If you consider Jammu & Kashmir as a country that has been invaded & occupied by India, then you need to consider that there are 2 other countries, Pakistan (in green) & China (in orange) have invaded and occupied parts of Kashmir as well. Image Source: Wikipedia
As you all may be aware, there is a call for a massive boycott of Malaysian tourism, products and services dubbed #BoycottMalaysia trending on Twitter.
Apparently this started when PM Dr M spoke about Jammu & Kashmir in United Nations last week and probably the stinging part of his call for diplomacy between India and Pakistan would be these words – “the country has been invaded and occupied”.
Obviously the Indians are not happy with the statements made considering they always have considered Jammu & Kashmir as part of the union of India. Seriously I can’t blame them for taking offense on this very sensitive topic in the Indian continent.
Interestingly there was been counter tweets from Malaysians on the matter as well:-
However, the situation took a turn for the worst when Malaysians backlashed using the same hashtag, claiming that Indians were not welcome anyway. The ensuing hatred unleashed sometimes bordered on racism, and at other times leaned on dry humour
(Source)
Anyway talking about boycotts, surprisingly we did not hear such call for boycott after Dr M in the past had mentioned that Zakir Naik runs the risk of being killed if he is deported back home to India which I think is more offensive as it cast a direct shadow of doubt on the fairness & competencies of the Indian’s Government & the Indian judiciary.
Even funnier was the demonstrations that was held by some clowns in Kuala Lumpur which they claimed persecution of Muslims in Kashmir by the Indian Government.
Do they have evidence or just hearsay from others & rumors or they are protesting for the sake of protesting?
I doubt some of these protestors can even pin point where is Kashmir on the map and I am pretty sure even less of Malaysians even knows the bloody history of Jammu & Kashmir and how it has become a center of armed conflict between India & Pakistan (China is also there in the background).
Time for history lessons!
Start off with the above 2 hour long documentary which has well put together to explain the history of Kashmir and how the various forces surrounding the small, weak state and despite many peaceful agreements, it ended up being pulled apart by these powerful neighbours.
Interestingly it was Pakistan who invaded first which caused the Maharaja Hari Singh to call for help from India to fend off the invasion. And the shadow entity who has been screwing up the peace in this region during this is none other than the British themselves who played the innocent & played the Indians & Pakistanis to their advantage and hidden agendas.
And mind you that this is happening in the late 1940s after the partition of the continent into India and Pakistan and the Cold War was heating up with China under Chairman Mao expanding the borders towards India with the backing of the Soviets.
Anyway the point is, when it comes to the Jammu & Kashmir conflict and what is happening now with India’s decision to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution, one cannot run away from the historical sequence of events. Anyone who is talking about the conflict cannot do so with the ignorance of the history of the land and it’s people.
In reality no one wants to be under any invading country – a fact that the people in Jammu & Kashmir unfortunately could not shake off due to the prime location of their land.
P.s. The impact of such call for boycott is still premature at the moment and may even fizzle off without any serious damage but it is something Malaysia cannot afford to take.