Politics

Communists And Human Rights in the context of Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir is central to the defence of India and defence of the strategic Himalayas

October 12, 2016

Indian Left has taken a stand similar to Kashmiri parties on Jammu and Kashmir

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]ndia is passing through critical times. Kashmiri separatists, who are backed to the hilt by Pakistan, have vitiated the whole atmosphere in Kashmir after the lawful killing of Hizbul Mujahideen’s Kashmir poster boy Burhan Wani on July 18. Kashmir has been in turmoil since then. Jihadis have not been leaving any stone unturned to keep the communal fire burning in parts of the Valley. The upshot of their whole vicious campaign is that “Kashmir is absolutely unwilling to submit before subjugation”, Greater Kashmir, Sep 30, 2016.

They have also not taken kindly to the September 28 successful surgical strikes across the LoC…

Sadly, the “mainstream” Kashmiri parties, including the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition National Conference (NC), and even the Congress have been muddying Indian waters in the restive Valley by making controversial statements – all critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Kashmir policy.

They have also not taken kindly to the September 28 successful surgical strikes across the LoC and within Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). The NC has even gone to the extent of accusing New Delhi of causing the September 18 Uri episode and charged India with “blowing out of proportion the Uri attack”. The truth is that they in one voice have been urging New Delhi to engage with Pakistan so that the Kashmir issue was finally resolved.

It may appear unbelievable, but it is a hard fact that till date no Kashmiri leader belonging to the PDP, the NC and the Congress has made a single statement that indicates even his/ her little commitment to India. Of course, PDP president and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has made some statements but they meant equal commitment to India and Pakistan and identification with the anti-India Kashmiri cause. This is the whole Kashmir’s scenario.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]A[/dropcap]ll this is quite understandable. They were not expected to talk India given the kind of constituencies they control and the kind of politics they always took recourse to during all these years to induce the gullible Kashmiri Muslims, especially Sunnis, to vote for them. The point is that Kashmir post-1947 never witnessed the flowering of people’s democracy or politics based on democratic and economic issues. They all fought elections on emotive issues and anti-Indian Constitution planks.

What should also upset the nation all the more is the stand the Indian Left has taken on Jammu and Kashmir post-Burhan Wani’s liquidation.

Unfortunately, Indian political class allowed that to happen in the Valley and the result is before us. Kashmir has virtually become cent per cent Muslim region and also a live threat to the very unity and integrity of the country.

All this should disturb the Indian nation, which has been paying through its nose since 1947 for the follies New Delhi committed from time to time to drive Jammu and Kashmir away from the national mainstream to pander to the Kashmiri separatists. What should also upset the nation all the more is the stand the Indian Left has taken on Jammu and Kashmir post-Burhan Wani’s liquidation.

Fundamental difference between the “mainstream” Kashmiri Muslim leadership and the Left parties is none. And it is CPI-M national general secretary and Member of the Rajya Sabha Sitaram Yechury who has been leading the Left from the front to identifying itself fully with Kashmiri rabble-rousers and protagonists of Jammu and Kashmir’s separation from India on purely religious grounds.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]S[/dropcap]itaram Yechury has not only been pitching for dialogue with the aggressor Pakistan and what he calls “stakeholders” in Kashmir, but also urging New Delhi to refer the cases of alleged “human rights violations in Kashmir to the National Human Rights Commission” (NHRC) and stop using “force” to quell the ongoing unrest in the Valley.

…destruction of the population by starvation, through man-made famine, the withholding of food, or both; deportation, through which death can occur in transit (either through physical exhaustion or through confinement in an enclosed space), at one’s place of residence, or through forced labour (exhaustion, illness, hunger, cold).

How could he talk of human rights of those who have been attacking the Army, CRPF and BSF camps and bunkers, targeting and destroying symbols of the state and chanting Pakistan Zindabad and waving Pakistan/IS flags on a daily basis? Has he forgotten what the Communists did to the innocents in the countries they ruled and the countries they tried to annex?

It would be only desirable to quote verbatim certain relevant portions from The Black Book of Communism by Stephane Courtois and team, Harvard University Press, 1999, to put things in perspective as far as Communists and human rights are concerned.

The authors of the book, “a sensation in France and much of Europe”, wrote: “Thus we have delimited crimes against civilians as the essence of the phenomenon of terror. These crimes tend to fit a recognisable pattern even if the practices vary to some extent by regime. The pattern includes execution by various means, such as firing squads, hanging, drowning, battering, and, in certain cases, gassing, poisoning, or ‘car accidents’; destruction of the population by starvation, through man-made famine, the withholding of food, or both; deportation, through which death can occur in transit (either through physical exhaustion or through confinement in an enclosed space), at one’s place of residence, or through forced labour (exhaustion, illness, hunger, cold). Periods described as times of ‘civil war’ are more complex – it is not always easy to distinguish between events caused by fighting between rulers and rebels and events that can properly be described only as a massacre of the civilian population” (p.4).

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he book also gives the number of persons/rebels massacred by the Communist regimes. It makes startling revelation and says, “USSR: 20 million deaths; China: 65 million deaths; Vietnam: 1 million deaths; North Korea: 2 million deaths; Cambodia: 2 million deaths; Eastern Europe: 1 million deaths; :Latin America: 150,000 deaths; Africa: 1,7 million deaths; Afghanistan: 1.5 million deaths; and the international Communist movement and Communist parties not in power: about 10,000 deaths”.

It would not be out of place to mention that Jammu and Kashmir is central to the defence of India and defence of the strategic Himalayas.

All this should call the Sitaram Yechury’s bluff and suggest that the Communists have no moral and political right to talk about human rights violations. The Communists are the worst human rights violators.

The situation in Kashmir is extraordinary and it could be tackled through extraordinary means, but credit goes to the security forces which have been maintaining utmost restraint despite grave provocations. They, in fact, never acted; they only reacted in self-defence and despite this more than 6000 security forces personnel have suffered injuries, some of them fatal. Had they acted like the security forces normally act, the number of casualties in Kashmir would have been much, much more.

It would not be out of place to mention that Jammu and Kashmir is central to the defence of India and defence of the strategic Himalayas. If Jammu and Kashmir falls, India would also not survive. India just can’t afford another communal partition.