Sunday, December 26, 2010

Globe Xmas Gifts: Kashmir Sweater

A one-day wonder just like the day itself:

"All roads lead to Kashmir; Solving the dispute between India and Pakistan is vital to achieving a broader regional peace" by Basharat Peer and Sasha Polakow-Suransky,  December 24, 2010

Basharat Peer, an Open Society Fellow, is the author of “Curfewed Night.’’ Sasha Polakow-Suransky, a senior editor at Foreign Affairs, is the author of “The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa.’’ 

How did they get on ops space in my Boston Globe? 

Related: Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons

That's not something I've seen in my AmeriKan paper. 

In early July, the bodies of three young laborers killed by Indian troops were discovered in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, unleashing a wave of protests. Police fired tear gas at protesters in Srinagar and killed a 17-year-old student, who was simply passing by. Soon, young Kashmiris armed with stones were battling Indian troops, who responded with bullets. An intense military curfew followed. From July to September, the Kashmiri intifada raged on killing 110 and injuring at least 1,500.

India has long resisted any outside attempt to mediate in Kashmir. The Indian government panicked after Barack Obama’s historic election in November 2008, fearing that Obama might appoint Bill Clinton as a special envoy to Kashmir as he had suggested during the campaign. And even before Holbrooke’s post was announced in January 2009, Indian officials and their allies in Washington lobbied furiously to have the words India and Kashmir excluded from the veteran US diplomat’s portfolio. India did not want to be seen as paying the price for US failures in Afghanistan by being forced to negotiate on Kashmir

Yet the occupation of Kashmir remains a stain on India’s democracy. Over 500,000 Indian troops and paramilitary forces are stationed there. Killings of civilians by security forces routinely go unreported and unpunished as a result of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which effectively gives Indian troops stationed in Kashmir a de facto license to kill 

Yes, it seems that MOWING DOWN MUSLIMS is OKAY in this world -- as is the DENIAL of THEIR OWN SELF-DETERMINATION that is GRANTED to OTHERS!

The most recent trove of WikiLeaks confirmed what human-rights organizations have long alleged: that Indian troops have systematically tortured Kashmiri prisoners.  

Gee, I DID NOT SEE a FULL-FEATURE ARTICLE on THOSE LEAKS!

Wikileaks - The Tel Aviv Connection 

Wikileaks and Espionage - Israeli Style 

WikiLeaks: Advancing an Israeli Agenda? 

Sure seems that way.

Also see: Wikileaking Our Way To War

The AmeriKan Media's Poison Pill

WHAT WIKILEAKS DIDN’T LEAK

Yeah, not a word about that.

After documenting widespread torture and sexual humiliation of prisoners who “were rarely militants,” the Red Cross told US officials in 2005 that it had concluded that the Indian government “condones torture.”  

Well, well, well, ONCE AGAIN we are talking about a U.S. ALLY and WAR CRIMES!

AmeriKan media SURE KEPT it QUIET, huh?

--more--"  

I'm getting a little warm, readers.

Related: India Creates Concentration Camp in Kashmir

Yeah, that was about the same time my Globe coverage stopped.