[Assam] Indian Forces Face Broader Revolt in Kashmir - NYT

[Ram Sarangapani]

>If Terrorism in India is due to Pakistan, Bangladesh & China, then the same
in Pakistan, Bangladesh should be due to India.

I am sure the Pakistanis would love to know this. For a long time, they have
been looking for scapegoats, and Indians, being the very self-introspective,
finding flimsy reasons to quibble, will easily and willingly placate the
Pakistanis, and give them yet another reason to hate Indians.

The reverse is not necessarily true.  For instance, illegal Bangladeshis
come into Assam by the millions. Assamese do not go to B'desh in such
numbers, and illegally.

Pakistan actively supports terror activities in Kashmir, arms other terror
groups throught India. And Pakistan is known world wide as a failed snation
that harbors, and facilitates terror. They have no defense.



On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 2:46 PM, Dhruba Jyoti Deka <
dhrubajyotideka at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> If Terrorism in India is due to Pakistan, Bangladesh & China, then the same
> in Pakistan, Bangladesh should be due to India.
>
> > From: cmahanta at gmail.com
> > Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:42:36 -0500
> > To: assam at assamnet.org
> > Subject: Re: [Assam] Indian Forces Face Broader Revolt in Kashmir - NYT
> >
> > > India is faced by a 3rd enemy - a far more insidious one, an enemy from
> > > within. This enemy will feed on precious Indian resources, get arms
> > > from China and Pakistan, use Bangladesh and other places as camps, and
> then
> > > have teary-eyed HR groups crying foul and ill-treatment at every turn.
> >
> > **** Let us assume that is true. If so, what other major 'democratic'
> country in the world can you name that has this problem, of its own
> > people up in arms against itself? And does it tell you something ?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Aug 16, 2010, at 2:35 PM, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
> >
> > > This appeared in the NYT a couple of days ago. As usual, the NYT seems
> to be
> > > against India and its position vis-a-vis Kashmir.
> > >
> > > Many Indians think (and rightly so) - that the Kashmir problem will not
> stop
> > > with Kashmir. Pakistan will make sure to encroach deeper and deeper
> into
> > > India, by pumping in hordes of Pakistanis into India far beyond
> Kashmir, and
> > > 1-, 20 years down the line start demanding a plebiscites in those
> encroached
> > > areas.
> > >
> > > India is in a precarious place, wedged between two hostile, ever
> encroaching
> > > neighbors. In the East, B'desh has all but taken over Assam without
> firing a
> > > single bullet, and in the West, Pakistan is slowly but surely changing
> world
> > > opinion against India - basically making her look as if she is
> occupying
> > > Kashmir. China holds 1/3rd of Kashmir, but the Pakistanis and the world
> does
> > > not have the guts to tell the Chinese to withdraw.
> > >
> > > India is faced by a 3rd enemy - a far more insidious one, an enemy from
> > > within. This enemy will feed on precious Indian resources, get arms
> > > from China and Pakistan, use Bangladesh and other places as camps, and
> then
> > > have teary-eyed HR groups crying foul and ill-treatment at every turn.
> > >
> > > This enemy comes in the form of Maoists, insurgents, & home grown
> terror
> > > outfits. The sooner the Central & state leaderships acknowledge,realize
> the
> > > dangers of these groups, the better off India will be to quell these
> > > murderous groups running loose in the country.
> > >
> > > --Ram
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/world/asia/13kashmir.html?pagewanted=print
> > > Indian Forces Face Broader Revolt in Kashmir By LYDIA
> > > POLGREEN<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/lydia_polgreen/index.html?inline=nyt-per
> >
> > >
> > > SRINAGAR, Kashmir — Late Sunday night, after six days on life support
> with a
> > > bullet in his brain, Fida Nabi, a 19-year-old high school student, was
> > > unhooked from his ventilator at a hospital here.
> > >
> > > Mr. Nabi was the 50th person to die in Kashmir’s bloody summer of rage.
> He
> > > had been shot in the head, his family and witnesses said, during a
> protest
> > > against India<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/india/index.html?inline=nyt-geo
> >’s
> > > military presence in this disputed province.
> > >
> > > For decades, India maintained hundreds of thousands of security forces
> in
> > > Kashmir to fight an insurgency sponsored by
> > > Pakistan<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/pakistan/index.html?inline=nyt-geo
> >,
> > > which claims this border region, too. The insurgency has been largely
> > > vanquished. But those Indian forces are still here, and today they face
> a
> > > threat potentially more dangerous to the world’s largest democracy: an
> > > intifada-like popular revolt against the Indian military presence that
> > > includes not just stone-throwing young men but their sisters, mothers,
> > > uncles and grandparents.
> > >
> > > The protests, which have erupted for a third straight summer, have led
> India
> > > to one of its most serious internal crises in recent memory. Not just
> > > because of their ferocity and persistence, but because they signal the
> > > failure of decades of efforts to win the assent of Kashmiris using just
> > > about any tool available: money, elections and overwhelming force.
> > >
> > > “We need a complete revisit of what our policies in Kashmir have been,”
> said
> > > Amitabh Mattoo, a professor of strategic affairs at Jawaharlal Nehru
> > > University in New Delhi and a Kashmiri Hindu. “It is not about money —
> you
> > > have spent huge amounts of money. It is not about fair elections. It is
> > > about reaching out to a generation of Kashmiris who think India is a
> huge
> > > monster represented by bunkers and security forces.”
> > >
> > > Indeed, Kashmir’s demand for self-determination is sharper today than
> it has
> > > been at perhaps any other time in the region’s troubled history. It
> comes as
> > > — and in part because — diplomatic efforts remain frozen to resolve the
> > > dispute created more than 60 years ago with the partition of mostly
> Hindu
> > > India and Muslim Pakistan. Today each nation controls part of Kashmir,
> whose
> > > population is mostly Muslim.
> > >
> > > Secret negotiations in 2007, which came close to creating an autonomous
> > > region shared by the two countries, foundered as Pervez
> > > Musharraf<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/pervez_musharraf/index.html?inline=nyt-per
> >,
> > > then Pakistan’s president, lost his grip on power. The terrorist
> attacks in
> > > Mumbai, India’s financial capital, by Pakistani militants in 2008
> derailed
> > > any hope for further talks.
> > >
> > > Not least, India has consistently rebuffed any attempt at outside
> mediation
> > > or diplomatic entreaties, including efforts by the United States. The
> > > intransigence has left Kashmiris empty-handed and American officials
> with
> > > little to offer Pakistan on its central preoccupation — India and
> Kashmir —
> > > as they struggle to encourage Pakistan’s help in cracking down on the
> > > Taliban<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/t/taliban/index.html?inline=nyt-org
> >and
> > > other militants in the country.
> > >
> > > With no apparent avenue to progress, many Kashmiris are despairing that
> > > their struggle is taking place in a vacuum, and they are taking matters
> into
> > > their own hands.
> > >
> > > “What we are seeing today is the complete rebound effect of 20 years of
> > > oppression,” said Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, the chief cleric at Srinagar’s
> main
> > > mosque and a moderate separatist leader. Kashmiris, he said, are
> “angry,
> > > humiliated and willing to face death.”
> > >
> > > This summer there have been nearly 900 clashes between protesters and
> > > security forces, which have left more than 50 civilians dead, most of
> them
> > > from gunshot wounds. While more than 1,200 soldiers have been wounded
> by
> > > rock-throwing crowds, not one has been killed in the unrest, leading to
> > > questions about why Indian security forces are using deadly force
> against
> > > unarmed civilians — and why there is so little international outcry.
> > >
> > > “The world is silent when Kashmiris die in the streets,” said Altaf
> Ahmed, a
> > > 31-year-old schoolteacher.
> > >
> > > On Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan
> > > Singh<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/manmohan_singh/index.html?inline=nyt-per
> >made
> > > an emotional appeal for peace.
> > >
> > > “I can feel the pain and understand the frustration that is bringing
> young
> > > people out into the streets of Kashmir,” the Indian prime minister said
> in a
> > > televised speech. “Many of them have seen nothing but violence and
> conflict
> > > in their lives and have been scarred by suffering.”
> > >
> > > Indeed, there is a palpable sense of opportunities squandered. Despite
> the
> > > protests of recent years, the Kashmir Valley had in the past few years
> been
> > > enjoying a season of peace.
> > >
> > > The insurgency of the 1990s has mostly dried up, and elections in 2008
> drew
> > > the highest percentage of voters in a generation. High expectations met
> the
> > > new chief minister, Omar Abdullah, a scion of Kashmir’s leading
> political
> > > family, whose fresh face seemed well suited to bringing better
> government
> > > and prosperity to Kashmir.
> > >
> > > But election promises, like repealing laws that largely shield security
> > > forces from scrutiny and demilitarizing the state, went unfulfilled.
> After
> > > two summers of protests on specific grievances, this summer’s unrest
> has
> > > taken on a new character, one more difficult to define and mollify.
> > >
> > > That anger has led to a cycle of violence that the Indian government
> seems
> > > powerless to stop. Events that unfolded last week in Pulwama, a small
> town
> > > 20 miles from Srinagar, illustrate how the violence feeds itself.
> > >
> > > It began on Monday, Aug. 2, when a young man, Mohammad Yacoub Bhatt,
> from a
> > > village near Pulwama was shot dead during a march to protest the
> earlier
> > > killings of other young protesters.
> > >
> > > Four days later, a procession set off to protest his death. Soon it
> swelled
> > > into the thousands. The police blocked the road and refused to let the
> > > marchers pass, worried that the crowd would burn down government
> buildings,
> > > as previous crowds had.
> > >
> > > What happened next is disputed. Protesters claimed that when they tried
> to
> > > surge through a barricade, the police opened fire.
> > >
> > > “We did not think they would open fire,” said Malik Shahid, 17, who had
> > > joined the march. “There was no violence. It was a peaceful protest.”
> > >
> > > First the police fired in the air, witnesses said, then into the
> scattering
> > > crowd. A bullet felled Mr. Shahid’s uncle, Shabir Ahmed Malik, a
> 24-year-old
> > > driver, and killed him on the spot.
> > >
> > > Mr. Shahid, a 12th grader who hopes to become an engineer, said the
> latest
> > > violence was evidence to him that remaining part of India was
> impossible.
> > >
> > > “If India took steps against those who kill us, maybe the people of
> Kashmir
> > > would be willing,” he said. “But when there is no justice how can we
> remain
> > > with India? They are not doing anything but killing. So we will just go
> for
> > > freedom.”
> > >
> > > Commandant Prabhakar Tripathy, spokesman for the Central Reserve Police
> > > Force, the main paramilitary force trying to keep order in Kashmir,
> declined
> > > to comment on the episode but said that the protests were not as
> spontaneous
> > > as they appeared.
> > >
> > > “Militants are just mingling with the crowd, firing bullets from the
> crowd,”
> > > Mr. Tripathy said. “Now they are trying to raise this confrontation
> between
> > > the public and the security forces.”
> > >
> > > “We are charging them with tear gas, rubber pellets, firing in the air,
> > > nothing works here,” he said. “When a crowd of thousands attacks the
> camp,
> > > what can you do?”
> > >
> > > Indian officials have tried to portray Kashmir’s stone-throwing youths
> as
> > > illiterate pawns of jihadist forces across the Pakistan border and have
> > > suggested that economic development and jobs are the key to getting
> young
> > > people off the streets.
> > >
> > > But many of the stone throwers are hardly illiterate. They organize on
> > > Facebook<
> http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org
> >,
> > > creating groups with names like “Im a Kashmiri Stone
> > > Pelter<http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=296940413371>.”
> > > One young man who regularly joins protests and goes by the nom de
> guerre
> > > Khalid Khan has an M.B.A. and a well-paying job.
> > >
> > > “Stone pelting is a form of resistance to their acts of repression in
> the
> > > face of peaceful protest,” he said in an interview. “I would call it
> > > self-defense. Stones do not kill. Their bullets kill.”
> > >
> > > Each death seems to feed the anger on the streets, creating new
> recruits for
> > > the revolt. Fida Nabi’s brother, Aabid, 21, watched over him as he
> drifted
> > > toward death this week, his head swathed in white bandages, his chest
> rising
> > > and falling to the ghostly rhythm of the ventilator.
> > >
> > > Aabid thought he had his life all mapped out — making more than $200 a
> month
> > > as a news photographer. But since his brother was shot his priorities
> have
> > > changed. “I used to cover the protests,” he said. “But now I will join
> > > them.”
> > >
> > > Hari Kumar contributed reporting.
> > > _______________________________________________
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