Islamism shakes Kashmir, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Islamism shakes Kashmir

By Sreeram Chaulia

July 8, 2008

After two decades of calm in large-scale popular movements, Indian-administered Kashmir recently witnessed mass demonstrations and protests against the state government's decision to transfer forest land to facilitate a Hindu pilgrimage.

The decision of the Jammu and Kashmir authorities to grant 40 hectares of uninhabited jungle tract to the Amarnath Shrine Board triggered a furore in the Kashmir Valley and brought life to a standstill for nearly two weeks, a throwback to the 1988-1989 insurrection against Indian rule. So forceful was the clamour that the state government had to eventually rescind the transfer order.

The anti-land transfer agitation fed on important new trends in Jammu and Kashmir. Firstly, the state has been enjoying a rare respite from terrorist violence initiated by Pakistan-sponsored jihadi outfits like the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Muhammad. The internal political turmoil in Pakistan, pitting a military presidency against a democratically elected parliament, and the challenge posed to Pakistan's security by the US war on the Taliban, left the jihadis in Kashmir confused and rudderless.

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