![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/11\/BINA-1-1-1024x1024.jpg\")
Whether or not the man\nmost referred to as \u201cMahatma, the great soul\u201d would be tacitly accepting his\ngovernment\u2019s continued imperial machinations, or leading the resistance to the\ndecades-long occupation, is hardly the point. It is more important to ask why peace\nand justice activists who supposedly follow in his footsteps have not put\ngreater effort to stopping the crimes committed by growing Indian\nauthoritarianism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As has been unusually\nwell-documented in the Western press, the past months of extreme repression\nhave been torturous on the colonized population, with the New York Times\nadmitting that \u201ceveryday life suffers\u201d for the over twelve million citizens of\nthe territory under contention. Not as well documented is the fact that the apparently\nnew policies announced on August 5, 2019 by the government in Delhi are much\nmore than just a twist of the right-wing government of the BJP and Prime\nMinister Modi. Simply put, they are the latest measures and culminating\nterrorism of a widespread Indian agreement that Kashmiris can at best be\ntreated as second class quasi-citizens on their own land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the only\nthing \u201cnew\u201d about the August announcement was that it formally abrogates the\nlong-standing Indian Article 370, which recognized\u2014at least on paper\u2014that the\nultimate status of Kashmir had not yet been resolved. With Article 370\ndismissed last August, India has unilaterally declared a final and permanent\nclosing of any future negotiation or discussion of Kashmir\u2019s colonial status:\nit will remain, despite the will of the people, past history, international\nlaw, or however much nonviolent protest must be killed off, an occupied part of\n\u201cdemocratic India.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The draconian\nrepression of 2019 can best be seen as the method by which India hopes to\npermanently extinguish any last bit of hope which Kashmiris might hold for the\npossibility of self-determination. Issues of full sovereignty, as have been\nstridently advocated for years by strictly nonviolent and legal organizations\nsuch as the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), appear off\nthe table, both to Indian officials of all major parties but also to the global\npeace movement which shows little knowledge or concern about the ongoing\ncrisis. As JKCCS continues to document under the most extreme conditions, the\ndeath toll mounts as even young children become targets and curfews expecting\npeople to stay home all day simply cannot be logically followed. The\nspecter of violence looms large on both sides, as not only positive change\nappears thwarted, but\u2014for many young people\u2014the possibility of peaceful change.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Kashmir is not India\u2019s only \u201cproblem\narea.\u201d In Manipur, a state in the current Northeast Region of India that\nborders Myanmar, 2.2 million people belonging to 39 indigenous communities are\ncurrently under an Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). AFSPA provides all\nIndian military personnel with complete impunity while operating in the region.\nAnyone can be arrested, imprisoned or killed on mere suspicion charges, without\nany warrant or reason. Those affected cannot approach the courts, who serve\nonly the Indian authorities. Manipur, it should be noted, was an independent\nAsiatic nation state, functioning as an economic and cultural crossroads since\nthe 18th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AFSPA was first introduced by the colonial\nBritish Government in 1942 to thwart Gandhi\u2019s \u201cQuit India\u201d Movement. In 1947,\nafter the British left India, the newly independent government imposed the Act\non the Northeast Region of India, where Manipur was merged into the republic as\na \u201cunion territory\u201d from 1956-58. The same act was later imposed upon Kashmir\nin 1989-1990. Manipur, Northeast India and Kashmir are the only regions on the Indian\nsub-continent where martial law is imposed as the law of the land. Yet little\nor no condemnation takes place from within India or the rest of the world. Any\ncareful look at AFSPA, however, reveals that it is a clear violation not only\nof the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but of the Constitution of India itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are currently a minimum of 600,000\nIndian military personnel operating throughout Jammu and Kashmir, and 100,000\nIndian security forces and paramilitary units in Manipur. Manipur is one of the\nmost militarized zones in the world, with reportedly one military personnel for\nevery twenty Manipuris. Due to this protracted conflict, 20,000 people have\ndied in Manipur over the past decades, and more than 1,500 extrajudicial\nkillings have been recorded in the state. In addition to many cases of unsolved\ndisappearances, over five hundred children have been recruited as child\nsoldiers in Manipur and the Northeast Region, including very young girls. The\nconflict and repression in Manipur and Kashmir are classic cases of the world\u2019s\nforgotten conflicts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Standing with Ela Gandhi at Phoenix half a\ncontinent away, it was a challenge and an honor to reflect on the urgent needs\nand work to be done to unite groups of Africans, Asians, Europeans, and Americans\n(south and north). Ela\u2019s own decades of work\u2014as a local organizer, as a part of\nthe United Democratic Front, as a Member of Parliament for the African National\nCongress after the end of apartheid, and now as a leader of South Africa\u2019s\nGandhi Development Trust\u2014has not diminished her steadfast smile, her hopeful\nspirit, or her ongoing work to bring people of all faiths and traditions\ntogether to continue the fight for justice. Under her leadership, Phoenix is\nbecoming a place for local African youth to learn and study, to get free WIFI\nand share a coffee, to rebuild their society still so much in need. Here, the\nname of Gandhi has come to represent a special forward-looking, justice-based,\ncontinuous social change based on criticism, coalition-building, and\nresistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflecting critically on the countless celebrations of Ela\u2019s grandfather, and in the name of the young Asian and African people still seeking an end to colonialism, economic apartheid, and structural violence caused by injustice, it is time to declare a new commitment. For the next 150 years, peace researchers, professors, students and practitioners must pledge: not another celebration, not another anniversary, without freedom, decolonization and peace in Kashmir, Manipur, and the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matt Meyer and Binalakshmi<\/strong> Nepram<\/strong> are both associated scholars and fellows with the Resistance Studies Initiative of the University of Massachusetts\/Amherst.<\/strong><\/em> To learn more, watch Part I<\/a> and Part II <\/a>of a presentation given on November 12 by co-author Binalakshmi Nepram at Columbia University entitled “South Asia’s Fractured Frontier.” <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we celebrate Gandhi’s legacy, we must also stand in solidarity against ongoing repression in Kashmir and Manipur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":50810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"region":[6],"series":[],"article_type":[],"class_list":["post-50805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democracy","region-asia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/11\/ELA-1-1024x721.jpg\")