Inquiry & Analysis| No. 472| November 3, 2008 Urdu/Pashtu Media Project Introduction At the time of India's partition in 1947, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was an autonomous territory inhabited predominantly by Muslims, but ruled by a Hindu king. Shortly thereafter, irregulars from the armed forces of the newly created Pakistan marched into Kashmir, hoping to gain the Muslim population's support and unseat the Hindu king, Hari Singh. Hari Singh turned to India for military aid to repel the Pakistan Army irregulars. The Indian government agreed to provide military aid only after the king signed an "instrument of accession" to India, following which Indian troops arrived in Jammu and Kashmir, halting the advance of the Pakistani irregulars. Following a ceasefire, part of Jammu and Kashmir remained under the control of Pakistan and the other part remained under the control of India. The state of Jammu and Kashmir can be broadly categorized into three regions: Kashmir valley, Jammu, and Laddakh. The Kashmir valley is populated mostly by Muslims; Jammu region is mainly inhabited by Hindus, and Laddakh has a tiny Buddhist population. Pakistan calls its part of Kashmir "Azad Kashmir," or independent Kashmir, and the other part "occupied Kashmir." India considers the entire Jammu and Kashmir state, including Pakistani Kashmir, to be an integral part of India. Pakistan calls Indian Kashmir a disputed territory, nursing a longing that its Muslim population will eventually align with Pakistan. Over the years, the two neighbors have fought several wars, with none ending the stalemate. However, Pakistan has also tried its hand at strengthening secessionism by fomenting a high-intensity jihadist insurgency in Indian Kashmir, especially during the 1990s and after. This was the scene in Indian Kashmir until a few years ago. After 9/11, the government of Pakistan, under President Pervez Musharraf, was pressured by the U.S. to stop the jihadist insurgency in Kashmir, as elsewhere in the neighborhood. Pakistan and India engaged in a series of dialogues to foster close ties and resolve the Kashmir issue. Between 2003 and early 2008, Indian Kashmir has been mostly peaceful, but this is changing now. Land Allocation to Hindu Shrine Reignites Secessionism in Kashmir During the summer of 2008, the government of Jammu and Kashmir, headed by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, decided to allocate nearly 40 hectares of forest land to the SASB in order for them to effectively manage the Hindu pilgrimage. In some Indian states such as Jammu and Kashmir, people from outside the state are not allowed to buy land. The decision to allocate land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board was seen by Muslims of Kashmir valley as India's attempt to take away their basic rights on land and as an attempt to cement India's presence in the valley. A series of popular protests began germinating. The People's Democratic Party (PDP), which was part of the ruling coalition that has been headed by the pro-New Delhi Congress party for the latter half of the five-year term, sensed a political opportunity in view of the impending October-November 2008 elections, and decided to quit the government.(1) Protests against the land allotment have been led by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a coalition of more than a dozen religious and political groups seeking independence from India. There are broadly three strands in the secessionist coalition: first, those who advocate an Islamic cause and are openly in favor of aligning with Pakistan; second, those who stand for an independent Jammu and Kashmir, combing both Indian and Pakistani parts; and third, a group of pragmatic leaders who advocate independence but keep an open mind about remaining within India. In recent years, the secessionist political groups were becoming marginalized, if not wholly eliminated from the political mainstream in Kashmir. However, the land dispute reignited Kashmiri secessionist leaders. The APHC, which has not tested its electoral mettle, swung into mass politics. On June 19, 2008, a seven-hour meeting took place between two estranged Kashmiri leaders, Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, at the former's residence in Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir. Syed Ali Geelani leads the pro-Pakistan, hard-line faction of the APHC. Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who derives his authority as the Mirwaiz or Chief Priest of Kashmir, heads the APHC's pragmatic faction, that strives for an independent Kashmir. The two leaders, who had not met for years, discussed the situation in Kashmir and the allotment of land to the Amarnath shrine authority. A six-member committee was also formed to devise a way forward.(2) The unity of the two factions was welcomed by Syed Salahuddin, Pakistan-based militant leader and head of Muttahida Jihad Council, a coalition of more than a dozen Pakistan-based militant groups active in Indian Kashmir.(3) Prior to this meeting, Syed Ali Geelani had expressed his anger at the land allocation, accusing India of attempting to reduce the Muslims of Kashmir valley to a numerical minority through such measures. He told a gathering at the APHC office in Srinagar that the Indian government was also planning to establish a Hindu village at the Amarnath shrine.(4) *Tufail Ahmad is Director of Urdu-Pashtu Media Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute (www.memri.org ). Endnotes: (1) Rediff.com (India), June 28, 2008.
The Re-Emergence of Kashmir as a Jihadist Battleground
During the summer of 2008, a small land dispute in India's Jammu and Kashmir state snowballed into a popular Kashmiri movement for independence from India, with the secessionist movement's dominant leadership cultivating the ground for Islamic rule and steering the people in the direction of aligning the Indian Kashmir with Pakistan.
The de facto ceasefire line divided the Kashmir valley between Pakistan and India; over the years it came to be known as the Line of Control. India, under its democratic-minded first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations and promised to allow a plebiscite to determine if the Kashmiris wanted to live in India, in Pakistan or independently. Pakistan, seen by the Kashmiris as an aggressor state at that time, did not agree to the proposal of plebiscite, which was to be held inside both parts of Kashmir. In the later years, India too reneged on its promise to hold the plebiscite.
Every year, during July and August, Hindus from across India defy Islamic militants and trek to the religious shrine of Amarnath situated in the remote mountains of Kashmir. There they worship a fertility lingam, or phallus, a naturally forming ice stalagmite that is believed to be a form in which Lord Shiva, the Hindu God of Destruction, emerges. The Amarnath shrine and the annual Hindu pilgrimage are managed by the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).
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(2) Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), June 20, 2008.
(3) Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), June 22, 2008
(4) Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), June 14, 2008
Monday, 3 November 2008
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