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Activist and Novelist, Arundhati Roy, Faces Arrest over Kashmir Remark
Booker prize-winner says claim about territory not being an integral part of India was a call for justice in the disputed region
The Booker prize-winning novelist and human rights campaigner Arundhati Roy is facing the threat of arrest after claiming that the disputed territory of Kashmir is not an integral part of India.
Arundhati Roy could face a fine or imprisonment if convicted of sedition. (Photograph: Jean-Christian Bourcart/Getty Images) India's home ministry is reported to have told police in Delhi that a case of sedition may be registered against Roy and the Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for remarks they made at the weekend.
Under Section 124A of the Indian penal code, those convicted of sedition face punishments ranging from a fine to life imprisonment.
Roy - who won the Booker in 1997 for The God of Small Things - is a controversial figure in India for her championing of politically sensitive causes. She has divided opinion by speaking out in support of the Naxalite insurgency and for casting doubt on Pakistan's involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
But in a statement the 48-year-old author, who is currently in Srinigar, Kashmir, refused to backtrack. "I said what millions of people here say every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators, have written and said for years. Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of my speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for justice.
"I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland; for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited on garbage heaps in their villages in Cuddalore; for the Indian poor who pay the price of this occupation in material ways and who are now learning to live in the terror of what is becoming a police state."
After describing her meetings with people caught up in the Kashmir violence, she said: "Some have accused me of giving 'hate speeches', of wanting India to break up. On the contrary, what I say comes from love and pride. It comes from not wanting people to be killed, raped, imprisoned or have their fingernails pulled out in order to force them to say they are Indians. It comes from wanting to live in a society that is striving to be a just one.
"Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice, while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists, and those who prey on the poorest of the poor roam free."
India's justice minister, M Veerappa Moily, described Roy's remarks as "most unfortunate".
He said: "Yes, there is freedom of speech ... it can't violate the patriotic sentiments of the people."
Moily sidestepped questions about the sedition charges, saying he had yet to see the file on the matter.
Others were less restrained. One person posted a comment on the Indian Express newspaper website calling for the novelist to be charged with treason and executed.
Roy made her original remarks on Sunday in a seminar - entitled Whither Kashmir? Freedom or Enslavement - during which she accused India of becoming a colonial power. Geelani also spoke at the seminar.
Last week police in Indian-administered Kashmir arrested the separatist leader Masrat Alam for allegedly organising anti-India protests. A curfew was also imposed.
More than 100 people are estimated to have died in violence in the valley since June amid continuing protests against Indian rule in a territory where many of Muslim majority favour independence or a transfer of control to Pakistan.
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34 Comments so far
Show AllIndia's justice minister, M Veerappa Moily, described Roy's remarks as "most unfortunate".
He said: "Yes, there is freedom of speech ... it can't violate the patriotic sentiments of the people."
And this moron is the justice minister?
No one elects the 'best and the brightest'. In this case, they've elected a bigger bozo than usual...
If things that violate the patriotic sentiments of the people cannot be said, then there is no freedom of speech.
In how many other countries of the world is this a true thing? What's your real opinion of this issue Mr. Phil Donahue?
Fabulous! She is one brave woman and a true hero. India should be inundated with letters in support of her.
In conversations with recent Indian immigrants or visitors here in the US, I have yet to encounter an Indian who has ever heard of this Booker Prize-winning novelist and advocate for justice. Ms. Arunhati is to Indians what Noam Chomsky is to USAns - except the Indian authorities haven't figured out that it is would be more effective to simply memory-hole her than give her the free publicity of arrests and trials.
"The question here, really, is what have we done to democracy ? What have we turned it into ? What happens once democracy has been used up ? When it has been hollowed out and emptied of meaning ? What happens when each of its institutions has metastasized into something dangerous ? What happens now that democracy and the free market have fused into a single predatory organism with a thin, constricted imagination that revolves almost entirely around the idea of maximizing profit ?"
Arundhati Roy
from: Field Notes On Democracy
I'm overdue for getting that book: "Listening to Grasshoppers - Field notes on Democracy" As usual, the local chain-bookstore will have to order it.
Order it online, SaboCat!
Better yet, support your locally owned bookstore. If you still have one.
Five posts and this isn't blamed on the US yet? My goodness, what is going on? People actually seeing the rest of the world as it is... at last?
No, we don't blame the US. We blame a populous star-pupil state of US-bred, US promoted neoliberal capitalist economics, backed by the iron fist of the state - which they otherwise call "democracy".
Do you even know who Arundhati Roy is? What is the name of her only work of fiction? What was she previously arrested for? No cheating.
US gov't.? Maybe not. US corporations and market capitalism? Big time ....
the US has been arming the beyond-criminal Indian elites with nukes to the teeth.
give it a little time, there will be a blowback never imagined before.
A lesson in how to marginalize needed criticism: set up straw men. Straw man argument: "Blame the US for everything." The criticism is that of empire building and the violence and corruption in everyplace affected.
No, the United States is not to blame for EVERYTHING: just too much.
Why don't you head to the Iraq torture threads and try to come up with some lame apologias?
You need to read more of her work. There are brilliant essays galore - just google her. You will learn. India is the largest democracy in the world and globalization has all but finished off any semblance of true democracy there. It's a huge heads-up gift to the world from a wise, eloquent, fearless advocate for freedom and justice in the world.
india will reach the point of no return sooner than later, too.
moral bankrupsy is even more prominent in india than here in the us.
Ms Roy is wrong by saying "Kashmir is not integral part of India". It seems that she has no idea about India's history or have her own wishful ideas.
What is next for her ? Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh (both bordering China) are also not part of India ? how about (pre-independence) Princely state of Nizam (now Andra Pradesh) and Junagadh (now part of Gujarat) should also be part of Pakistan ? There were more than 500 independent Princely states before the Independence, Roy can pick up any one a given day and claim India’s “Colonization” of that princely state.
So, when British ruled for 200 years and went to Kashmir to escape from Delhi's hot summer and ruled from the Valley, it was part of India and now its not ? A Kashmiri Pandit, a lawyer by profession Motilal and his son Jawahar Nehru joins Mahatma Gandhi in 1920s for Indian freedom movement Kashmir was still Integral Part of India ?
Sheikh Abdullah (illegitimate child of Motilal Nehru) was Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir since 1947. His son Farooq Abdullah is present CM.
She says "for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited ", really ? Dalits build graves for dead !! I though they cremate the body.
Even after a single family rule of both India (Nehru family) and Jammu & Kashmir state (by Abdullah), later is not part of India ?
She has record of "selective activism". she has hardly or never said word against western interest in the region.
Farmers committing suicide because of Monsanto's GM crop, NO word from Roy. Bhopal disaster, 15 to 20,000 dead, thousands still suffering, NO word from Roy.
I think she seems to be looking for attention, as she is doing this when Obama is due to arrive in India.
Roy is right about the Indian state becoming more and more authoritarian.
Leaving the long historical debates aside, Indian army has been deployed in Kashmir
and north east off and on since independence from the Brits. It has a long and dubious record of atrocities committed in these areas.
I would like to contrast here, the two different scenarios playing out.
In India, the atrocities committed by the army, are sometimes brought to the notice of the Indian public. But this does not cause much moral crises or even
a political price to pay for the people in charge.
As opposed to this, the exposing of torture committed by US forces in Iraq caused widespread uproar in the US media and public.
The two scenarios seem different on surface, one is an army suppressing its own (supposedly)citizenry, while the other is a brutal occupation imposed on
a different people. But the in India, the kashmiris, north easterenrs or the maoists could very well be a "different people".
This question has always rankled me as to why does it not bother the ordinary Indian as to what its own army is doing to its citizens. Perhaps it has to do with daily
brutalization imposed by poverty on the vast majority of Indians. The mark of a third world country.
Ominously, in the USA, the tea party movement's agenda is aimed at gutting the middle class.
If that happens, all the sensibilities that go with having a large middle class, will also disappear. The USA will come to resemble India in its attitude towards
the subaltern. And if the subaltern rise against an oppressive order, that same army kicking Iraqis around will be used to suppress dissent at home. And no one will care when atrocities are committed.
"Farmers committing suicide because of Monsanto's GM crop, NO word from Roy. Bhopal disaster, 15 to 20,000 dead, thousands still suffering, NO word from Roy."
You mustn't be very familiar with Ms. Roy's writings and lectures.
Arundhati has spoken out endlessly against the capitalist global hegemony that is at the the root of Bhopal, the ruined farmers, the Narmada Dams and the Naxalite "Maoist" and tribalist uprisings.
And I'm sure he has mentioned these events in the process, also.
Did search about Arundhati Roy + Bhopal, the earliest ref I found was in Dec 2001 (17 years after the incident), even that a was side note in brackets - referring to Wanted : Dead or Alive (by Bush for Bin Laden and stretching it to CEO - Warren Anderson, Union Carbide - which she echoed that people have been doing for years).
Please provide ref if you have, where Ms Roy have dedicated her time for Bhopal attacking Union Carbide/Dow Chemicals, Farmers suicide - attacking Monsanto, would be delighted to read or listen.
As far, the Narmada Dam goes, I was wondering what happens when "Western" countries build Dams. Don't you think Country like India needs Dam project, farmers and citizens need water for their daily use or electricity (this one is clean) ? By the way World Bank withdrew its loan support for this Dam, (Larry Summers was its Chief Economist during that time). She was wrong on Narmada Dam, except people who lost land didn't get compensation and help for relocation on time. It happens every where, even in US, look at current Foreclosuregate, no accountability.
Though the main topic here is about Ms. Roy's assertion that "Kashmir being not even integral part of India"
Ms. Roy goes much further than merely speaking against Union Carbide, she writes and speaks against the whole capitalist system that gives rise to entities like Union Carbide.
Here in the United States, we stopped building large dams decades ago becasue of popular opposition and the fact that their benefits rarely outweigh their negative impacts to ecologies and communities.
"We (as nation/govt) stop doing it" because of "popular opposition", that sound more like France or other European country than any where near United States. "we stopped building large dams decades ago becasue of popular opposition", by that time all they wanted to build was already done.
US: 6,375 Large Dams - 13% of the World Dam Population, for 4.5% of World Population
"The USA has 75,000 dams over 2 m high in operation, of which 6,375 are categorized as large dams Dam construction grew dramatically in the USA in the post-World War years, peaking in the 1960's at around 150 large dams commissioned each year - almost one every second day. 75% of dams in the USA are now over 30 years old."
source : http://www.dams.org/global/usa.htm
India: 4,291 Large Dams and 9% of the World Dam Population, for 17.3% of World Population
* India has 4,291 large dams, counting the 695 currently under construction.Of these, 2,256 dams were built in the peak period between 1971-1990.
* About three-quarters (73%) of the 3,596 completed dams are situated in three western agriculture states. Large dams in India are constructed and owned by the State governments.
* The majority of Indian dams have been built for irrigation
Source : http://www.dams.org/global/india.htm
Sabo, I think those days are behind, "do as we(US) say, not as we do"
I would like to express my disagreement with some of your points, 8thAvatar, but if I do, I may find that I have case of sedition registered against me under Section 124A of the Indian penal code, which, if convicted of sedition, could subject me to punishments ranging from a fine to life imprisonment.
...or even open me to an accusation of "selective activism".
MF, you definitely can disagree, don't worry about IP codes, and do not know the punishment term. Though, would say one thing imprisonment is not "cultural" in that part of society unlike others in West. Even during British rule, they use to let people go after token days spent in jail.
not to worry too much about being arrested,as I said, after all its India - corrupt, third world country !!
Centre (Govt.) not for filing charges against Arundhati, Geelani
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article850820.ece?homepage=true
Touche on the imprisonment. However, don't look back...we're gaining on you in the speech and sedition areas. (PATRIOT and Espionage Acts, you know.)
"we're gaining on you in the speech and sedition areas. (PATRIOT and Espionage Acts, you know.)"
Oh, that is scary. What are the punishments - life term !!
You should read further (your observation that she has "hardly or never said a word against western interests in the region" is ridiculous and reveals your lack of familiarity with her writing and speaking) and think long and hard before challenging either Roy's accuracy or her motivation.
BTW, she has never suffered from lack of attention.
read my response to SaboCat at 5:09,
provide links where Ms Roy have dedicated her time for Bhopal attacking Union Carbide/Dow Chemicals, Farmers suicide - attacking Monsanto, would be delighted to read or listen.... especially for Bhopal/Union Carbide/Dow Chemical and Monsanto !!
btw, at present if you search on Google "Arundhati Roy + Bhopal" first result points to this thread, probably to my comment !!!
In all your blatherings and verbal diarrhea I note that you say NOTHING, NO word, of what the PEOPLE of Kashmir want. That is the relevant issue. The rest is just pathetic attempts to distract from the issue of what the people of Kashmir want.
I don't have the desire to parse through every point you raise, but here's a few I take exception to.
"What is next for her ? Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh (both bordering China) are also not part of India ? how about (pre-independence) Princely state of Nizam (now Andra Pradesh) and Junagadh (now part of Gujarat) should also be part of Pakistan?"
This is an informal fallacy - a slippery slope, to be precise.
"She says "for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited ", really ? Dalits build graves for dead !! I though they cremate the body."
Dalits are of more than one religion. Among them are Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jains and Zoroastrians. If memory serves correctly, at least one of those religions has a tradition of leaving monuments to the dead.
"Farmers committing suicide because of Monsanto's GM crop, NO word from Roy. Bhopal disaster, 15 to 20,000 dead, thousands still suffering, NO word from Roy."
So, are you claiming an activist is illegitimate if they don't spend their limited time on every single issue that is on the table? That would be one way to make them totally ineffective, if that's the intent.
"US gov't.? Maybe not. US corporations and market capitalism? Big time ...." Aquifer
I would submit that they are one and the same.
Kashmir isn't the only place where people are killed with impunity--and their dead bodies proudly displayed--by Indian "security forces":
http://www.countercurrents.org/selvam280610.htm
If only we had one of her in this country.
I think if people walk a natural path that eventually it would be a natural decision to choose a way. It is the disruption of how things are brought on by years of colonial rule that create such tension. Like sedition, that is probably the result of British rule, they are very big on sedition and being critical of government would result in being drawn and quartered. No doubt a grounded female perspective would its self be considered in contempt of the arbitary choices on the table.