I'm Not Holding My Breath, But.....

[Joe Shearer]

A significant chunk of the population was pro-India (or at least neutral) back then. Even during the peak of militancy in the early '90s many Kashmiris still had hope in India. Pakistani LeT, in fact, was never very well-liked among local Kashmiris. Today, the number of militants has dropped significantly (from several thousand in the 90s to merely two hundred or so currently) but the support for the new generation Kashmiri militants has tremendously grown. Anti-India sentiment is at an all-time high and Pakistan's "relevance" is at an all-time low. Kashmiris, most of them, hate India, but they don't like Pakistan either, they chant pro-Pakistan slogans and carry Pakistani flags only to irk the Indians.

I have to agree. The young (and middle-aged, and old) Kashmiris are absolutely fed up with the deprivation of basic dignity, and the ham-handedness of the current stance of the security forces.

He talks about Sikhs and Khalistan. I think the Indian government (and the Indian Punjab government) is more worried about drugs and narcotics (even arms) that are smuggled into Indian Punjab from Pakistan through the Shakargarh-Gurdaspur/IOK border (which is also infiltrator's first choice) than 'Khalistan'. Indian Punjab has a very serious drug problem and a number of Sikhs living close to the border are involved in drug trafficking. BSF has very strict rules and those Sikh agriculturists whose agricultural lands are close to zero-line are not allowed to plow their fields (or even enter them) after the sunset. During daytime, they can do so only under strict watch of BSF jawans and they are not allowed to get off their tractors no matter what. Usually, plastic pipes are used for delivering material to the other side as the double-fence makes crossing over quite difficult.

Again find myself in doleful agreement.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Burhan Wani’s death changed everything. Now, equally disturbing is the lack of human decency being displayed in Pulwama.

Poshpura rape and massacre has a similar effect of galvanizing Kashmiri mujahideen.