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Tens of Thousands protest in Srinagar in August 2010
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Since the Kashmir insurgency started in 1989, it has often been portrayed in the mainstream media as a terrorist movement. Yet tens of thousands who marched in the streets of Srinagar since 1989 through recent protests in 2010 defy such a simplistic explanation. For a detailed analysis, see article Popular Insurgency or Terrorism?
Kashmiri women mouring the loss of their family members in violence[1]
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Kashmir is bleeding, as we speak. The annual casualty rate is chillingly high. At least 40,000 people have been killed since insurgency began in 1989, according to conservative official estimates. Unofficial estimates are well over 80,000-half of them are civilians. Thousands of Indian soldiers have been killed and it costs billions of dollars to keep the army in Kashmir. There is one soldier for every 10 kashmiris in the Valley and daily life is a nightmare for the ordinary Kashmiri.
The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades, fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir and the possibility of war between the two countries has become frightening given their nuclear weapon capability. Kashmir continues to be the bone of contention between India and Pakistan. Each side insists it is right and the other is wrong. India insists that the accession of Kashmir to India is final and complete and hence Kashmir is an integral part of India and that all would be well in Kashmir, but for Pakistan's cross-border terrorism. Pakistan on the other hand, insists that Kashmir is a disputed territory and that it is merely providing moral and diplomatic support for an indigenous freedom struggle in Kashmir. A large number of Kashmiris do not believe that the 1947 accession is final; they insist that Kashmir is a disputed territory and demand self-determination. Indian public is bombarded with the official version of rhetoric on Kashmir, as Pakistanis are bombarded likewise with their version. Could we objectively revisit this complex issue which continues to exact increasing death toll of civilians, as each day passes? All sides cannot be right at once in their claims of absolute moral rectitude, the truth probably lies somewhere in between.