47 Kashmiri employees expelled from employment for their alleged involvement in pro-freedom movement

On 15th March, Indian Lieutenant Governor of Kashmir Manoj Sinha stated that 47 Kashmiri employees have been expelled from their employment as they were said to have ‘militancy’ links, a state euphemism for participation in Kashmir’s right to self-determination movement. These Kashmiri employees include schoolteachers and university professors.

The expulsion of these employees is part of India’s larger systemic policy of forcing Kashmiris to choose between economic survival and their fundamental UN-mandated right to self-determination. Through the threat of the loss of livelihood, Kashmiris engage in what could be effectively called ‘self-censorship’, an Orwellian tactic par excellence that is characteristic of all authoritarian regimes.