Lemkin Institute: Violence Between India/Pakistan

In the past two weeks we have seen an alarming escalation of violence between India and Pakistan, two nuclear powers. This escalation has occurred on the heels of the terrible April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, when five members of a rebel group, possibly The Resistance Front (TRF), killed 25 Indian nationals on holiday and one local Kashmiri Muslim who tried to intervene. TRF claimed it launched the attack in protest against India's ongoing oppression of Kashmiris. [It has since retracted its responsibility for the attacks.]

India has been quick to blame the Pakistani government for the attack, but has offered no evidence linking TRF or the gunmen to the the Pakistani state. Indian Prime Minister Modi has rejected Pakistan's offer to support a 'neutral investigation' of the terror attack, apparently preferring to use the attack to shore up Hindu nationalist support ahead of elections and, perhaps, as a pretext for Indian expansionism in Kashmir.

India's belligerence towards Pakistan since April 22 -- which has included missile strikes across Pakistan, an attack on the Noseri Dam, threats to prevent the flow of water into Pakistan, and the deployment of Israel-made loitering munition drones (commonly known as kamikaze or suicide drones) -- is an ominous sign of worse things to come if the 'international community' does not respond swiftly and appropriately.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where the three great powers are each committing and supporting genocide, multilateral organizations have become weak and ineffectual, and Western democratic institutions have collapsed in the face of US, Canadian, UK and EU support for genocide in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Gaza, the West Bank, and Sudan. The prospects for an effective diplomatic intervention in South Asia are slim.

Nonetheless, we continue to call out the potential for genocide everywhere we see it in the hopes that people with power will do something useful for humanity.

It hardly needs saying that the world cannot afford another conflagration. Any conflagration spearheaded by India and involving Kashmir and Pakistan has a very high prospect of devolving into widespread mass atrocity, given the current government's embrace of Hindu supremacism and its violent anti-Muslim rhetoric, ideology, policy, and history.

Let us demonstrate our solidarity with the victims of terrorism and the civilians who are being caught in the middle of interstate conflict by speaking loudly for peace between India, Pakistan, and the people of Kashmir.

Read both statements here.