Small Wars Journal

Kashmir’s War Gets Smaller, Dirtier and More Intimate

Thu, 08/02/2018 - 10:37am

Kashmir’s War Gets Smaller, Dirtier and More Intimate by Jeffrey Gettleman – New York Times

… Kashmir’s war, a territorial dispute between India and neighboring Pakistan, has smoldered for decades. Now it is collapsing into itself. The violence is becoming smaller, more intimate and harder to escape.

Years ago, Pakistan pushed thousands of militants across the border as a proxy army to wreak havoc in the Indian-controlled parts of Kashmir. Now, the resistance inside the Indian areas is overwhelmingly homegrown.

The conflict today is probably driven less by geopolitics than by internal Indian politics, which have increasingly taken an anti-Muslim direction. Most of the fighters are young men like Sameer Tiger from quiet brick-walled villages like Qasbayar, who draw support from a population deeply resentful of India’s governing party and years of occupation.

Anyone even remotely associated with politics is in danger. That included Mr. Ahmad, who, when he wasn’t sitting behind the counter of the village pharmacy, was known to host events for a local Kashmiri political party…

Read on.