Arundhati Roy on Reckless Modi & Kashmir

‘It is now Pakistan’s turn to weep’: Modi boasts about India’s ‘mother of nuclear bombs’ at rally’, RT.co,, April 18, 2019
“Amid rising tensions, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he has called Pakistan’s nuclear bluff by launching airstrikes while also claiming that New Delhi has the “mother of nuclear bombs.”

“Earlier, terrorists from Pakistan would come here and go back after conducting an attack. Pakistan would threaten us, saying it has the nuclear bomb and will press the button,” Prime Minister Modi said at a campaign rally at Surendranagar in Gujarat on Wednesday.”

“The bombastic rhetoric comes amid ongoing tensions and tit-for-tat airstrikes in recent weeks, which have been marred by sporadic cross-border firefights and violence in the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack in Pulwama in February which killed 40 Indian paramilitary officers.” [snip]

“Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the bombing and India subsequently accused the Pakistani government of turning a blind eye to the group’s activities.

“Pakistan has been threatening us for a long time with its nuclear capability but the IAF called its bluff with its strikes,” Modi said. His comments came following governmental denials that an Indian military attack in Pakistan was imminent, and may be carried out in mid-April.”

Over the weeks an information/perception war has developed between Islamabad and New Dehli, regarding Indian military planes shot down (or not), number of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) members killed in training centers (or not)…all during the run-up to the election for Prime Minster of India.  This fellow’s opinion is that Imran Khan had  been winning it at the time, with caveats at the bottom.  Right now it looks as though it will be a contest by Thug Narendra Modi (BJP party) and Rahul Gandhi (Indian Nat’l Congress party).

The Congress manifesto is here, for the underclass, largely:

“Modi’s party came down hard on Congress for its pledge to amend a law that gives special powers to armed forces battling the Kashmir rebellion, in a bid to balance security needs and human rights concerns.”

“Congress, which had accused the government of trying to suppress dissent after the sedition law was recently used against students marking the execution of a Kashmiri rebel, said it would scrap a law it said has been “misused and, in any event, become redundant”.

The law isn’t mentioned explicitly, but the Modi government has run riot with the use of he draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act on Wikipedia.  It’s not clear how many Muslims and dissidents have disappeared under his rule (thousands, Arundhati Roy says in the video below).  As to whether or not Gandhi would hold a plebiscite election for Kashmir and Jammu, I can’t find anything recent, but it’s doubtful, as Kashmiris had noted in 2013.

‘India’s BJP releases manifesto before elections, the BJP promises to scrap Article 35A, which prevents non-residents from buying property in Indian-administered Kashmir’, April 8, 2019, aljazeera.com

“Political leaders in Muslim-majority Kashmir, where India is fighting an armed rebellion against its rule, have warned that repealing the law would lead to widespread unrest.

Modi has made his strong stance on national security a key part of the BJP’s election campaign, following a recent flare-up in tensions with arch foe Pakistan, which also lays claims to Kashmir.”

“Nationalism is our inspiration,” Prime Minister Modi said at the release of the BJP’s election manifesto at the party headquarters in New Delhi.”

“Al Jazeera’s Faiz Jamil, reporting from New Delhi, said these manifestos are the intent – not necessarily what the governments are going to do.

“Among the more controversial promises is to create a uniform civil code – currently under the constitution, different religions have different civil code rights, particularly for marriage and inheritance,” he said.

“They also want to pass the citizenship bill – a measure that would allow immigrants from neighbouring countries who are not Muslim to get Indian citizenship.”

AKA: ‘Why hold a plebiscite when we’re welcoming second-class citizens to be Indian?’

But of course, the Elephant in the Room between two nuclear powers is still: Kashmir.
(click for larger)

‘Why has Kashmir been forgotten?, Amid all the talks of India-Pakistan war, the issue at the very heart of present tensions has been completely ignored’, March 2, 2019, aljazeera.com

“Uncertainty and fear took over our home region on February 14, when a suicide attack in the Pulwama district of Indian-administered Kashmir killed more than 40 Indian soldiers. We were quickly and collectively denounced as national traitors, harassed and attacked across Indian cities. The Indian media and political elite called for “revenge” and started beating the drums of war.

The Indian government imposed a curfew, cut down the speed of the internet and deployed more troops in Kashmir. The police and security agencies carried out hundreds of overnight raids, arresting political leaders and activists. Jamaat–e-Islami, a political and religious organisation, was banned.

Meanwhile, the Indian military was put on high alert and raids were launched on targets in Pakistan, which prompted a Pakistani response. Heavy shelling across the Line of Control (LoC) which separates Indian- from Pakistan-administered Kashmir began.

Many Kashmiris were forced to flee, others started to stock up on food and other basic goods, fearing an escalation. Big red crosses were painted on rooftops of hospitals in the hope that the fighter jets constantly circling above would not hit them.

The Kashmiri people, who have already lived through decades of daily aggression against their bodies, homes, psyches, and memories, are now facing the real possibility of an all-out war.” [snip]

“When international media talks of the history of India-Pakistan antagonism, it fails to recognise the fact that Kashmiris have borne the brunt of it. When Indian media talks about “terrorism”, it fails to mention the fact that Kashmir is one of the most heavily militarised zones in the world.”

[Reuters/Danish Ismail]

“There was a certain irony in calls by Indian officials and public figures calling for Pakistan to uphold the Geneva Convention in its treatment of the captured Indian pilot. In Kashmir, India has failed to apply not just the Geneva Convention, but much of international law for that matter. Kashmiris are still being jailed on political charges and used as human shields, while the United Nations resolution which mandates a referendum on self-determination to be conducted in Kashmir is yet to be implemented.”

“Dominant narratives propagated by the Indian state and the mainstream media are muffling Kashmiri voices. At this moment, it is important to hear them speak and tell their stories of war. The killings, torture, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, mass blinding through the use of pellet shotguns, and everyday harassment in Kashmir cannot be swept under the carpet and ignored. This violence needs to be made visible because continuing or escalating the current security policies of the Indian government will only result in disaster.

Indians have to realise that there will be no peace until the Kashmir issue is resolved. If they truly want “no war”, then they have to push first and foremost for the demilitarisation of Kashmir. And if they want international law respected, they should do so as well and hold the plebiscite mandated by the UN. Kashmiris should be allowed to decide their own fate.” 

Arundhati Roy: Modi ‘reckless’ in Kashmir (14 brief minutes)

(AKA: feckless thug modi)

She looks just so tired, doesn’t she?  Small wonder…

For further reading, ‘Arundhati Roy: #Me Too Urban Naxal’, Sept. 3, 2018, Café version, c99percent version.

“To be lynched is a crime. To be poor is a crime. To defend the poor is to plot to overthrow the government, the vulnerable are being cordoned off and silenced. The vociferous are being incarcerated.”

I Don’t Believe There Are Only Two Genders. I See Gender As A Spectrum And I’m…’ [somewhere on that spectrum], outlookindia.com

‘John Bolton Greenlights Indian Military Attack on Pakistan’, February 17, 2019, Café version, c99percent version

Kashmiri Awareness

(cross-posted at caucus99percent.org)