An abrupt spurt in the terrorist violence is an indication of the borders being dangerously porous and vulnerable to infiltration at a time when the Islamists in Pakistan are celebrating Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan and a possibility of their guerrilla operations in Kashmir.

by Ahmed Ali Fayyaz


The fundamentals of the contemporary political history of Jammu and Kashmir are clear enough that religion has a pivotal role in the valley’s separatist movement which assumed a new dimension after the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 followed by the Russian invasion in Afghanistan. It was the time when Pakistan started and sustained an insurgency aimed at dividing the Sikhs and the Hindus in Punjab.

J&K is a Muslim-majority Union Territory with only 32 per cent of the non-Muslim population, mostly dominating the four particular districts of Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu province. J&K’s claimant across the International Border and the Line of Control, Pakistan, is a theocratic Islamic State. This is why a Plebiscite on the religious lines between the Hindu-dominated India and Pakistan is a foregone conclusion. This is why the Plebiscite has not happened in the last 72 years and may not happen in the foreseeable future.

Alongside azaadi (freedom from India), the popular slogan of the alienated masses right from 1990 was ‘Pakistan se rishta kya: La illaha illallah’ (The religion of Islam binds Kashmir with Pakistan). But that doesn’t mean that the armed insurgents would treat only the non-Muslims, particularly the Hindus and the Sikhs, as a threat to their idea of Kashmir’s separation or annexation to Pakistan. In fact the bloodletting in 1989 began with the assassinations of the National Conference(NC) activist Mohammad Yousuf Halwai and the Jana Sangh stalwart Tika Lal Taploo.

As the killing of around 150 Kashmiri Pandits triggered a mass migration of the minority community in 1990, fifty-four resident Pandits were massacred at Sangrampora (Budgam), Wandhama (Ganderbal) and Nadimarg (Pulwama) respectively in 1997, 1998 and 2003. Forty-two members of the Sikh community were massacred at Chittisinghpura (Anantnag) and Mehjoor Nagar (Srinagar) in 2000 and 2001.

To be continued....

Full article: https://theprobe.in/kashmir-killings-current-attacks-are-clearly-an-attempt-to-fail-amit-shahs-first-visit-to-jk-after-august-2019/