Interview with Kavita Krishnan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) about her participation in a fact finding mission to Kashmir in the face of siege and crackdown by the Modi government of India.
Kashmir
Narendra Modi’s BJP government's decision on August 5 to unilaterally revoke Kashmir’s autonomy, send in troops, impose a curfew and shut down all communications means Kashmir is, for the moment, a prison under military control.
On August 5, India’s Hindu nationalist government unilaterally revoked the autonomy of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, while flooding the region with troops, imposing a curfew and shutting down all communications. Canadian socialist, John Riddell looks at Kashmir's history and the current responses by the left and progressive forces to the takeover.
Farooq Tariq, spokeperson for the Awami Workers’ Party, in Pakistan spoke to Green Left Weekly on August 6 about the situation in Kashmir.
Since the extra-judicial killing of Burhan Wani, a Kashmiri independence fighter, by Indian security forces in a village in south Kashmir on July 8, hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris have once again taken to the streets in protest.
Kashmir is occupied by India and the territory is also claimed by Pakistan. Many Kashmiris, however, are struggling for independence.
The killing of six Kashmiri civilians in Indian-occupied Kashmir have moved Kashmiri communities around the world to organise a coordinated series of vigils on Friday April 22.
"These innocent civilians were murdered by the Indian armed forces during a protest march, after reports of a sexual assault on a minor girl by the Indian troops," said Anjun Rafiqi, one of the organisers of a candlelight vigil planned in Sydney.
Yasin Malik is the chairperson of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, a secular nationalist organisation formed in 1977 to struggle for the independence of Kashmir.
Since 1947, Kashmir has been divided between Indian and Pakistani occupied areas. Both claim the whole of Kashmir and have fought three wars over the country.
The JKLF launched an armed struggle in 1988, but changed tactics to non-violent struggle in 1994.