Analysis, Side Feature, South Asia

Views on the News – 21 Sept 2016

Headlines:

  • Kashmir Re-Erupts
  • Sudan’s Civil War
  • Guilty Until Proven Innocent


Kashmir Re-Erupts

On Sunday 18th September, gunmen stormed into the Uri army base in Indian administered Kashmir and killed 17 soldiers. This has led to a re-eruption in the crackdown of Kashmir who continue to call for their disassociation from Indian governance. In response Modi said, “I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished”, where he is said to be referring to Pakistan and ethnic separatist Kashmiris. However, the Indian position is to once again deflect the issue from its poor governance of the region which has been defined by its oppression and refusal to grant Muslim Kashmiris their rights. It also takes attention away from the international community who continue to destabilise the region by maintain nationalistic sentiments using Kashmir, at the expense of the people.

 

Sudan’s Civil War

South Sudan refugees reached the one million mark this week, in an ongoing civil war that has rendered approximately 20% of the country’s total population homeless since December 2013. Furthermore, the United Nations recently reported that more than 185,000 people have fled South Sudan since July. The origins of such chaos stem from a great fall-out between President Salva Kiir and the former Vice President Machar. However, a recent report funded by the actor George Clooney, analysed the violence and accused both Mr Kiir and Mr Machar of personally profiting from the civil war. It is well understood that the separators of Sudan, the Unites States, are directly involved in this civil war, and ardently wish to contain it due to its threatening nature. Further still, they wish to protect and promote their agent Salva Kiir (as opposed to the European/British backed Machar), whom they have strong relations with, so as to secure their interests within the country.

 

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested in New Jersey on Monday hours after he was publicly identified as the suspect in connection with explosives planted in New York City and New Jersey State. “We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the arrest. However the Mayor’s words do not reflect well in light of the officials. They said that they had no indication there were more bombs or suspects to find, though they cautioned that they were continuing to work to understand Rahami’s connections. With the FBI stating in a news briefing “there is no indication that there’s a [terrorist] cell” in the area and the police stating the suspect’s motives remain unclear. Western media outlets have already labelled it a terrorist attack, even citing ISIS as behind it, well before they eventually claimed it as is their nature to claim all attacks whether or not they carried them out. The fact that the label of terrorism was attributed to this attack before all the facts were established proves that the term terrorism merely means Muslims orchestrated the attacks and acts of violence and will be labelled terrorism even if the motive remains non-political. The war on Islam continues.