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Thursday, October 3, 2024

Indian Army Wages Wars against its own People: Arundhati Roy

News Desk |

Arundhati Roy, renowned Indian novelist and human rights activist, has accused the Indian state of deploying the Indian Army to wage wars against minorities across India. She stated that the Indian state has repetitively used the “army against its own people.”

A video featuring Arundhati Roy levelling accusations against the Indian Army of waging a war against its own people has gone viral on Twitter and other social media sites, with Indians coming forward to accuse Roy of being unpatriotic.

Roy stated that since its independence from British rule, the Indian army is being used to wage war against the Muslims of Hyderabad and Kashmir, Sikhs in Punjab, and Christians in Goa.

Indian Army Deployed against Indians

Arundhati said, “The Indian State, from the moment it became a sovereign nation, from the moment it shook off the shackles of colonialism, it became a colonial state. It has waged war since 1947 in Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Telengana, Punjab, Goa and Hyderabad.”

The Commission gave a newspaper advertisement offering 1,000 Taka to anyone who comes forward with figures of the dead. Only 38,000 came forward. The Commission then conjured up a figure of 56,743 deaths.

Roy added that the Indian state has been perpetually at war, “deploying the army against its own people”. Running a comparison between the states of India and Pakistan, she said, “The state of Pakistan has not deployed its army against its own people in the way the democratic Indian state has.”

She continued, “If you look at who are these people that the Indian state choose to fight, in all the north-eastern states they were tribal people, in Kashmir it was the Muslims, in Telengana it was the tribal people, in Hyderabad it was the Muslims, in Goa the Christians, and in Punjab the Sikhs. So, you see this upper-caste Hindu state that is perpetually at war.”

Arundhati Roy rattled scores of Indian journalists and intellectuals, alongside the general Indian public, who found her statements unpatriotic and accused her for peddling narratives for the ISI, Pakistan’s premier security agency.

Read more: ‘Kashmir turned into giant prison camp’: Arundhati Roy

Tarek Fatah, Indian-Canadian journalist and staunch critic of Pakistan and its armed forces, accused Arundhati of turning a blind eye to Pakistan Army’s alleged atrocities against the people of Balochistan. Fatah said, “Arundhati Roy claims Pakistan has never deployed its military against its own people. Was she blind & deaf when 3M died in the Bangladesh genocide by Pak Army in 1971? Is she unaware of Balochistan?  She’s literally reading off a Pakistan ISI briefing note.”

Shama Mohammad, an Indian national media panelist, wrote “Shame on Arundhati Roy! I used to have huge respect for her, but not anymore! Not only is she insulting my India, she is praising the Pakistani army which, apart from directly supporting terrorism in India, also killed 3 million of its own people during the 1971 Bangladeshi war!”

Myth of 3 Million Killed in Bangladesh

A twitter user shared a highly insightful thread shedding light on the myth of the accusations levelled against the Pakistan Army of killing 3 million Bangladeshi Muslims and 200,000 rapes in 1971.

Fidato, a twitter user, shared, “In order to cherry pick proof for the plucked-out-of-thin-air 3 million figure allegedly murdered by Pakistan Army in ’71, Mujib ur Rehman constituted a Commission on January 29 ’72 to locate verifiable evidence.”

He continued, “Chowdhary Abdul Mumin in his book “Behind the Myth of Three Million”, published in 1973, reported that this Commission comprised representatives from the Army, Border Security Force, Rangers, Police and Civil Administration. Despite their best efforts, this Commission completely failed to locate any mass graves or other evidence of any kind.”

Read more: Kashmir Media Cell to be established in Information Ministry: Dr. Firdous

“The Commission gave a newspaper advertisement offering 1,000 Taka to anyone who comes forward with figures of the dead. Only 38,000 came forward. The Commission then conjured up a figure of 56,743 deaths.”

Fidato continued citing references from Mumin’s book, “Mujib showed great displeasure at the Commission’s findings and disbanded it, stating, “I have declared three million dead, and your report could not come up with three scores thousands! What report you have prepared? Keep your report to yourself… What I have said once shall prevail.”

He added, “Western independent sources too solidly rubbish this 3 million figure. The Peace Research Institute in Norway along with Uppsala University of Sweden in their findings in 1972, estimated that about 58,000 people died in 1971.”