Locals fear further violence as police admit
Isis-inspired fighters are active in the region
By Michael Safi in Delhi and Azhar Farooq in
Srinagar
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Kashmiri protesters throw
stones and bricks at Indian paramilitary soldiers during
a protest on the outskirts
of Srinagar. Photograph: Dar Yasin/AP
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The disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir is
on edge after clashes between militants and security forces, and the collapse
of the local government over disagreements that include how to tackle the
resurgent fighting in the state.
A month-long unilateral ceasefire declared by
the Indian government for Ramadan expired a week ago. Recent events, including
the first official acknowledgement that -inspired fighters may be operating in
Kashmir, have raised fears of another violent summer ahead for the troubled
region.
In the latest incident on Friday, security
forces fought a nearly seven-hour gun battle with militants in the southern
district of Anantnag. Four rebels, a police officer and a civilian were killed
in the shooting, police said. It is the third clash between Indian authorities
and militants since the end of Ramadan, during which security forces had
suspended their operations as part of a new push to initiate dialogue with
separatists, whose goals include independence or merger with Pakistan.
Police chief Shesh Paul Vaid identified the
slain fighters as members of a local unit that claims to be affiliated with
Isis. This is the first time the police have acknowledged the presence of
Isis-inspired or affiliated fighters in Kashmir.
The Isis-affiliated “news service” Amaq
issued a statement on Friday claiming the fighters were members of its group, but
analysts have raised doubts about what contact, if any, the terrorist group has
with the militant group, which calls itself Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir
(ISJK).
The restarting of security operations after
Ramadan and the decision of authorities to acknowledge the existence of ISJK
come during a period of political instability in Kashmir after the collapse of
the state government this week.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party
(BJP), which is part of the national government, announced on Tuesday that it
was pulling out of a governing coalition with the local Jammu and Kashmir
Peoples Democratic party, known by the initials PDP.
Ram Madhav, the BJP official who brokered the
alliance in 2015, said it was no longer tenable “keeping in mind the largest
interest of India’s integrity and to bring the deteriorating situation in the
state under control”.
The intensity of fighting in Kashmir has
steadily grown in the past three years with the emergence of a new generation
of anti-India militants.
The BJP has traditionally favoured taking a
hard line against Kashmiri separatism, a stance that put pressure on its
alliance with the PDP, which is considered more sympathetic to the cause.
How to tackle the militancy was thought to be
a deep fault line in the relationship. “We have always said muscular [security]
policy will not work in Jammu and Kashmir,” the PDP leader, Mehbooba Mufti,
said on Tuesday after the collapse of the government. “We cannot treat Jammu
and Kashmir as an enemy territory.”
Additional checkpoints have sprung up in
restive parts of Kashmir since the collapse of the government. Control of the
state has temporarily passed to its governor, NN Vohra, until a new government
can be formed.
Vaid said he expected security operations
would “intensify” in coming days and that the job of police would become “much
easier” under Vohra’s rule.
Kashmir, a former princely state
(semi-sovereign territory) under the Raj, has been divided since 1947 between
sections controlled by Pakistan, India and China. Pakistan and India both claim
the entire region as their own.
A United Nations resolution issued in 1948
demands that India allow Kashmiris a plebiscite to decide whether they remain
part of the Indian union or become independent, but no such vote has ever been
organised by Delhi.
An armed rebellion broke out in 1989 against
Indian rule and has raged at varying levels of intensity in the years since.
The fighting is thought to have killed at least 40,000 people in the past three
decades, according to Indian government estimates.