[Reader-list] Express solidarity with the people of Kashmir

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear All,

The petition forwarded by Mr.Aima says -

> We resolve that as citizens we will do all that we can to create a  
> conducive and convivial environment for restoration of normalcy in  
> their tragically disrupted lives.
> We also pledge to build bridges of understanding to prevent the  
> communalization, brutalization and militarization of state and  
> civil society in J&K.

How can this be done without removing, for instance,even at a bare  
minimum, the obscenity of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act? I read  
the petition very carefully, and did not find a single concrete, or  
specific demand, such as the scrapping of the aforementioned AFSPA -  
a demand well within, even, the "framework of the Indian  
constitution", that a lot of people go on and on about. In the  
absence of even such minimal specificities, I can only say that this  
petition, and those who have moved it, are prime examples of what it  
means to be really patronizing. This is the kind of 'Care' that  
smothers you just as effectively as a really wet blanket, that mimics  
the language of dissent, only to actually erase it.

With sympathizers like these, who needs enemies? Keep your candles,  
give me a stone.

best

Shuddha

Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net