{"id":24461,"date":"2019-11-05T15:12:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T10:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/?p=24461"},"modified":"2019-11-22T10:34:56","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T05:34:56","slug":"conflicts-kashmir-hong-kong-reminiscent-british-imperialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/internationalaffairs\/conflicts-kashmir-hong-kong-reminiscent-british-imperialism\/","title":{"rendered":"The conflicts of Kashmir and Hong Kong A reminiscent of British imperialism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"_the<\/a><\/h1>\n

The conflicts of Kashmir and Hong Kong<\/span><\/h1>\n

A reminiscent of British imperialism<\/span><\/h1>\n

Abdul Rasool Syed<\/span><\/p>\n

Presently, the world is witnessing two major conflicts in Asia; one is of Kashmir and the other Hong Kong. Both these conflicts have their roots back in the long-gone British Empire. The grubby legacy of British imperialism is still alive and kicking in these regions. Amy Hawkins, a celebrated author, testifies to this very fact in the following words: \u201cThe world is reaping the chaos the British Empire sowed and the locals are still paying for the mess that British left behind in Hong Kong and Kashmir.\u201d Indeed, in Kashmir, the British left a bleeding wound amid the partition of the colonial India and in Hong Kong, a major cosmopolis that is neither truly an independent state nor a part of mainland China. They picked up their Union Jack and departed, leaving behind a ruinous legacy for decades and generations to bleedChronologically, Hong Kong became a\u00a0colony of the British Empire\u00a0after the Qing-dynasty China\u00a0ceded\u00a0the Island\u00a0at the end of the\u00a0First Opium War\u00a0in 1842.\u00a0The colony expanded to the\u00a0Kowloon Peninsula\u00a0in 1860 after the\u00a0Second Opium War, and was further extended when Britain obtained a\u00a099-year lease\u00a0of the\u00a0New Territories\u00a0in 1898.\u00a0The territory was\u00a0transferred to China\u00a0in 1997.<\/p>\n

\"GN38871-Artboard_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, as a special administrative region, Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from mainland China\u00a0under the principle of \u201cone country, two systems\u201d. This means that while becoming part of one country with China, Hong Kong would enjoy \u201ca high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs\u201d for 50 years. But, what both China and Britain had neglected to consider was the fact that a nation of almost eight million human beings throughout a long colonial and postcolonial history had accumulated a robust, collective memory of its own, which was neither British nor mainland Chinese \u2013 it was distinct. They have developed the feelings of one nation which is far different from that of the British and Chinese. They call themselves as \u201cHong Kongers\u201d and are now struggling for their rights against hostile and domineering central government.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Kashmir came under the control of the British when the\u00a0First Anglo-Sikh War\u00a0(in 1845) broke out, and Gulab Singh \u201ccontrived to hold himself aloof till the\u00a0battle of Sobraon\u00a0(1846), when he appeared as a useful mediator and a trusted advisor of Sir\u00a0Henry Lawrence. Two treaties were concluded. By the first, the State of Lahore (West\u00a0Punjab) handed over to the British, as equivalent for Rs ten\u00a0million of indemnity, the hill countries between\u00a0the Beas\u00a0and\u00a0the Indus; by the second,\u00a0the British made over to Gulab Singh for Rs 7.5 million all the hilly or mountainous country situated to the east of\u00a0Indus\u00a0and west of\u00a0the Ravi\u201d (the\u00a0Vale of Kashmir).\u00a0The\u00a0Treaty of Amritsar\u00a0freed Gulab Singh from obligations towards the Sikhs and made him the\u00a0Maharajah\u00a0of Jammu and Kashmir.\u00a0The Dogras’ loyalty came in handy for the British during the\u00a01857\u00a0War of Independence which challenged\u00a0British rule\u00a0in India. Dogras refused to provide sanctuary to \u2018mutineers\u2019, allowed English women and children to seek asylum in Kashmir and sent Kashmiri troops to fight on behalf of the British. The British, in return, rewarded them by securing the succession of Dogra rule in Kashmir.<\/p>\n

\"INP-11-14-1250x752\"<\/p>\n

Acentury\u00a0 later, Kashmir was suck into the bloody partition of India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the British departure from the Subcontinent, with both post-colonial states having a mutually exclusive claim on its territory. Thus, the British imperialists showed criminal indifference and torpor to resolve the issue of Kashmir and deliberately left it to be a bone of contention between the two rival countries for the decades to come.<\/p>\n

Consequently, today Kashmir stands as a nuclear flesh point between the two nuclear armed countries and the Kashmiris are unfortunately, reaping the chaos what the British Empire sowed nearly eight decades back.\u00a0 What is now happening in Indian occupied Kashmir is quiet pathetic. The Indian government has suddenly revoked the region\u2019s special status, previously protected in the Indian Constitution. New Delhi has imposed a digital and telecommunications blackout in Jammu and Kashmir, so much less is known about what actually is happening there. But few days back, the BBC released a\u00a0video\u00a0showing tear gas and ammunition being used against protestors after Friday prayers in Srinagar, the region\u2019s largest city. The\u00a0New York Times also\u00a0reported on\u00a0hospitals bereft of staff and locals beaten up for venturing outside to buy milk; one doctor described the situation as a \u201cliving hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under this new dispensation, Kashmir is to be ruled directly from Delhi as a Union Territory. The last time Kashmir was ruled directly from Delhi, from 1990 to 1996, it witnessed human rights violations on a massive scale, with extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, disappearances, firing on unarmed demonstrators, burning of homes, crops, and standing harvests, and a complete clampdown on all political activity. The possibility of repeating the same episode and this time more intensively is loud and clear.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong too, nowadays, is witnessing huge demonstrations. The protests began in June over plans – later put on ice, and finally withdrawn in September – that would have allowed extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China. But they’ve now spread to reflect wider demands for democratic reforms.<\/p>\n

Currently, Hong Kong’s leader, the chief executive, is elected by a 1,200-member election committee – a mostly pro-Beijing body chosen by just 6% of eligible voters.<\/p>\n

Not all the 70 members of the territory’s lawmaking body, the Legislative Council, are directly chosen by Hong Kong’s voters. Most seats not directly elected are occupied by pro-Beijing lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong’s\u00a0mini-constitution, the Basic Law, says it should ultimately both the leader, and the Legislative Council, should be elected in a more democratic way – but there’s been disagreement over what this should look like.<\/p>\n

The Chinese government said in 2014 that it would allow voters to choose their leaders from a list approved by a pro-Beijing committee, but critics called this a “sham democracy” and it was voted down in Hong Kong’s legislature.<\/p>\n

\u00a0However, Beijing has not explicitly scrapped \u201cone country, two systems,\u201d but recent events have made clear that rapid assimilation into China is a priority for the Chinese Communist Party. The patchwork arrangement that characterized the British Empire in Asia is no longer tolerated by the leaders who inherited the imperial spoils\u2014the goal is now total control.<\/p>\n

Constitutionally, there was supposed to be some continuity between the governance of Hong Kong and Kashmir in the transition from the colonial to the post-colonial era. Both regions were recognized as being distinct from the countries that they were part of and therefore, granted special protections on that basis. In Hong Kong, the \u201cone country, two systems\u201d framework was introduced to guarantee Hong Kongers the way of life until 2047.<\/p>\n

In Jammu and Ka\"GN39482-Artboard_1\"shmir, these protections were, however, even more robust, enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Under Article 370, Kashmir controlled its own affairs, apart from foreign policy, defense, or communications, and Article 35A restricted outsiders from buying land. \u201cUnder Article 370, it\u2019s arguable that Kashmir had more independence than any part of India. It gave Kashmir more autonomy over its own affairs on a regional basis. But both were revoked by the fascist Modi regime making good on his\u00a0election promise\u00a0to end Kashmir\u2019s special status, which he deemed as tremendous hinderence in its integration with the rest of India.<\/p>\n

To cap it all, what the world is seeing today in Asia in shape of Kashmir and Hong Kong conflicts, is in fact result of the ill-conceived policies of long gone British Empire. It is, therefore, incumbent on UK to take a lead in resolving these matters of urgency by using its international clout and thereby redress its historical blunders.\u00a0 Since, UK is a permanent member of UNSC; it must exert diplomatic pressure on UN to get these issues resolved at its earliest.<\/p>\n

Kashmir and Hong Kong<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A tale of Media Hypocrisy<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>When sovereignty over Hong Kong was restored to the People\u2019s Republic of China in 1997, the city was granted a special autonomous status. Unsurprisingly, the government in Beijing started chipping away at Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy, undermining the \u201cone state, two systems\u201d arrangement. Recently, the people of Hong Kong have come out in large demonstrations against Beijing\u2019s restrictions on their autonomy. These developments have made major headlines and the Chinese government\u2019s actions are decried. Frequently, Beijing\u2019s moves are labelled as typical behavior for a nondemocratic government. But, some 4,000 kilometres away, another violation of autonomy is taking place, i.e. in Jammu and Kashmir. Unfortunately, it has not garnered nearly the same media attention as did the situation in Hong Kong despite the fact that the situation in Kashmir is, geopolitically speaking, more dangerous. The geopolitical risk associated with this case is far greater than with the situation in Hong Kong. This was exactly the height of hypocrisy what Prime Minister Imran Khan was referred to when he expressed his dismay at the attention being given to the unrest in Hong Kong, and the lack of it being afforded to the \u201cgrowing humanitarian crisis\u201d in Kashmir. Highlighting the inhumane conditions being faced by Kashmiris, PM Imran criticised the international media for ignoring the \u201cdire human rights crisis\u201d in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and giving \u201cheadline coverage\u201d to the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. He said India has imposed a communications blackout in the occupied territory for over two months now. Thousands of citizens, including children and political leaders, have been imprisoned by Indian forces and warned that the humanitarian crisis in IOK continues to worsen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The conflicts of Kashmir and Hong Kong A reminiscent of British imperialism Abdul Rasool Syed Presently, the world is witnessing two major conflicts in Asia; one is of Kashmir and the other Hong Kong. Both these conflicts have their roots back in the long-gone British Empire. The grubby legacy of British imperialism is still alive …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,1,10951],"tags":[9668,548,1226,40,2231,610,1161,10115,2540,537,258,8467,3790],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26324,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24461\/revisions\/26324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}