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Are there terrorists in Kashmir?
Yes. The disputed majority-Muslim
region has its own local terrorist groups, but most of the recent terrorism
there has been conducted by Islamist outsiders who seek to claim Kashmir
for Pakistan. A recent spate of Islamist cross- border attacks into Indian-held
territory and the December 2001 storming of the Indian parliament in New
Delhi have reinforced Kashmir’s standing as the key bone of contention
between India and Pakistan. Both states have nuclear weapons, making Kashmir
one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints.
Do Islamist terrorists in Kashmir
have ties to al- Qaeda?
Yes. Many terrorists active in
Kashmir received training in the same madrasas, or Muslim seminaries, where
Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters studied, and some received military training
at camps in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Moreover, the Kashmiri terrorists’
leadership has al-Qaeda connections. The leader of the Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen
group, Farooq Kashmiri Khalil, signed al-Qaeda’s 1998 declaration of holy
war, which called on Muslims to attack all Americans and their allies.
Maulana Masood Azhar, who founded the Jaish-e-Muhammad organization, traveled
to Afghanistan several times to meet Osama bin Laden, and the group is
suspected of receiving funding from al-Qaeda, U.S. and Indian officials
say.
Has the nature of Kashmiri terrorism
changed since September 11?
Yes, experts say. Pakistan, which
used to back Islamist militants in Kashmir, changed course after September
11. After the December 2001 attack on India’s parliament, Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf promised to crack down on terrorist groups active in Kashmir.
In response, members of these extremist groups have gone underground, taken
other names, and formed new, ad hoc configurations. Experts say some of
these militants have branched out into attacks on Shiite and Christian
minorities, American facilities, and other Western targets in Pakistan.
Who controls Kashmir?
India now holds about two-thirds
of the disputed territory, which it calls Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan controls
about one-third, which it calls Azad (meaning “free”) Kashmir. China also
controls two small sections of northern Kashmir.
What makes Kashmir a flashpoint?
It’s been a constant source of
tension since 1947, when the British partitioned their imperial holdings
in South Asia into two new states, India and Pakistan. For Pakistan, incorporating
the Muslim-majority province of Kashmir is a basic national aspiration
bound up in its identity as a Muslim state. Meanwhile, India sees the province
as key to its identity as a secular, multiethnic state. India and Pakistan
have fought three wars over the region, in 1947, 1965, and 1971. At least
35,000 people have died in political violence in Kashmir since 1990.
Which Islamist terrorist groups
have been active in Kashmir?
The State Department lists three
Islamist groups active in Kashmir as foreign terrorist organizations: Harakat
ul- Mujahedeen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jaish-e-Muhammad. The first group
has been listed for years, and the other two were added after the December
2001 attack on the Indian parliament. All three groups attracted Pakistani
members as well as Afghan and Arab veterans who fought the 1980s Soviet
occupation of nearby Afghanistan.
* Harakat ul-Mujahedeen (“Islamic Freedom Fighters’ Group”) was established in the mid-1980s. Based first in Pakistan and then in Afghanistan, it had several thousand armed supporters in Pakistan and Kashmir. Harakat members have also participated in insurgent and terrorist operations in Burma, Tajikistan, and Bosnia.
* Jaish-e-Muhammad (“Army of Muhammad”) was established in 2000 by Maulana Masood Azhar, a Pakistani cleric. Jaish, which attracted Harakat members, had several hundred armed supporters in Kashmir and Pakistan.
* Lashkar-e-Taiba (“Army of the Pure”), active since 1993, is the military wing of the well-funded Pakistani Islamist organization Markaz-ad-Dawa-wal-Irshad, which recruited volunteers to fight alongside the Taliban.
Since Pakistan outlawed these groups,
attacks in Kashmir and Pakistan have been carried out under other guises.
One group calling itself al-Qanoon or Lashkar-e-Omar is thought to be a
coalition of members of Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other Pakistan-based
Islamist groups, including the anti-Shiite Lashkar-e-Jhangvi organization.
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