Arundhati Roy Kashmir Statements Trigger Investigation

Author Arundhati Roy, after making public statements that Kashmir was not a vital part of India, is being investigated by the Indian government and could face jail time if charged with sedition.

The Booker Prize-winning author is also a vocal proponent of human rights, and has become a controversial figure in India for her support of "tribal groups," reports the Telegraph. That paper also noted that under Indian law, it is illegal to "bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India."

Roy has defended her statements, saying in an emailed statement that, "What I say comes from love and pride. It comes from not wanting people to be killed, raped, imprisoned or have their fingernails pulled out in order to force them to say they are Indians."

Kashmir is the hotly contested border region between India and Kashmir that has been the home of a militarized rebel group since 1989. Both India and Pakistan govern a section of the region, but both claim it in full. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a Kasmiri seperatist who spoke with Roy at the event where some of her remarks were made, may also face sedition charges, the AP reports.

The Hindustan Times has reported that a decision to charge Roy could be politically motivated by pressure from hardline Indian nationalist groups.

Comments

[Iron100]

03:33 AM on 11/14/2010

I know this woman is just plain attention hungry ever seen I heard her speak on TV and internet. She is desperate for an international award. You know which one. I don't need to name it. I don't think a desperate and imbalanced person like her will ever get that award though.

[Matzpen]

02:44 PM on 11/11/2010

I think Arundhati Roy has a lot of excellent points on Kashmir, and Obama and the Indian media better listen up
http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/arundhati-roy-to-obama/

[OShea]

11:54 PM on 11/04/2010

PoK party condemns invasion by Pakistan in 1947
2010-10-26
http://sify.com/news/pok-party-condems-invasion-by-pakistan-in-1947-news-international-kk0vEebgfje.html

Srinagar: The All Party National Alliance (APNA) in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), has decided to observe October 22 as a 'Black Day' from next year onwards, in remembrance of the 1947 invasion by Pakistani army men disguised as tribesmen, which led to the division of the erstwhile princely state Kashmir.

"It is completely wrong that they helped Kashmiris, that they helped Muslims. They have not done anything like that. Then, they were trying to serve their own interests to get Srinagar then, and even now they are doing the same," said Shahid.

"They attacked Kashmir despite Pakistan having signed an agreement with King of Kashmir, in which Maharaja Hari Singh had accepted Pakistan's sovereignty and supremacy, and Pakistan had accepted autonomy of Maharaja Hari Singh. This was an agreement between two governments. Despite this, on October 22, 1947, under the guidance of the Government of Pakistan, and under the command of Pakistani army 10,000 tribesmen through Mansera attacked Muzaffarabad so that they could capture Srinagar," said Khaliq.

In October 1947, nearly 10,000 tribesmen of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province invaded Kashmir to occupy it by force.

Indian troops were then airlifted into the Kashmir Valley on October 27, and they succeeded in blocking the tribal raiders' advance beyond Baramulla District on request of the then King Hari Singh.

[Ergon]

10:21 PM on 11/04/2010

I agree with HP contributor Eric Margolis's views on Kashmir:
http://www.ericmargolis.com/political_commentaries/burning-kashmir.aspx
"Kashmir was an independent princely state ruled by a Hindu maharajah. Seventy-seven percent of Kashmiris were Muslim; 20% Hindu; and the rest Sikhs and Buddhists. The Hindu prince wanted to join India, but most of his people wanted union with neighboring Pakistan"
"Anti-Indian sentiment in Kashmir simmered until 1989 when full-scale rebellion or intifada by Kashmiri Muslims erupted. India battled for a decade to crush the uprising, often using tactics that Indian human rights groups and foreign rights groups condemned as brutal and violations of human rights. Massacres, torture, collective reprisals and gang rape became common. So did massacres of Hindus and Sikhs by Muslim insurgents"
"In 1948, the UN Security Council ordered a plebiscite to determine if Kashmiris wanted to remain in India, or join Pakistan. India has adamantly rejected the UN resolution and insists Kashmir is a purely internal matter.
The uprising, asserts Delhi, is all due to “cross-border terrorism” from Pakistan. So the conflict has festered for 62 years – even longer than the dispute over Palestine"

I believe it's time to resolve the dispute, in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

[OShea]

10:29 PM on 11/04/2010

King Hari Singh signed an instrument of accession joining all of his princely state with India on October 26/27 of 1947. It is Pakistan and China that are illegally occupying parts of the princely state, which they should return back to the secular democratic state of India.

More information and documents at: http://kashmir101.blogspot.com/

[Ergon]

10:33 PM on 11/04/2010

You can't say a Hindu ruler has the right to sign over his state against the wishes of his subjects, ie: Kashmiris, but a Muslim ruler has no such right, as in Hyderabad and Junagadh., all three states you invaded.
So please, do be consistent, but if not, that's not my problem.
Good night.

[OShea]

11:07 PM on 11/04/2010

@Ergon: stop thinking in Hindu vs Muslim terms, think in human terms instead, such as progress, development, democracy, secular values etc.

Pakistan is a failed Islamic state and a state sponsor of terror in which most non-Muslims as well as Muslim sects (Shias, Ahmadiyyas, Sufis etc) are routinely persecuted. Wasn't Pak destroying Afghanistan using the Taliban bad enough? Wasn't Pakistan massacring 3 million Bengalis in East Bengal in 1971 bad enough?

Less than 2% of the Indian citizens of Kashmir want to become part of the failed state of Pakistan.

Many in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are also wisening up to the fact that Pakistan created the whole mess and continues to screw itself, India and Kashmiris in both J&K and PoK with its obsession:

Huge anti-Pak protests in PoK, violence erupts
24th Oct 2009
Islamabad, Oct 24: Kashmiris from all walks of life observed a “Black Day” in Pakistan Kashmir, including capital Muzaffarabad, on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the invasion of the area by Pakistani army men disguised as tribesmen from the North West Frontier of Province (NWFP), known as the Lashkars.
--

As mentioned below, the difference between India and Pakistan:

Srinagar doctor tops Civil Service exam

Faisal Shahzad (Pakistan) was seen buying fireworks at Pennsylvania but celebrations are actually taking place at the home of a different Faisal. Dr Shah Faisal(India), a Kashmiri doctor, made his family proud by topping the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination this year.

[OShea]

10:36 PM on 11/04/2010

42 terror camps active in PoK, new ones added: Army Chief, Oct 21, 2010
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/42-terror-camps-active-in-PoK-new-ones-added-Army-Chief/articleshow/6787911.cms

NEW DELHI: Anti-India terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan is intact and currently 42 terror camps, including new ones in Pak-occupied Kashmir, are being run, Army Chief Gen V K Singh disclosed on Thursday.

Now even women are being trained to wage Pakistan's proxy war against India, he said in an interview.

[OShea]

09:19 PM on 11/04/2010

Arundhati is an attention-monger.

[Ergon]

09:32 PM on 11/04/2010

Yeah, she brings her country's suppression of the civil rights of the poor to OUR attention :)

[OShea]

09:42 PM on 11/04/2010

The militancy, fueled and funded by Pakistan (a state sponsor of terror) took normalcy away from the Kashmiri people of all religions.

Do you want to know whose civil rights and a chance to live decent lives were taken away? Kashmiri Pundits':

Islamic Terrorism and Genocide of Kashmiri Pandits
http://www.kashmiri-pandit.org/sundry/genocide.html
Genocide in Kashmir
-- 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits, constituting 99% of the total population of Hindus living in Muslim majority area of the Kashmir Valley, were forcibly pushed out of the Valley by Muslim terrorists, trained in Pakistan, since the end of 1989. They have been forced to live the life of exiles in their own country, outside their homeland, by unleashing a systematic campaign of terror, murder, loot and arson.
-- Genocide of Kashmiri Pandits has reached its climax with Muslim terrorism succeeding in 'CLEANSING' the valley of this ancient ethno-religious community.
-- With the completion of 11th year of their forced exile, this peace loving, culturally rich community with a history of more than 5000 years, is fighting a grim battle to save itself from becoming extinct as a distinct race and culture.

[Ergon]

08:16 PM on 11/01/2010

After months of agitating; "Right-Wing Indian Protesters Storm Home of Arundhati Roy
In India, as many 100 right-wing protesters from the BJP party stormed the home of the writer Arundhati Roy on Sunday to condemn her calls for Kashmir independence. The protesters broke onto the grounds of her home and vandalized property. Roy, who was not home at the time, condemned the protesters as well as the local media, which filmed the attack on her home. She accused some Indian TV channels and newspapers of inciting mob anger against her because of her stance on Kashmir. Indian politicians from the BJP party have been calling on authorities to arrest Arundhati Roy on sedition charges for stating that Kashmir is not an integral part of India".
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/1/headlines#3

[OShea]

07:26 PM on 11/04/2010

The people that protested at her house were 100-150 women activists. The picture evidence only shows one or two flower pots outside her home broken (looks like the protesters, or maybe, who knows, someone from inside the house tripped on them and broke them), and the house looks to be in an untouched and perfect condition, which is hardly "storming"/"vandalizing property" as the sensational phrasing of your clip claims, and the usually anti-Hindu leaning Home Minister of India (Chidambaram, an atheist) said “I don’t think there was any attack on her residence.” So, the protest was apparently peaceful.

Democracy Now should be more responsible than to run with anything anyone sends them, and unwittingly become an ally to specious anti-India propaganda.

[Ergon]

08:35 PM on 11/04/2010

Also reported in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/31/arundhati-roy-home-besieged-protesters
So 150 'women activists' can break into someone's home in India and the police do nothing? Cool.

[OShea]

09:12 PM on 11/04/2010

Arundhati speech: No action on writer in accordance with law, says Chidambaram

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/arundhati-speech-no-action-on-writer-in-accordance-with-law-says-chidambaram/705576/

"To a question about a demonstration outside the writer's residence by BJP women cell activists, the minister said, "I don't think there was any attack on her residence. If there are specific requests, we will provide her security."

[OShea]

07:38 PM on 11/04/2010

Kashmir has been an integral part of India for 5000 years. Islam got there only 800 years or so ago, when some of the Hindus and Buddhists there were converted to Islam. Therefore, Kashmiris' history contains 4200 years of non-Islamic existence.

Kashmir is part of the democratic republic of India, and the Kashmiri citizens of India have rights exceeding those of non-Kashmiri Indian citizens. They should take advantage of India's secular Democratic framework and study hard, work hard, and advance their lives and communities instead of throwing their own lives away by engaging in violent separatism.

Here is an example of a Muslim Kashimi Indian who set his priorities rights and is the pride of all Indian people, Hindus, Muslims and others:
------
Shah Faisal: UPSC Civil Services Exam 2010 Topper
http://www.iupsc.com/shah-faesal-upsc-civil-services-exam-2009-topper/

Shah Faisal (26), a doctor from Srinagar and son of a school teacher killed by militants, became the first Kashmiri to top the civil services exam. The results were announced on Thursday.

“I have no words to describe my happiness,” Faisal, a 2008 batch graduate of the Jhelum Valley Medical College, said in Delhi on Thursday.
------

Simple message to the Muslim youth of Kashmir (as well as Pakistani youth): choose the path of Dr. Shah Faisal, and not that taken by the Pakistani terrorist with a similar name, Faisal Shahzad, who, unfortunately, chose to put his family and his native country to shame.

[Ergon]

09:23 PM on 11/04/2010

Funny sort of a democracy India has, that when half a million Kashmiri protesters demonstrate against the removal of their civil rights, they are met with bullets?
Or the policy of the occupying army to use rape as a weapon against political dissent?
http://motherjones.com/politics/2005/02/rape-weapon
Or where political leaders lead rampaging mobs to massacre Sikhs in Delhi and Muslims in Mumbai?
A funny democracy where a dissident writer is seen as a threat and attacked for speaking her mind.

[OShea]

09:50 PM on 11/04/2010

@Ergon:

More lies. No, rape was not a weapon used as policy ever .

Pakistan created a war zone in Kashmir by infiltrating 20,000 terrorists since 1988, and some untoward crime takes place in war-zone conditions. Individual troops committing crimes should be investigated and punished to the full extent of the law.

But the responsibility for so much strife and waste of human energy and lives rests with the obsessive regime of Pakistan, a state sponsor of terror.

And you know what? Less then 2% of the people in the Indian state of J&K want to become part of the failed state of Pakistan. That's gotta hurt Islamists' and Jihadists' feelings!

[American Air]

09:45 PM on 10/29/2010

Arundhanthi Roy has ties to L eT and O sama. I would think, they are kept in coatact via her Maoist g ang via the Pakistani ISl.
.

[anandblr]

03:59 PM on 11/12/2010

that's koo-koo, dude.

[rambooncemore]

11:49 AM on 10/29/2010

Anyway, people can breathe easy now. Roy will not be charged with sedition, per the latest reports. Reason prevailed and and one poster said it is indeed good old fashioned Indian political theater. Regardless of what we think of Roy or her opinions, it will be a dark day for my country if we start silencing dissenters.

[American Air]

09:46 PM on 10/29/2010

She is not a dissenter..she is an ancarchist who colludes with Muder!ng Maoists! .

[Ergon]

08:18 PM on 11/01/2010

How many 'dark days for your country' do you need? Per Democracy Now!, a mob just attacked and vandalized her home.
Reminds me of the Republicans here in the gool ol' USA!

[OShea]

07:32 PM on 11/04/2010

That's specious propaganda. The protests were peaceful.

[Cent0grassi]

04:07 PM on 10/28/2010

I think people need to calm down.
Nobody is going to arrest Ms.Roy. Because that is what she wants. The Govt is not foolish enough to hand it to her on a platter. The center right opposition party tried classic political baiting with manufactured anger over her "sedition" remarks. It is just good Indian political theater. Sit back and enjoy. Meanwhile, people with calm heads on wise shoulders are trying to calm things down in a peaceful manner in the valley. Indian democracy is very underrated. It is far more resilient than what people give it credit for

[American Air]

03:54 PM on 10/28/2010

Afirmative!

[drjasonmd]

09:01 PM on 10/28/2010

Welcome to HP. Please feel welcome to provide a link to that article since you claim to have read it.

[drjasonmd]

09:00 PM on 10/28/2010

Another Johnny-Come-Lately making claims to words they've never read and probably couldn't understand if they ever took the time to read anything that wasn't spoonfed to them by Fox News.

[drjasonmd]

03:47 PM on 10/28/2010

"Similarly, in India, not hundreds, but millions of us would be ashamed and offended if we were in any way implicated with the present Indian government's fascist policies which, apart from the perpetration of State terrorism in the valley of Kashmir (in the name of fighting terrorism), have also turned a blind eye to the recent state-supervised program against Muslims in Gujarat. It would be absurd to think that those who criticize the Indian government are anti-Indian”—a --- though the government itself never hesitates to take that line. It is dangerous to cede to the Indian government or the American government or anyone for that matter, the right to define what “India” or “America” are or ought to be." --Arundhati Roy, Come September

[Ergon]

08:01 PM on 10/28/2010

And THIS is what gets flagged?
What I won't do any more is engage with contortionists who say that support for freedom struggle is akin to supporting 'terrorists'.
As if whatever the state does is legitimate because it claims to have the support of its people, but when it does NOT have support, and by its actions, forces people to take up arms to defend themselves, those people should be condemned?
Thankfully, we still have the example of the American Revolution to guide us.

[drjasonmd]

08:58 PM on 10/28/2010

There are a couple posters here who think flagging every post they disagree with will somehow support their position. What they don't realize is that excessive flagging only gets one's flags ignored, nothing else. I look forward to the day that HP bans such posters for wasting the moderators' time.

Don't expect reason and logic to have any effect on these people. They are firm believers in the meme that any support for majority of people in Kashmir is equal to supporting terrorism, unless of course you have a flag and an army, in which case you are merely fighting terrorism. They don't consider the terrorist acts perpetrated by their country to be terrorism at all. Only the necessary means to an end. Nationalists are the same everywhere.

India has learned well from her former British masters. Plant a flag, ignore the will of the populace, wrap it all up with revisionist history and dubious claims to legality (always justified by the signature of a monarch nobody voted for).

[rambooncemore]

12:44 PM on 10/29/2010

You would be more credible if you could nuance your opinions a bit. Saying Kashmiri terrorism is a freedom struggle colors it. There are separatists in Kashmir who have chosen to dialog with the government. The government considers them the legitimate representatives of the separatists. There are others who are the most visible and deadly face of the separatist movement. They are clearly terrorists. Take the most stringent definition of the word- Do a simple search for news from legitimate sources on Google. You will find that these terrorists meet every stringent criterion to deserve that term.

Going by what you said, it just looks like you can't call anyone at all a terrorist. After all every terrorist has some nebulous idea of what freedom means. For some it may be just freedom for a particular ethnicity or followers of a creed. For others it may be throwing off a government they don't want. When they have wreaked havoc in a peaceful country that has been willing to talk to them- if (a very big IF) the conditions for talks are met- then they must be called terrorists without any preconditions. I'm sorry you don't see it that way,

[rambooncemore]

01:19 PM on 10/28/2010

Incredible how people go on about what is right in their (always humble) opinion. How India, China and Pakistan should stay away and let Kashmir remain independent (I'm sure they mean the Indian side of Kashmir alone), India should get out and leave the poor Kashmiris alone, India should recognize that Goa, Hyderabad and a hundred other regions should all be independent splinters. One goes on to question what India is at all. I suppose this follows the old theory that because in ancient India kingdoms were forming and fighting each other or because there are a thousand languages, India should be just hundreds of fragments all minding their own business. Arundhati Roy herself once said she considered herself a one-person country (my paraphrase). I wonder, can anyone suggest solutions that will actually work? Do all these people actually care about Indians? We can wax eloquent about what is right- and of course that could be applied to every single country, if we are brutally honest. Please ask questions- what would happen if Kashmir (Indian) were let go, what would happen if Maoists were let go to form a country, will peace reign between India and Pakistan if only Kashmir were solved, are all Kashmiris fairly represented by separatists, are third parties involved in plotting against India in the Maoist and Kashmiri terror programs? If you- like Roy- have no real suggestions, you may be at best a voice of conscience among many, but mostly a nuisance.

[talkingheads]

01:56 PM on 10/28/2010

//Please ask questions- what would happen if Kashmir (Indian) were let go, what would happen if Maoists were let go to form a country, will peace reign between India and Pakistan if only Kashmir were solved, are all Kashmiris fairly represented by separatists, are third parties involved in plotting against India in the Maoist and Kashmiri terror programs?// +Infinity!

[rambooncemore]

03:26 PM on 10/28/2010

And I'm flagged for this comment? Interesting.

[drjasonmd]

11:59 AM on 10/28/2010

Lot of bot newcomers here trying to flood the forum.

[Deparis]

02:30 PM on 10/28/2010

You've got that right!

[Ramesh Krishnan]

11:36 AM on 10/28/2010

She was a cute erudite female with a nasty idea. She is not much relevant. Does not matter what she says.. another Freida Pinto types.. importance in foreign press ignored in India

[Ergon]

02:32 PM on 10/28/2010

By "Freida Pinto types" you mean Christian? It's so apparent when the religious nationalists come on board.

[rambooncemore]

02:42 PM on 10/28/2010

Come on, he said nothing about Christians, rather "importance in foreign press ignored in India". I'm a Christian and I can agree with some issues Roy brings up , but overall I see very selective compassion in her writings, there lies my gripe with her.

[synergie]

04:15 PM on 10/28/2010

Oh, so that's where you go it from! No dear, criticizing the west's fascination with a moderately attractive model who can't act at all is not about religion. Stop projecting.

Frieda Pinto was a failed actress and a small time model who appealed to western casting agents. In India, she's not highly thought of for either her acting, or her looks. She's pretty and all, but she doesn't hold a candle to the various actresses and models that the Indian populace considers to be beautiful. Indians tend to wonder where all the rapture that she generates in the west comes from. And not once does her religion come into it, at least not for Indians. Interesting that that's where you go.

[talkingheads]

11:02 AM on 10/28/2010

What is even more worst is these people refused to give land for a temporary camps for the Hindu piligims, However, in India a considerable amount of Tax Payers Money is spent on for Haj, so that Muslims brothers and sisters can visit Mecca! The are not even close to innocent.