Category Archives: Empire/ Imperialism

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Law, Violence/Conflict

Kashmir’s Horcrux: Sameer Bhat

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Guest post by SAMEER BHAT

Hectic parleys are on at the moment to jettison the dreaded AFSPA in the valley. By conservative estimates the army must have beaten about one in every five Kashmiris at one point or the other since this piece of horrible legislation was slapped on us. An unjust law, is no law at all, Martin Luther, the symbol of protestant reformation, verbalized the sentiment of St Augustine in the 15th century. Rings true to this day.

For more than twenty years people have been punched, thrown in the back of military trucks, knocked down by gun-butts, given kicks, pushed around as they got off a bus or simply slapped around for no apparent reason. Just for being themselves, perhaps. No you could not question the moral turpitude of a military-walla from Madras if he clubbed your aging father.  Continue reading Kashmir’s Horcrux: Sameer Bhat →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Law, Violence/Conflict

AFSPA in Kashmir – “Armed Forces’ Say Prevails Anyway”: Gowhar Geelani

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Guest post by GOWHAR GEELANI

There is a lot of noise in the media over AFSPA. Ask any senior Indian security official, a turn-coat politician or a retired Army General what AFSPA stands for. “Armed Forces Special Powers Act,” they will say. Now pose the same query to an ordinary Kashmiri living there in the hapless Vale for the past two decades. The answer perhaps would be: “Armed Forces’ Say Prevails Anyway”. Continue reading AFSPA in Kashmir – “Armed Forces’ Say Prevails Anyway”: Gowhar Geelani →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Law, Violence/Conflict

End the culture of impunity, not just AFSPA: APDP

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This is a press release from the ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS OF DISAPPEARED PERSONS

The Bund Amira Kadal, Srinagar – 190001, Jammu and Kashmir
28th October 2011

APDP feels that the recent announcement by the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the partial revocation of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from some areas of Jammu and Kashmir would be insignificant for improving the human rights situation and also for providing justice to those affected by the mindless violence by armed forces.
Continue reading End the culture of impunity, not just AFSPA: APDP →

Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Government, Law, Violence/Conflict

Lies about sanctions under AFSPA: JKCCS

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This press statement was issued by the JAMMU AND KASHMIR COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY on 19 October 2011 
 
Over the last 22 years in Jammu and Kashmir, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Cr.P.C. 197 has provided absolute legal impunity to the armed forces and the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
The Government of India claims that despite the imposition of AFSPA, mechanisms of justice are functional and deliver whenever anyone is found indulging in human rights abuses, but facts provided by the state institutions contradict the claim of the Indian state. Continue reading Lies about sanctions under AFSPA: JKCCS →
Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Law, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Thinking Truth and Reconciliation in Kashmir: Shuja Malik

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Guest post by SHUJA MALIK

“Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)” is a recent addition in the lexicon of the Kashmir conflict/dispute. IT gained currency after recent confirmation of reports about presence of unmarked, unidentified and mass graves in Kashmir. The idea of a TRC for Kashmir raises questions about its relevance and context, especially unidentified graves and enforced disappearances.

Truth and reconciliation commissions have been established in the past with varied powers and purposes, usually at points where the parties involved are ‘emerging out of conflict’ or are at ‘transitional stage’, and after modalities have been established for conflict resolution.

Continue reading Thinking Truth and Reconciliation in Kashmir: Shuja Malik →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Media politics

Everybody Loves a Good War – Tehelka and Essar: Bobby Kunhu

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Update: A Day after the publication of this post, Tehelka changed the status of Essar from “Principal Sponsor” to merely one of several “patrons” on the Goa ThinkFest website.

Guest post by BOBBY KUNHU

Tehelka: Free, Fair, Fearless?

Without doubt, one of the most important documents to make its appearance after the arrest of Soni Sori by the Chattisgarh Government in Delhi on 4th October 2011 was the cover story titled, “The inconvenient truth of Soni Sori” that appeared in Tehelka, written by Shoma Chaudhary. It tells the story of Soni Sori and her nephew Linga Kodopi as narrated to Tehelka and the sequence of events that led to their persecution.

Nonetheless there is an intriguing twist to how this story was framed. The introduction of the story goes:  “Why were two tribals and the Essar group framed by the Chhattisgarh police? Why are Soni Sori and Linga Kodopi being systematically silenced? This chilling story of one family reveals more about India’s Naxal crisis than any official document can.”

In other words, Tehelka is arguing that Essar is also being framed in this narrative along with Soni Sori and Linga Kodopi.

Continue reading Everybody Loves a Good War – Tehelka and Essar: Bobby Kunhu →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Identities, Law, Violence/Conflict

Assaulting Prashant Bhushan only proves the moral strength of his argument

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Threatening people whose views you don’t like with violence is a sure-shot way of letting the world know who is right and whose argument is morally superior. To those who attacked Prashant Bhushan today for the comments he made in this video below, thank you for bringing more attention to them!

This is how “integral” a part of India Kashmir is – so integral that voices that doubt it must be silenced with vigilante force!

See also: a recent interview he gave to Kashmir Life in Srinagar

Capitalism, Empire/ Imperialism, Government, Movements, Politics

Occupy Wall Street – An American Spring Amidst Media Blackout?

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As governments across the world prostrate themselves before corporations and corporate greed takes over the daily business of governing, mass struggles are breaking out all over the world. What started as the much propagated ‘Arab Spring’ – apparently the Arab world’s yearning for American and Western values represented by ‘democracy’, has now, after spreading through Europe (France, Greece, Spain, Portugal…) engulfed the heart of Empire – the United States of America. The Occupy Wall Street movement that started almost three weeks ago, with thousands of people assembling in Zucotti Park in Lower Manhattan, New York, has now spread amdist media blackout and police repression, to other parts across the United States. A glimpse of the situation about a week ago:

Continue reading Occupy Wall Street – An American Spring Amidst Media Blackout? →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Law, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Release Indian and Pakistani fishermen with their boats

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PRESS STATEMENT: We, the undersigned, express our deep concern regarding the continuous arrests of Indian and Pakistani fishermen and confiscation of their boats by each country of the other. The poor, innocent fishermen go to sea to catch fish and in the deep sea it becomes virtually impossible for them to recognise where their countries waters end and other’s start.

The fishing season has begun couple of days ago and boats in a big number go to the mid-sea to catch and earn some money. Both the governments need to recognise the fact that these traditional fishermen go to the mid-sea for their livelihood. Arresting them and confiscating their boats means depriving their families from the livelihood, and causing them extreme distress. Continue reading Release Indian and Pakistani fishermen with their boats →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

David Barsamian’s Deportation: Statement of Protest

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STATEMENT OF PROTEST

We write to protest the denial of entry to David Barsamian by Immigration Authorities at the New Delhi airport in the early hours of September 23, 2011, and we write to draw attention to the growing arbitrariness of the Indian Government in dealing with dissent of any kind.

David Barsamian is a veteran broadcaster, and founder and director of Alternative Radio, a weekly one-hour public affairs program offered free to all public radio stations in the US, Canada, Europe and beyond. For more than 25 years Alternative Radio has provided information, analyses and views that are frequently ignored in other media. Structured around intensive interviews conducted by David Barsamian, these programs are carried by over 125 radio stations and heard by millions of listeners. He is the author of numerous books with Edward Said, Eqbal Ahmad, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy and Tariq Ali.

Continue reading David Barsamian’s Deportation: Statement of Protest →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Violence/Conflict

‘This obfuscation amounts to complicity’ – APDP response to Omar Abdullah’s speech on unmarked and mass graves

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This release comes from the ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS OF DISAPPEARED PERSONS
The Bund Amira Kadal, Srinagar – 190001, Jammu and Kashmir

Press Release:
28th September 2011

Yesterday’s (27th September 2011) statement made by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on unmarked graves and mass graves is hurtful and amounts to trivializing a serious issue of enforced disappearances and unmarked graves. Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) believes that Omar Abdullah’s statement created an impression of him being an advocate of the culpable armed forces personnel as opposed to the representative of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Omar Abdullah has said, “The families would have to help us, indicating in which graveyard they suspect their member could be buried so that we will do the needful.” This is a shameless assertion. How would families know where their loved ones are buried? If the family members of the disappeared had any clue, as to where their family members are buried, then they would have already sought the permission for the exhumations from the District Magistrates. Continue reading ‘This obfuscation amounts to complicity’ – APDP response to Omar Abdullah’s speech on unmarked and mass graves →

Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Government, Law, Violence/Conflict

An open letter from Amnesty International to members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly

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This is a public statement by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

AI Index: ASA 20/046/2011 26 September 2011

As the session of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly opens in Srinagar, Amnesty International is writing to all members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) to raise human rights concerns in the house and ensure that such issues are not ignored during the session.

Although there appears to be a consistent decrease in the overall numbers of members of armed groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), human right violations continue to remain a significant and widespread concern in the state.

Amnesty International calls on all MLAs to raise human rights issues during the assembly session and call upon the state government to take immediate action required to remedy the situation. In particular, Amnesty International asks you to raise the specific issues below. While not an exhaustive list of human rights concerns in the state, discussion on these would indicate the commitment to human rights of the state legislative assembly and be an important step towards improving the human rights of all residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

Continue reading An open letter from Amnesty International to members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Law, Violence/Conflict

Unknown and Unmarked Graves of Kashmir: Investigation, Prosecution, and Reparation: IPTK

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This release comes from the INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND JUSTICE  IN INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR (IPTK)

Srinagar, September 26, 2011

To: Honourable Members
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
Government of Jammu and Kashmir

Re.: Unknown and Unmarked Graves of Kashmir: Investigation, Prosecution, and Reparation

We appeal to the Members of the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly to address the following urgent issues in light of the findings put forward by the State Human Rights Commission of Jammu and Kashmir (SHRC) pertaining to unknown and unmarked graves. The SHRC investigated unmarked graves in Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara, and Handwara districts across 38 graveyards and verified 2,156 unidentified bodies in unidentified graves, as documented in its report of July 2011. Continue reading Unknown and Unmarked Graves of Kashmir: Investigation, Prosecution, and Reparation: IPTK →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Law, Violence/Conflict

India deports radio broadcaster David Barsamian upon arrival at Delhi airport

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Update: The Press Trust of India confirms the Kashmir angle. See more updates at the end of this post.

David Barsamian

David Barsamian, founder director of Alternative Radio, and independent radio legend, was deported on arrival from New Delhi airport in the early hours of Sept 23. Details are awaited since David is probably still on the plane back. But between his arrival sometime after midnight, and his being “put back” on a flight at 3am, David was able to only make a quick call to his ‘home’ here in Delhi, to the family of his longtime sitar guru, Debu Chaudhuri. Continue reading India deports radio broadcaster David Barsamian upon arrival at Delhi airport →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

On a Lit Note: Hilal Mir

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Guest post by HILAL MIR

I woke up this morning in an utterly confused state of mind. During the night I dreamt about having the tour of the Harud Literary Festival. My first astonishment came while in a queue outside the venue. Like the French streaming Parisian streets in teary-eyed joy at the sight of American liberators after having secreted themselves in root cellars for months from the sniffing gaze of Nazi jackboots, I felt similar joy at observing Indian soldiers not hurling ritual abuses from vehicle rooftops while asserting the right to overtake from any side and any crevice on the busy Panthachowk intersection.

The venue, Delhi Public School, is stone’s throw away from the intersection and within the earshot of any moist abuse hurled from those ubiquitous army trucks. Kashmiris finally had a dry day. Continue reading On a Lit Note: Hilal Mir →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Centre watch, Countryside, Ecology/Environment, Empire/ Imperialism

POSCO and the People: Ayush Ranka and Arati Choksi

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This is a guest post by ARATI CHOKSI with photographs by AYUSH RANKA

01. Odisha is scarcely known to most people as the state of rich agriculture. It is more famous for it's floods and droughts which occur once in a while. However, the entire state, barring a few small regions, is rich with fertile soil and apart from betel leaves and cashew, food grains like rice, wheat, jowar and pulses are also grown

POSCO catapulted out of nowhere into the periphery of my imagination last year. On May 15, 2010, in a brutal show of aggression and violence, armed police battalions attacked unarmed protesters at Balitutha opposing a forceful takeover of their lands by the state for a POSCO steel plant. Members of police force set fire to shops, eateries and thatched homes, including the dharna site of people’s peaceful protest. Police fired upon unarmed protesters with rubber bullets. One person died, and hundreds were severely injured in this firing, many of these were women and the elderly. Continue reading POSCO and the People: Ayush Ranka and Arati Choksi →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Hypocrisy in Any Season: Mridu Rai responds to Rahul Pandita on the Harud Literature Festival

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Guest post by MRIDU RAI

Rahul Pandita has written a misleading piece—in the tone of high dudgeon and ethical outrage no less—in the ‘essays’ section of the 3 September 2011 issue of Open magazine titled “The Autumn of Hypocrisy”. I think it is a piece that, nevertheless, requires some examination mostly because it makes several assertions in ways that queer any possibility of debate around the important question of what a literary festival held in Kashmir today might mean. Whether or not it was the author’s intention to do so, its effect is also to discredit, off-hand, several literary and artistic voices whose greatest sin would appear to be to have disagreed with the kind of literary festival in Kashmir Rahul Pandita and his fellow organizers had in mind. Of course, it is also troubling to hear from Mr. Pandita on this question since he is both an aggrieved party, deprived of his right to express himself at the festival, and also, as the credit at the bottom of his piece elaborates, a former “member of the advisory committee for the Harud literary festival”. I wonder if this conflict of interest bothers anyone other than me. Continue reading Hypocrisy in Any Season: Mridu Rai responds to Rahul Pandita on the Harud Literature Festival →

Bad ideas, Culture, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Harud Literature Festival ‘postponed’

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I think it is sad that the Harud Literature Festival has been “postponed“. Sadder still is that the organisers are blaming those who asked very valid questions. All they needed to do was answer those questions and allay those concerns. Their response, two days after the release of the open letter, did not address those concerns. They even refused to withdraw, leave alone apologise for, the offensive word “apolitical”, or explain how they planned to be “apolitical” while “celebrating” literature in the midst of unmarked graves, militarised bazars and lanes, draconian laws, imprisoned teenagers and the state’s refusal to dispense justice. Continue reading Harud Literature Festival ‘postponed’ →

Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Identities, Law, Violence/Conflict

A Response to SHRC’s Report on Unknown and Unmarked Graves of Kashmir: IPTK

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This press statement comes from the INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL ON
HUMAN RIGHTS AND JUSTICE IN INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR (IPTK) together with the ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS OF DISAPPEARED PERSONS

29 August 2011: We welcome the report of the State Human Rights Commission of Jammu and Kashmir (SHRC) on unmarked graves in north Indian-administered Kashmir (dated July 2011 and recently released; download 3.2 MB .pdf here), taking suo moto cognizance of the matter, and appreciate the courage and labour that this work signifies.

The SHRC’s report acknowledges and corroborates the research documented in the report, BURIED EVIDENCE, released by the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice (IPTK) in December 2009. The SHRC investigated unmarked graves in Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara, and Handwara districts across 38 graveyards and verified 2156 unidentified bodies in unidentified graves.

Based on investigative research conducted between November 2006-November 2009, BURIED EVIDENCE had documented 2700 unknown, unmarked, and mass graves, containing 2943+ bodies, across 55 villages (in 62 sites within these villages) in Bandipora, Baramulla, and Kupwara districts of Kashmir. Of these, 2373 were unidentified and unnamed graves.   Continue reading A Response to SHRC’s Report on Unknown and Unmarked Graves of Kashmir: IPTK →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Language, Violence/Conflict

An open letter on the ‘Harud’ literary festival

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Srinagar-based photojournalist Showkat Shafi is seen in this photograph being assaulted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on 19 August 2011. He was carrying out his professional duties, as is clear from the camera in his hand that the police is trying to snatch away. He and his Mexican photographer colleague were detained at the police station and beaten up, allowed to go and be hospitalised only five hours later. The police said they mistook them for stone-pelters. Photo credit: Faisal Khan

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Given below is an open letter signed by fourteen of us. Should you want to add your name to it, please do so in the comments section of this post. I shall update the names of the signatories on the post itself. Please clearly indicate that you want your name added, and write your full name and profession.

Continue reading An open letter on the ‘Harud’ literary festival →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

When the State Celebrates the People’s Independence but the People Don’t: Twelve Questions for the Press Trust of India

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Srinagar's Lal Chowk on 15 August 2011. Photo credit: Zahoor Zargar / KashmirDispatch.com

To:

The Editor,
The Press Trust of India,
New Delhi.

Dear Editor:

This is regarding your news report, “I-Day Celebrated Peacefully in Kashmir Valley“.

While the news report tells us how the celebrations were held by the chief minister in Srinagar and the deputy chief minister in Jammu, and what arrangements were made for the celebrations to take place, there’s one line in that report that tells us:

Meanwhile, normal life was was affected in Kashmir Valley due to a shutdown called by both factions of Hurriyat Conference and tight security restrictions for the Independence Day.

I have a few questions for you.

Continue reading When the State Celebrates the People’s Independence but the People Don’t: Twelve Questions for the Press Trust of India →