KASHMIRIES LIVING IN DELHI

Common Kashmiris living in Delhi protested on 11 July at 10:30am at Parliamentary Street, near Janter-Manter, New Delhi. The protest was aimed to condemn recent killings of innocent civilians in Kashmir and also to protest Indian military response to people’s right to protest.

Kashmiri families, students, business persons and professionals in New Delhi staged a silent

sit-in protest at Parliament Street near Janter-Manter against the recent killings of unarmed

civilians across the Valley in particular and ruthless military response to peaceful civilian

movement in Kashmir. We Kashmiris, living in Delhi feel morally obligated to make this statement today. Because we are witness to the escalating conditions induced by militarized governance, and the severity of psychosocial dimensions of oppression in Kashmir.

In the past month, at least 16 civilians, including children, young men and women, have been

killed in firing by CRPF on the streets of Kashmir. Their only crime was that they protested

against the killing of their children in fake encounters and in police firing. The protestors

asked, “Killing of a child in police firing would evoke angry mass protests anywhere in India.

Why are Kashmiri people then denied even the right to protest at the repeated killings of their

children in police firing or in fake encounters?”

The Government of India has recently called for "creative solutions" to resolve the "Kashmir

problem." If we map the events of the past six months inside Kashmir, the approach of the

Indian state is aggressively militaristic. While commitments to political diplomacy frame relations between India and Pakistan. However there is no acknowledgement of civil society's insistent demand for the right to self-determination.Kashmir is not a "problem" but a conflict zone. India's militarization is aimed at territorial control of Kashmir, and control over key economic and environmental resources in the region, including those of the Siachen glacier. The Government of Kashmir is unable to prevail politically or exercise control over the Indian Armed Forces. India's political dominance hinges on its ability to possess Kashmir. Institutions of democracy -- the judiciary, educational institutions, media -- are neutralized by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Armed Forces as they function in tandem, continuing "military governance." State violence seeks to underminepeople's capacity to resist and solicits collaborators.