A three-day heavy gunbattle in Kashmir that ended Monday claimed nine lives including three militants, indicating a recent upsurge of insurgent activities in the disputed region backed by radicalised extremists.
The attack began when militants shot at a bus carrying police reservists near Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital, before breaking into a training institute. Three Indian army commandos, two policemen, a civilian and three militants have been killed in the fighting.
On February 20, militants attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in the Pampore area of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) in which two personnel were killed and 13 others sustained serious injuries.
Later, the extremists, suspected to be up to five in number, took refuge in the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building in the same area. More than 100 civilians - trapped in the building at the time of the attack - were evacuated by the security forces. Six civilian lost his life in the crossfire.
The Indian Army has lost two captains and one lance corporal in the encounter - all three of whom belonged to an elite Para commando unit. The army has succeeded in eliminating all of the attackers, all of whom were reportedly foreign nationals.
Muslim separatists have been fighting Indian forces in the Indian portion of Kashmir since 1989. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming the rebels in the portion it controls and sending them to the Indian side, a claim its neighbour denies. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
There are two ideologies as far as the secessionist movement is concerned - one favours the independence (Azadi) of Kashmir from India and the subsequent creation of an Islamic state, while the other advocates Kashmir becoming part of the Pakistan.
India’s counter-terrorism operations had effectively marginalised the separatist movement in Kashmir lately. The violence has drastically reduced over the past decade as compared to the 1990s. However, security sources are saying the militancy in Kashmir is quietly making a comeback because of young local Kashmiris, from well-educated and sound financial backgrounds, who are joining the armed fight. J&K police census last year put the strength of extremists at 142 - 88 local Kashmiris and 54 foreign nationals.
Security experts have recently been claiming that the Kashmir issue is no longer a political one between India and Pakistan, but radical Islamic extremism has also entered the domain. For instance, young Kashmiris joining the militants’ ranks are drawing inspiration from trans-national Islamic extremism. The main effort of the separatists has always been to cause maximum damage and loss of life, especially of Indian security forces.
In late 1980s and 1990s, there was massive support for militancy, both overtly and covertly, by a majority of Kashmiri Muslims. Over a period of time, many Kashmiris have realised that the militancy has done more harm to them than anybody else.
However, certain sections in Kashmir still support violent struggle for the so-called Azadi of Kashmir from India. The upsurge in militancy reflects that Kashmir has been deeply radicalised all these years.
In fact, the basic premise for armed struggle against the Indian state which started in 1990 has been the creation of an Islamic state of J&K. The anti-India protests, the waiving of Pakistani, Lashkar and “Islamic State” flags, and the clashes with the security forces continue to happen in Kashmir now and then.
Observers say the issue will persist as long as the militancy infrastructure continues to exist across the border in Pakistan. Since coming to power in May 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed the need for improving relations with Pakistan. However, diplomatic efforts with Pakistan at different levels have been paused for one reason or other in the last few year, especially after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The engagements have not resulted in anything fruitful yet.
