MUZAFFARABAD:Three decades ago, Ali Mohamad says he made a trip into Indian-controlledKashmir to join a small armed militant group. Now he works in a shop on thePakistani side of the region, but he hasn't given up thoughts of returning tothe conflict. After the Indian government clamped down on Kashmir this week,Ali has again been thinking of going back. "I have not left, we are allwatching", he said, adding that he believes all Kashmiris will take uparms when needed.
"I foughtfor my rights. When someone crushes you then what else can you do?" saidAli, 53, who was born in Indian-controlled Kashmir and then moved to thePakistani side. Seeking to tighten its grip on the region, India this weekwithdrew special rights for Jammu and Kashmir state. It has cut off almost allcommunications, prohibited assemblies of more than four people and detainedhundreds of political and separatist leaders.
Theconstitutional change will mean that non-residents will be able to buyproperty, get government jobs and take college places in the state, to the furyof arch-rival Pakistan, which claims the region as its own and accuses India oftrying to change the demographics of its only Muslim-majority state. It hasalso angered many on both sides of Kashmir who see India as imposing its willon the region without giving the people a chance of self-determination.
Ali is not alonein wondering whether he might rejoin the armed struggle. In the 1990s,Tanveer-ul-Islam was one of the top commanders of Tehreek-Ul-Mujahideen, agroup resisting Indian rule that was banned as a terrorist organization by NewDelhi in February. He and many other militants renounced violence decades ago,but said some veterans of the Kashmir conflict had been outraged by India'sdecision. "If the situation continues it might compel us to take up armsagain. It is not just me, there are many others."
If the views ofAli and Tanveer are representative of a fraction of the people in Kashmir, itcould create a worsening threat of armed attacks for India. To be sure, themajority of the refugees from Indian-controlled Kashmir whom Reuters spoke toin Muzafarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, said they didn'tsupport an armed struggle, with some saying it just ended up hurting ordinaryKashmiris. Instead, they wanted to see stronger action against India byPakistan and the international community.
Historic conflict
Nuclear-armedneighbors India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmirand engaged in an aerial clash in February after a militant group based inPakistan claimed responsibility for an attack on an Indian military convoy.India has long accused Pakistan of funding and harboring the groups. Islamabaddenies this, saying it provides only diplomatic and moral support tonon-violent separatists on the Indian side. In the small town of Chakothi,three kilometers from the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Indian and Pakistan-controlledKashmir, Zeeshan Sadiq said families are beginning to rebuild undergroundshelters.
Indian shells hitthe area in February. "The neighbors also came to stay in here as theirbunkers were in disrepair," Sadiq said, crouched in a claustrophobicreinforced concrete room under his home. "Now everyone here is rebuildingthem". Last week, Pakistan accused India of using illegal cluster bombs,killing two civilians and wounding 11. India has denied using such weapons.Exchange of fire between the two countries has intensified in the past fewyears along the LoC.
The blackout hasmade communication across the border impossible, residents said. Trader AjazAhmad Meer's wife and two daughters were visiting Srinagar, the capital ofIndian-held Kashmir, when New Delhi cut telephone and internet services."I have not heard from them for five days," he said. "I spoke tomy seven-year-old daughter the night before communication got cut off. She said'papa we are troubled here' and since then I have heard nothing." -Reuters