Sent: Saturday, 22 September, 2007 18:08:20
Subject: WORKERS UNITY IN KASHMIR

Kashmir - For workers' unity

The ruling classes of both India and Pakistan persecute the Kashmiri masses and deny them the right of self-determination, to an independent Kashmir. At independence from Britain in 1947, both India and Pakistan fought for control of Kashmir, and the territory was divided between the two rival states who have fought three wars involving Kashmir.

By Vaseem Khan

Democratic rights are suppressed either side of the Line of Control, and unemployment and poverty dominate. Governments in India and Pakistan have always used Kashmir to divert attention from crisis at home, and to try to increase their power.

The Indian government seized on Bush's "war against terrorism" to launch an attack on opposition groups in Indian-occupied Kashmir. They unleashed state terror on Kashmiris. Now they have called elections in Indian Occupied Kashmir attempting to legitimise their occupation.

General Pervez Musharaff military dictator of Pakistan has dismissed the elections as a rigged farce. Right wing Islamist groups have unleashed a terror campaign against the vote that has claimed the lives of more than 440 people since they were announced in August this year. This has included candidates and party workers. The Indian Army has stepped up its repressive measures to ensure the elections are successful.

Both sides at present have placed millions of troops on the line of control between India and Pakistan.

There is a potential for a nuclear conflict between both countries as they are now nuclear powers. They are determined to cling on to their part of Kashmir by any military means because of other separatist struggles in their own countries. They continue the old colonial methods of divide and rule.

But Kashmir has different traditions. The Kashmiriyat for hundreds of years promoted coexistence between Muslims and Hindus and was only abolished with partition in 1947. The 1924 strike of mainly Muslim silk workers was supported by Hindus and Sikhs. This shows the potential for unity on a class basis.

In August 2002, 10,000 Kashmiris protested against the extension of the Mangla dam in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The extension of the Mangla dam will cause the eviction of 100,000 people from their homes. Musharaff's dictatorship is exploiting Kashmir's economic wealth to the detriment of ordinary Kashmiris. Islamic reactionary groups such as Hizbul Mujahadeen have played a divisive role by splitting up mass protests against the war on Afghanistan.

Both India and Pakistan have no real solution for Kashmiris. Their solution is based on the exploitation of Kashmiris to suit their own interests. Their interests are their own profit system - this system is capitalism!

Capitalism creates profits that allow feudal landlords, politicians, and generals of both Pakistan and India to create hunger, war, and famine.

The wealth that has been created by the masses of the subcontinent belongs to the masses and not to the minority who exploit the masses. In order to control this wealth and the power that comes from this wealth a mass movement of workers and peasants is urgently required not only in Kashmir but in the subcontinent.

A mass movement of this nature should call for the withdrawal of both Indian and Pakistani troops and for a free and independent socialist Kashmir. Socialism is the only form of genuine democracy that allows the exploited people of Kashmir and the subcontinent to overthrow capitalism and to put in place a system that represents the interests of the majority and the not the minority. This system is Socialism