Muslim Separatists in Jammu and Kashmir
The conflict over Punjab's northern neighbor, Jammu and Kashmir, dates to Britain's partition of India and Pakistan at independence in 1947. Although Muslims constituted a majority in the state, most of that territory became part of predominantly Hindu India. Predominantly Muslim Pakistan occupies a northwestern section of Kashmir beyond a contested border established by war and monitored by the United Nations.
Since 1989 Kashmir's Muslim separatists have escalated their battle to join Pakistan or to become independent. The death toll has steadily mounted with claims of brutal atrocities on both sides. The government estimates that over 20,000 have died, including nearly 700 members of its security forces. Numerous pro-Pakistani groups obtain weapons through an Afghan arms pipeline. An estimated 100,000 Hindus fled to refugee camps in 1990.
Terrorist kidnappings exceeded 100 in early 1994. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front kidnapped the Home Minister's daughter in 1989 to obtain the release of five prisoners. "In addition to political killings and kidnappings, militants engaged in extortion and carried out acts of random terror that left hundreds of Kashmiris dead. A bus bombing near Jammu on July 16 killed 6 and left 27 injured" in 1994.
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Unwilling to trust state police, the government has deployed nearly 350,000 troops from the army and two paramilitary groups, the Border Security Forces (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The security forces have detained thousands of suspects without trial, and hundreds taken into custody did not survive.
Amnesty International published details of 706 deaths in custody between mid-1992 and 1994 with extensive documentation of lethal torture--electric shock, rape, beatings, and mutilation. The Governor of Kashmir Krishna Rao conceded: "I genuinely feel bad if torture leads to death.. . . . Where is the need to kill a militant if he is totally defenseless? I've told the forces to be careful. Custodial deaths will hurt my cause, so I have a vested interest in putting an end to them."
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Conditions deteriorated in May 1995 after the destruction of the shrine of Sheikh Nuruddin Wali and the adjacent mosque at Charar Sharif in a pitched battle between security forces and rebels. The central government postponed mid-year local elections that had been planned to end President's rule. The Hizbul Mujahadeen detonated a bomb outside a bank in the summer capital Srinagar that killed 13 and wounded 25.
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