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Tensions escalated in recent weeks after gunmen killed 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for backing the attack, a claim Islamabad denies. The two countries have been fighting over the region for 70 years. But as Raksha Kumar reports from Kashmir, the disputed region has long struggled to find its own voice. She traces the history behind the conflict.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Non-English language spoken).
NISSAR AHMED PAUL: (Non-English language spoken).
RAKSHA KUMAR, BYLINE: Nissar Ahmed Paul and his wife run a preschool in his hometown of Budgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir while each administers only a part of it. About two dozen kids saunter into Paul's school every morning.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Non-English language spoken).
KUMAR: When Paul is not playing with toddlers, he's preparing to run for political office, telling his 120,000 voters he will bring better colleges and roads in public campaigns like this.
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PAUL: (Non-English language spoken).
(CROSSTALK)
KUMAR: Until recently, Paul says he did not believe in elections at all. That's because he grew up at a time when a majority of Kashmiris refused to participate in the elections conducted by New Delhi. It started with the 1987 elections when a majority of Kashmiris accused New Delhi of rigging the vote. So, for as long as Paul can remember, most Kashmiri socio political groups boycotted elections.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
KUMAR: When the electoral process broke down, an armed militancy took hold of Kashmir, which is also India's only Muslim majority state.
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KUMAR: Paul remembers his district being swept up by violence during that time.
PAUL: This district got early hit by the militants in every aspect, whether it is property damage, whether it is the killing of the youth, whether it is the collateral damage, or crackdowns, curfews and everything.
KUMAR: Those curfews and protests Paul talks about echoed with chants for independence, or azaadi.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Azaadi.
KUMAR: Independence from India, they chanted. Several Kashmiri separatist groups came together to call themselves the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in early 1990s. They sat at a table to discuss the conflict with New Delhi but never ran for office. Young people like Paul idealize them.
PAUL: We were part of the Hurriyat, I think, since childhood, so it was the mass movement that time (ph).
KUMAR: That changed in 2019, almost overnight, when Kashmir was brought under New Delhi's direct rule. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government justified the move by stating the Muslim majority state should not have autonomy.
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RACHEL MARTIN: Now India's government has taken an extraordinary step, revoking the special status that has long governed the Indian side of Kashmir.
KUMAR: Since then, Kashmiri separatist leaders have been jailed or put under house arrest, their assets frozen, and protests banned. Such repression is dangerous, says Noor Ahmad Baba, a former professor of political science at Kashmir University.
NOOR AHMAD BABA: Wherever you suppress sentiment and do not allow it normal peaceful expression, it leads sometimes to much more violent outbursts.
KUMAR: That's why when gunmen killed 26 civilians at a tourist site in the meadows of South Kashmir on April 22, many Kashmiris say they were not shocked, although everyone mourned the incident by closing down all activities in the valley.
PAUL: (Non-English language spoken).
KUMAR: Now separatist leaders who prefer dialogue over violence are struggling to regain their voice. Paul, the school administrator running for office, partially blames Modi's government for suppressing their movement, but he also blames the movement's own leaders for their lack of vision. Their biggest mistake, he says, was failing to inspire younger generations to carry the Hurriyat's message forward.
PAUL: The Hurriyat and the allies of the Hurriyat - they did not change their leadership.
KUMAR: He says the only way for Kashmiris to truly achieve autonomy is to head to the ballot box once the current violence subsides. For NPR News, I'm Raksha Kumar in Srinagar, Kashmir. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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