Paradise on Fire by Hakeem Abdul;

Author:Hakeem, Abdul;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd

8.1 Frequent scenes like this proved the huge public support that militants enjoy in Kashmir

HM has conducted a number of operations against Indian military targets in J&K. The group is also blamed for occasional strikes at civilian targets in J&K but has not engaged in armed activities elsewhere in India. However, this may change in the future. According to Salahuddin: ‘The irony is, when there is a bomb blast in India then the international community raises an uproar against it. But when Indian forces kill innocent people in Kashmir and rape our sisters and mothers then there is no such reaction from the international community. We have made it clear to the Indian forces that their revenge should be limited to us and not our families. But when they damage our property and kill our family members then we have to retaliate in a manner that we don’t want to.’11 He meant targeting Indian civilians. Vidya Subrahmaniam echoed the implied warning in the Times of India (13 July 2000): ‘for its part, the BJP must understand that India cannot feel secure when Kashmiris are so insecure.’

Despite claims to the contrary by Indian politicians and security officers, ‘the insurgency is running at full tilt, with bomb attacks on the security forces and other official targets…. Hardly a day seems to go by in Srinagar without an explosion. India’s efforts to contain the menace are winning it no friends. Kashmiri leaders say the number of custodial killings – essentially, murders of suspected militants held in custody – has risen, a claim backed by human rights groups in Delhi’ (The Economist, 3 June 2000). The insurgency is largely sustained by the support that ‘excesses by the security forces – such as fake encounters and coercive measures against innocents in the name of search and seizure operations – generate in the local population’ (The Hindu, 12 May 2001, editorial).

In Geelani’s view, post-9/11, ‘all armed struggles, whether they were just or otherwise, were linked to terrorism. Our struggle too was bracketed with terrorism. Pakistan, which supported us, [it] too, possibly at the instructions of the United States, clubbed our struggle with terrorism. That led to a rethinking in our ranks’ (Arab News, 17 August 2010). But Salahuddin stressed in his September 2001 interview with the Indian magazine The Meantime: ‘Any [Pakistani] ruler who compromises on Kashmir will not survive. The Kashmir mujahideen […] know [how to] manufacture sensitive and high-intensity devices. We just get diplomatic, moral and political support from Pakistan. We get the bulk of our arms from India itself. There are many Indian NGOs engaged in arms deals.’ Earlier, The Sunday Mail (12 June 1994) reported a specific incident where militants ambushed the army and walked away with their weapons after killing security personnel:

On April 1, 1993 the Indian Army’s Eighth Division had launched a cordon and search operation in Arampura area. Brigadier H. S. Kanwar was going to inspect the operation in a convoy of four–five vehicles when he was ambushed. The army convoy took a severe beating and four members were killed including a captain.

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