–An army can fight another army, it cannot fight the masses, retired judge tells Indian army chief
India’s retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has slammed Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat for the Pulwama massacre that martyred several Kashmiri civilians and freedom activists.
Taking to Twitter, the Press Council of India chairman mocked Gen Rawat by saying, “Congratulations to Gen Rawat whose soldiers killed 7 civilians in a Jallianwalabagh or My Lai type massacre in Pulwama, Kashmir. How brave of the Indian Army General.”
https://twitter.com/mkatju/status/1074308081528569856
“Three cheers for the Indian army which has now started killing civilians in Kashmir, like Gen Dyer at Jalianwala Bagh, or Lt Calley at My Lai in Vietnam. All Indian army officers and soldiers should be given Bharat Ratna,” he said in a separate tweet.
He further explained, “In an effort to get to the encounter site — first to help the militants escape and then to quickly retrieve their bodies for funerals — civilians in large numbers arrived at the site of the gunfight. Stone-pelting mobs, with great passion and unmindful of their personal safety, attempted to resist the security forces, resulting in the death of seven civilians, in a chilling reminder that the situation in South Kashmir seems to be worsening.”
Congratulations to Gen Rawat whose soldiers killed 7 civilians in a Jallianwalabagh or My Lai type massacre in Pulwama, Kashmir
How brave of the Indian army General !@rwac48 @Vedmalik1 @atahasnain53 @majorgauravarya @adgpi— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) December 16, 2018
“An army can fight another army, it cannot fight the masses. A tiger can kill a beast, it cannot kill a swarm of mosquitoes. So, the Indian army is engaged in a war it cannot possibly win. The guerilla has the advantage of deciding the place, time, and duration of the attack. It is said, ‘The people are the sea, and the guerilla is the fish which swims in it, and without the sea, the fish will die,” he told in an interview.
Meanwhile, it was earlier reported that Indian authorities on Monday imposed curfew-like restrictions across occupied Kashmir to prevent a march towards the Indian Army headquarters in Badami Bagh, Srinagar, in protest against the cold-blooded killings of at least 14 Kashmiris in Pulwama district on Saturday, as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Pakistan Army condemned the Indian atrocities in the region.
— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) December 17, 2018
The killings sparked protests by residents resulting in clashes between the demonstrators and the Indian forces. Indian troops fired bullets, pellets and teargas shells to disperse the protesters which led to two more young people being killed and several others injured.
Indian atrocities in the valley have left tens of thousands of people dead since 1989 — most of them civilians. But this year has been the deadliest since 2009, with more than 500 people killed so far. Authorities said last week that incidents of violence were on track to double this year compared to 2017.
