India As a Fascist State (by Mehr-un-Nisa)
India As a Fascist State (by Mehr-un-Nisa)
Written By Mehr un NisaAbstract
Modern Hybrid Warfare has already begun between India and Pakistan. The frenzied disinformation campaign demonstrates India’s aggressive intentions to drag the entire region into a full-scale conflict in order to maintain its illegal occupation in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, to rapine and plunder its wealth and to prevent people of IOK from exercising their absolute right to self-determination. As the Devil is in the details, the Führer Modi and his government tried to divert international attention from the reality of India’s internal political, social and economic problems by the weaponization of the information. India is the most odious example of how neo-Nazi and neo-fascist sentiments have become popular not only in its society but also among its prominent political figures. Abrogation of Article 370 & 35A, influx of non-Kashmiris, new legislations, military oppression, foreign investments, land confiscation and violation of human rights have been systematically turning Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir into a colony of India. A modern Fascism has emerged in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir after the revocation of IOK’s autonomy on Aug 5, 2019. It seems that Modi’s fascist regime has the only consistent policy with regards to Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, all of his policies are aimed at creating troubles for Pakistan.
Introduction
Napoleon Bonaparte once said that War is ninety percent information, cyber warfare in its purest sense is a war of information. Nepolean’s saying is worthy of all acceptance in the context of the Indian disinformation campaign against Pakistan. The Indian propaganda is not an invention of the recent past. It has deep roots which can be traced back to the last two decades. Delhi’s offensive-defense strategy of Dovalism aims to secretly exploit Pakistan's domestic economic, political and security loopholes. India has already dealt a blow by imposing a 200% customs duty on all goods imported from Pakistan to India. It is quite evident that India takes all necessary steps to ensure the complete isolation of Pakistan.
The hate propaganda not only against Muslims, but also against Christians, Dalits and other minorities, has literally allowed Hindu nationalism to flourish. This hatred was spread by the statecontrolled media with the aim of demonizing the minorities. Even well-educated people of these communities have found it very difficult to find work even in the private sector these days. It is almost impossible for Muslim politicians to win an election. Their number is steadily decreasing in the state assemblies and in parliament. Muslim leaders have always been repeatedly accused of being against the Hindus, and this also puts pressure on the community.
Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir is living in a surreal state of non-existence after its autonomy was abolished, communications and internet were disrupted and curfews were imposed on people of IOK. India has been tightening its grip on IOK in order to shape its vision of making a homogeneous Indian nation under the Sangh Parivar policy of Hindutva ideology. Political extremism rejects the possibility of negotiations and compromises. Followers of nationalism and political extremism are characterized by extreme intolerance towards anyone who does not share their political views, including fellow believers. For them, there are no rules in the game of politics. The method Hindutva nationalism has chosen to stigmatize Muslims is through communal unrest. There are not riots as propagated by the state-controlled media, but targeted pogroms. Ironically, the state police and government institutions supported the rioters inspired by the Hindutva ideology.
India’s Disinformation Campaign & Modern Hybrid Warfare Against Pakistan
As there is an adage Truth is the first casualty of war by Aeschylus, same happened with Pakistan when India lodged Modern Hybrid Warfare (MHW) also known as fifth-generation war (5GW) and adopted a mixed approach of kinetic and non-kinetic warfare tactics against Pakistan. The hybrid threat is a term that intends to destabilize & demoralize the target state by exploitation of their economic, political, technological and diplomatic vulnerabilities.1 These actions can be carried out by both state actors and non-state actors however the modern HW is not confined to state & non-state actors anymore. The most prominent feature of hybrid warfare is the blending of conventional and non-conventional methods with advanced technologies. Propaganda, cyberattacks, disinformation campaign, espionage and manipulation of means of communications are modern and new tools of Modern Hybrid warfare or 5GW.
For the last 15 years, Indian agents have flooded the Internet with fake stories in different languages across hundred plus social media platforms as part of a disinformation campaign, while remaining largely unnoticed. This systematic disinformation campaign is long-term work, launched back in 2005. Recently in December 2020, the Indian news agency Asian News International (ANI) and Srivastava Group led by Ankit Srivastava, a business conglomerate, were exposed by the EU Disinfo Lab, an NGO based in Brussels, Belgium.2 The report titled Indian Chronicles by EU Disinfo Lab revealed that India’s largest disinformation networks consisting more than 750 fake media outlets in 116 countries, 550 fake websites and more than 10 NGOs have been involved in disseminating pro-Indian and anti-Pakistan contents to external audiences.
This disinformation network used a double-strategy of spreading fake news. In Geneva, think tanks and NGOs were responsible for organizing Members of European Parliaments (MEPs) visits to IOK, lobbying, protesting and speaking at the sidelines of United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions on behalf of accredited organizations. Two articles were written by French MEP Thierry Mariani for the EU Chronicle and was also part of a scandalous visit to Indian-ruled Kashmir last year which was arranged by this network.3 India’s disinformation campaign already incited hostility and hatred not only between the two nuclear states but among the whole region and poses threat to territorial integrity and economic interests of the whole region.
- Weaponization of Information
The weaponization of information has caused considerable damage to Pakistan, created misunderstanding over Pakistan relations with other countries specifically bilateral relations with China and Saudi Arabia and also undermined the soft power image of Pakistan at the international level. In this regard, the main goal of the entire disinformation campaign carried out by the Indian government was to mislead the international audience particularly the big powers and create conditions for a surprise move of the revocation of the special status of illegal Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. Under the guise of these disinformation measures, Indian representatives continued to encourage positive trends in Indian relations with the United States, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and European Union.
Internet is one of the modern tools which is used for inciting ethnic hatred and committing crimes by the fanatics. In an extreme environment, the use of videos and social networks is becoming more and more popular. Criminals often post videos of attacks on people of other nationalities on the Internet. There is a lot of false information on social media in form of fabricated photos and videos of Muslims uploaded by the Hindu nationalists. In this way, extremist organizations seek to destabilize the situation of the targeted community or country. Such activities incite interethnic and interreligious hatred and must be suppressed by all methods and means. The rhetoric of hate in India has been repeatedly shown on the Internet with a series of fake videos and messages that Muslims are spreading Coronavirus and violating COVID_19 SOPs.4 Muslims have been attacked, assaulted, boycotted amid the spread of rumors against Muslims in India.
The absence of real news during the communication blackout in IOK created a vacuum, filled with misinformation related to the Kashmir situation. In August 2019, following India's repeal of Article 370 of Jammu and Kashmir State, disinformation followed regarding public health, safety & welfare. The official Twitter accounts of the CRPF and the local police contain a bulk of fabricated posts portraying normalcy in IOK. Contrary to the official’s claim of normalcy, IOK witnessed killings of civilians (including women & children), destruction of public property, fake encounters, fake search operations, arbitrary detention of civilians & prominent political figures and other human rights violations by Indian forces.
The Rise of Fascist-Dictatorship in India
The rule of dictatorship is the expansion of powers and denial of the democratic form of government. In the contemporary world, authoritarian demagogue dictators use legislation as a tool of violence to maintain their occupation over occupied territories. The only real goal of a dictatorship is to prolong its dictatorial survival, which implies expansion both inside its own state and beyond its external borders. The essence of fascism is dictatorial power and violence, the new wave of fascism is intensifying not only in but outside of India as well. Authoritarian regimes need ideology to legitimize them5 , in this sense, the Modi government spread the dogma of fascis tHindutva and this is the raison d'etre of Hinduism. The main features of Indian Fascist-colonialism are xenophobia, Muslimophobia, militarism, Extremism, narcissism, ethical relativism, Hinducentrism, intolerance of dissent, refusal of human rights, denial of identity, seizing land etc.
- Xenophobia & Muslimophobia
Xenophobia is a negative, hostile, inherently irrational attitude of the extremists to certain human communities and their individual representatives. Xenophobic behavior is the manifestation of intolerance in relation to different community groups that are perceived by the mass consciousness as outsiders. A particular case of xenophobia is Muslimophobia and the radical behavior of Hindu fanatics towards Muslims living in India. For Hindu fanatics, killing Muslims on a religious basis is not a political act but rather a sacred act. They aim to create a society in accordance with the Hindutva code of belief.
Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Guatemalan Indigenous Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate once said that Racism has been a banner to justify the enterprises of expansion, conquest, colonization and domination and has walked hand in hand with intolerance, injustice and violence.6 In the last few decades, the concept of religious extremism has been extensively used and it refers to inhuman activities emanating from a religion that promotes violence. However, this term is conceptually contradictory: religion is a socio-cultural phenomenon and its essence does not allow aggression and if it does, then it is no longer a religion but some kind of extremist movement. This type of extremism actively exploits certain doctrinal provisions of religion.
In 2014, the Indian Interior Minister Rajnath Singh visited one of the border outposts in Gaza before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said he was impressed by its technology for border protection and electronic barrier that was used to block two million Palestinians in Gaza. A similar fence is already deployed along the line of control between India and Pakistan. India is the world's largest importer of Israeli weapons. The Tavor rifles widely use in the IOK and the drones that India is deploying to control the region are Israeli-made.
2. The Logic of Hindu Nationalism
Ultra-nationalism in its most general form is characterized as adherence to extreme views and actions that radically deny the norms and rules existing in society. According to the logic of Hindu fanatics, if the people of Britain are called British, the people of Germany are called Germans and the people of America are called Americans, then all the people of Hindustan should be called Hindus. Women in India are instilled in hatred of Muslims, Christians and other minorities. The training camps of radical Hindu women are run by the women's wing of the extremist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the city of Aurangabad, Maharashtra state, India. The Hindu girls between the ages of 13 and 25 in saffron tunics march and chant the slogan like “We will die for our beliefs! We will kill anyone who gets in our way".
Nationalism and xenophobia are somehow interlinked, but there is a significant difference between these concepts: although nationalist is a negative term adherent of nationalist views do not necessarily have negative feelings towards other nations, ethnic groups, or religions. On the other hand, xenophobic people may call their views nationalism in order to justify their radical behavior. What Muslims in India are suffering is not different from what happened against the Jews in 1938, the German government incited its supporters to kill Jews, burn their religious places, and destroy Jewish houses & shops. At least 91 Jews were killed in the holocaust known as the Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass.
Modi government followed the same pattern of the holocaust in Feb 2020 against the Muslims. The Hindu extremists roamed the streets, killed or burned Muslims alive, desecrated holy mosques, torched Muslim houses and looted their shops. It is worth mentioning here that Indian police facilitated Hindu nationalists in organizing bloody pogrom which killed 37 Muslims and injured thousands of Muslims who were beaten until they neared perdition. This was not the first pogrom organized by the BJP led government, after the formation of BJP in 1980, the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign to rebuild the temple in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh state) was also launched by the BJP in the 1990s.9 The campaign culminated in riots in December 1992, in which the Babri mosque was demolished and sparked clashes between the Muslim and Hindu communities that led to an unprecedented escalation of the conflict.
In early December 2019, the Hindu Nationalist Party, after securing a strong position and presence in the Indian Parliament, introduced political amendments to the constitution, the most important of which was the amendments to the 64 years old citizenship Law. The CAB act grants citizenship to only non-Muslim refugees and immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who legally came to India to obtain its citizenship, the legislation fueled protests and criticisms against it in the country. The international human rights bodies condemned the discriminatory law which clearly shows the BJP governments’ effort to marginalize the Muslim community of India.10 The Assamese population, in connection to CAB legislation, had to prove the presence of their parents in Assam before 1971 and it was declared that approximately two million people in Assam are foreigners. In the course of the protests against amendments to the citizenship law, at least 6 Muslims were killed by the Hindu nationalists. The suppression of minorities in India has made the country a dangerous place for the Muslim minority.
3. Ethnic Discrimination & Political Extremism
Hindus in India continue to practice the caste system, which is one of the most brutal hierarchical systems ever created and strictly followed by Hindus. Many Dalits, known as untouchables, converted to Sikhism, Christianity & even to Islam in hope of avoiding the scourge of caste discrimination. In 2014 more than 300 Muslims and 60 families were forcefully converted to Hinduism and in 2020, 12 Muslim families were forced to convert their religion in Haryana. In some of the incidents, Muslim children were stripped naked to make sure whether they are circumcised or not so that they can be identified if they are Muslim- circumcision is an Islamic custom and not a Hindu.
The historical example of colonial phase in Rwanda manipulated social categories and introduced an ethnic differentiation between Tutsi and Hutu. Germans and Belgians divided Rwandan society by nationality, ethnicity, race, religion. The conflict escalated and within 100 days, around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. The large-scale massacres of Tutsi by Hutus began on April 4, 1994, it was not the start of the genocide. It was the culmination of many years of preparation for the massacre which started in the 1930s.
Political extremism is one of the forms of terrorism. The fascist behavior & policies based on extreme nationalism of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP activists are similar to the extreme right regimes that ruled Germany and Italy in the 1930s and 1940s. The attempt to stigmatize, marginalize or expel two hundred thousand Indian Muslims from the country is the core agenda of the BJP and Führer Modi.
A society is destabilized by violence, by denial of human rights, by degradation of living conditions, by unjust land policies, by a whole story that is woven. Indian minorities, specifically Muslims, have not been exempt from this phenomenon.
Settler Colonialism in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir
Many scholars and researchers see the new policies of BJP led government in IIOJK as a part of the beginning of settler colonialism, which aims to bring about demographic change in the Muslim majority region. The constitutional changes introduced by the BJP government contradict the possibility of the state of Jammu and Kashmir making its own laws on property, employment, residence, etc. With this provision, the demographic nature of the region has been changed permanently, drawing inspiration from the Israeli model of changing demography via illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. Article 35A restricts residents of India from buying property in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the Indian government has allowed residents of the rest of India to buy property in IOK by unilaterally abolishing these Articles 370 & 35A from the Indian Constitution.
National Socialism was a racist ideology. Adolf Hitler used nationalism and the demonization of opponents as tools to come to power. The Nazis spread the idea that only the Aryan race is the highest and should rule over all others. The Nazis used every means to slander Jews and named as traitors to German interests. In 1935 the citizenship and basic rights of Jews were revoked by the Nuremberg Laws after Adolf Hitler had already declared a national boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933.
Following in the footsteps of Hitler, Modi did the same thing in IIOJK, in March 2020 the legal framework surrounding the right to the residence at J&K was redefined, obliging Kashmiris to obtain a certificate of domicile in order to be able to access employment, education and housing in their regional territory. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020, 129 pre-existing laws in the state have been partially amended and 29 laws have been completely repealed. According to the amended act, people living in Jammu and Kashmir for at least 15 years or more will be considered residents. Apart from this, students who have completed at least 7 years of education, including their 10th / 12th studies from the educational institutions of Jammu and Kashmir, will also be considered as residents. Within the time span of three months, the Modi government issued more than 3.2 million bogus domicile certificates to Indian citizens. Kashmiris have long-feared that this would happen. Fear of becoming Palestinians from the occupied territory by Israel and repopulated with settlers.
1. Land Confiscation & Alien Settlements in IIOJK
The number of amendments in land laws allow every Indian to buy land in IIOJK. On July 18 2020, Indian government led by BJP amended the Jammu & Kashmir Control of Building Operations Act (1988) and the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act (1970) in order to facilitate Indian Armed Forces by allowing them to declare any area of IIOJK as a strategic zone for their operational and training purposes. The master plan of turning IIOJK into a military establishment has been initiated and for this purpose large acres of land has already been transferring to the Indian armed Forces. The BJP government has also approved a new housing policy which aims to build 100,000 homes in the next five years in J&K.
More than 21,400 hectares (428000 kanals) of Jammu & Kashmir land is under the occupation of Indian Armed Forces in IIOJK.13 More than 243 hectares of forest land has given to Indian Army and over 727 hectares of designated forest land was diverted between September 18 and October 21 by the former forest advisory committee (FAC).
The Indian government intends to settle its Armed forces in IIOJK and has already been started working on Kashmir's first Sainik (sliders') colony to provide housing facilities not only to retired Indian army officers but to the families of the deceased Indian soldiers as well. It is worth mention here that there have been already three soldiers’ colonies built in IIOJK and now the Zila Sainik Welfare Office (ZSWO) in Srinagar have also forwarded the request for the transfer of the 25 acres land to the Home Department.
2. Future Investment Plans
Signaling their future intentions in IoK the big business houses of India like Medanta Group, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), CureFit, Trident Group, Policybazaar and people from other areas have shown interest in capital investment in 14 areas of Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. In 2020 more than 34 MoUs worth ₹ 4 billion were signed by the government and industrialists, some of these MOUs were already signed in 2018.15 Other companies named Shree Cement, Amul, Steelbird, Lemon Tree, Radisson, Lupin, Sun Pharamceuticals, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Coca Cola, Radisson, Dabur and Berger Paints have already invested there.
The global investors Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Saudi Aramco, I Squared Capital and GIC of Singapore are also ready to invest in Indian held Kashmir. Lemon Tree already operates five hotels in Srinaga, Katra, Gulmarg and Sonmarg areas. Furthermore, 6,000 acres of industrial land has already been identified for creating an industrial estate. Indian investors like India's richest industrialist, Mukesh Ambani, CEO of multinational conglomerate company Reliance Industries Limited assured that he will invest as well as create a special task force to investigate employees allegedly involved in ‘anti-national’ activity. Rajinder Gupta chairman Trident Group also showed his interest to invest ₹ 1 billion in IOK. Indian intentions behind this investment plan are to counter China’s multibillion economic project Belt & Road initiative in IOK.
Media Censorship
IIOJK witnessed 115 times internet shutdowns in 2020, the worst violations of Internet freedom continue by the Indian government. India is not only restricting social media access, monitoring press and electronic, banning journalists and spreading propaganda, but is also making efforts to impose its authoritarian regime in IIOJK. State-Internet-censorship is a serious form of organized and systematic violence against people that generates mistrust & xenophobia.
The Indian government took advantage of lockdowns to step up its control on print and electronic media. Freedom of media has been eroding in IOK as government has forced 10 newspapers and 20 plus publications to close media outlets. Same situation appeared in 1933 when the Nazis took direct control over 121 of a total of 4,700 newspapers and in 1934, 3,298 newspapers were completely wiped out, banned or prematurely self-censored within just one year of time span.
Indian government allows internet services in IOK only in ways that can be monitored continuously by the authorities, this decision may violate the right to privacy. Furthermore, it has a wide impact on freedom of speech as one cannot fully exercise the right to freedom of expression with the possibility of mass surveillance.
Cultural Colonialism in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir
Cultural Colonialism/Imperialism refers to establish language, religion, values, rituals and social customs of the society. The dominant culture usually achieves its dominance through the control of social institutions such as communications, educational institutions, artistic expression, law, political process, and business. The cultural invasion & influence of Hindus on Muslims leads to a threat to their ethnic identity, Social values, cultural norms, economic, financial and political exploitation.
The authoritarian regimes have always been an attempt to manipulate public opinion and to suppress public criticism by distorting language. The Nazi state brought all information media under its control - with the aim of total propaganda penetration of the population. In order to spread the Nazi vocabulary in the occupied territories, Hitler extended to the German language, both in the colloquial and the official & introduced dictionaries written by Nazi officials.
The Kashmiri people are facing the same issue of protecting their native language. According to Article 145 of the 1957 Constitution, “the official language of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is Urdu and English can also be used for official purposes.”18 However, in November 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370, the BJP announced that Urdu will eventually be replaced by Hindi in IOK. Among other local languages in IOK the two most spoken languages are Kashmiri (2.4 million speakers) and Dogri (1, 2 million). A possible promotion of the Kashmiri language as an official language would cause a language war that’s the reason Urdu is perceived as a lingua franca (mixture of languages) throughout the occupied Kashmir but, Hindu nationalists intends to replace the Urdu language with Hindi.
The cultural life has almost disappeared in IOK. Most of the public property has been converted into military posts and the only art gallery was closed in 2014 by authorities six months after it opened. The Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, which used to organize cultural programs in the IOK was also forced to close. The struggle for freedom and fighting against Indian oppression has usurped the interest of Kashmiri youth to participate in cultural and social life. The social suffering of Kashmiri youth (between the ages of 20 and 30) has incited them to join the freedom struggle rather than pursuing higher education, professional development, or taking part in any kind of social activity. Unfortunately, the youth of Indian occupied Kashmir found themselves under the brutal influence of antisocial phenomena. The reasons for this situation are depression, unemployment, economically precarious situations and the absence of normal life in IOK.
In Kashmir, the Cultural influence of India is widely perceived as a threat to its cultural identity. Pheran is a traditional dress of Kashmir, however, locals are forcibly asked not to wear and remove their pherans. The Indian Security personnel crackdowns on markets and public places to launch anti-pheran campaigns are terrorizing locals. Rakesh Bajrangi, a leader of the Bajrang Dal group has also confirmed that government plans to ban wearing pherans in public places and in functions.
Recently, Kashmiri women staged a protest against the Indian fashion show held in Srinagar. People of IOK are of the view that India is trying to sabotage the Islamic identity of Kashmir and promoting vulgarity among young girls through these activities. The policy of cultural imperialism in the neo-colonialist system is a serious obstacle to the cultural development of the developing countries, imposing dominant ideology and culture with sophisticated methods. The expansion of Indian culture in IOK is an effort of the Indian nationalist government to achieve its political goals by repelling the Muslim culture of Kashmir.
Conclusion
For Pakistan, the threat of modern Hybrid Warfare/ fifth Generation Warfare is real. The laws and legal restrictions against the weaponization of information are still being ignored at the national and international levels. Now it is high time to reach a national consensus to take measures against India’s anti-Pakistan non-strategic tools. It has become apparent that there is a dire need for designing a strategic framework to measure and counter the impact of such disinformation campaigns. The state-level legislation and regulatory mechanism to deal with this threat is the need of the hour in Pakistan. The Pakistani government must launch a mega diplomatic offensive against Indian disinformation campaigns at international forums.
State terrorism is the most dangerous phenomenon aimed at threatening people by destroying, inciting intolerance, ignoring public interests, expressing claims to power in society by illegal methods that contradict the norms of morality and social behavior. State-sponsored terrorism at the present stage is the most serious threat to the socio-political stability of IOK. On August 5, 2019, India revoked the autonomy of Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir aimed at placing the area predominantly populated by Muslims under the more direct control of New Delhi. Indian citizens can now buy land and settle in Kashmir without hindrance. The increasing Hindu fundamentalism, nationalism and extremism against Muslims have provided sufficient evidence to indicate the risk of possible genocide of Muslims. The current period is very similar to the first phase of the rise of National Socialism in Germany.
Abrogation of Article 370 & 35A, new legislations, military oppression, foreign investments, influx of non-Kashmiris, land seizing and violation of human rights have been systematically turning Indian occupied Kashmir into a colony of India. A fatal outbreak of severe COVID_19 has also been linked to the Muslims in India and they are treated as if they were pathogens in human form. These rudiments of xenophobia have the potential to escalate into more dangerous explicit forms of racism. This shows what is seething in the dark and how far India and its government are permeated by this ideology of Hindu rule.
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