In 1947 a large section of Kashmir became part of India. It was granted semi-autonomous status by Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. This ended on August 5, 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi deployed 38,000 paramilitary forces to Kashmir, suspended all internet and cell phone communication there, banned public gatherings, placed two chief ministers of Kashmir under house arrest and revoked the special autonomous status of Kashmir.
As rivalries between these regional powers sharpen, the rulers are resorting to more and more openly nationalistic fascism. Whether it’s the Hindu nationalism of Modi, or the white nationalism of Trump, or the nationalism of the local Kashmiri capitalists, workers have no stake in supporting any bosses.
Kashmir, a cog in the
inter-imperialist war machine
Kashmir is divided among India, Pakistan and China, where these regional powers meet in the Himalayan Mountains. India controls the largest portion of land, followed by Pakistan, with China having the smallest section. China snatched about 9200 square miles from India in a 1962 war. Another 2000 square miles were given to China by Pakistan. Kashmir is militarily important to all three of these nuclear powers. Economically China and Pakistan are cooperating on China’s One Belt, One Road infrastructure project and China has investments in Pakistan’s mineral resources.
Pakistan and India have already fought three major wars since 1947 and a smaller war in 1999. An insurgencey is still going on in Kashmir, as well as a huge presence of Indian and Pakistani forces. Every day dozens of innocent workers living on the both sides of border are killed by cross border firing. Every day 1.5 billion people are being threatened by nuclear war. The working class has gained nothing from these bosses’ wars. The only war that will benefit us is when workers of all nations unite to get rid of capitalism and all the bosses.
Internationalism,
 fascism’s achilles heel
Prime Minister Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party came to power on a super nationalist, pro-Hindu, anti-Muslim program. Now he’s continuing to consolidate his power, appealing to his nationalist base and outflanking his rivals. We call that fascism. He needs fascist rule not just to grab tiny Kashmir, but also to confront China, a rising world imperialist power right on India’s border. Meanwhile very little help is coming from the United States, a declining imperialist power with an unpredictable and unreliable president.
So Article 370, granting Kashmir special autonomy is gone. Article 35A may also be gone. It restricted non-Kashmiris from buying land in the state. Indians might be allowed to migrate to Kashmir and alter its demographics.
Bosses want to spread nationalism, fundamentalism and racism in the region to spread hatred and chaos. This is helpful for them to exploit the working class more vigoriously. These bosses need to avoid class struggle, thus they are dividing the working class by nation, religon, race and sect.  Many workers understand the tricks of these capitalist bosses. As we lead struggles against these bosses, we are trying to educate the masses of workers that we need to establish a communist international movement to get rid of these boses once and for all. Join the international, communist Progressive Labor Party.