Well, this is grimly hilarious. Genocide Watch has issued two “warning alerts” for India—one for Kashmir and the other for Assam, with Muslims held to be at grave imminent risk of persecution and mass detention in both. Pakistan’s semi-official media, e.g. Dawn newspaper, are jumping all over this news, which is hardly surprising. But Pakistan is closely aligned with China due to their mutual rivalry with India, so it is also hardly surprising that Pakistani media have failed to similarly jump on the Genocide Watch report on the Uighurs of Xinjiang—despite the fact that the group categorizes the situation there as “preparation” for genocide, a more urgent level than “warning.” Even more cynically, China itself has issued a protest to India over the situation in Kashmir. South China Morning Post reports that Delhi shot back that Kashmir is an internal matter “that has no impact on China at all.” Beijing has been similarly dismissive of India’s protests over the mass detention of the Uighurs in Xinjiang. Most perversely of all, an editorial in the officialist Pakistan Today, protesting the abuses in Kashmir and Assam, absolves China of running “illegal detention centres in Xinjiang.”
The Pakistan Today editorial falsely claims that the UN Committee on Human Rights sent a team to Xinjiang which “found no trace” of the detention centers. In fact, UN human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet is still demanding that China permit a fact-finding visit to the region, with free access to the detention centers.
In other words, India and China are each eager to exploit the other’s treatment of its own Muslims for propaganda purposes, while each pursuing similar anti-Muslim policies. Pakistan, tha champion of Muslims in India and especially Kashmir, is happy to betray the Muslims in Xinjiang. Soon, it will be a perfect anti-Muslim police state either side of the Himalayas, as Beijing and Delhi continue to point fingers at each other.
That’s why they call it a Great Game.
Photo via Bitter Winter
