When news spread that Indian troops had killed 22-year-old Burhan Wani, a charismatic commander of Indian-controlled Kashmir’s biggest rebel group on July 8, the public response was spontaneous and massive. Tens of thousands of angry youths poured out of their homes in towns and villages across the Himalayan region, hurling rocks and bricks and clashing with Indian troops.
Young Muslim separatists brandish weapons on a street defying curfew and demanding independence in Kashmir, in Srinagar, India, on Jan. 23, 1990. AP Photo/Ajit Kumar
SRINAGAR, India—When news spread that Indian troops had killed 22-year-old Burhan Wani, a charismatic commander of Indian-controlled Kashmir’s biggest rebel group on July 8, the public response was spontaneous and massive. Tens of thousands of angry youths poured out of their homes in towns and villages across the Himalayan region, hurling rocks and bricks and clashing with Indian troops.
A curfew and a communications blackout has failed to stop the protests. The violence has left 48 civilians dead as government forces fired live ammunition and pellets to try to quell the unrest. About 2,000 civilians and 1,500 police and soldiers have been injured in the clashes.
But Kashmir’s fury at Indian rule is not new. The stunning mountain region has known little other than conflict since 1947, when British rule of the subcontinent ended with the creation of India and Pakistan.
Indian Sikh troops take up roadside positions on the Baramula Road to help force invaders further away from the Kashmir capital, Srinagar, on Nov. 9, 1947. A raid by armed tribesmen from north-western Pakistan forced Maharaja Hari Singh of the Himalayan kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir to seek help from India, which offered military assistance on the condition that the kingdom accede to India. The ruler accepted but insisted that the region would remain a largely autonomous state within the Indian union, with India managing its foreign affairs, defense, and telecommunication. The Indian military entered the region soon after, and the tribal raid spiraled into the first of two wars between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. The war ended in 1948 with a United Nations brokered ceasefire. AP Photo/Max Desfor
