Actions In Kashmir Are Latest
Conflicts In The Long-Disputed Region
(New York, N.Y.) - On
August 3, 2019, Indian authorities and Kashmir’s government
ordered thousands of tourists and Hindu pilgrims to leave
Indian-administered Kashmir, warning of a “terror threat” against
Hindu pilgrims heading to the Amarnath shrine. Officials claim that
armed militants backed by Pakistan were planning an attack on the
annual pilgrimage. While the Indian government has deployed an extra
10,000 troops, over 20,000 pilgrims and more than 200,000 laborers
have been scrambling to leave the area. Although India
and Pakistan
claim all of Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi and Islamabad only control
portions of the territory.
Kashmir has been a contended territory since the end of British
colonial rule in 1947. The present insurgency in Kashmir began in
1989, and continues today, with death toll estimates well over 40,000.
Several Pakistan-based extremist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), and
Hizb-il-Mujahideen (HM), conduct attacks on Indian targets in the
Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which makes up 45 percent of the
overall Kashmir region.
On
August 5, 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked
Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution, which granted
autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. Withdrawing Kashmir’s autonomy gave
Modi’s federal government complete control over Kashmir’s security
forces. The day after this action, Pakistan’s parliament and
Islamabad’s top military leadership discussed India’s decision.
Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, announced that the
military will “go to any extent” to support the Kashmiris, and Prime
Minister Imran Khan claimed that suicide bombings will likely become
more common in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The region’s security remains tenuous at best as potential threats
from extremist groups and the actions by both governments continue to
reshape the situation on the ground.
To read the CEP report, India: Extremism & Counter-Extremism,
please click here.
To read the CEP report, Pakistan: Extremism &
Counter-Extremism, please click here.
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