Kashmir: A tale of a blazing dreamland
Ashik Kabir
Located in the northwest Himalayan ranges of the Indian subcontinent, Jammu and Kashmir is Indias only Muslim preponderant state. It was ruled by Hindu Dogra Maharajas from 1846 to 1947. When the British rule of subcontinent ended creating India and Pakistan, Kashmir remained a matter of dispute between both the countries. The state enjoys special status under article 370 of the Indian constitution, which distinguishes it from all other states. Jammu and Kashmir, the former princely state is tremendously assorted and divided into three distinct regions. A fourth region was merged with Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1948 and is called Azad Kashmir.
The Kashmir Valley, with the capital Srinagar, is the most populous and homogenous among the three regions. It is overpoweringly a Muslim place and until recently had a small Hindu minority of largely Brahmin Pundit families with whom the Muslim population historically enjoyed constructive relations.
The Dogras linger dominant ethnic group in Jammu and promotes Dogra nationalism has led to increasing resentment against Kashmirs Muslim majority rule and demands for a separate Hindu state of Jammu. Located in the upper reaches of the Himalayas ranges in the northeastern part of the state, the large but meagerly populated area of Ladakh is isolated from rest of the state. The area is penetratingly polarized between the Shiite Muslim majority district of Kargil and the Tibetan Buddhist dominated district of Leh.
Due to the extreme diversity of the state, the politics of Jammu and Kashmir are extraordinarily complex. After the end of Hindu Dogra rule in 1947, the politics of Jammu and Kashmir became dominated by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the leader of the National Conference (NC). Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was Known as the the Lion of Kashmir. The NC was founded by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1939 as a popular movement against the Dogra rule. Unlike the leaders of Muslim League, Abdullah sought to mobilize the diverse population of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of a shared geographical, historical and cultural uniqueness referred to as the Kashmiriyat.
Sheikh Abdullah served as the first Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 until he was removed and imprisoned by the Indian government in 1953. Initially a strong supporter of Union with India, by the early 1950s Sheikh Abdullah had begun to question the states attainment and was wholehearted with idea of creating an independent Kashmir.
Despite spending the next two decades in and out of the Prison, Sheikh Abdullah remained an influential character in the politics of the state until his death in1982. After losing the control of NC, Abdullah encouraged his supporters to form the Plebiscite Front (PF), a mass based political movement that demanded self-determination for Jammu and Kashmir. The PF laid the foundation for Kashmiri separatism and remained an active force in Kashmiri politics until the early 1970s.
In the aftermath of Bangladesh liberation war in 1971 and the dismantling of Pakistan, Sheikh Abdullah dissolved the PF, revived NC and came to a settlement with Indira Gandhi that emerged him again in power. Abdullah was restored as the Chief Cinister of Jammu and Kashmir in 1975 and ruled the state until his death in 1982. Sheikh Abdullah was succeeded by his son Farooq. In June 1984 in an attempt to extend Congress control to the state, Indira Gandhi engineered a split in the NC and instructed her newly appointed Governor, to dismiss Farooq government. The Muslim community in Kashmir saw this act as a repeat of the dismissal of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953 and a renewed assault on the states autonomy. Local resentment escalated when Farooq entered into a highly unpopular alliance with the Congress and restored to the chief ministership pending new assembly elections. Perturbed by the rigging of the elections and the lack of legitimate avenue for political expression, a new generation of young Kashmiri politicians emerged in an open revolt under the banner of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
JKLF was composed largely of young Kashmiris, many of whom had received training in Pakistan and were determined to liberate Kashmir and unite it with the Pakistani controlled province of Azad Kashmir. The JKLF initiated a wave of strikes, bombings and assassinations designed to end Indian control of Kashmir. In December 1989, JKLF abducted the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the newly appointed Kashmiri Muslim Home Minister of India and threatened to kill her, unless they free five JKLF members. When the exchange was made, the jubilant crowds throughout the valley raised the banner of liberation front and called for India to Quit India. In the counter act, the center dismissed Farooq government and imposed Presidents rule. The insurgency and the collapsed political order in Kashmir led to an extended period of military rule from 1990 to 1996.
Although the secular, pro-independence JKLF and its allies continued to enjoy widespread popular support, the movement began to fragment as dream of freedom was fading. JKLF was challenged by pro-Pakistani Islamic guerrilla group, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) and numerous outside Jihadi group based in Pakistan. HUM was closely linked to the Jamaat-i-Islami, a Pakistani based Islamic fundamentalist party that, unlike the JKLF, supported the merger of Kashmir with Pakistan. The group became best financed and best-armed militant movement in the valley.
In February 1993, the JKLF, the HUM and various militant groups opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir, came together to form All-parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference (APHC). By mid 1990s the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir had entered a completely new phase as the government of India attempted to restore the political process in the state. In 1996 the NC won with two-third majority in the assembly elections and Farooq Abdullah was elected to head the first civilian government since 1990.
By mid 1990s the indigenous people of Kashmir began to yield to a new Jihadi phase led by Pan-Islamic guest militants spawned by the Afghanistan war. The Jihadi attempt to liberate Kashmir led to increased violence and terrorism. The tensions were high as both India and Pakistan were nuclear armed by then. The result was expansion of the conflict beyond the borders of Kashmir. The major Jihadi groups operating in the area are Laskar-e-Taiba (Let), Jaish-e-Mohammad (Jem), Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Of these the Pakistan-based Let and Jem are the most prominent in terrorist operations against India. The Let gained notoriety in the late 1990s because of its high profile suicide attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and in other parts of India. It launched attacks on the Srinagar airport, the Red Fort in Delhi and was held responsible for devastating bombing of the Indian Parliament in December 2001. Let was placed on the list of terrorist groups by the United States in December 2001 and was banned by the Pakistan Government. The Jem was founded in January 2000 by Maulana Azar Masood, a former member of HUM, who was captured and jailed in Srinagar. HUM secured his release by hijacking an Indian airliner in 1999.
Hizbul Mujahideen is Kashmirs largest and the only surviving indigenous armed rebel group which was formed in 1990. The group demands Kashmirs merger with Pakistan. Its supreme commander Syed Salahuddin is based in Muzaffarbad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. The group was led in Indian Kashmir by Burhan Wani until his death on July 8 this year. The Jammu Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party emerged in early 2000s as the strongest opponent to the NC, with pro-separatist leanings for electoral gains. It soon came to power in 2002 and currently ruling Indian Kashmir in coalition with Indias ruling BJP.
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