Pierre Kraus
by e-mail
India's role in Kashmir
In the article, "Pakistan arrests 2,000 under U.S. pressure," published in the January 28 issue, Maurice Williams writes: "Over the past 12 years, Muslim forces have waged a guerrilla war against Indian security forces in Kashmir, taking the lives of more than 35,000 people, according to Indian government estimates."
This quote seems to absolve the Indian government of responsibility. New Delhi has carried out a brutal military occupation of Kashmir which has seen many people die. I agree that the anti-imperialist struggle on the Indian subcontinent can be the motor force for the unification of India as a nation-state, completing the national democratic revolution, brutally interrupted by the imperialist division of the country.
Partition has been a deadly tool to divide working people of the region. The only basis for such struggle is through defending the people of Kashmir's right to self determination. The quote attributed to Indian government sources without any qualifications attached doesn't accurately reflect the political conditions there, and the role New Delhi has played in oppressing the people of the region.
I also have a question: is the characterization of the forces responsible for the guerrilla war as "Muslim" forces rather than pro-Pakistan, or Kashmiri, deliberate? It suggests something of a guerrilla war based on religion rather than nationality--more like the character of al Qaeda, recruiting from across the Muslim world.
Annalucia Vermunt
Christchurch, New Zealand.
See "Response to letters on Kashmir and WIC"
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