Massoud Shadjareh: Indian government seeks to escalate tensions in Kashmir

Press TV has conducted an interview with Massoud Shadjareh, a political analyst from London.

Following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Indian forces have faced their fair share of criticism for using pellet guns and now we’re seeing the option of birdshots being used against the protesters in Kashmir as well.

Shadjareh: This is totally unacceptable. It really is total abuse of power and when you see this sort of thing being done in masses and as a policy, it really is totally frightening. The Indian government has decided at this stage to escalate the conflict by using these weapons and against ordinary citizens, civilians who are holding nothing except demonstration against occupation of their land and mistreatment of their community.

And unfortunately, this has been going on for over 60 years and the fact of the matter is no matter what sort of weapons the Indian government decides to use, [it] is not going to resolve the problem. This could only be resolved politically and by negotiation. And the reality is that the Indian government is showing once again that is unwilling to go down that route.   

Press TV: As you’ve just mentioned there have been periodic cycles of violence in Kashmir over the past 60 years and we’ve seen scores of deaths resulting from it especially as Indian forces continue without any judicial oversight over there. What needs to be done to break the 60-year cycle and come to that negotiated settlement?

Shadjareh: I think the Indian government has to decide that [it] cannot continue the occupation of Kashmir and it needs to accommodate the needs and aspiration of the ordinary Kashmiris. And the reality is that that is the first step and stop behaving and acting and misbehaving as an occupier. It’s been involved in systematic rape of the Kashmiri women and the armed forces have actually with impunity behaved extremely badly violently and indeed against the humanitarian laws and all international laws.

Now, if you are going to accommodate some sort of solution, we need to see end of this sort of behavior, because this sort of behavior would only encourage further conflict and further resistance by the Kashmiris and there is no end to it. So I think that is the first step we need to see the Indian government once and for all would actually do a turn and decide to treat the Kashmiris with the dignity that they deserve.

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