Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) Hyderabad has come under fire for a dissertation published by a student of the institute in which she has called Kashmir has ‘India occupied Kashmir’.
The dissertation titled “Engendering Conflict: Understanding the impact of Militarization, Conflict and Pandemic-Induced Lockdown on Domestic Violence in India occupied Kashmir” published by a post graduate student named Ananya Kundu has come under the scanner for its separatist and seditious intent and content.
The paper calls the invasion of Jammu and Kashmir after independence by Pakistan as a ‘freedom movement’ saying that freedom fighters (Kashmiri Muslims) took help from Pakistan to overthrow the rule of the Dogras.
“These freedom fighters took help from Pakistan to overthrow the rule of the Dogras. Hari Singh’s army was being defeated and the King who had now been overthrown sought assistance from India. What history terms as invasion was the freedom struggle of Kashmiris from foreign rule, just like India’s movement against the British,” the paper said.
The paper further says “The area they were successful in freeing is referred to as Pakistan Administered Kashmir. India calls it POK or Pakistan Occupied Kashmir but the people living there refer to it as Azad Kashmir, a name which stands testimony to their fight for freedom against foreign rule and its partial success.”
It also says that gender based violence in Kashmir can be reduced only if the political aspirations of Kashmiris for self-determination and autonomy is realized.
“All issues of gender-based violence in Kashmir are impacted by the on-going conflict and militarization. So in order to resolve the issue of gender-based violence, the conflict and militarization needs to be brought to an end. This will require the government to address the political aspirations of Kashmiris for self determination an autonomy.”, the paper says.
The student Ananya Kundu has published this paper under the supervision of one Dr. Nilanjana Ray, an Associate Professor belonging to the School of Gender Studies.
In essence, what the student tries to say is that Kashmir must be made independent and blames the Indian Army and the government for ‘gender-based’ domestic violence.
The issue was brought to light by a Twitter user named Abhinav Prakash. Following the social media backlash, TISS Hyderabad issued a statement in which it said that it does not endorse the title and added that necessary action has been taken for ‘fact finding’.
Many on social media called out TISS for blatantly endorsing separatism and sedition against the nation. They said that such content cannot get cover under ‘academic freedom’ and ‘critical thinking’.
Not TITLE alone! The content was extremely disturbing. Brainwashed kid cites separatist sources in her paper, can't even derive the research methodology and coins terms like "patriarcy of resistance" with sample size of 13 women interviewed to peddle separatist militant agenda https://t.co/UEYQQMAdDp
— Siddharth Nayak (@_SiddharthNayak) June 19, 2021
DEFUND TISS. Make an example out of it so that no other institution dares to do what @TISSpeak has been doing. It’s certainly not critical thinking, it’s information & political warfare against the Indian state in the name of critical thinking and academic freedom.@DrRPNishank https://t.co/AsU14ICj0h
— Shubhendu (@BBTheorist) June 19, 2021
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.