[Reader-list] Kashmir intifada? New view of India, Pakistan territory dispute.

Tue Jul 13 21:13:20 IST 2010

Kashmir intifada? New view of India, Pakistan territory dispute.

Street violence gripping Kashmir is becoming known as the Kashmir
intifada, in a nod to the earlier uprisings of Palestinian
stone-throwing youths against Israeli forces.

PHOTO: A Kashmiri gunman stands alert during a meeting organized by
Kashmiri militant groups in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir
on Tuesday, July 13. The top political official in Pakistani-held
Kashmir has promised to fight India for control of the disputed
territory. (Roshan Mughal/AP)

By Ben Arnoldy, Staff Writer
posted July 13, 2010 at 11:10 am EDT
New Delhi —
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0713/Kashmir-intifada-New-view-of-India-Pakistan-territory-dispute

Indian analysts are starting to refer to the street violence gripping
Kashmir as the “Kashmir intifada,” a nod to the earlier uprisings of
Palestinian stone-throwing youth against Israeli forces.

Tensions remain high in the Kashmir valley, with the main city of
Srinagar shut down today – a historical holiday known as “martyr’s
day” – due to strikes and a reimposed curfew.

The use of the phrase intifada, which means uprising, highlights how
the unrest in Kashmir has been led by rock-throwing boys, not the
trained militants or political factions of the elder generation. It
was that generation's earlier efforts that failed to end India's
military presence in the disputed region along the Pakistan and Indian
border where many Kashmiris simply want independence.
The root cause of boys throwing stones

Intifada also harkens back to the cycle of violence unleashed in the
Palestinian territories. The same dynamic has emerged in Kashmir this
year: boys throw stones at security forces, those forces fire back and
kill youths, protests start anew, more rocks are thrown, and more
protesters are killed. In the past month alone, at least 15 people
have died in the clashes.

“What we are witnessing in certain areas of Jammu & Kashmir is the
beginning of an intifada,” writes B. Raman, former head of
counterterrorism for India¹s intelligence service, in India¹s Outlook
Magazine.

“The root cause is the growing perception among some sections of the
youth that the security forces have been insensitive in performing
their counter-insurgency duties and have been adopting objectionable
methods … and using disproportionate force against the people.”

The language has also been picked up by some of the Kashmiri
separatist leaders, says Yusuf Jameel, a journalist based in Srinagar
for the Asian Age newspaper. It reflects the changed nature of the
current unrest – which he says started in 2008 – from the bloody
insurgency of the 1990s.
Today's opposition in Kashmir

“The difference is that, in the ’90s, you had people out in the
streets, but at the same time you had militants fighting security
forces, attacking them, exploding grenades, and things like that,”
says Mr. Jameel. Now, there is virtually no militant activity in the
cities, “but on the other hand, you have crowds out on the street
chanting slogans like ‘We want freedom’ and ‘India get out.’ ”

The crowds are larger, and from within those crowds emerge the boys
who have made rock throwing a pastime, he says. He is open to the
notion that the boys are being put up to it by opposition political
leaders hoping to regain power. But ultimately, he says, getting a
handle on the situation means addressing the longstanding political
tensions over who should control the territory.
Crowd and youth control?

Mr. Raman and others argue that now is the wrong time to focus on that
discussion. Since the immediate anger has to do with police tactics,
the Indian government needs to implement better methods of crowd
control, seriously investigate human rights violations, and reach out
more to youths.

“First of all, the government should try to contact the leadership of
the teenage protesters about their grievances,” says Balraj Puri,
director of the Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs. While their
leaders and entire list of grievances remain unknown, he says, they
have demanded the release of all youths as a condition for ending
their movement.

“As far as ‘Kashmir Intifada’ is concerned, there is no clear model
for teenagers. They are groping for their way,” says Mr. Puri. "Of
course they are in touch with the events taking place elsewhere.

Raman uses the term intifada less in reference to the Israeli conflict
and more to the vision of “jihadi intifada” outlined by Al Qaeda’s No.
2, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, in 2007. Mr. Zawahiri, he says, called for
“leaderless street violence” and a mixing of violent and nonviolent
tactics.
Intifada's complicated association

Still, the term’s association with the Israel-Palestinian conflict
raises some hackles when applied to Kashmir.

“At a factual level, I would obviously disagree with its application
to Kashmir,” says Sumit Ganguly, a professor at Indiana University at
Bloomington. “The Indian state has committed many sins, but it has
legal standing in Kashmir and a moral and constitutional obligation to
the non-Muslim population of the state.”

There appears to be broad agreement among experts that the boys, for
now, are not acting in concert with militants. Yet, much of the
security apparatus in the state is focused on fighting insurgents, not
managing protesters.

“The local police have focused on counter-insurgency duties over the
last several years and can't cope with civilian mobs,” writes Mr.
Ganguly in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed.

He adds economic stagnation to the list of underlying grievances of
the younger generation: “The coalition state government has done
little to attract investment into the troubled state. Kashmiris,
especially young men, have limited employment opportunities.”

For now, the economy has only worsened because of the violence. The
valley is highly dependent on tourist dollars. The unrest has
shuttered businesses in downtown Srinigar and scared off tourists from
enjoying the mountain weather.