World View: India’s Kashmir Locked Down After Police Kill 3 Civilians

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• India’s Kashmir locked down after 3 civilians killed by police
• Violence sparked by death of Burhan Wani continues to grow

India’s Kashmir locked down after 3 civilians killed by police

Villagers in Kashmir carry the body of a youth, Faizan Ahmed, 15, during a funeral on June 30, 2018. (AFP)

A 16-year-old girl was among three people who died in Kashmir on Friday, after security forces opened fire at stone-throwing protesters. India’s army says that it is “investigating” the deaths of the three civilians, but says that they had to resort to controlled firing after a crowd of nearly 500 people attacked a patrol unit. In a statement, the army said that soldiers were injured by terrorist gunfire.

Mobile internet services have been suspended in the entire Kashmir Valley over fears of widespread unrest, particularly as July 8 is the two-year anniversary of the death of Burhan Wani, the commander of the Kashmir separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen.

Hizbul Mujahideen is a separatist terror group of Muslims demanding independence for India-governed Kashmir, and that it be permitted to merge with Pakistan-governed Kashmir so that all of Kashmir is under Pakistan control. Hizbul Mujahideen was formed in 1989, funded by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. It has been very popular in Kashmir, with thousands of anti-India protesters as members, and is demanding that Kashmir separate from India and made part of Pakistan. New Delhi TV and India Times and The Independent (Bangladesh) and Hindustan Times

Violence sparked by death of Burhan Wani continues to grow

The death of Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016, triggered a major surge in violence that lasted throughout the summer and then into the fall, resulting in the deaths of 80 people. The violence ebbed only when the cold of winter set in. Then the violence began again in summer 2017, continuing into the winter.

The violence has been greater so far this year. Since January this year, 210 people – including 58 civilians, over 104 militants, and 48 security forces personnel – have been killed in the Valley in different incidents of violence.

There has also been a change in the membership of the separatist groups in the last two years. In the past, the members of the separatist groups had infiltrated from the Pakistan-governed side of Kashmir, but recently young people from India-government Kashmir have been announcing they are joining the militants on social media, with pictures of themselves holding guns.

On May 25 of this year, Shamsul Haq Mengnoo, 25, the younger brother of a police officer, announced on social media that he had joined Hizbul Mujahideen. Shamsul is the fourth highly-educated youth to join militant ranks this year, and the 50th youth to join altogether. On Sunday alone, the anniversary of Wani Burhan’s death, over a dozen newly recruited militants posted pictures on social media.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, Kashmir is replaying previous generations of violence according to a fairly standard template. India’s previous two generational crisis wars were India’s 1857 Rebellion, which pitted Hindu nationalists against British colonists, and the 1947 Partition War, one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century, pitting Hindus versus Muslims, following the partitioning of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan.

Now, as the survivors of the 1947 Partition War have almost all died off, leaving behind younger generations with no fear of repeating past disasters, Kashmir is repeating the violence of 1857 and 1947.

As the weather has warmed in the last few weeks, the violence has been increasing. Generational Dynamics predicts that Kashmir is returning to full-scale war, re-fighting the extremely bloody partition war of 1947. Tribune India and First Post (India) and CNBC (5-July)

Related Articles

• India cancels ceasefire in Kashmir after one month (18-Jun-2018)
• Massive new anti-India violence in Kashmir leads to 20 deaths (02-Apr-2018)
• Portions of Indian-governed Kashmir shut down after deadly clashes (09-Mar-2018)
• India’s ‘Operation All-Out’ brings Kashmir closer to all-out war (24-Jun-2017)
• Police clashes in India-governed Kashmir kill 36 and leave thousands injured (14-Jul-2016)

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Hizbul Mujahideen, Burhan Wani, Inter-Services Intelligence, ISI, Shamsul Haq Mengnoo
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