“India and Israel are changing our world, and maybe changing parts of the world,” was a statement said by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Local Kashmiris have been seeing just this- change, but for the worse, since the election of India’s Right-Wing, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). From increased military encroachment, to internet blackouts and disappearance of journalists, the situation mirrors the decades-long fight that Palestinians know all too well.
What is Kashmir?
Kashmir is one of the most disputed areas in the world. Kashmir is situated between three powerful countries- Pakistan, India and China, with each fighting for dominance and land, with little to no consideration for indigenous Kashmiris. For years, Kashmir has been used as a battleground between India and Pakistan, with a total of three wars being fought over the land of Kashmir.
This gruesome history has ties to the British colonization of the subcontinent, beginning with the end of British rule in 1947. During this time, the land that is now known as Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh was an array of provinces. The British hastily divided the country into Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India, with the remaining states given autonomy to choose either. Kashmir, however, was a unique case; it possessed a large Muslim population, but was headed by a Hindu maharajah who decided to remain neutral. Kashmiri’s, fearing that their ruler would join India, rebelled alongside armed Pakistani tribesmen. In fear, the Kashmiri ruler turned to India for military aid, on the condition that Kashmir would join India. This allegiance officially began the first Indo-Pak war in 1947.
The UN later established a ceasefire in June 1949 to end the first war, with the condition that the Kashmiri people would be given the opportunity to vote for either an independent state, or the joining of the two nations. Both Pakistan and India initially agreed to hold this vote, however, neither of the two countries held their end of the bargain, and the vote was never called. Over the years, the Kashmiri land has been continuously fought over, and is currently divided into Pakistan occupied Azad Kashmir, India occupied Jammu and Kashmir (J and K), and China occupied Aksai Chin.
What has been happening?
The main area of recent contention has been the state of Jammu and Kashmir. On August 5, 2019, Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP Party revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution. This article granted the state partial autonomy and its own constitution.
“For us Kashmiris, the special status was not just a legal issue but the question of our identity, our existence,” says Muhammad Numan, a 45-year-old businessman
Al Jazeera
Since the revoking, a domicile law has been introduced which allows anyone in India to buy land in Jammu Kashmir, as well as to construct new housing. There have been hints of India’s plan to settle a large number of newcomers to the area to change the Muslim majority demographic. This is paired with a rule that people who fled Kashmir for Pakistan following the Jammu Massacre of 1947 will be unable to return to their homeland.
A similar conflict is present in Palestine, where policies of settler colonialism are also utilized. For Palestinians, 1948 marked the year of The Nakba, otherwise known as The Catastrophe. During this year, 750 000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homeland. Since then, Israel has continued to encourage Israelis to move to the West Bank, to form a settler colony, despite settler colonialism being illegal according to the fourth Geneva convention. Settler colonialism is a distinct type of colonialism where “invasion is a structure not an event,” (Wolfe 388). Settler colonialism is precisely what India is attempting to do under the guise of “integrating” Kashmir into the rest of India by modernizing it and building a “naya Kashmir,” or a “new Kashmir.”
Kashmir and Palestine
The bloody and tumultuous history of both Palestinians and Kashmiris has long been overlooked, with the two nations, despite being separated by miles of land, having numerous parallels. Their respective oppressors, India and Israel, have had a long shared diplomatic relationship, with India being Israel’s largest export for weapons trade. Al Jazeera, notes that “Indian police forces have been receiving training in Israel for ‘anti-terror’ operations,” similar to those Israel conducts against Palestinians, highlighting that this alliance goes far deeper. The pretense of fighting “terrorism,” is a message shared by both Israeli and Indian officials to justify military presence and civilian fatalities in Palestine and Kashmir, respectively.
There have been multiple reports of the Indian military in Kashmir taking in civilians for questioning and using illegal and inhumane methods of gaining information about anti-Indian rebels. The area has been highly militarized with 50 000 soldiers in the area, meaning that for every 25 civilians there is a single soldier (Al Jazeera). This has been paired with widespread murder, torture, rape, and violence by Indian officers based in Kashmir. It was reported by Human Rights Watch that 50 000 people have been killed from 1989 to 2006, with there being over 8000 cases of state-created disappearances. However, it’s impossible for action to be taken due to India’s Armed Forces Special Powers Act. This act grants army personnel special immunity that protects their actions from being labeled as human rights violations, putting these officers above the law.
India often mentions the murder of Kashmiri Pandits (Kashmiri Hindus) in the area as justification for the enforcing of the act, and excessive militarization, claiming that it’s necessary in order to control terrorist groups. Although the history and treatment of Kashmiri Pandits is a devastating one, it is often weaponized and used as a defense against the issue of Kashmir self-determination.
Zionism and Hindutva
The parallels in Palestine and Kashmir are noticeable, especially to the government officials who suppress them. Modi’s government has gone to great lengths to demonstrate their support for Netenyahu’s government. This has included voting against a ceasefire in Gaza during the UN Assembly. Their support led to an all out ban of support for the Palestinian people from Kashmiris, with large policing outside of Srinigar’s Grand Mosque to suspend any pro-Palestian rhetoric. This severe pushback from the government could be due to fear that similar protests could occur in Kashmir.
The ideological similarities between both right-wing governments further strengthens the parallels between Zionism and Hindutva. Zionism is the belief that Judaism is a nationality as well as a religion, and that Jews have a right to a state in their “ancestral homeland.” From 1975 to 1991 Zionism was labeled “a form of racism and racial discrimination,” by the UN due to its exclusionary nature, as it allows any Jew in the world Israeli citizenship and rights, while the same privilege is not granted to Palestians who live in the area. The Zionist rhetoric is inherently a colonialist practice, and this evident in the actions taken by the current government. This belief is quite similar to that of Hindutva, a form of Hindu nationalism which has become more widespread with Modi’s leadership of the BJP party.
Both Zionism and Hindutva were created as a response to major tragedies incurred upon the respective groups. Zionism, following the tragedy of the Holocaust, and Hindutva developing after years of colonial rule by the British and Mughal dynasty with the hope of forming an independent state. However, Hindu nationalism has been used as a political tool to gain support from the Hindu majority population of India, especially by the BJP which was formed from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization which Modi was a member of. Although constitutionally, India is a secular state, the BJP is known to pass religiously divisive laws that continuously target the minorities in India. Muslims have especially been subjected to this. In 2022, the BJP banned the hijab in educational institutions in the state of Karnataka.
As well as Muslims, Sikhs are another group that have faced widespread discrimination resulting in riots, death and other injustices, because they are deemed a threat to Hindu nationalism due to having their own distinct cultural identity. TIME calls this India’s “cynical nationalist playbook: demonize minorities to galvanize the Hindu majority,” a cycle proven by their treatment of Muslims in Kashmir and Sikhs in Punjab.
Economic Impacts
Jammu Kashmir has been subjugated to continuous economic exploitation under Indian administration. India itself, and many large corporations, have been profiting at the expense of local Kashmiris. In 2015, The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) was accused of exploiting J and K’s water supply in an effort to gain a very small percentage of royalty, despite being a major contributor. Furthermore, since the abrogation of Article 370, large companies from all over India are able to mine in Kashmir while the local firms are unable to compete due to lack of compensation and aid to local businesses, thus jeopardizing the livelihood of many small local communities.
The BJP refuses to see the devastations they have caused in the region, opting to place blame on the increased tourism in the area. Locals refuse to believe this and say that these apparent industries that they are showcasing are dying at the hands of the BJP due to increased surveillance and an inability to support locals in Kashmir. 26% of civilians in India-occupied Kashmir endure food deprivation, and 47% lack proper sanitation, all while the state refuses to do anything.
Addressing These Issues
The devastations in Kashmir and Palestine need far more attention and awareness. A large issue surrounding these conflicts is the lack of unbiased journalism and media, and refusal to interview impacted citizens. For instance, the narrative around Kashmir often comes from Pakistani or Indian sources with their own personal agendas. Similarly, Western media tends to portray Palestine as a terrorist state, neglecting to highlight the plight of the millions of innocent displaced civilians in the state. These areas serve as a reminder of our responsibility to deconstruct narratives established by the media and to conduct independent research to better understand global affairs.
Written by: Ouswa Ali
Edited by: Manat Sidhu
Works Cited
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