By Sireen Hajaig | Staff Writer 

Kashmir, a region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent, is bordered by India, Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan. Kashmir today is divided into three entities: the Indian Kashmir called Jammu, the Pakistani Kashmir called Azad Jammu and the Chinese part called Aksai Chin. This partition seems to be the cause and the consequence of the ongoing hostilities in the region. For further context, Kashmir is a big economic asset, as it is very rich in minerals and water resources, and the very rare and expensive production of Kachmir renders it a strategic place for its bordering countries to lay claim and have influence over. After many decades, Kashmir is still the object of many conflicts between India and Pakistan, a nation divided by religion and many ethnicities.  

Many wars took place between these two governments over the years, and even with the intervention of the UN, no peace was established and tensions still flew high. That is when militants and terrorist organizations began emerging in the region, who are fighting for the independence of Kashmir. It has to be noted that the  9/11 attack marked a critical turn of events in Kashmir, as Al-Qaeda had a big influence on the rise of terrorism in the area. On many occasions, Usama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, both ex-leaders of Al Qaeda, expressed their support for the Kashmiri separatist movement. We find today various groups including “Hizbul Mujahideen”, “Lashkar-e-Taiba”, and “Jaish-e-Mohammed” who fight for their cause. Some of these groups have ideological ties to Islamist extremism and receive support from elements within Pakistan, amplifying tensions between India and Pakistan. These terrorist organizations operate by planting attacks, bombings, and targeted killings against governmental, religious, and official civilians and infrastructures that are tied to India. 

After the first Indian-Pakistani war in 1947, India deployed 900,000 soldiers and Pakistan around 50,000, making Kashmir one of the most militarized regions in the world. Human deaths are on the rise with the constant shelling between Pakistan and India, and with Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, the forceful annexation of Kashmir is promoting a wave of terror and fear, with internet blackouts, growing violence, and killings spreading.

On the 8th of February 2024, two people were shot dead as a result of a terrorist attack made by Lashker-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-backed group, in Srinagar, an Indian-administered city in Kashmir. As a resolution to the decades-old conflict over Kashmiri isn’t being reached, the people of Kashmir remain the subject of waves of terror and instability, rendering the flourishing of terrorism an imposed reality. 

Sources: 

https://www.deccanherald.com/india/jammu-and-kashmir/srinagar-terror-attack-second-victim-dies-security-tightened-in-city-2885509