Political and Economic Notes:
KASHMIR BLEEDS
Kashmir continues to bleed.
On Dec’16, 2018, 7 persons died
in a firing by the men of Rashtriya
Rifles in Pulwama district of Kashmir.
This killing adds to a long and
unending list of people dying in
similar instances. In this particular
incident, 3 people are branded as
“militants”; 3 are civilians who rushed
to the scene hearing the gun shots
and fell dead in the context of a so
called encounter. Pathetically, one
school kid also has lost his life in
this firing.
The whole journey of Indian
ruling classes since their signing of
the Instrument of Accession with
Hari Singh, the King of Kashmir, was
one of dismantling the pillars of
agreement and trust one by one
rather than strengthening the trust,
confidence of and bondage with
people through concrete steps.
They used coercion, manipulation,
allurement, brutal suppression,
back door, illegal, diversionist and
divisive methods to nullify Kashmir’s
special status and throw the
constitutional and political promises
made to the Kashmir people to winds.
The Congress had introduced and
carried out these policies all through
its rule in the Centre and they were
frenziedly continued by the BJP led
Indian Govt.
The Indian ruling classes are
playing a drama democratic rule
too in Kashmir. The Congress left
no stone unturned to install the
regimes of its choice in Kashmir
either of Congress or backed by it
or sought to rule through Governor.
They did not bother whether the
Kashmir people voted or not for the
regime and whether the democratic
norms were observed or flouted.
They made and unmade the govts
through corruptive, foul and coercive
methods. Here the ruling classes
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were bothered about nothing but to
claim to have a democratic sanction
for all their anti-people and anti-
democratic policies in Kashmir.
Once BJP assumed power at the
Centre, it too continued to play the
same game in its own way in Kashmir.
BJP is known for its dogged
opposition to the Article 370 of the
Indian Constitution, which provides
a special political status to Kashmir.
It is also known for its frenzied
attempt to communally divide the
Kashmir people with an aim of
weakening their strength of unity to
fight for their rights. Curiously, the
PDP, which was claiming to uphold
the Article 370 and oppose the
communal division of Kashmir
people, formed a coalition govt.
with BJP in Kashmir. The PDP-BJP
govt. led by Mahabooba collapsed
under the weight of its own
contradictions and weaknesses and
in the face of growing discontentment
among the people. Then, finally,
Kashmir was placed under the
President’s rule which was virtually
a BJP’s rule.
Kashmir people remained mere
spectators to the entire gamble of
making and unmaking of regimes.
The squabble for power among the
parties of ruling classes and their
failure to float a regime only point
out how severe is the crisis of their
game of democracy.
The Kashmir people are
experiencing countless problems in
their struggle. They lost thousands
of their near and dear in police
firings. There are several instances
where their sons, brothers, fathers
and brothers were bodily lifted away
by the security forces from their
beds or fields or work places and
many of them had never returned.
The people had to knock the doors
of offices, police stations and courts
to ascertain whether they are alive
or, if not, how they lost their lives
and where their dead bodies were
buried. They had to wage massive
protest movements to get the bodies
of people died in police firings so
that they can burry with all honor
and love. Rising costs of life and
unemployment constitute an
essential part of causes of people’s
protest. The massive deployment
of armed forces protected by special
powers to gun down the people and
escape the legal action made the
life of people in Kashmir most
insecure. The gun wielding security
forces frequently entering the scene
to deal with the mass protests and
freely using the guns and raining
pellets on the people, placing vast
areas repeatedly and for days
together under Sec.144 and other
restrictions and foisting false cases
under special laws and arresting
the people greatly disturb the
normal life of people and lead them
to feel as though they are living in
a warlike situation.
The Kashmir people always
adopted the forms of democratic
mass protests. These protests are
taking militant and violent forms in
the face of provocations from the
state and whenever they were
sought to be ruthlessly crushed.
The people of all ages and as
families enmasse participating in the
protests repeatedly and for days
together and not caring the
sufferings, dislocations in normal
life and loss of life are distinct
features of these protests. Opposing
the fake encounters and protesting
against the attempts to abduct the
innocent people from their homes
and branding the people as militants
by the government and security
forces has become a part of Kashmir
people’s struggle. In the
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Class Struggle