ISLAMABAD/NEW YORK: Indian troops arrested at least 17 Kashmiri youths in the Pulwama district of Indian-occupied Kashmir on Tuesday.
According to the Kashmir Media Service, the arrests were made from various localities of Pulwama district in raids carried out by Indian troops alongside police personnel and paramilitary forces.
Separate cordon and search operations were under way in Srinagar, Baramulla, Bandipore, Kupwara, Ganderbal, Budgam, Islamabad, Pulwama, Kulgam, Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar, Doda and other towns and villages.
Meanwhile, an American military commentator called for pressuring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end his aggressive actions along the Line-of-Control (LoC). “Indian patrols have become more aggressive, as if pushing for a hostile exchange of gunfire,” Col (retd) Wes Martin of the US Army Military Police said in an article published by United Press International (UPI) on Monday.
“This is nothing more than a modern application of Shakespeare’s ‘cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war’,” he said, pointing out that Indian operatives were engaged in creating civil unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.
Col Martin denounced Modi for spurning Prime Minister Imran Khan’s offer to take “two steps toward peace” providing India would take one, saying it was unfortunate that he and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had brought back the narrative of “cross border tensions instead of taking one step toward peace with Pakistan,” he added: “Modi is increasing tension on the Line-of-Control with Pakistan”.
Noting the perennially strained Indo-Pakistan relationship and the disagreements between India and China, the US commentator observed: “All three nations possess nuclear weapons that provide some reluctance to escalate pressure, but also creates a fear of the consequences of a government failing to use restraint. Humanity always finds a way to endure and overcome the challenges of geography and nature. This region has become another example of humanity being the greatest threat to itself.”
Referring to Modi’s move to annex Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, Col Martin wrote: “This action was the beginning of a siege. Last December, the government removed citizenship status from the Muslim population.
“Construction of concentration camps immediately commenced and are being filled with Muslims now stripped of their property and possessions. The slander campaign against the Muslims received a major boost with the outbreak of coronavirus. Modi and his party commenced claiming the Muslim population was responsible for the virus” spread.
In time of crisis, people will turn on each other, especially when encouraged by their governments. Subject to being attacked on the streets, Muslim victims were denied hospital access, despite the need for immediate attention in many cases.
“Consolidating the Muslim population into concentration camps, without proper food, water and medical support, will ensure devastation. It will also provide Modi with the ability to claim the high number of deaths as retroactive justification of his actions.
The pandemic has created a double lockdown. Military and police forces are preventing public response. Citizens cannot leave their homes to demonstrate against their oppressors. “Muslims are forced to wait in place until they are escorted to the concentration camps. As usual, the rest of the world offers words, but little else.
The United Nations high commissioner of human rights calls the revocation of citizenship ‘fundamentally discriminatory,’ but says too little about the concentration camps.
“The United States and Western Europe are doing no better. Beyond words, pressure needs to be brought against Modi and his government. Until his aggression and genocide are stopped, Albert Einstein’s warning will prevail: ‘The world is a dangerous place, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who do nothing about it.’”
