Both India and Pakistan claim the Kashmir Valley,
a predominantly Muslim region. The valley was once a unique and idyllic
patch of India, filled with apple orchards and shimmering fields of
saffron framed by spiky, snow-capped peaks. Kashmir's mosaic of
relatively peaceful coexistence first began to crack during the
partition of British India, in 1947. Sixty years of bitterness,
including two wars, have followed.
For decades, India maintained hundreds of thousands of security forces in Kashmir to fight an insurgency sponsored by Pakistan. The insurgency has been largely vanquished. But those Indian forces are still in place, and have faced major popular unrest in recent times. From 2008 to 2010 more than 100 civilians were killed in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and heavily armed security forces in Srinagar, the state's major city. Each death prompted a fresh set of angry demonstrations that prompted even tougher crackdowns, leading to more bloodshed. The valley’s economy virtually collapsed.
The troubles signaled the failure of decades of efforts to win the assent of Kashmiris using just about any tool available: money, elections and overwhelming force. However, in the summer of 2011, the Kashmir Valley enjoyed an unexpected season of tranquillity. Tourists from across India descended on the valley, filling just about every airplane seat, hotel room and houseboat. Business in Lal Chowk, Srinagar’s bustling central market, boomed.
No grand bargain between India and Pakistan was struck that would explain the new calm, and no major concessions were made within the Indian portion of the region either. Draconian laws that shield security forces from prosecution still allow the police to arrest anyone suspected of disturbing the peace.
Yet subtle but unmistakable shifts calmed the situation in Kashmir. A détente between India and Pakistan helped cool tensions in the region. Talks between the nations had been on hold for two years after militants from Pakistan attacked the city of Mumbai, formerly Bombay, killing more than 160 people. The talks resumed in 2011 in earnest, and on July 27 the two countries announced a series of measures aimed at easing restrictions at the Line of Control, the de facto border between the parts of Kashmir each country controls.
A Terrible Chapter Reopened
Yet a grim discovery cast a shadow over this new sense of calm in August 2011, when a state human rights commission inquiry concluded that thousands of bullet-riddled bodies buried in dozens of unmarked graves across Kashmir are likely to be those of civilians who disappeared during the insurgency of the early 1990s. Tens of thousands of people died in the insurgency, which began in 1989 and was partly fueled by training, weapons and cash from Pakistan.
The inquiry, the result of three years of investigative work by senior police officers working for the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission, brings the first official acknowledgment that civilians might have been buried in mass graves in Kashmir. The report shed new light on a terrible chapter in the history of the troubled province and confirmed a 2008 report by a Kashmiri human rights organization that found hundreds of bodies buried in the Kashmir Valley.
According to the report, the bodies of hundreds of men described as unidentified militants were buried in unmarked graves. Of the more than 2,000 bodies, 574 were identified as local residents. The report called for a thorough inquiry and collection DNA evidence to identify the dead, and urged that anyone killed by security forces in Kashmir in the future be properly identified to avoid abuse of special laws shielding the military from prosecution there.
Thousands of people, mostly young men, had gone missing in Kashmir. Some went to be trained as militants in the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir and were killed in fighting. Many others were detained by Indian security forces.
For decades, India maintained hundreds of thousands of security forces in Kashmir to fight an insurgency sponsored by Pakistan. The insurgency has been largely vanquished. But those Indian forces are still in place, and have faced major popular unrest in recent times. From 2008 to 2010 more than 100 civilians were killed in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and heavily armed security forces in Srinagar, the state's major city. Each death prompted a fresh set of angry demonstrations that prompted even tougher crackdowns, leading to more bloodshed. The valley’s economy virtually collapsed.
The troubles signaled the failure of decades of efforts to win the assent of Kashmiris using just about any tool available: money, elections and overwhelming force. However, in the summer of 2011, the Kashmir Valley enjoyed an unexpected season of tranquillity. Tourists from across India descended on the valley, filling just about every airplane seat, hotel room and houseboat. Business in Lal Chowk, Srinagar’s bustling central market, boomed.
No grand bargain between India and Pakistan was struck that would explain the new calm, and no major concessions were made within the Indian portion of the region either. Draconian laws that shield security forces from prosecution still allow the police to arrest anyone suspected of disturbing the peace.
Yet subtle but unmistakable shifts calmed the situation in Kashmir. A détente between India and Pakistan helped cool tensions in the region. Talks between the nations had been on hold for two years after militants from Pakistan attacked the city of Mumbai, formerly Bombay, killing more than 160 people. The talks resumed in 2011 in earnest, and on July 27 the two countries announced a series of measures aimed at easing restrictions at the Line of Control, the de facto border between the parts of Kashmir each country controls.
A Terrible Chapter Reopened
Yet a grim discovery cast a shadow over this new sense of calm in August 2011, when a state human rights commission inquiry concluded that thousands of bullet-riddled bodies buried in dozens of unmarked graves across Kashmir are likely to be those of civilians who disappeared during the insurgency of the early 1990s. Tens of thousands of people died in the insurgency, which began in 1989 and was partly fueled by training, weapons and cash from Pakistan.
The inquiry, the result of three years of investigative work by senior police officers working for the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission, brings the first official acknowledgment that civilians might have been buried in mass graves in Kashmir. The report shed new light on a terrible chapter in the history of the troubled province and confirmed a 2008 report by a Kashmiri human rights organization that found hundreds of bodies buried in the Kashmir Valley.
According to the report, the bodies of hundreds of men described as unidentified militants were buried in unmarked graves. Of the more than 2,000 bodies, 574 were identified as local residents. The report called for a thorough inquiry and collection DNA evidence to identify the dead, and urged that anyone killed by security forces in Kashmir in the future be properly identified to avoid abuse of special laws shielding the military from prosecution there.
Thousands of people, mostly young men, had gone missing in Kashmir. Some went to be trained as militants in the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir and were killed in fighting. Many others were detained by Indian security forces.
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