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Kashmir
This Week in AsiaGeopolitics
Karim Raslan
Karim Raslan

Ceritalah | In Kashmir, the colonised have become the colonisers. India’s soul is at stake

  • The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stripped Kashmir of its statehood
  • If the government can do this to Kashmir what will prevent similar outrages being perpetrated elsewhere?

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Kashmiri Muslims protest in Srinagar, India. Photo: EPA
Karim Raslan

The West Bank. Gaza. Xinjiang. Modern-day concentration camps. Is the 12.5-million strong, Muslim-majority Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir next?

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Last week it was placed under curfew, its telecommunications silenced and its mainstream political leaders detained.

About 500,000 troops were already stationed in Kashmir, making it one of the most militarised areas in the world. In recent weeks, a further 35,000 Indian soldiers were deployed, as tourists and non-residents rushed to escape the dragnet. Locals stockpiled food and other supplies. Panic took hold.

In a series of rapid-fire constitutional amendments, the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi stripped Kashmir of its statehood, removing its autonomy as well as safeguards preventing outsiders buying land.

Essentially, Kashmir has been downgraded. It will be divided in two: Jammu and Kashmir on one side and Ladakh on the other, both ruled directly from New Delhi as Union Territories.

Modi has promised an eventual return to “state” status and improved development but there is already talk of Hindu settlers flooding into Kashmir, which would irrevocably alter its demographics.

This is just the latest tragedy to befall Kashmir. Already the scene of three wars between India and Pakistan, it is once again on the precipice.

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