Kashmir insurgency completes 30 years

Sabahat Kumari
Srinagar, Jul 30 (KNB): Thirty years have passed since the inception of armed struggle aimed to liberate the Kashmir. On this day i.e. 31st July, 1988 soon after the 1987 elections with the participation of Muslim United Front alleging of massive rigging the blowback resulted in insurgency. On July 31, thirty-years ago, twin blasts rocked Kashmir marking the “beginning of armed resistance” in the region.
The twin blasts according to the eye witnesses shook the Valley reportedly carried out by the activists of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), symbolized the “outburst of dissent against the injustice and violations in J&K.”



In Assembly elections held in March 1987, MUF could win only four seats out of 87. The elections were allegedly rigged and immediately after the announcement of results hundreds of MUF activists were arrested which included Yasin Malik, Shaheed Ashfaq Majeed Wani, Shaheed Sheikh Abdul Hameed and Javed Ahmad Mir.
The seeds of insurgency where sown in 1985 after a group of young boys, painted a map of separate Jammu and Kashmir on streets. They were arrested and lodged into the notorious torture centre, Red 16 at Gupkar Road for more than two weeks. After their release, the names like Hamid Sheikh, Ashfaq Majid, Yasin Malik and Javaid Mir join Students League party, which becomes a popular force during the 1987 elections.
Before the twin blasts people were unaware that dozens of Kashmiri youth have crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and have returned with armed training. There was a sudden shift, the people who were running the non-violent movement before joined the armed movement just to highlight their plight in the hands of New Delhi.
After actively involved with the 1987 assembly elections, the youth who started the insurgency lost faith in the democratic process. The rigging in MUF elections, as all agree now, proved to be a turning point in the history of Kashmir, pushing the angry youth towards armed struggle.
Government initially thought it was the HAJY faction of JKLF that carried the attacks, and on morning of the August 01 of 1988, various hideouts are raided. Hameed Sheikh, Yasin Malik, Ashfaq Majid and Javaid Mir had to leave Kashmir and they crossed over to PaK. Most of the members of the other group also left for Pakistan and stayed there for more than a year, barring few. The political groups largely condemned the bombings across the divide. Even many of those who are in the separatist camp today were wary of the developments.



Today, as of 30 July 2018, thirty years have passed since the insurgency begins in Valley influenced by the Afghan Jihad and Iran revolution the gun continues to attain the attention of youth, to which thousands are devoting their precious lives for the reason what they say ‘better political future’ of Kashmir. The states both India and Pakistan need to resolve the Kashmir issue on priority basis so as to stop the loss of precious lives in trouble-torn Kashmir. (KNB)