CPI-M accuses Centre of 'suppressing' Kashmiris and using excessive force

The editorial also said the low turn out of voters in recent by polls in J&K was becasue people refused to participate in the election.

New Delhi, April 20: The lack of a political response and reliance on repression has 'virtually sundered any relationship between the people of Kashmir and the Indian State', the CPI-M has said.

"The brutal repression unleashed in the Valley must be condemned unreservedly," said an editorial in the Communist Party of India-Marxist journal "People's Democracy".

"The Modi government cannot be allowed to destroy Kashmir for achieving its sectarian and hyper-nationalist agenda," it said.

"All the secular and democratic forces in India should demand an end to the policy of leonine repression and the immediate initiation of dialogue with all sections of political opinion in Jammu and Kashmir," it added.

The editorial said, "The suppression of the Kashmiri people and the brutal violation of their fundamental rights is portrayed as the firm hand of the Modi government in suppressing terrorism and Pakistani designs. The people of Kashmir can see the true nature of the Modi regime and what it stands for... The people of Kashmir have decided not to be cowed down by the coercive apparatus of the State."

The CPI-M also said: "The lack of a political response and reliance on force and repression have virtually sundered any relationship between the people of Kashmir and the Indian State."

Saying "the entire people of Kashmir Valley are up in revolt against the Indian State", it pointed out how only 7.12 per cent of the electorate voted in Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election.

"This record low polling was not because of coercion and intimidation, but mainly by the people refusing to participate in the election," it added.

The CPI-M accused the Modi government of using "maximum force" against street protests.

"Every death is leading to further protests and the army and CRPF personnel are being put in the invidious position of having to resort to brutal force against teenagers armed with nothing more lethal than stones," the editorial said.

IANS