After most of their tourists, 26 people, were killed last week in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, the Indian government called the massacre a terrorist attack and cited “cross-border cooperation” with Pakistan.
A group called the Front of Resistance appeared on social media to say it was behind the massacre. Indian officials personally say the group is on behalf of Rashkar e Taiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation.
However, India has not publicly provided evidence linking the attack to Pakistan, citing national security concerns. Pakistan also calls for international investigation into this episode.
India has now come to appear to insist on a military strike against Pakistan in retaliation for the Kashmir attack, which has pointed to what is called Pakistan’s past support patterns for extremist groups targeting India.
What is the origin of the conflict?
The roots of the Kashmir conflict date back to the division of British India in 1947, which led to the creation of primarily Hindu India and primarily Muslim Pakistan.
That October, the majority of Muslims, Kashmiri princely Hindu monarchs, were accused of India, but Pakistan claimed territory and tried to take it by military force. An unrecorded agreement in 1949 established a ceasefire line to divide Kashmir.
After the wars of 1965 and 1971, the ceasefire became the line of control, with India owning about two-thirds of Kashmir and Pakistan. However, the dispute remains unresolved.
How did Pakistan support extremists?
The rebellion against the controlled portion of Kashmir, controlled by India, began in the 1980s and was driven primarily by local dissatisfaction, with Pakistan ultimately supporting several groups, experts say.
The 1987 local elections were widely recognized as a defence and unified coalition of Muslim parties. “It concluded that Kashmir political activists could never achieve political demands in the ballot box,” said Christopher Clary, an associate professor of political science at the University of Albany.
“Native insurrections have appeared,” he said.
Among the Kashmir-centric rebel groups that emerged, some supported the region’s independence, while others hoped that the Indian side of Kashmir would be taken over by Pakistan.
In the 1990s, Pakistan provided training and other support to several extremist groups operating within Kashmir and Pakistan. This involvement was later recognized by senior Pakistani officials, including former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
The rebellion began to ease around 2002 as Pakistan banned other major extremist groups, Rashkar e Taiba and Jaish e Muhammad, but Rashkar e Taiba continued to operate under the alias. A ceasefire was declared and the peace process with India was launched. This has shifted some observers related to US pressure after the post-9/11 intervention in Afghanistan.
After the attacks in Mumbai, India in 2008, the peace process collapsed, killing 166 people, resulting from Rashkar Aetaiba.
What evidence did India present?
After the Mumbai attack, India provided detailed documentation, including intercepted communications between Pakistani attackers and their handlers.
Tarik Kosa, who led the Pakistani investigation in the incident, publicly confirmed that the investigation revealed the Pakistani nationality of the sole surviving attacker and revealed that extremists from Lashkar e-Tayba had been trained in Pakistan.
After the fatal 2016 attack on India’s Patankot Air Force Base, the country accused Jaish e Muhammad of coordinating the attack, citing intercepted calls and statements from captured individuals.
Pakistan established an investigation team that visited the air force base and detained several Jaish-e-Muhammad members.
However, Pakistan did not approve of India’s demand to interrogate the chief of the extremist group. The investigation had conclusive results, and no major convictions were achieved.
So far, India has not provided similar evidence in support of Pakistan’s allegations of involvement in the attacks in Kashmir last week.
What’s going on today?
Pakistan has denied providing state support to Kashmirian extremists, but its leaders often express solidarity with Kashmiris, who wants independence from India. Pakistan acknowledges that it provided funding and training to extremist groups in the 1990s.
After last week’s attack in Kashmir, Pakistan’s defense minister, Kawaja Muhammad Asif, claimed that groups like Rashkar e Tayba had been abolished.
Majid Nizami, an expert in the Lahore-based jihadist group, said scrutiny from the Financial Conduct Task Force, a global financial watchdog group based in Paris, has been stepped up, imposing restrictions on the leadership of Lashkar Etaiba and putting pressure on Pakistan to seize the group’s financial assets.
India’s tightening of border control has permeated “nearly impossible” across the line of control, Nizami said.
After India’s decision in 2019, frustration grew that extremists would revoke the special autonomy given to parts of Kashmir.
Despite Pakistan’s denial, Western observers say they continue to provide some kind of support to anti-Indian extremists, including safe shelters.
“There are extremists who are homemade in Kashmir,” said Albany Professor Clary. “However, most observers rate the groups supported by Pakistan as more important than their own extremists.”
