowed voting rights to permanent residents of India-administered Kashmir.

The region's chief electoral officer, Hridesh Kumar, told DW that the new rules would allow "any citizen of India who has attained the qualifying age of 18 years and ordinarily residing" in India-administered Kashmir to be eligible to vote.

Kumar said there was no need for a person to have a domicile certificate from India-administered Kashmir to become a voter.

He said non-Kashmiri employees, students or laborers could sign up to vote. This would also include members of the Indian armed forces posted in Kashmir.

Violent reprisal feared

The change in voting laws has also seen rising animosity from Kashmiris against people seen as outsiders.

Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus), who had returned to the region, have especially been targeted, forcing them to flee again.

The Resistance Front (TRF) is a Kashmiri Islamist militant organization that was formed in 2019. The TRF targets what it sees as Indian interests in Kashmir, including the military.

In a recent social media post, the TRF said it would "accelerate attacks and prioritize targets" in response to the voting rights change, calling it "demographic terrorism" from India.

The group said it would target all non-Kashmiris including employees, businessmen, tourists and even beggars.

Indian troops continue to fight an anti-India insurgency in Kashmir.

Officially India does not reveal the number of troops deployed in Kashmir. However, according to reports, nearly 1 million soldiers are posted in the region.

There are fears that if Indian soldiers sign up to vote, it could further sway politics away from Kashmiris and increase tensions.

Blinding Kashmiris 2019

AZia
Interventions, 2019

Ather Zia

Since July 2016, Indian-administered Kashmir has again raged with mass protests favouring self-determination and freedom from India. In the protests more than ninety-eight people have been killed, over eleven thousand wounded, and more than eight hundred Kashmiris injured in the eyes or blinded by Indian troops using force against protestors and non-protestors alike. Since 1947, when the region was temporarily bifurcated between India and Pakistan, Indian-administered Kashmir has clamoured for a plebiscite, which the United Nations mandated so that the Kashmiri people could choose their own fate. The original options in the plebiscite were mergers with either of the two countries, but Kashmiris have increasingly demanded that a third option for an independent Kashmiri nation-state be added. While the majority of the Kashmiris seek independence, a small faction favours merger with Pakistan. Despite continuing demands for an independent nationhood – one that preceded the creation of India and Pakistan – Kashmir continues to be perceived simplistically as a bilateral dispute between the two nation-states. Using the analytic of “right to maim,” this essay illustrates how the Indian state “blinds” Kashmiri subjects by perfecting a technology of punishment that produces bodies incapable of physical resistance and as a representational threat to the rest of society. By making maiming as a punishment central, this essay will examine India's control of the Kashmir valley as a de facto military occupation.
Publication Date: 2019
Publication Name: Interventions

Constituting the Occupation: Preventive Detention and Permanent Emergency in Kashmir

Haley Duschinski

This article analyzes Indian occupation of Kashmir as a legal, social, and spatial process of asserting power through borders and jurisdictional claims, produced and reproduced through constitutional processes and legal institutions that have enacted generalized notions of emergency and crisis. We argue that the distinctive socio-spatial power structures established between India and Kashmir in a provisional capacity amidst war and partition at the time of independence have been legitimized through rights regimes established through the constitutional structure and institutionalized through laws, executive orders, and the judicial system. We examine how India's legal incorporation of Kashmir was embedded in the constitutional drafting process and the extension of fundamental rights to the region through presidential orders, and how this legal incorporation became sedimented through the work of the courts across time. Building on Ranabir Samaddar's discussion of " colonial constitutionalism, " we consider " occupational constitutionalism " as a form of foreign dominance and control produced through the annexation of part of Kashmir's territory and its legal sovereignty to India 2 in the aftermath of independence and reproduced through a series of legal mechanisms and processes across time that institute a state of emergency and permanent crisis in Kashmir.

India’s Obsession With Kashmir: Democracy, Gender, (Anti)Nationalism

Kaul, N. (2018) "India's Obsession with Kashmir: Democracy, Gender, (Anti) Nationalism", Feminist Review, Special Issue on Feminism, Protest and the Neoliberal State in India, Number 119, July (forthcoming). , 2018

Nitasha Kaul

This article attempts to make sense of India's obsession with Kashmir by way of a gendered analysis. I begin by drawing attention to the historical and continuing failure of Indian democracy in Kashmir that results in the violent and multifaceted dehumanisation of Kashmiris and, in turn, domesticates dissent on the question of Kashmir within India. This scenario has been enabled by the persuasive appeal of a gendered masculinist nationalist neoliberal state currently enhanced in its Hindutva avatar. My focus is on understanding how the violence enacted upon the Kashmiri bodies is connected to feminised understanding of the body of Kashmir in India's imagination of itself as a nation-state. I argue that the gendered discourses of representation, cartography and possession are central to the way in which such nationalism works to legitimise and normalise the violence in Kashmir. I conclude with a few reflections on how Kashmir is a litmus test for the discourse on (anti)nationalism in contemporary India.
Publication Date: 2018
Publication Name: Kaul, N. (2018) "India's Obsession with Kashmir: Democracy, Gender, (Anti) Nationalism", Feminist Review, Special Issue on Feminism, Protest and the Neoliberal State in India, Number 119, July (forthcoming).



Women and Kashmir: Special Issue EPW/RWS
Economic & Political Weekly (RWS), 2018

Nitasha Kaul

Ather Zia

We would like to thank the guest editors Nitasha Kaul and Ather Zia, and the members of the editorial advisory group of the Review of Women's Studies Mary E John, J Devika, Kalpana Kannabiran, Samita Sen, and Padmini Swaminathan for putting together this issue on " Women and Kashmir.

A new addition to critical Kashmir studies resources: ‘Women and Kashmir: Knowing in Our Own Ways, ‘ published in Review of Women’s Studies, Economic and Political Weekly. An all Kashmiri women-scholars team: Nitasha Kaul and Ather Zia as guest co-editors, authors include Mona Bhan, Hafsa Kanjwal , Inshah Malik, Mir Fatimah Kanth, Samreen Mushtaq, Uzma Falak, Essar Batool and Aaliya Anjum.

Publication Date: 2018
Publication Name: Economic & Political Weekly (RWS)

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=HINDUISM IS FASCISM, CASTISM AND RACISM

Kashmir’s Struggle for Self-Determination

#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA

By Ron Jacobs

February 13, 2024

Source: Counterpunch

Image by Alisdare Hickson, Creative Commons 4.0

Together with Palestine, the state of Kashmir is one of the longest existing political and territorial conflict remaining from the aftermath of the British Empire. Kashmir, together with its sister state of Jammu, were granted a quasi-autonomy at the end of British rule in the subcontinent. The status of the states was to be determined by a popular referendum, which has yet to occur. Arguably, the reason it has not occurred is because India fears it would lose any claim and the people of Jammu/Kashmir would vote for independence, while leaning toward Pakistani and its Muslim foundations. The conflicts between India and Pakistan over Kashmir has erupted into wars between Delhi and Islamabad at least twice. Furthermore, an intensification of Indian repression and military occupation led to an armed insurgency in 1989. Recently, India’s Hindu nationalist government overturned laws protecting the states’ autonomy when, according to the US-government-funded (and not a friend of liberation movements as a rule) Freedom House, “what had been the state of Jammu and Kashmir was reconstituted as two union territories under the direct control of the Indian central government. The move stripped residents of many of their previous political rights. Civil liberties have also been curtailed to quell ongoing public opposition to the reorganization. Indian security forces are frequently accused of human rights violations, but perpetrators are rarely punished.”

In essence, this move by the Indian regime made Kashmir and Jammu part of India, ignoring United Nations resolutions, centuries of history and, most importantly, the people living in those states. It is this history and the proclaimed desires of the majority of Kashmiris that inform a new book on the subject. Written by Dr. Farhan Mujahid Chak, the book titled Nuclear Flashpoint: The War Over Kashmir is a knowledgeable discussion of Kashmir’s history and a critical examination of India’s manipulation of that history to deny Kashmir’s liberation struggle.

The narrative provided by Chak, who also serves as the Secretary-General of Kashmir Civitas—an organization that exists to fight for Kashmiri self-determination, is a narrative that explains the religious, economic and political history of Kashmir over several centuries. It is a story that involves invasions, settlements, and political and financial deals between royals and conquerors. Likewise, it is a chronicle of Kashmir’s long tradition of resistance and struggle; a tradition that exists even today despite the presence of over 500,000 Indian troops that occupy much of the region. The harsh nature of the Indian military’s repression and occupation is a major reason why even a mainstream organization like the aforementioned Freedom House gave the country a rating of “not free.”

It is the contention of the text that India’s repression has intensified since the rise of the Hindu Nationalist Party and its leader Narendra Modi. The author describes the thinking of this extreme right-wing party and its government as one that sees its adherents and supporters as exceptional, creating an Indian exceptionalism in a manner similar to the exceptionalism assumed by many US and Israeli citizens in their justifications for invasions, colonization and crimes against humanity. Chak describes some of the manifestations of this exceptionalist thinking; the rewriting of history and an insistence on religious and cultural uniformity according to the ruling party being primary among them. In a parallel manner, Chak discusses the political spaces where the non-sectarian elements of India’s political system are as opposed to Kashmiri self-determination as the Hindu nationalists. In short, the scenario Chak has written about India and its relation to Kashmir is a scenario that is synonymous with that practiced by other settler-colonial nations, especially the United States and Israel.

By revealing the situation in Kashmir as one now all too similar to the tragedy the world is watching unfold in Gaza, Chak makes clear that the situation of the people of Kashmir is one of colonial occupation. He describes military actions by the occupying troops and the replacement of Kashmiri political structures with those imposed by Delhi. He remarks on the distortion of cultural and religious histories, including attempts by Indian scholars and others to rename the Buddhist communities of Kashmir as Hindu while portraying Muslims as nothing but invaders. The rewriting of history is a neverending process that leaves nothing out. Indeed, the reader is told how the current Indian regime has elevated previously unimportant Hindu religious treks to places in Kashmir into required pilgrimages. The resulting popularity of these treks are then used them as an excuse to expropriate land to build facilities for the pilgrims. One cannot help but think about similar “pilgrimages” sponsored by the Israeli government that are designed to bring more settlers to the territory it illegally occupies.

The inclusion of the words “nuclear flashpoint” in Chak’s title are why the fate of Kashmir is important to the world. As noted before, India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir. The situation remains tense with armed skirmishes a regular event along the so-called Line of Control that nominally separates the region India controls with the region Pakistan controls. Although there are elements in Pakistan’s ruling elites who might like to see Kashmir as part of Pakistan, the overwhelming consensus in the Pakistan seems to be that an independent and sovereign Kashmir would be to Islamabad’s benefit. Meanwhile, India’s ongoing aggressive occupation indicates it considers Kashmir to belong to India and India alone. Chak’s text is an excellent history of the resulting conflict from its beginnings to the present.

Ron Jacobs is the author of Daydream Sunset: 60s Counterculture in the '70s, The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground (Verso 1997) the novels, Short Order Frame Up, The Co-Conspirator’s Tale and a collection of essays titled Tripping Through the American Night. He is a frequent contributor to Counterpunch. His articles, reviews and essays have appeared in anthologies and numerous print and online journals, including Jungle World Berlin, Monthly Review, The Sri Lanka Guardian, Vermont Times, Alternative Press Review and the Olympia, WA based monthly Works In Progress.

Indian (ANNEXED) Kashmir voters prepare for historic election amid political shifts

KASHMIR IS INDIA'S GAZA

May 12, 2024 
By Muheet Ul Islam

Kashmiri polling officials carry Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) ahead of the fourth phase of voting of India's general elections in Srinagar, May 12, 2024.

SRINAGAR —

Voters in Indian Kashmir are going to the polls from May 13 through May 25 to select their representatives in the Indian parliament. Local media reports claim that more than 1.7 million voters will determine the outcome for 24 candidates competing for the Srinagar constituency.

This is part of India’s ongoing general elections, which began in late April and run through June. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term.

The vote comes nearly five years after the Modi government stripped Muslim majority Kashmir of its semiautonomous status. Kashmir's loss of its special status in August 2019 led to the division of the region into two federal territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Both areas are ruled by the central government and have no legislatures of their own.

Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is not contesting the elections in Indian Kashmir. News reports say the move signals ongoing discontent over the 2019 move and there is speculation BJP candidates would have lost.

HINDUTVA OCCUPATION FORCES

Indian paramilitary soldiers arrive to guard a venue for the distribution of Electronic Voting Machines and other election material in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, May 12, 2024.

Residents say the Indian general elections are important for the people of Kashmir. They maintain that the Modi government has robbed the region of rights that were guaranteed to them under the Indian constitution.

“What’s left for us locals? Our land is given to non-locals, jobs are taken by them too, our electricity is sent to other Indian states and everywhere you look, high-ranking officials are not from Jammu and Kashmir,” Fayaz Ahmad Malik, a resident, told VOA during a rally at Fateh Kadal, an area in Indian Kashmir’s capital.

“I have not voted in my life ever before but today I feel it is necessary because we are suffering. Modi and his party want to destroy us, but we have to stop him,” he said.

Locals listen to the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir at an election rally organized by his party, the National Conference, in the Palpora area of Srinagar. (Credit: Wasim Nabi for VOA)

Modi visited Indian Kashmir in March for the first time since the region lost its special status. Amid tight security, he told a crowd that had packed the Bakshi Stadium in the region's capital, Srinagar, that Kashmir has seen significant changes and prospered since his government acted in 2019.

Muzamil Maqbool, a political analyst and host of the podcast show Plain Talk, told VOA that the Kashmir valley is expected to see record-breaking voter turnout. He said the situation on the ground has changed since 2019.

“The government of India always wanted to increase the voting percentage here because for years and decades Kashmir has witnessed a massive boycott,” Maqbool said. “The government of India, political institutions and others always wanted Kashmiris to vote irrespective of which candidate will be chosen and the government of India has highly succeeded in that,” he added.

Mehbooba Mufti, President of Peoples Democratic Party, addresses a gathering at Faiteh Kadal area of Srinagar. (Credit: Wasim Nabi for VOA)

Maqbool believes people want to cast their vote and support their candidates openly. He added that young people, first time voters especially from central Kashmir, south and north Kashmir, are very eager to show the power of voting in democracy.

Gul Mohammad Khan, a resident of Srinagar, said that he expects a strong candidate who would dare to challenge Modi and other Hindu leaders openly.

“In the past no Kashmiri politician supporting India has shown such courage. They instead have aligned themselves with New Delhi’s interests,” Khan said. “I hope for a leader who can make Indian leaders dance to his tune,” he said.

Professor Noor Baba, another political analyst, told VOA that competition in Kashmir will be primarily between two regional political parties; the National Conference, or NC, and the People’s Democratic Party, or the PDP.

Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi is a candidate of the National Conference in Srinagar. He is considered as a strong candidate because he has a huge support of his voters spread across the region. (Credit: Wasim Nabi for VOA)

Modi's ruling party, Baba said, chose not to contest voting in Kashmir despite significant investment it made in reshaping politics in the area. India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, or INC, is supporting the NC.

“In Srinagar, the NC candidate has the support of his voters while the PDP candidate has also gained sympathy as he has been a victim of post-2019 politics,” Baba said.

Nasir Aslam Wani, the National Conference provincial president, and Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, National Conference’s candidate for Srinagar, were contacted for comments but their phones were switched off.

“NC has an advantage due to its longer historical presence and stronger social base.

There is a perception that PDP played a role in the political rehabilitation of the BJP in the politics of the erstwhile state by forming a government with it as its alliance partner. It played a key role in facilitating BJP’s reshaping politics in Kashmir,” Baba added.

Altaf Bukhari, businessman turned politician, has emerged as a strong political figure after he formed his own party known as Apni party. (Credit: Wasim Nabi for VOA)

Just before the ruling BJP revoked Kashmir’s special status in 2019, the party withdrew its support from the PDP, ending their alliance. The PDP is now a bitter rival to Modi’s party.

The “2024 elections in Kashmir are different from previous ones. Expectations are high, especially among the youth, who seek candidates to truly represent them in the Indian parliament,” said Tariq Ahmad Bhat, a senior youth leader of the People’s Democratic Party, to VOA.

“Previously the public viewed elections negatively, believing that voting would not make any difference. Today I can see the change. People have realized that undeserving candidates cannot be governed anymore,” Bhat added.

Jammu and Kashmir has been a disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan since the countries gained independence from British rule in 1947. Two wars have been fought between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Both nations govern the territory under its control.

 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Snowless Winter and a Climate Crisis: Kashmir’s ‘Unprecedented’ Weather

By Umar Manzoor Shah

Local Muslims held special prayer ceremonies in January for snowfall. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

SRINAGAR, India, Feb 20 2024 (IPS) - Abdul Gani Malik, a 75-year-old goldsmith living in Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar, has witnessed eras of tranquility and turbulence in the Himalayan region. What he has not seen, however, is a snowless Kashmir during the winter.

Malik still works at his shop, located in one of the jam-packed markets of the old city area of Kashmir’s capital, intricately lacing colorful emeralds on dazzling gold necklaces. While conversing with IPS, he mentions that the winter in Kashmir has never been so terrible and terrifying as it has been this year.

He recalls how, during the 40-day harshest winter period from December 21 to January 30, snow would accumulate to about six or seven feet, freezing and making pathways treacherous even for city dwellers. In the mountainous region, according to Malik, the snow would last for several months, regulating temperatures during the summer and providing water and food.

“Now is a different tale. The mountains appear dry and dead. The rivers are carrying no water, and our woods are bereft of life. This is an absolute apocalypse,” Malik said.

The region of Kashmir is located in the north-western complex of the Himalayan ranges, with marked relief variation, snow-capped summits, antecedent drainage, complex geological structure, and rich temperate vegetation and fauna.

Kashmir’s winter is traditionally divided into three parts: Chilay Kalan (old man winter), Chilay Khuarud (young winter), and Chilay Bacha (kiddy winter). The coldest part, called Chilay Kalan, starts on December 21 and ends at the end of January. It is during this period that snowfall is expected.

“The temperatures during this period plummet to even minus 8 to 10 degrees Celsius, and when it snows, it accumulates in glaciers. The snowfall in the later period is of no use,” says Abdul Ghani Malik.

He was part of the congregational prayers held across Kashmir for snowfall. Local Muslims, who constitute more than 90 percent of the local population, decided in January to hold special prayers for snowfall in all major mosques. “We prayed, and we hope God listens to our plight.”

According to Abid Ali, a student of environmental sciences from Kashmir, Kashmir’s livelihood depends on snowfall, and if it doesn’t snow, things are going to take a terrible shape.

“The region’s electricity system, agriculture, and tourism are all dependent on snowfall. The dry winter will prove catastrophic for the local populace,” Abid said.

Kashmir, as per estimates, reported a 79 percent precipitation deficit through December of last year. Indian meteorologists claim that unusual weather is linked to global warming and El Niño, the sporadic climate phenomenon that can create warm, dry conditions in the Indian subcontinent and other parts of Asia.

A man walks through an area in Kashmir where low snowfall is causing concern as the region’s economy is highly dependent on it. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

Threat to Agriculture

In Kashmir, 60 percent of the state’s revenue comes from agriculture and horticulture, and about 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas.

However, over the years, the valley has experienced irregular patterns of precipitation. In the first five months of 2022, Kashmir saw a 38 percent rain shortage, according to data provided by the Meteorological Department (MeT) in Srinagar.

The data reveals that the Kashmir Valley has experienced a significant lack of pre-monsoon precipitation over the years. From March 1 to May 31, 2022, the region got 99.5 mm of rain, 70 percent lower than average.

Comparatively, between March and May of each of the following years—2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021—there was a deficit of 16, 28, 35, and 26 percent, respectively. The dry winter this year is already throwing life out of gear for the farmers.

Abdul Karim Ganaie, a farmer hailing from south Kashmir’s Pulwama, says the threats are menacingly looming large, and people cannot do anything other than watch helplessly as the crisis unfolds.

When IPS contacted Choudhary Mohammad Iqbal, the director of agriculture in Kashmir, he stated that the department was closely monitoring the situation and would be issuing a warning to the farmers in the coming months.

“We accept that the situation is going to prove worrisome for Kashmir’s farming community, but we have to adopt a strategy to ensure minimal losses. We are working on that front,” Choudhary said.

Tourism under Cloud

The famous tourist destinations in Kashmir are also witnessing a dip in tourist arrivals, putting the people associated with this business in dire straits. In January, the famous tourist resorts recorded the lowest arrival of foreign and domestic tourists, with only 30 percent occupancy in hotels.

It snows at last but too little, too late!

Finally, in the first week of February, when the harshest 40-day-long spell was already over, it snowed in most of the areas of Kashmir. However, according to experts, the snow would yield the fewest results as it is not possible to accumulate for an extended period.

What is important, says Mehraj Ahmad, a research scholar working on climate change in Kashmir, is that the snow must accumulate in the higher reaches for as long as possible until the arrival of summers.

“The snowfall of February or March carries the least significance when compared with the snowfall of January. Therefore, we really are keeping our fingers crossed and praying for the safeguard of our lives against the dark, dreadful effects of climate change,” Ahmad said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

India uses coronavirus pandemic to exploit human rights in Kashmir

May 7, 2020

The United Nations has called for an immediate global ceasefire to “put armed conflict in lockdown” and focus on protecting the most vulnerable from the spread of COVID-19. Yet tragically, there are cases around the world where violations have occurred.

Ongoing developments in Kashmir include a crackdown on Kashmiri journalists, rising policing powers and enhanced curfew measures. These actions suggest that the Indian government may be exploiting the pandemic to accelerate its settler-colonial ambitions in the disputed territory.

Indian paramilitary soldiers guard at a closed market in Srinagar, Indian-occupied Kashmir, Aug. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

For the past six years, I have worked as a researcher along the Line of Control (LoC) — the de-facto border that divides Kashmir into India and Pakistan. I am also on the board of directors for the advocacy organization, Canadians for Peace and Justice in Kashmir.

Thousands of Kashmiris live within a 10-kilometre radius of the LoC, which is so heavily militarized that it is visible from space.

Kashmiris are vulnerable to both the contagion and the violence of the ongoing conflict.
War during a pandemic

In April, the Indian army set up artillery weapons deep in Kashmiri villages, as far as 60 kilometres from bunkered areas, to launch long-distance fire on Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

This encroachment is creating widespread panic and anxiety. Locals are protesting the shifting of heavy artillery guns into their communities, fearing retaliatory fire from the Pakistani army.

It is an intentional strategy to station soldiers and artillery among communities to make it difficult for the Pakistani army to retaliate. The blurring of civilian and military targets amounts to a war crime.

The Indian army has used civilian populations as a human shield before. In 2017, footage emerged of a Kashmiri man tied to a military vehicle patrolling a Kashmiri town.

As Indian and Pakistani forces continue to exchange fire, widespread loss of civilian life and property is being reported on both sides of the LoC.

An underground community bunker in Neelum valley, Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. (Nusrat Jamal), Author provided

During the exchange of cross-border fire, families are forced to take shelter in community bunkers. These are small enclosed spaces that make social distancing practices impossible to follow.

Furthermore, people trying to escape their villages during bombardment are prevented from leaving by the police as they enforce COVID-19 lockdown measures.
Asia’s Berlin Wall

The LoC, also known as Asia’s Berlin Wall, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary. It was put in place in 1949 as a temporary measure until the status of Kashmir is resolved.

In her book Body of Victim, Body of Warrior, Cabeiri deBergh Robinson, associate professor of South Asian studies at the University of Washington, explains that in earlier years, the LoC was permeable and fluid. It was only after the Simla Agreement in 1972, that it came to mimic the impermeability of a border.

In this Oct. 4, 2016 photo, Indian army soldiers patrol near the highly militarized Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, in Pallanwal, Indian-occupied Kashmir. (AP Photo/Channi Anand) (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
‘100 little sleeps’

From 1990-2003, during the peak of the Kashmiri insurgency, the LoC was a site of intense conflict between Indian and Pakistani militaries.

Armies fired long-range artillery and mortar shells at each other, killing and harming civilians, property and livestock in the process.

Even though a shaky ceasefire was reached in 2003, skirmishes flare up unannounced.

During my research in the Neelum valley in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, a villager described living near the LoC: “We are never at ease. The firing can start at any time. It’s like having 100 little sleeps every night.”

The number of civilians killed on each side of the LoC is challenging to document, given a lack of government transparency.

The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) is responsible for monitoring the ceasefire. India stands accused of blocking UNMOGIP’s access to the LoC.

This year alone, India has committed 882 ceasefire violations.
Pre-existing inequality

Pandemics do not occur in a vacuum but exacerbate pre-existing inequalities.

Kashmir is ill-prepared to handle the pandemic. In Indian-occupied Kashmir, there is one soldier for every nine people but only one ventilator for every 71,000 people, and one doctor for every 3,900 people.

Health facilities along the LoC are severely deficient, reflecting India and Pakistan’s neglect of the sub-region.

Given the current suspension of high-speed 4G internet, Kashmiris are prevented from accessing necessary public health information needed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Internet and telecommunication services are restricted on both sides of the LoC.
Kashmir’s annexation

Amid the pandemic, on Mar. 31, India introduced a new domicile law. This is one of the many legislative changes set by India following the unilateral abrogation of Article 370 in August last year.

The domicile law paves the way for demographic flooding in Kashmir, which will allow non-Kashmiris to obtain property, compete for government jobs and impact the outcomes of a referendum on Kashmir’s future should it be held.

Demographic flooding as a colonial strategy has been used by Israel along the West Bank as well as China in the Xinjiang autonomous region.
A Kashmir yet to come

The pandemic has inspired thinking on the complete restructuring of our world. It has shed light on the centrality of care workers and those at the forefront of our food systems.Kashmiri men ride a shikara, a traditional gondola, to catch fish in the interiors of the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Indian-occupied Kashmir, April 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

It is forcing us to imagine “a world we do not yet know and cannot describe” as scholar Vafa Ghazavi recently wrote.

A just world won’t emerge as if by magic. We will need to fight for it.

The LoC does not signal the closure of Kashmir’s forms and futures. It is a site of potentiality, for a Kashmir yet to come.

This Kashmir would not be held back by the paucity of our imagination or the lack of available language. It would be a Kashmir where Kashmiris can freely choose learning, laughter and living.

#FREEKASHMIR  #KASHMIR IS #INDIA 'S   #GAZA

Author
Omer Aijazi
Postdoctoral research fellow, Religion and Anthropology, University of Toronto
Disclosure statement
Omer Aijazi receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to conduct research in Kashmir and Northern Pakistan.
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University of Toronto provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA.

On Justice for Kashmir

BY RICHARD FALK    

DECEMBER 16, 2022Facebook

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Photograph Source: Steve Evans – CC BY 2.0

Among the self-determination struggles of our time, Kashmir is at risk of being forgotten by most of the world (except for Pakistan), while its people continue to endure the harsh crimes of India’s intensifying military occupation that has already lasted 75 years. In 2019, the Hindu nationalist government of the BJP, headed by the notorious autocrat, Narendra Modi, unilaterally and arbitrarily abrogated the special status arrangements for the governance of Kashmir that had been incorporated in Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and although often violated in spirit and substance, at least gave the people of Kashmir some measure of protection.

1947 was a momentous year for South Asia as British colonial rule came to an end, followed by a partition of India that resulted in much bloodshed throughout the process of establishing the Muslim state of Pakistan alongside the secular Hindu majority state of India. At this time, Kashmir was one of 560 ‘princely states’ in India, governed by a Hindu Maharajah while having a population that was 77% Muslim. The partition agreement reached by India and Pakistan gave the peoples of these ‘states’ a partial right of self-determination in the form of a free choice as to whether to remain a part of India or join their destiny with that of Pakistan, and in either event retaining considerable independence by way of self-rule. It was widely assumed that these choices would favor India if their population was Hindu and to Pakistan if Muslim. In a confused and complicated set of circumstances that involved Kashmiris and others contesting the Maharahah’s leadership of Kashmir, India engaged in a variety of maneuvers including a large-scale military intervention to avoid the timely holding of the promised internationally supervised referendum, and by stages coercively treated Kashmir more and more as an integral part of India. This Indian betrayal of the partition settlement agreement gave rise to the first of several wars with Pakistan, and it resulted in a division of Kashmir in 1948 that was explicitly not an international boundary, but intended as a temporary ‘line-of-control’ to separate the opposed armed forces. It has ever since given rise to acute tension erupting in recurrent warfare between the two countries, and even now no international boundary exists between divided Kashmir. The leadership of Pakistan has always believed that Kashmir was a natural projection of itself, treating India’s behavior as occupying power as totally unacceptable and illegitimate as have the majority of Kashmiris.

The essence of India’s betrayal was to deny the people of Kashmir the opportunity to express their preference for accession to India or Pakistan, presumably correctly believing that it would lose out if a proper referendum were held. Back in 1947 the Indian secular, liberal leadership did itself make strong pledges to the effect that Kashmir would be allowed to determine its future affiliation in an internationally supervised referendum or plebiscite as soon as order could be there restored. The two governments even agreed to submit the issue to the UN, and the Security Council reaffirmed the right of Kashmir to the agreed process of self-determination, but India gradually took steps clearly designed to prevent this internationally supervised resolution of Kashmir’s future from ever happening. It appears that India sought control of Kashmir primarily for strategic and nationalist reasons associated especially with managing Kashmir’s borders with China and Pakistan, and in doing so converting Kashmir into a buffer state of India, giving it the security that supposedly accompanies strategic depth of a ‘Great Power.’ Unsurprisingly, Pakistan reacted belligerently to India’s failure to live up to its commitments, and the result for Kashmir was a second level of partition between India occupied Kashmir and a smaller Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. In effect, India’s unilateralism poisoned relations between these two countries, later to become possessors of nuclear weapons, as well as producing a Kashmiri population that felt deprived of its fundamental rights with accompanying atrocities (including torture, forced disappearances, sexual violence, extrajudicial killing, excessive force, collective punishment, the panopoly of counterinsurgency crimes), which amount to Crimes Against Humanity, in a manner somewhat resembling the deprivations associated with Palestine and Western Sahara.

Part of the blame for this Kashmiri prolonged tragedy reflects the legacy of British colonialism, which characteristically left behind its colonies as shattered and factionalized political realities, an obvious consequence of a colonialist reliance on a divide and rule strategy in its execution of its policies of control and exploitation. Such a strategy understandably aggravated the internal relations of diverse ethnic, tribal, and religious communities. This Indian story is repeated in the various British decolonizing experiences of such diverse countries as Ireland, Cyprus, Malaysia, Rhodesia, and South Africa, as well as in the quasi-colonial mandate in Palestine, which Britain administered between the two world wars. In these cases, ethnic and religious diversity was manipulated by Britain to manage the overall subjugation of a colonized peoples so as to minimize its administrative challenges, which became increasing troublesome in the face surging national independence movements in the 20^th century.

Adding to the misery, these cleavages were left behind as open wounds by Britain during the decolonization process, with a crude display of irresponsibility toward the wellbeing of the previously dominated native populations. The historical outcome was dramatized by a variety of post-colonial unresolved political conflicts that resulted in prolonged strife, producing severe suffering for the population while addressing such post-colonial challenges. These adverse results were only avoided, ironically enough, in the few ‘success’ stories of settler colonialism—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Such successes were achieved through reliance on genocidal tactics by settlers that overcame native resistance by eliminating or totally marginalized hostile indigenous populations. South Africa is a notable instance of the eventual failure of a settler colonial enterprise and Israel/Palestine is the sole important instance of an ambiguous, ongoing struggle that has not reached closure, but is now at a climactic stage.

Kashmir’s status, despite the denial of self-determination, had given the beleaguered country substantial autonomy rights, and despite many encroachments by India during the 75 years of occupation, chief of which was blocking the Kashmiri people from exercising their internationally endorsed right of self-determination. Nevertheless, what Modi did on August 5, 2019 definitely made matters worse. It ended Kashmir’s special status in the Indian Constitution and placed the territory under harsh direct Indian rule, accompanied by various religious cleansing policies and practices counterinsurgency pretexts designed to promote Hindu supremacy in an undisguised framework of domination, discrimination, highlighted by altered residence and land ownership laws in a pattern favoring the Hindu settlement and minority control. After taking journalistic notice of these events in a surprisingly non-judgmental fashion, the world, especially in the West, has fallen silent despite the crimes against the people of Kashmir continuing to mount on a daily basis, including the branding of all forms of Kashmiri opposition to Indian behavior as ‘terrorism’ giving the incredibly large occupying Indian forces of 700,000 or more a green light to use excessive force without accountability and impose repressive conditions on the entire population.

This outcome in Kashmir should not cause much perplexity. International reactions to human rights abuses rarely reflect their severity, but rather the play of geopolitics. Washington sheds many tears about alleged violations of human rights in Cuba or Venezuela while giving Egypt and Saudi Arabia a free pass. More reflective of the international politics governing the inter-governmental and UN discourse on human rights is the insulation of Israel’s apartheid regime from any kind of punitive response at the international level while screaming for action in the same institutional settings against China’s far milder abuse of the rights of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. India like Israel is too valuable a strategic partner of the West to alienate the Modi leadership by objecting to its behavior however extreme and criminally unlawful. It is unfortunate that the best human rights defenders can hope for in such cases is silence.

India as a large country with a huge population and nuclear weapons which, under the best of circumstances, is hard to challenge with regard to policies that seem almost normalized by the passage of time within the domain of its territorial sovereignty, given the state-centric allocation of legal authority in the post-colonial world. Many important countries have ‘captive nations’ within their borders and are united in opposing internal self-determination claims. At the same time, the harshness and cruelty of India’s policies over time have given rise to an insurgent mood and movement on the part of Kashmiris who now seem themselves somewhat divided as between aspiring for accession to Pakistan or independent statehood. Despite the long period since partition, such a choice, however improperly delayed for decades, should be made available to the people of Kashmir if only the UN was in a position to implement its long ignored responsibility to organize and administer a referendum in Kashmir. Such a peaceful transition does not seem presently feasible given India’s recent further encroachment on Kashmir’s normal development.

Yet the situation is not as hopeless as it seems. The rights of the Kashmiris are as well established in law and morality as are the wrongs of India’s increasingly apartheid structure of domination, exploitation, and subjugation. The Kashmir struggle for justice enjoys the high ground when it comes to the legitimacy of its claims, and struggles of a similar sort since 1945 have shown that the political outcome is more likely to reflect the nationalist and insurgent goals of legitimate struggle than the imperial goals of foreign encroachment. In effect, anti-imperial struggles should be thought of as Legitimacy Wars in which the resistance of a repressed people backed by global solidarity initiatives are in the end more decisive and effective than weaponry or battlefield superiority. It is worth reflecting upon the startling fact that the major anti-colonial wars since 1945 were won by the weaker side militarily. At this preliminary stage, a liberation strategy for Kashmir needs to concentrate on raising global awareness of the criminal features of India’s treatment of the Kashmiri people. To achieve such awareness, it might even be helpful to grasp how Gandhi mobilized public opinion in support of India’s own struggle for independence and study of the brilliant tactics used by Vietnam in mobilizing global solidarity with its nationalist struggle and sacriice to neutralize the weight of the U.S. massive military intervention.

Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global law, Queen Mary University London, and Research Associate, Orfalea Center of Global Studies, UCSB.