The news that the Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy may be arrested for her remarks about Kashmir is not surprising. It is a sign of growing India’s intolerance towards the Kashmir issue. During the current phase of the Kashmiri resistance, the only response from India toward the demands of Kashmiris for justice and self-determination has been the use of military might. More than 112 civilians – mostly youth – have been killed and several thousand injured in action by police and paramilitary forces. On trial for sedition in 1922, Mahatma Gandhi told the court in Ahmadabad, Gujarat: "I have no desire whatsoever to conceal from this court that to preach disaffection towards the existing system of government has become almost a passion with me." “Sedition in law is a deliberate crime", he admitted, but it "appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen". History does not repeat itself, always. Still, the words of the father of modern India come to mind when considering the case of Arundhati Roy, who faces arrest under pretty much the same laws that earned Gandhi a six-year prison sentence. This is contrary to the Indian tradition of open debate and healthy dissent . The BJP may find Ms Roy's position shocking, but her comments are hardly new – she has been making similar public statements for years now. The writer is under sedition charge after claiming in Delhi that "Kashmir has never been an integral part of India.” It is a historical fact.
Mir Ahsan Aslam
Solina Srinagar
ahsan_13@yahoo.com

Lastupdate on : Fri, 3 Dec 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 3 Dec 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 4 Dec 2010 00:00:00 IST