TALE OF TWO BATTLE GROUNDS: CASE STUDIES

OF KASHMIR AND PALESTINE

March 16, 2020 centreforneweconomicstudies Constituition, Country Studies, Governance, International Relations, Op-
Ed, Security Leave a comment
Kashmir and Palestine are often cited as two strugglers for the right to self-determination and
resistance against state oppression. In order to make sense of the events, it is important to look at the
strategic objectives of Israel and India in the conflict zones of Palestine and Kashmir, respectively. This
would entail looking at the logic of both Indian and Israeli state occupation of these regions and what
compels them to hold onto these areas despite active resistance movements in these areas.

With the creation of Israel, about a million Palestinian Arabs were displaced from their homes and
Israel had to fight a war with the neighboring Arab states for its right to exist. For the Arabs residing in
these areas, the creation of Israel was an import of the European Jewish problem to the Middle East
and therefore, an extension of imperialism and colonialism. But at the same time, the Jewish state
was to exist in an area where the political culture was essentially anti-Semitic. All of these themes still
persist in how Palestinians view the Israeli state. It is the legacy of European colonialism and anti-
Semitism that has influenced Palestinian views towards Israel since its creation.

The other side of the story is how the Israeli state has justified its actions and ensured its survival. By
the virtue of being surrounded by nations which are hostile towards its very ‘right’ of existence and
having experienced the trauma of persecution, the Jewish state had to ensure its security. It was
possible only if it could either alter its relations with the neighboring Arab nations or if it could keep a
strong hold military hold over its surrounding regions and maintain a huge disparity between its own
military strength and those of the surrounding regions. The first option hasn’t been able to come to
fruition because of the deep ideological divide and hence, Israel has pursued the second.

The Israeli control of West Bank and Gaza has granted it strategic depth against any invasion from the
Arab nations and with the capture of Golan Heights it could defend its most important water
resource, the Kineret. However, the capture of these areas also brought a huge population of
Palestinians under Israeli control. The people residing in these areas were already hostile to the idea
of Israel and its subsequent control, and the denial of self-determination led to the alienation of
Palestinians. On the other hand, Israeli fear about opening up political climate of occupied territories
was due to inherent hostility in the region towards Israel. Hence, a regime of oppression was
established by Israel to control these territories in order to ensure its security in the face of constant
Arab hostility.

India under the leadership of Nehru had committed to the values of secularism and Kashmir’s
integration with India was ample demonstration of this commitment. The Indian nation state since
independence had accommodated regional aspirations that could be granted within the federal
structure. But Kashmiri demands of self-determination and a possible plebiscite couldn’t be
accommodated within this structure. The possibility of Kashmir becoming an independent nation isn’t
something that is acceptable to either India or Pakistan within their strategic competition for control
over Kashmir. For India, control over Kashmir is more than just a matter of regional security and geo-
political rivalry but that of ideology. Control over Kashmir completes the two-nation theory upon
which Pakistan was created, while its integration with India invalidates this claim. On the other hand,
Kashmir seceding from India attacks the premise of Indian national imagination, which accommodates
a whole range of diverse regional and religious identities.

In both the cases while methods of resistance and state response depict remarkable similarities; the
nature of power, which holds onto them, depicts stark differences. Israel’s occupation of Palestine has
been guided by the primary aim of ensuring its security in a climate of geo-political hostility. The
compulsion to control Palestine has been an existential battle for Israel as it serves as a guarantee to
Israeli security against any large Arab attack as well as against groups like Hamas who have bases in
Palestine.

On the other hand India has to hold onto Kashmir so as to protect the sanctity of the idea upon which
it was based. The control over Kashmir grants India domestic and international legitimacy and is a
cornerstone to the very idea of what distinguishes India and Pakistan. But the repression of political
resistance challenges this very idea. This is a huge paradox of India’s presence in Kashmir, which it
grapples with in contemporary times.

Despite these deep divides, both of these cases show one remarkable similarity, that of lack of
options for reconciliation. The reconciliation in Arab-Israel conflict is difficult due to a huge ideological
gap between both Arabs and Israelis. The same goes for the Indian presence in Kashmir. With
accommodation becoming even more difficult after the politics of India and Israel taking a right wing
turn, the future of peace process looks bleaker than ever before.

Kashmir and Palestine: The story of two occupations

Kashmiri activists hold placards during a protest against Israel's military operation in Gaza on July 11, 2014, in
Srinagar [Getty]
The India and Israel alliance has been described as a full-blown romance, but the ongoing siege of Kashmir
makes this a bloody affair – covert for years.
India has bought arms from Israel since the 1960s. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Israel in
2017, marking the 25th anniversary of full diplomatic relations.
The two nations are passionate about their brutal occupations of Kashmir and Palestine. India is one of
Israel’s biggest arms exports clients, spending about $10bn over the past decade. Indian police forces have
been receiving training in Israel for “anti-terror” operations, which Israeli conducts against Palestinians.
The ongoing unrest in Kashmir
Writing in the Middle East Review of International Affairs in 2004, Harsh Pant, professor of international
relations at King’s College London, frames the self-determination struggles in Kashmir and Palestine within a
post-9/11 narrative of the “global scourge of Islamist terrorism”.
This terror frame supports the economy of arms trade between India, Israel and the United States. In this
story, the aggressive religious nationalisms of Zionism and Hindutva are neutral shared security interests.
Kashmiri and Palestinian quests for self-determination are reduced to neighbouring Muslim or Arab states
causing unrest.
The current siege of Kashmir by India’s forces follows the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan
Wani on July 8.
We live in a time when nation-states overtly commit war crimes, are cheered on by bloodthirsty majoritarian
citizens, and literally get away with murder.
Kashmiris came out in thousands to mourn the event. Kashmiri writers and journalists say that the savage
response of the Indian state to the popular crowd support for the slain militant was unprecedented.
The pellet gun, a weapon banned in many countries, was used to blind and maim hundreds from a one-year-
old child to the elderly.
The dead numbered more than 70, and 6,000 or more were injured. These numbers continue to rise. Yet,
Kashmiris continue to protest against the Indian state and call for Azadi (freedom).
Occupation and occupiers
These current events must be placed in a longer context. Since the 1990s, through a decade of armed struggle
against the Indian state, state violence in Kashmir has taken its toll.
There are about 500,000 military personnel in the region – in other words, one soldier for 25 civilians. The
Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society reports more than 70,000 killings, about 10,000 enforced
disappearances and 7,000 mass graves (PDF).
Graffiti reading Azadi (freedom) and Go India Back in Srinagar, Kashmir [Elizabeth Puranam/Al Jazeera]
Torture, rape, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and extra-judicial killings are widespread. These
human rights violations are intricately linked to the denial of political sovereignty for Kashmiris.
We desperately need to reconsider our West versus non-West understanding of the geography of
colonialisms. The years 1947 and 1948 mark the creation of the nation-states of India and Israel. These years
scar Kashmiris and Palestinians.
Palestinians have been dispossessed of territory and many forced into exile. Kashmir was handed over from an
unpopular ruler without the legitimacy of popular vote to the Indian state on October 26, 1947.
A condition of that accession is the United Nations resolution of 1948 for referendum or plebiscite, never
facilitated by the Indian state. Israel and India thus inaugurate the colonial occupations of Palestine and
Kashmir.

Uneven scale of atrocities

When is an occupation not an occupation? When it is executed by one of the world’s largest markets? When is
a butcher not a butcher? When he is a prime minister; or when he is an ally?
Let’s not forget that Modi was denied a visa to the US in 2005 for his alleged responsibility over the mass
murder of Muslims during the Gujarat riots. His nickname, the “Butcher of Gujarat”, comes from that 2002
event. He can now add the title of the “Butcher of Kashmir” to his name – even as that title fits previous Indian
prime ministers.
OPINION: Two centuries of oppression in Kashmir
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like his predecessors, can be named the “Butcher of Palestinians”
as he presided over the brutal bombing of Gaza in 2014 that killed 2,100 Palestinians, a third of them children.
The Israeli dead listed 66 soldiers and seven civilians. This uneven scale led the UN Inquiry of Gaza to lay the
weight of the charge of war crimes on Israel even as they also charged listed Palestinian armed groups.
The US was the sole vote against the UN inquiry, and European countries abstained, as did India. The Gaza
bombing was not the first and it is not the last as the violence of occupation continues in Palestine daily in the
form of illegal settlements and killings.
 
Greater need for solidarity
We live in a time when nation-states overtly commit war crimes, are cheered on by bloodthirsty majoritarian
citizens, and literally get away with murder.

The word democracy glitters like fool’s gold on the tongues of world leaders. Human rights regimes seem
toothless in the face of the bold barbarisms of nation-states invested in repressing democracy, and need
reform if they are to deliver justice.
And so transnational solidarity and activism are urgent when almost every nation-state seems rogue.
The small but growing pockets of solidarity expressed for Kashmiris are heartening, as is the international
solidarity for Palestinian struggle.
Joining the dots between the occupations of Kashmir and Palestine shows the need for a greater solidarity
between these two sovereignty struggles.

Kashmir issue is riding on Palestinian

cause to gain global support. But who is
behind it?
In Kashmir and elsewhere, the plight of Palestinians is suddenly being talked, written about, and even sung
along with the Kashmir issue.
In all the noise of the blame game over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, some interesting
developments have gone entirely unnoticed. True, the sudden flaring up of the Palestine issue did take up
media space and lead to angry reactions. But what went under the radar was that in Kashmir and other parts
of the world, the plight of Palestinians was suddenly being talked and written about, and even sung along with
the Kashmir issue, in protests, webinars and overwhelmingly on social media. While the underlying theme was
meant to highlight the plight of Muslims, none of these platforms mentioned the prosecution of Muslims in
China’s Xinjiang or their killing by the Taliban. That, in itself, is a clue. But it’s not the whole story.
The Palestine obsession – Kashmir 
In May, the Valley saw violent anti-Israel protests at a time when strict pandemic restrictions were in place. It
led to arrests, including of a cleric from Shopian, who had made a fiery speech on Palestine at a gathering on
the eve of Eid, which went viral. The result? Violence, arrests and crowds on the street, all of which was
covered eagerly by social media influencers. Most of those arrested were released a day later, which of course
was ignored.
But the recent protests are curious for several reasons. Kashmiris have been backing the Palestine cause for
years, with some of the worst violence during the 2014 Gaza crisis, when Palestinian flags were flown on
vehicles and shops in Srinagar in a gesture of solidarity. But the fact is that support to the Palestinian cause
has increased significantly under the Narendra Modi government, with the first ever prime ministerial visit to
Palestine taking place in February 2018. Here’s another fact. Palestinians themselves have never protested for
Kashmir on the ground. Or in support of India either even though the Palestinian Authority expects
Delhi’s support. So, the conflation of Kashmir and Palestine is certainly not originating in Gaza.
Papers, scholars and cover organisations 
Take a look at who’s covering this story. One prominent source is the Turkish Anadolu Agency, which regularly
publishes articles linking Palestine to Kashmir. Ankara is known to be on the same page as Islamabad on this,
but interestingly, Islamabad’s English media is far more discerning. It is now being punished severely for its
independence. Then there is the Qatari mouthpiece, Al Jazeera, which apart from coverage of “Indian
Administered Kashmir” also publishes the Palestine twinning aspect. This, in turn, is viewed through the lens
of scholarship by experts, for instance at the University of Warwick, who while apparently examining post-
colonial states, also do an extremely one-sided analysis of Kashmir, Hindutva and ‘post secularism’.
Higher in the pecking order are posts on the institute of one of the top universities, UC Berkeley, which pushes
the Palestine-Kashmir linkage. Then there is the Kashmir scholars network working on the same lines, though
it doesn’t offer any details on its website. There is, however, a letter from the body, to the United Nations
General Assembly, urging it to not give India a seat on the UN Security Council. It is signed by a group of
academics from across the US, and obviously from the Quaid-i-Azam University in Pakistan. It naturally doesn’t
mention Pakistan’s completely illegal – by its own laws – occupation of Gilgit Baltistan and so-called ‘Azad
Kashmir’. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The whole is backed and encouraged by another set of actors.

Organisations that turn the table

For some time, groups formerly focused only on Palestine have turned their attention to Kashmir. A group
named American Muslims for Palestine made its voice heard on the Article 370 issue. Research outlines other
ties, particularly between the shadowy Stand With Kashmir and groups like Students for Justice in Palestine,
now out in strength in a vigil against Israeli actions, in twinning Kashmir with Palestine. SWK also supported a
solidarity march for Palestine on 29 May by the Council for American Islamic Relations, a group that aims to
fight Islamophobia in the US. Yet another is the Majlis Ash Shura, an umbrella organisation of nearly a hundred
mosques and other outfits that organises webinars where the audience is urged to see Kashmir in the same
way they view Palestine.
A central role in much of this is by the ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America), which has long aspired to lead
the dialogue on Kashmir in the US. It is now shown to be supportive of the Jamaat -i-Islami, a group that
propagates and encourages violence in the Valley, and is closely associated with Pakistani intelligence, not to
mention terror groups in Kashmir. The ICNA, with its million dollar purse, now brackets not only Palestine and
Kashmir but also the Black Lives Matter movement, thus powerfully building up its base in the US. Backed by a
deep purse (with funds pouring in online as this is written), it was identified as the main backer for last year’s
Congressional hearings on Kashmir.
The twinning is also apparent on social media. Take, for instance, this undoubtedly melodious song on
Palestine and Kashmir, by an advocacy group that is apparently based in London, Rome, Istanbul, Toronto,
and, of all places, Beijing. Unsurprisingly, its members are anonymous, but the song itself has hit the charts
well on social media. Even more notable is the BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) with a near
global reach, and some two lakh followers on Twitter. It just launched its first entirely poisonous video against
the Modi government and its policies in Kashmir.

Palestine vs Kashmir
There’s more of this activity, particularly on social media, than can be adequately documented here. But the
point is that the US and others, with very little knowledge about the Kashmir issue, particularly the state of
affairs on the Pakistani side, are now being heavily influenced at a time when matters on the Gaza strip have
taken centre stage. To put it even more simply, the Pakistanis and their allies have managed to piggyback on
the Palestine issue to their advantage.
The irony is that those fighting for Palestine should wish they had even half the rights that Kashmiris have
enjoyed for years. While their land has been steadily eroded, not an inch of Kashmiri land could be sold to
outsiders till recently. Even after the setting aside of Article 370, new domicile laws still restrict land ownership
in the state. Yes, it irks some Kashmiris. But that’s the truth when compared to the Gaza strip.
More importantly, hundreds of Indian soldiers have died fighting well-armed terrorists, but have never ever
slipped into raising levels of force. Civilians have little idea of the sheer grit needed to ensure peace in Kashmir
for those who really want it. Notice also that while Kashmiri Pandits were forced out, there are no Muslim
Kashmiri refugees anywhere, unlike the 5.7 million Palestinians outside of their land. That counts for
something. In an ideal world, neither conflict should exist. But as this account indicates, there are those who
work tirelessly to ensure that peace doesn’t return to Kashmir. There’s money in it for some, prestige for
others, and sometimes a whole career in academics. That’s the simple, ugly truth.

‘Now is time to act on Palestine and Kashmir’

    
ISLAMABAD 
The time to act on Palestine and Kashmir is now, and tangible actions need to be taken immediately
by the UN, whose “credibility is at stake,” said a top Pakistani politician.
“Why did the League of Nations fail miserably?” asked Shehryar Khan Afridi, the chairman of the
Pakistani parliament’s special committee on Kashmir.
“Expectations are enormous. Our coming generation, future is at stake, so everyone needs to chip in.
Let's protect this universe and this entire world through peaceful means,” Afridi told Anadolu Agency
in an exclusive interview, discussing the situation in the Indian-administered Kashmir and the
occupied territories of Palestine.
Kashmir and Palestine are the two oldest cases on the table of the UN which await final resolution.
“We (Pakistan and India) have nuclear deterrence, the entire global peace is at stake,” said Afridi,
referring to tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, calling for granting the right of self-
determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Palestinians are humans. … They're as human as anyone else, and they should be treated like that.
And if the world is still silent on that, … if the world remains ignorant, trust me, we will have to pay a
very heavy price, and none of us will be able to justify it,” said Afridi.
Role of Organization of Islamic Cooperation ‘pivotal’
Afridi said it was “horrific” for him to see scenes from Gaza, which was bombed by Israel since May
10, killing (at least) 277 innocent Palestinians.
“We need to put our houses in order," he said, urging Muslims to unite and resolve their differences.
"We are polarized in the name of sectarianism. Apart from that, we are polarized in the name of
countries, in the name of languages, in the name of values, norms, and cultures. So, I believe, the
Muslim ummah needs to unite.”
He said the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) “has a pivotal role to play.”
“Why was the OIC established? … Because of Palestine, the Arab League, all the Muslim countries
need to come forward and become one, and the only agenda point of the ummah should be to be
treated equally. It's not about any religion. It's not about any sect or it's not about any race. It's about
the global commitment,” he said.
He recalled that prior to 1945, “there was no existence … nothing of any sort by the name of ‘Israel’ in
Palestine.”
“And what has been happening since then is demographic terrorism, the worst form of terrorism.
Innocent people of all age groups are being bullied, humiliated. They're killing innocent children.”
Afridi said it is not about Turkey and Pakistan or Iran or Hamas.
“It's about every human. It's about every sane human on the face of the earth. It is about all those
who value their loved ones. So it is time to wake up before it's too late and tangible actions need to
be taken now by the prosperous world,” he added.
‘Non-resolution of Kashmir conflict threat to global peace’
The Kashmir Committee chairman said the non-resolution of the Kashmir dispute is a “threat to global
peace.”
“If we include Russia in this (South Asian) region, half the globe lives here. When we talk of half of the
population of this entire globe, then we need to understand the importance of the Kashmir issue,”
Afridi said.
“Why (Pakistani) Prime Minister Imran Khan has been constantly reminding the global community,
and the prosperous world, that Kashmir is a flashpoint is for a reason that India, Pakistan, China, and
Russia are nuclear powers and anything can challenge the peace of this global community,” he said.
He said that since Aug. 5, 2019, around 8 million people in the Indian-administered Kashmir have
been “not only treated in an unjust manner, they are being bulldozed of their identity. Their rights
were taken away when Articles 35A and 370 were abrogated from the Indian Constitution.”
They have been subjected to “everything … cultural terrorism, demographic terrorism, information
terrorism.”
He said the EU DisInfo Lab “exposed India to the core which used fake 750 websites and fake
identities through fake ways and means, tried to misinform the global community about Pakistan.”
“What [Benjamin] Netanyahu has been doing in Palestine … demographic terrorism, settlements are
taking place in Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK),” said Afridi.
The Line of Control, which divided Kashmir into two under India and Pakistan, said Afridi, is basically
dominated by Kashmiris on both sides.
“Whenever Indian, when their politics or anything related against Muslims, is required for them for
their own interests, what they do is they start targeting civilians. The world has witnessed such
horrific scenes where children, schools, civilian areas are usually targeted and even the UN, their
installation, their ambulances, Red Cross, were targeted,” he said, referring to tensions along the LoC
in recent past.
India and Pakistan on Feb. 25 this year revived the 2003 agreed cease-fire along the LoC and since
then tensions have died down.
“It was very beneficial. And now this (cease-fire) agreement, again, it goes a long, long way, and it's
basically for the people of Kashmir,” he said about the renewed cease-fire agreed by the militaries of
the two countries.
He said the Khan government of Pakistan has one agenda: “Negotiations or trade or any other activity
will start with India, once they go back to that position of 5th August 2019 that rights of 370 and 35
need to be given to the people of IIOJK.”
He noted: “The situation in IIOJK is horrible, horrific … For every 71,000 people in IIOJK, there is one
ventilator. For 3,900 people in IIOJK, there is only one doctor, and for 200 people there is only 32 kg
of oxygen.”
“And then when we talk from a military point of view (in IIOJK), (it is the) worst form of injustice.
There is one soldier for nine Kashmiris."
“It is a humanitarian crisis taking place, war crimes are taking place, especially after 5th August 2019,”
he added.
“Financially, the people of Kashmir have been deprived in all ways and means; they have been treated
in such a manner where the global community needs to come forward and that is what Pakistan has
been emphasizing,” said Afridi.
Afridi said Kashmir is not only an incomplete agenda of the UN. “Since 1948, the UN and the
prosperous world is their guarantor to give their due rights.”
He also said India has jailed all those Kashmiris “who are talking about freedom.”
“All those who want their rights, they have been thrown behind bars. Asiya Andrabi, Dr. Qasim
Faktoo, Mr. Shabir Shah, there are lots of other cases … but so they're being drawn behind bars …
They're prisoners of conscience,” he added.
Referring to the death of Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai in police custody, Afridi termed it as a “classic
example.”
“He was 78 years old and was martyred. He was behind the bars. And what was his crime? He wanted
that commitment from the prosperous world and from India for the people of IIOJK and he became
an example for the entire global community,” said the Kashmir Committee chairman.
Sehrai was in jail when his health deteriorated on May 4 and was declared dead by doctors a day later
at a hospital in Jammu.

UN credibility at stake
Afridi said the credibility of the UN is “at stake.”
“There are a lot of question marks on the UN now. Pakistan has been requesting the prosperous
world, all key stakeholders to come forward and pressurize India to realize and to understand that
commitment, which India took to the UN in 1948,” he said.
It was former Indian Prime Minister JL Nehru who took the Kashmir issue to the UN, said Afridi. “Now
it is obligatory and mandatory on us, and global key stakeholders, especially the prosperous world,
they need to come forward.”
“We are committed as a nation, but it is obligatory on the prosperous world they need to come
forward. It was taken up at the UN Security Council thrice after August 5, 2019, then by the Human
Rights Council.”
He said India was “constantly confusing the entire global community that Kashmir is a bilateral issue.”
“Anyway, it was never a bilateral issue, it was always a multilateral issue because the UN, and all
signatories of the UN since 1948, (have been) on around dozens of resolutions on Kashmir, that in
itself speaks high volumes,” Afridi said.
“The entire global community is a guarantor of that commitment which was given that plebiscite and
right to self-determination that was supposed to be given on priority basis to the people of IIOJK, that
has not been fulfilled,” he added.
He said Pakistan has a “very clear stand” on Kashmir.
“Our foreign policy has been very, very critical on that. And since we represent both the houses, as
Kashmir Parliamentary Committee where I have got members from all political parties from the
opposition and from ruling parties, our stance is that India needs to go back prior to the 5th of August
2019, only then, anything in any capacity, a dialogue or trade or anything can be initiated.”