Jammu and Kashmir (white area on map)
August 5 – Kashmir is a strategic region divided between India and Pakistan. It is one of the most lethally militarized areas in the world. In the part occupied by India, there is one soldier for every 20 civilians. Over 600,000 heavily armed troops are permanently stationed there.
A few days ago, the Indian government under fascist Modi started deploying many more thousands. It is claiming that Indian-occupied Kashmir is under imminent threat from Pakistan.
The Indian government has cut off all electronic communication in the area. For the rest of the country, severe censorship has been imposed.
All this is happening in the midst of massive layoffs in the auto industry, railways, construction and mining. Even the prestigious state-owned defense research companies are unable to pay workers’ salaries for months.
The high cost of short-term credit is causing thousands of capitalists to bite the dust. The owner of a major Indian coffee chain (the Indian Starbucks) committed suicide.
What makes the Kashmir crisis especially significant is the nearby multibillion and extremely strategic China Pakistan Economic Corridor just a few miles from the Indian-occupied zone.
The US has now been defeated in Afghanistan. Last week, in a joint press conference with the Pakistani Prime Minister, Trump offered to mediate between India and Pakistan. This drove the Indian fascists into a frenzy. That’s when the military deployment and cross-border military confrontation started.
A major war could break out at any time between two armies that both have nuclear weapons. Inter-imperialist rivalry produces out comes that are unpredictable, but not absolutely.
This crisis gives us more vigor to fight for communism. At this time, we are not able to reach our comrades in India. However, we are sure that they are thinking about nothing but communist revolution.
Masses on both sides of the border are aspiring for nothing less than the end of wage slavery, the system that is causing so many horrors. We expect a fuller report for the next issue of Red Flag.