Cross Border Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir

Cross Border Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir:

The Indian Independence Act, 1947 provided that the rulers of the princely states had to take the final decision whether they wished to join India or Pakistan. The problem in Jammu and Kashmir began with Pakistan sending tribal raiders with the support of the army to force Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir to join Pakistan. Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession making the State a part of the Indian union after which India sent troops to protect Kashmir. This resulted in the first India- Pakistan war of 1947-48. Again in 1965 Pakistan sent in infiltrators with the hope that they would lead the people of Jammu and Kashmir to rise against India. However, when Pakistan actually attacked in 1965, the local population did not support Pakistan.

In 1965 Amanullah Khan created the Plebiscite Front in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The organisation had an unofficial armed wing called National Liberation Front, which carried out sabotage activities in Jammu and Kashmir. In 1977 the Plebiscite Front was given a new name, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). In 1989 a National Conference worker was shot dead and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) kidnaped Rubia Sayeed, daughter of the then Home Minister. The main demand of the JKLF was to create an independent state of Kashmir. Pakistan decided to use the Mujahideen to back the pro-Pakistan guerrilla groups such as the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in Kashmir. The entry of the pan-Islamist fighters into the Valley from Pakistan changed the colour of the insurgency. The growth of Islamic militancy in Kashmir in the 1990s resulted in the migration of the Pandit population from Kashmir.

The Indian government has maintained that terrorism emanating from across Indian borders remains the core concern in India’s relationship with Pakistan. The government argues that infiltration from across the border is mainly in Jammu and Kashmir which is affected by terrorist violence, sponsored and supported from across the border. The Ministry of Home, Government of India in its Annual Report of 2016-17 states: The State of Jammu and Kashmir has been affected by terrorist and secessionist violence, sponsored and supported from across the border, for more than two and a half decades. It also says that Pakistan has tried to radicalise the people through vested social groups and the use of social media. Jammu and Kashmir has seen a continuous period of instability fostered by cross-border intervention in form of militancy or political support to separatist groups like the Hurriyat. The disturbing feature of the conflict is the use of children for stone-throwing and burning of schools by the militants.

All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), is an alliance of 26 political, social, and religious organizations formed on 9 March 1993, as a united political front to raise the cause of Kashmiri separatism in the Kashmir conflict. Mehmood Ahmed Saghar was the first convener of the APHC-PAK chapter when the alliance was established in 1993. The alliance has historically been viewed positively by Pakistan as it contests the claim of the Indian government over the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is its chairman and in 2009 Mehmood Ahmed Saghar was unanimously elected as convener of APHC in Pakistan, and Ghulam Muhammad Safi was elected as its convener in Pakistan in January 2010. In 2018 the CIA classified the APHC as a separatist group.