E!Xplainintg the Sumit Ganguly Kashmir Insurgency
E!xplainintg the Sumit Ganguly Kashmir Insurgency Political Mobilization and Institutional Decay 0n December 8, 1989, members of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front kidnapped Dr. Rubiya Sayeed, the daughter of the Indian Minister of Home Affairs, as she left a government hospital in Srinagar. The kidnappers refused to release her until several incarcerated members of their outlawed group were released. Follow- ing hasty negotiations over the next several days, the government in New Delhi agreed to meet the abductors' demands. In the weeks and months that fol- lowed, dozens of insurgent groups emerged and wreaked havoc throughout the Kashmir Valley, killing government officials, security personnel, and inno- cent bystanders. Although they were of varying ideological orientations, all the insurgent groups professed opposition to Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir, and the authority of the Indian state virtually collapsed there. Since December 1989, the strength of the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir has fluctuated.' Faced with the wrath of many of the Islamic militant groups, more than 200,000 Hindus (known as Pandits) have fled the Kashmir Valley. Currently, nearly 400,000 Indian Army and paramilitary troops are deployed in the state. The security forces are battling at least a dozen major insurgent groups of varying size and ideological orientation, as well as dozens more minor operations. The more prominent of the insurgent groups include the nominally secular, pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and the radical Islamic and pro-Pakistani groups Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), Hizbollah, Harkat-ul-Ansar, and Ikhwanul Muslimeen. At least 15,000 Sumit Ganguly is Professor of Political Science at Hunter College and at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.
[Show full text]