Violence In Kashmir
It has been the same story all over
again as poll related violence in strife torn Kashmir marred the overall
peacfully conducted polls all over India.
Shops and business establishments were shut in Srinagar as separatist
groups called for a boycott of national pollsand many were injured when
separatists attacked several heavily fortified voting stations across
Anantnag.
Hizbul Mujahideen, which is fighting for Muslimmajority Kashmir's
merger with Muslim Pakistan, is one of the biggest guerrilla groups in
the troubled region. Abdul Rashid, the commander of the rebel group was
shot dead in a shootout recently. He was the group's third military
chief to be gunned down since October. The group called for a general
strike in Srinagar today to protest the killing and also named Ghazi
Misbahuddin as the new chief commander in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Tens of thousands of Indian soldiers are in Kashmir to put down a
15year revolt that has killed more than 40,000 people
History
The conflict in Kashmir, which erupted into near civil war in 1990,
emerged out of a fifty-year political struggle for control of the
territory. Both India and Pakistan claim control of Kashmir; the
unresolved status of Kashmir continues to be the most serious impediment
to ending tensions between the two. Although Kashmir has a majority
Muslim population, three major religions have flourished there:
Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. However, since the early 1950s, India's
attempts to control the state fueled resentment among the state's Muslim
political leaders, and ultimately led to the emergence of Muslim
militant groups committed to fighting for independence. Such groups
found ready support and arms in Pakistan.
By 1990, popular resentment toward India's policies in the state had
grown into a mass movement for independence. The militant groups which
have been fighting for independence from India are divided between those
who believe the territory should become part of Pakistan and those who
believe that Kashmir should become an independent state. Some of the
groups openly espouse an Islamist ideology; others advocate a secular
Kashmiri state that would include Kashmiri Buddhists, Hindus and others.
The Indian government holds Pakistan entirely responsible for the
escalation in fighting that has taken place since 1989 and has blamed
Pakistan for "exporting" Islamic fundamentalism to the state.
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