Insurgency, a politically organised movement for
separation from state has been an issue that affected Indian political
discourse starting from the 1970s up till 2015.
Pakistan learned hard that it was not possible to defeat
India militarily after losing the wars of 1965 and of 1971, as pakistan, under
the leadership of General Ayub Khan, believed the Indian Army would be unable
to defend itself against a quick military campaign in the disputed territory of
Kashmir as the Indian military had suffered a loss to China in 1962 in the
Sino-Indian War.
When the Muslim League demanded a separate country for
Muslims via the Lahore Resolution of 1940, a section of Sikh leaders grew concerned
that their community would be left without any homeland following the partition
of India between the Hindus and the Muslims. They put forward the idea of Khalistan,
envisaging it as a theocratic state covering a small part of the greater Punjab
region.
The Khalistan movement aimed to create a separate Sikh
country. The territorial definition of the proposed country ranges from the Punjab
state of India to the greater Punjab region, including the Indian Punjab,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Northern Districts of Rajasthan such as Sri
Ganganager and Hanumangarh. The movement was mainly active in the Punjab state
of India from the 1970s to the early 1990s.
After the partition of India, the majority of the Sikhs
migrated from the Pakistani part to the Indian province of Punjab, which then included
the parts of the present-day Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Following India's
independence in 1947, The Punjabi Suba Movement led by the Sikh political party
Akali Dal led to the trifurcation of the Punjab state. The remnant Punjab state
became Sikh-majority and Punjabi-majority. Subsequently, a section of the Sikh
leaders started demanding more autonomy for the states, alleging that the Central
government was discriminating against Punjab. Although the Akali Dal explicitly
opposed the demand for an independent Sikh country, the issues raised by it
were used as a premise for the creation of a separate country by the proponents
of Khalistan.
The separatist movement actually began in 1971, when the
Pakistani Intelligence Bureau, a civilian agency, made contact with the Sikh diaspora
in an attempt to encourage secessionist politics in India. In 1978, operational
control of these diaspora radicals was transferred from the Pakistan IB to the
more powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which could draw upon the
resources of the Pakistani army to launch covert paramilitary operations. From
1980, the ISI provided weapon training and target portfolios to small assassin
squads, who crossed the border into India and began killing political leaders
in a bid to incite fratricidal violence among the Sikh leadership.
Around this point, India’s own fractious domestic
politics come into play. In 1978, the same year that the ISI took over
sponsorship of Sikh separatism, the Indian Congress Party had begun funding
ultra-orthodox Sikh groups in Punjab. By doing so, it hoped to capture a larger
share of the conservative Sikh vote, but inadvertently provided the ISI with a
platform to introduce separatism as an idea among the Sikh population of India.
Before the Congress had fully recognized what was happening, the ultra-orthodox
Sikh groups had switched from advocating purely local issues (such as
agricultural and employment grievances) to advocating secession from the Indian
Republic. The shift took place over three years, from 1981-84, and was
punctuated by growing violence.
By mid-1993, the Sikh separatist movement had collapsed
in operational terms as well, having lost its political hue many years previously.
Interestingly, the Naxalites opposed the Sikh
separatists, because their left-wing ideas clashed with the right-wing agenda
of the latter. The Naxalites worked as police informers and also set up rural
defense squads in order to ensure that separatists could not find refuge in the
Punjab countryside.
Since then, the Sikh separatist movement has been limited
to a handful of aging ideologues, enjoying Pakistani hospitality at ISI safe-houses
in and around Lahore.
That said, today, the ISI is encouraging Sikh separatist
ideologues living in Pakistan to endorse terrorist attacks against India, as a way
of taking the heat off the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment for
having been caught out in supporting the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai. The
ISI reasons that if Sikhs were found to be involved in a major act of terrorism
against India, it would somehow deflect international attention from the
agency’s ties to jihadist terrorists that were so blatantly exposed at Mumbai.
In north- east India, there were many demands for
separate states by different groups. North -east India was, during British
period, province of Assam. In this region which borders China, there are many
communities which are referred to under Indian law as tribes.
Since India's independence, many tribal communities in
this region, in the beginning with Chinese support, tried to establish independent
states apart from India. In the 1960s rebellions from Mizoram region even
declared independence. One must note
that Dalai Lama found refuge in India in 1959, much to the chagrin of the Chinese.
The militant organisation United Liberation Front of Asom
demands a separate country for the Assamese people. The Government of India had
banned the ULFA in 1990 and has officially labelled it as a terrorist group,
whereas the US State Department lists it under "Other groups of
concern".Military operations against it by the Indian Army that began in
1990 continues until present. In the past two decades some 10,000 people have
died in the clash between the rebels and the government. The Assamese secessionists
have protested against the illegal migration from the neighbouring regions.
Since the mid-20th century, people from present-day Bangladesh (then known as
East Pakistan) have been migrating to Assam. In 1961, the Government of Assam
passed a legislation making use of Assamese language compulsory; It had to be
withdrawn later under pressure from Bengali speaking people in Cachar. In the
1980s the Brahmaputra valley saw a six-year Assam agitation triggered by the
discovery of a sudden rise in registered voters on electoral rolls.
The Nagalim is a proposed independent country for the
Naga people. In the 1950s, the Naga National Council led a violent unsuccessful
insurgency against the Government of India, demanding a separate country for
the Nagas. The secessionist violence decreased considerably after the formation
of the Naga-majority Nagaland state, and more militants surrendered after the
Shillong Accord of 1975. However, a section of Nagas, operating under the
various factions of National Socialist Council of Nagaland, continue to demand a
separate country which lack people's support.
2014 General Elections of India recorded voters turnout of more than 87%
in Nagaland which was highest in India.
The National Liberation Front of Tripura (or NLFT) is a
Tripuri nationalist organisation which seeks for Tripura to secede from India and
establish an independent Tripuri state. It has actively participated in the
Tripura Rebellion. The NLFT manifesto says that they want to expand what they
describe as the Kingdom of God and Christ in Tripura. The Tripura National
Volunteers (also known as the
Tribal National Volunteers or Tripura National Volunteer
Force) was founded in 1978 with assistance from the Mizo National Front.
However, separatist movement lacked people's support as
2014 General elections in India recorded more than 84% voters turnout in Tripura
which was one of highest in India.
Though New Delhi has been engaged in a ceasefire with the
NSCN (IM) since 1997, there was little forward movement on a political settlement,
Modi government could succeeded in signing the peace accord with NSCIM in
August 2015.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/govt-signs-peace-accord-with-nscnim-pm-narendra-modi-says-historic/
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is an ongoing conflict
between Maoist groups, known as Naxalites or Naxals, and the Indian government.
The conflict in its present form began
after the 2004 formation of the CPI (Maoist), a rebel group composed of the PWG
(People's War Group), and the MCC (Maoist Communist Centre). In January 2005
talks between the Andhra Pradesh state government and the CPI-Maoists broke
down and the rebels accused authorities of not addressing their demands for a
written truce, release of prisoners and redistribution of land. The ongoing
conflict has taken place over a vast territory (around half of India's 28
states) with hundreds of people being killed annually in clashes between the
CPI-Maoists and the government every year since 2005.
Naxalites are a group of far-left radical communists,
supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Their origin can be traced
to the splitting in 1967 of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), leading to
the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). The Naxalites control territory throughout
Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh states and claim to be supported by the
poorest of the rural population, especially the Adivasis. The Naxalites have
frequently targeted tribal, police and government workers in what they say is a
fight for improved land rights and more jobs for neglected agricultural
labourers and the poor. The Naxalites claim that they are following a strategy
of rural rebellion similar to a protracted people's war against the government.
In south India, before India's independence there was a
demand for an independent Dravidstan for the whole of south India. After India independence,
this demand was mild down for autonomous Dravidian states within the Indian
union. But the Tamilians who emigrated from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka demand an
independent state in north Sri Lanka and it is presumed they receive lot of
support from Indian Tamilians. Sessionist
thinking that connected firebrand Indian Tamilians to the LTTE cause and their
solidarity with Srilankan Tamils lost steam after Srilankan army snuffed out
its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009.
The most high profile separatist actions have been in
Kashmir. The insurgency in Kashmir, the most notable one, has existed in
various forms. After sessionist attempts in Punjab failed, the Pakistani ISI
trained its attention to Kashmir. Pakistan sought to fiddle in Kashmir so as to deflect attention of both Pakistanis and the international community from the secessionist calls in Balochistan.
Thousands of lives have been lost since 1989 due to the intensification
of both the insurgency and the fight against insurgency in Kashmir. A widespread armed insurgency
started in Kashmir with the disputed
1987 election with some elements from the State's assembly forming
militant wings which acted as a catalyst for the emergence of armed insurgency
in the region.
Mismanagement of governance in Kashmir by Sheikh Abdullah
and failure of the Congress government at the center to gauge the pulse of the
Kashmir began to boil over. Vile like
grip of National Conference under the Abdullahs and close support by the
Congress party ensured the Abdullah clan to control, mismanage, and loot
Kashmir.
In the 1990, Kashmiri Hindu Pandits were asked to convert to Islam or vacate Kashmir. There was utter lawlessness. The governments were mute spectators. There followed many massacres of Hindus that lead to mass exodus of Hindus out of Kashmir.
During the 1990s, JK had become an unwelcome place for Indians and only the Army could stay put. It was during the peak of insurgency that the BJP undertook the Ekta Yatra that restored Indian connection back with Kashmir.
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Mismanagement of JK affairs lead to many allegation of election rigging by the governments. The tug-of-war by NC and INC ensured that the interests and aspirations of the people of JK took a backseat.
In 2002, against all expectations, the fledgeling PDP, under
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, came from behind to win 16 seats in the Assembly polls.
This was the first time ever that a Valley-based regional party fared so well
against the then dominant National Conference which secured 28 seats, a drastic
reduction from its 57 in 1996 polls. But with just 16 seats in the 87-member
Assembly, Mufti went on to become the J&K Chief Minister for three years as
part of a rotational arrangement with the ally Congress, with 21 seats,
Panthers Party with 4 and a few independents.
Mufti’s new political rehabilitated him in Kashmir where
he was always regarded as a politician who represented New Delhi’s interests in
Kashmir but also gave him his new political identity as a mainstream advocate
of Kashmir’s nationalist sentiment.
In the three years that he was CM, Mufti brought the
administration immobilized by the reigning turmoil back on its feet. The coalition
provided a governance redeemingly different from the preceding National
Conference dispensation, rife with corruption and human rights abuse. The
government also ushered in a relative sense of security among people crushed by
the years of an unremitting security stranglehold. It reigned in the Special
Operations Group of J&K Police which had let loose a reign of terror. The
government also made its presence felt on the ground. It brought a degree of
responsiveness in which the administration restored some damaged infrastructure
and above all ensured a reasonable supply of electricity.
What is more, Mufti made the most of the then ongoing
Indo-Pak peace process which held a fleeting promise of culminating into a Kashmir
settlement, and led to the re-opening of cross-LoC routes for travel and trade.
He also appropriated the separatist discourse, echoing the vocabulary of their
favourite slogans if not their intent. By the time PDP-Congress coalition broke
up in 2008 just two months shy of the completion of its term, Mufti had created
a new politics that straddled the separatist-mainstream divide.
In fact, up to the 2008 Assembly polls, he even released
party’s own formal formula for the resolution of Kashmir “both in its internal
and external dimensions”. It was called self-rule document and it advocated a
drastic redefining of Kashmir’s relations with New Delhi in a broader
politico-economic framework involving Pakistan. In 2008 polls, PDP enhanced its
tally from 16 to 21 – albeit the party failed to keep the power. And in 2014 it
emerged as the single largest party and thus in a position to pick and choose
its coalition partner. But the BJP’s unprecedented electoral performance in
Jammu province where it won 25 of the 37 seats left Mufti little option but to
join it, the ideological antagonism notwithstanding.
Despite boycott calls by separatist leaders, 2014 Jammu
and Kashmir Assembly elections saw highest voters turnout in last 25 years since
insurgency has erupted. It recorded more than 65% of voters turnout which was
more than usual voters turnout in other state assembly elections of India. It
considered as increase in faith of Kashmiri people in democratic process of
India.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his political
campaign to the troubled northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, promising jobs and
water supplies to win support in a region at the heart of nearly seven decades
of hostility with Pakistan.
Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party made a bold attempt to win
power in Muslim-majority Kashmir and bring it closer to the Indian mainstream,
a long-running goal of the right-wing party.
Modi said "People want jobs for the youth, water for
the farms, medicines for the elders," he said. "Even those who have
strayed and taken up the gun are feeling burdened by it."
Modi's harder test was in Srinagar, the state's summer
capital, which is at the heart of the 25-year revolt against Indian rule. Modi promised
to help rebuild Srinagar and nearby areas that suffered the worst flooding this
year in more than a century. He said he had turned Kutch in his native western
state of Gujarat into India's fastest growing district after a devastating
earthquake in 2001.
The BJP has long sought to end Kashmir's special status
under the Indian constitution, seeing the region as key to its vision of a strong,
united India.
Even the BJP's Yuva Morcha drive to get youngsters from
here into its cadre took dozens of anxious meetings. Long persuasion by BJP leaders
included many nightlong sessions about the party's plank of economic
development for the state, and a helping hand for those "wronged by the
system."
Muneer Ahmad (name changed), 22, says he indulged in
stone pelting once and the police registered a case against him, as he was caught
on camera throwing stones. He went to all the political parties but no one came
to his rescue. "When the party leaders told me they will fight for us, I
joined the party. It is not just about the case but about their efforts -- at
least they came to meet us, no one else did," he says.
For successive state governments and security agencies,
stone pelting and stone-pelters have remained a cause for concern. Most of the stone
pelting in Baramulla, happens on the four bridges connecting Old with New Town.
These bridges also happen to be the routes for many border areas of Kashmir. And
it is here, on these bridges, that most of the death occurred during two
incidents of unrest in 2008 and 2010, including that a 13-year-old boy who was
allegedly thrown into river by the security forces.
The state government, to curb the stone pelting, came up
with a project to de-congest the slum-like Old Town, a plan conceived after the
2010 agitation in the valley. The reason, many security analysts say, was to
try to decongest the 13 Mohallas of the Old Town and neighbouring Azadganj.
These areas were the places where most of the stone pelting took place. These
are incidentally also the places which are most congested. The growth of
extremist religious organizations has been tremendous in more then two decades
of conflict. In the 2008 Assembly elections, only 56 out of an estimated 50,000
voters in Old Town exercised their franchise.
Defense ministry has now given a nod to the night landing
facility on the Srinagar Airport, flights can land in Srinagar till 10 pm which
is a good step that will increase the tourist footfall ten times in the state.
He said, “The PM Modi led government has changed the
discourse and it has become clear during the last two years that anti-nationals
would be dealt with sternly and no effort would be made to appease them.”
The BJP spokesman said that people of Kashmir are fed up
of violence and want to live a peaceful life. “They identify themselves with India
and want to prosper like people of other states. BJP and Prime Minister Modi
understand the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir and we are committed
to bring peace, prosperity and stability in the region.”
"What Kashmiris really need is development. And that
is what Mr Modi offers," says Ms Hina Bhat - a candidate for the
five-phase elections in Jammu and Kashmir, as she hurries through the lane,
supporters and security men in tow.
"Our youth are frustrated - there are no jobs, no opportunities. We
aim to change that."
While engaging the moderates, Modi govt have been stern with the hardliners, so much so that separatist leader Geelani was forced to accept his Indian citizenship to obtain a visa to go abroad.
By engaging with PDP in Kashmir, the BJP is
respecting the mandate and the historic responsibility bestowed on it by
the people of Jammu and Kashmir. BJP, being a responsible political
party, shall not throw a community into turmoil just to uphold and
protect its political ideology. BJP has the responsibility of leaving
no stones unturned, to restore peace, restart development, and return
its youth to the mainstream in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which has
borne the brunt of senseless secessionist movements for almost three
decades.
