செவ்வாய், 25 அக்டோபர், 2016

Kashmiris step up sovereignty struggle braving New Delhi’s militarization

Kashmiris step up sovereignty struggle braving New Delhi’s militarization

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 October 2016, 22:20 GMT]
On 08 July 2016, Indian military which occupies the portion of the Kashmir region administered by India, killed a militant Kashmiri commander of Hizbul-ul-Mujadaheen (HM) group, Burhan Wani, along with two of his fighters. Kashmiri people in the Valley have responded with protests in the aftermath of the killings, after a call for general strike from the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and both the factions of umbrella organisation Hurriyat Conference (HC). Defying the curfew enforced by New Delhi, thousands of Kashmiris attended the funeral and demonstrations were stepped up throughout the valley in the following days. The Indian military responded with deploying further violence, killing at least 19 civilians in clashes over the first weekend that followed. The number of Kashmiris who have been killed in two months long Kashmiri uprising stands over 90 with thousands injured.

The 500,000 strength Indian troops occupying the valley has been further strengthened by New Delhi.

As part of the crackdown of the Kashmiri protests, New Delhi went to the extent of suspending mobile telephone services in the southern parts of the valley while blocking Internet access across the State. Rail services, school and college examinations have also remained suspended by the Indian authorities during the protests.

On 18th September, Indian Police fired teargas and assaulted Kashmiri civilians who had gathered at the funeral of an 11-year-old boy, who was killed during a protest on 16 September when Indian military opened indiscriminate fire.

Meanwhile, unidentified militants attacked an Indian military base near Uri along the Line of Control (LOC) west of Srinagar, killing 17 Indian soldiers and injuring over 30, on the same day.

Kashmir students, social movements and political organisations are mobilized in a state-wide bandh and demonstrations demanding their right to exercise self-determination and for the removal of the Indian armed occupation of Kashmir.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration propped up by New Delhi, with the assistance of central ‘security’ forces such as CPRF have been conducting mass arrests and targeted unlawful detention of Kashmiri activists, civilians, political leaders, journalists and Human Rights workers.

Immediately following the killing of Burhan Wani, on July 9, Indian forces began to arrest and detain Kashmiri political leaders and activists. The Chairman of the HC, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has remained under house arrest following his return from New Delhi to Kashmir since April. Upon his insistence to leave his house to endorse the present uprising, he was again subjected to detention and later released. Indian military and the police are stationed outside his Hyderpora residency. Likewise, another chairman of the HC, Moulvi Omar Farooq, is detained at Chehmashani following his arrest in August from the area of Nigeen when he defied his house arrest. He wanted to lead a protest march to Eidgah. JKLF chairman Yasin Malik was also arrested on July 9 and he was transferred to the Central Jail on July 30. Furthermore, well over 2000 Kashmiris, mostly youth has been rounded up and arrested and detained by the Indian military and police.

The ideas and ideologies for national liberation cannot be suppressed through military means, said Yasmin Malik in 2013 when he visited Tamil Nadu to take part in a protest organised by Naam Thamizhar Kadchi.

The dialectics of oppression and resistance remains universal for humanity, and activists in Tamil Nadu drawing parallels to military occupation of Kashmir and Tamil Eelam reminded what Mr Malik said during his solidarity visit to Tamil Nadu. The message from Malik was that military means and techniques of oppression cannot disintegrate neither the Kashmiri nor the Tamil national questions, which are sovereignty based, the activists in Tamil Nadu commented.

The state government of Jammu and Kashmir, also ordered the censorship on mobile telephone and the Internet during the celebration of Eid, and the occupying Indian forces upheld the curfew further angering the Kashmiri people. Kashmiris noted it as the first time in the history of the Kashmir Valley that Eid was obstructed in such a manner. Journalists, students, government workers and various grassroots organisations took to the streets protesting the censorship being upheld in Kashmir.

Despite the military measures of New Delhi, Kashmiri Independence movement leaders have called for the continuation of civil disobedience and protests against the Indian occupation. Kashmiri women are also actively engaging themselves in the uprising.

The Kashmiri armed national liberation struggle has intensified in the aftermath of the 1987 election althought its roots are traced to the colonial period and the partition of 1947.

During the mid-1990’s the JKNLF had been weakened due to a combination of the consequences of the genocidal Indian counter-insurgency (COIN) operations as well as Pakistan’s Inter intelligence services (ISI) involvement in fostering the HM to become a strategic asset and in directing them to assassinate and attacking the secular and sovereign forces of the Kashmiri liberation struggle.

While New Delhi denies the national question of the Kashmiri people and their right to self-determination and instead enforces a military occupation amidst propping up a puppet administration, Islamabad attempts to hijack it and opts to promote militants who pledge their allegation to Pakistan and thereby attempts to annex Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistani administered Azad Kashmir.

With the temporary decline of the JKNLF in the insurgency towards the mid 1990’s, the HM continued the Kashmiri armed resistance albeit being dependent on Pakistani support. Through the late 1990s and the 2000, Pakistan-operated Islamists and foreign jihadist hijacked the insurgency in the valley. However these groups’ atrocious behaviours and their subservience to Islamabad have led to alienation between them and the local Kashmiri populace.

Since the mid 2000’s there has been resurgence in popular national resistance among the Kashmiri people against the Indian occupation and they have focused more on their demand of Kashmiri independence. The latest uprisings are echoing the desire of Kashmiri people for a sovereign Kashmir, independent of both New Delhi and Islamabad.

Related Articles:
19.05.13   ‘Idea of the Tamil struggle cannot be killed’: Kashmiri Lead..


External Links:
Greater Kashmir: 84 days of uprising: Kashmiris adapt, innovate to sustain
Kashmir Observer: Internet Gag In An Information Age Is Simply Unacceptable!
Greater Kashmir: Kashmiri diaspora hold protest outside Indian Consulate in US
The Times of India: Kashmir shut for 88th consecutive day
UNI: Kashmir unrest: Crackdown on stone pelters continues, separatists remain under house arrest, detention
Kashmir Observer: Internet Ban - A Sign of Oppression!
Greater Kashmir: Day 90: Kashmir continues to remain shut

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