Kashmir

Indian Prime Minister, Modi has stated that his reason for revoking the semi-autonomy of the Indian-administered region of Kashmir is to bring its economy up to the level of the rest of India.  Considering how uneven are standards of living among the other states of India, that is a hypocritical and meaningless statement.

His record of support for Muslims is not good.  He is a bigoted Hindu nationalist.  At one time he was not allowed into the USA because of his involvement in murderous mass attacks on Muslims, crimes against humanity.

He will have the backing of rich Indians who have a relish for gobbling up property and natural  resources in Kashmir.  Investors will see rich potential for growing crops to supplement food supplies for the rest of India and crops for the export markets to China and  Europe. Modi is another Netanyahu, intent on copying Israel’s demonic policy of moving settlers into what is effectively occupied territory.

He  will say it’s a matter of quid pro quo, claiming  credit for enabling Kashmiris to buy property in Delhi, for example.  Few Kashmiris would be able to afford to do this and few would want to be a tiny Muslim minority in an overwhelmingly Hindu city.

Britain is quiet on the matter, although responsible for the crazy partition of the sub-continent, because they want to keep Modi sweet in order to get trade deals post-Brexit.

Trump keeps quiet because he wants to keep in favour with India, as a bulwark against China.

The self-interest of the great powers will block a long-term solution to the Kashmir problem, which has resulted in the deaths of many thousands since 1947, when the Raj withdrew.

Kashmir should be offered a plebiscite, administered by the UN