Whenever confronted about human rights violations in #Kashmir the standard #RightWing Apologists' response is either,
a) whatabout the #KashmiriPandits plight;
b) Look at Pakistani civil rights abuses against Hindus.
Both are wrong, irrelevant and damage #India's #democracy
a) whatabout the #KashmiriPandits plight;
b) Look at Pakistani civil rights abuses against Hindus.
Both are wrong, irrelevant and damage #India's #democracy
1. The violence and eviction of the #KashmiriPandits deserved action by the State at the time and now. The perpetrators were armed insurgents. Punishing today's #Kashmir #citizens does nothing to punish those insurgents and even less to create the conditions for the #KPs' return
If anything the Delhi Govt's actions in #Kashmir seem to make cynical use of the #KashmiriPandits' plight as merely a piece of history that justifies the atrocities the State in now inflicting on the people of #Kashmir. Kashmiri Pandits should refuse to be used as pawns.
The 2nd response is the Pakistan one. This is bizarre and beyond logic. Why should India allow its actions in respect of its own citizens be determined by how Pakistan treats its own?
To see how idiotic it is consider a violent husband defending his right to beat his wife by pointing to the even worse levels of domestic violence in his neighbour's house. The Indian State should act only to promote and protect its citizens' welfare.
As @NitashaKaul argued in the US Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Human rights in S Asia, the issue is not so much #Article370 as it is a Q of consent of the #Kahmiri people. And Ms Kaul is no radicalised fundamentalist, she is a Kashmiri Pandit herself.
#India's Govt, and #Bhakt supporters, cannot argue BOTH
a) that #Article370Abrogation is an unalloyed good move for the Kashmiri people and they will welcome it, AND
b) that #Curfews, #Lockdown, #arbitrary #Arrests and #Detention of thousands is necessary to maintain peace.
a) that #Article370Abrogation is an unalloyed good move for the Kashmiri people and they will welcome it, AND
b) that #Curfews, #Lockdown, #arbitrary #Arrests and #Detention of thousands is necessary to maintain peace.
The Congressional hearing ought to be a reminder to all Indians of how far the State in India has strayed from its Constitutional responsibility to its citizens. That Pakistan may be worse should be no consolation, much less explanation or justification for our shameful record.
