As farmers and workers across India fight the Indian government’s handover of the control of their lands and lives over to corporations through the farm reform bills, Kashmir Gulposh is united in solidarity with our brothers and sisters against the exploitation of their lands and labor.
Kashmiris understand that land is sacred, and not up for industry to control but rather must be trusted in the hands of the farmers as stewards of the land.
Kashmiris understand that land is sacred, that it requires stewardship and caretaking that can only be determined by the will of the people, and not by corporate elites and industry with deep pockets. Since the abrogation of Article 370 and Sec 35A on Aug. 5, 2019, and prior, Kashmiris have given no consent to the theft of their lands by the Indian state’s genocidal colonial corporate development schemes, or to change to laws governing Indigenous Kashmiri jurisdiction, or membership.
Both before and after the illegal annexation of Kashmir, India has used militarized policing with complete impunity, and internet shutdowns to repress our resistance movement for self-determination. A genocide is ongoing in Kashmir: since the 1990s, mass rapes were ordered and committed by Indian military, hundreds and thousands of Kashmiris have been arbitrarily arrested, detained, mass blinded and maimed by police with pellet guns by Indian police, killed and disappeared. Since Aug 5, 2019, India has cut down hundreds and thousands of trees in Jammu & Kashmir, accelerated deforestation (contributing to the climate change catastrophe,) and evicted our tribal kin – the Bakarwals from their communal and forest homes. There is just no justice under India’s colonial occupation of Kashmir.
We are witnessing the same mass scale violent practices, that have been used in Kashmir, are now being unleashed by the settler colonial Indian state to suppress the demands of farmers and workers.
It is clear to us that our liberation and freedom is connected to the freedom of farmers and workers. We are ready to co-resist the ceding of rights of farmers and workers by the fascist authoritarian regime of the Indian state – as allies. We are united, in the face of the ongoing pressures to divide our movements along lines of religious identity. We are united in rage, grief, and love.
We scream loud and clear: people before corporate profits!
We echo the demands of our farmer friends and relatives:
- repeal the three farm bills entirely
- stop repressing dissent and peaceful protests
- stop violent police and military actions against peaceful protests
- stop muzzling information and farmers+workers voices through internet shutdowns
Media contact: 416-830-7362 / ContactUs@KashmirGulposh.com
Kashmir Gulposh is a non-profit organization dedicated to peace, justice, and prosperity in Kashmir region. Azaadi Now is Kashmir Gulposh’s independent media platform that covers current affairs in Kashmir and Indigenous resurgence globally.