- Up another notch
Video footage of an Indian army jeep crushing a protestor in Srinagar on Friday is proof, if any was still needed, that Delhi is bent upon constantly increasing the temperature in Kashmir in a bid to forcibly break the back of the indigenous resistance that has spread to the length and breadth of the valley, especially since the brutal assassination of charismatic leader Burhan Wani. Images from last year showed Indian military vehicles with shackled Kashmiri youth on their hoods as they drove through the occupied valley; to deter resistance from protestors, of course.
Now, they have gone even further. The man killed in the Friday incident was one Kaisar Bhatt, according to the press. And the Indians were not done by merely crushing him to break off yet another protest. Once mourners gathered after the killing, Indian forces opened fire on them too, blaming the victims for the provocation as they always do. Things have clearly turned far more serious since the Modi administration took over in Delhi. BJP has come under criticism for its policy over the last few years, but it was hush-hush disapproval at best, and almost all dissenting voices died as the election drew near. You can’t go soft on Kashmir when voting is just a year away, can you in India?
Of late occupation forces like India in Kashmir and Israel in Palestine can get away with murder primarily because of the business value they offer to their powerful friends in western democracies, especially America. Netanyahu green-lighted his latest campaign of murder and destruction in Palestinian territories after explicit agreements with Washington. And, similarly, India made sure it sold its geographic position best it could when Washington was realigning its policy with the Pivot to Asia. There’s hardly a word out of Washington even as tens and hundreds and even thousands fall prey to naked state terrorism in Palestine and Kashmir. That is the number-one reason that these occupations go on.
