Explaining the Kashmir insurgency: Political mobilization and institutional decay

International Security

Volumn 21, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 76-107

  Ganguly, Šumit ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0030495130     PISSN: 01622889     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1162/isec.21.2.76     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. See Šumit Ganguly, Between War and Peace: The Crisis in Kashmir (Cambridge, U.K., and Washington, D.C.: Cambridge University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press, forthcoming); Vernon Marston Hewitt, Reclaiming the Past: The Search for Political and Cultural Unity in Contemporary Kashmir (London: Portland Books, 1995). See also Jyoti Bhusan Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1968), which provides an excellent historical account of the origins of the Kashmir problem in the context of Indo-Pakistani relations.
2. See Šumit Ganguly, Between War and Peace: The Crisis in Kashmir (Cambridge, U.K., and Washington, D.C.: Cambridge University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press, forthcoming); Vernon Marston Hewitt, Reclaiming the Past: The Search for Political and Cultural Unity in Contemporary Kashmir (London: Portland Books, 1995). See also Jyoti Bhusan Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1968), which provides an excellent historical account of the origins of the Kashmir problem in the context of Indo-Pakistani relations.
3. See Šumit Ganguly, Between War and Peace: The Crisis in Kashmir (Cambridge, U.K., and Washington, D.C.: Cambridge University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press, forthcoming); Vernon Marston Hewitt, Reclaiming the Past: The Search for Political and Cultural Unity in Contemporary Kashmir (London: Portland Books, 1995). See also Jyoti Bhusan Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1968), which provides an excellent historical account of the origins of the Kashmir problem in the context of Indo-Pakistani relations.
4. Michael E. Brown, ed., The International Dimensions of Internal Conflict (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996), Table 1, p. 5.
5. This strategy may be inapplicable to Kashmir for several reasons. First, neither the Punjab nor the northeastern states were the subjects of international territorial disputes. Because Kashmir is claimed by Pakistan, far greater international attention and scrutiny has been focused on the crisis there. Second, unlike the Punjab, the vast majority of Kashmir's population is alienated from the Indian state. Third, Kashmir's location makes foreign infiltration into the state and support for the insurgency far easier. India was able to seal the Indo-Pakistani border in the Punjab. Fourth, the insurgents in Kashmir have access to a vast arms bazaar that extends from Pakistan to Afghanistan. On this point see Jastit Singh, Light Weapons and International Security (New Delhi: Indian Pugwash Society and British-American Information Council, 1995).
6. Samuel Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1968).
7. Myron Weiner, Sons of the Soil: Migration and Ethnic Conflict in India (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978).
8. For a forceful statement of the Indian position, see K. Subrahmanyam, "Kashmir," Strategic Analysis, Vol. 23, No. 11 (May 1990), pp. 111-198.
9. One of the best statements of the official Pakistan position is Shaheen Akhtar, Uprising in Indian-Held Kashmir (Islamabad: Institute of Regional Studies, 1991).
10. For a variety of explanations for the origins of the Kashmir crisis, see Raju G.C. Thomas, ed., Perspectives on Kashmir: The Roots of Conflict in South Asia (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1992).
11. Also see Asghar Ali Engineer, ed., Kashmir: Secular Crown in Fire (New Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1992).
12. On this point see Šumit Ganguly, "Deterrence Failure Revisited: The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965," Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4 (December 1990), pp. 77-93.
13. Nehru, on the advice of Indian intelligence agencies, had Sheikh Abdullah removed from office 1952 on rather tenuous grounds. In fact, it was feared that Abdullah was on the verge of declaring Kashmir's independence.
14. India's three other prime ministers between Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi served such short terms in office that they had limited impact, if any, on institution-building. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who succeeded Nehru, was in office for a little more than a year. Morarji Desai became the head of a coalition government, lasting less than two years, after Indira Gandhi's electoral defeat in 1977. Chaudhuri Charan Singh served as the interim prime minister for a month, until 1980, when Indira Gandhi returned to power.
15. See Kuldeep Mathur, "The State and the Use of Coercive Power in India," Asian Survey, Vol. 32, No. 4 (April 1992), pp. 337-349.
16. For a discussion of violent political agitation in India and its consequences for Indian democracy, see Raju G.C. Thomas, Democracy, Security, and Development in India (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996).
17. See Elizabeth Crighton and Martha Abele Mac Iver, "The Evolution of Protracted Ethnic Conflict: Group Dominance and Political Underdevelopment in Northern Ireland and Lebanon," Comparative Politics, Vol. 23, No. 2 (January 1991), pp. 127-142.
18. For a thoughtful critique of the "ancient hatreds" argument, see Lloyd and Suzanne Rudolph, "Modern Hate," New Republic, March 22, 1993, pp. 24-29.
19. Literature on ethnic conflict includes Michael E. Brown, ed., Ethnic Conflict and International Security (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993); Robert Gurr and Barbara Harff, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994); Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985); Manus I. Midlarsky, ed., The Internationalization of Communal Strife (London: Routledge, 1992); and Joseph V. Montville, Conflict and Peace-making in Multiethnic Societies (New York: Lexington Books, 1991). For a review and assessment of the literature on ethnic conflict, see Saul Newman, "Does Modernization Breed Ethnic Conflict?" World Politics, Vol. 43, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 451-478.
20. Literature on ethnic conflict includes Michael E. Brown, ed., Ethnic Conflict and International Security (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993); Robert Gurr and Barbara Harff, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994); Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985); Manus I. Midlarsky, ed., The Internationalization of Communal Strife (London: Routledge, 1992); and Joseph V. Montville, Conflict and Peace-making in Multiethnic Societies (New York: Lexington Books, 1991). For a review and assessment of the literature on ethnic conflict, see Saul Newman, "Does Modernization Breed Ethnic Conflict?" World Politics, Vol. 43, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 451-478.
21. Literature on ethnic conflict includes Michael E. Brown, ed., Ethnic Conflict and International Security (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993); Robert Gurr and Barbara Harff, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994); Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985); Manus I. Midlarsky, ed., The Internationalization of Communal Strife (London: Routledge, 1992); and Joseph V. Montville, Conflict and Peace-making in Multiethnic Societies (New York: Lexington Books, 1991). For a review and assessment of the literature on ethnic conflict, see Saul Newman, "Does Modernization Breed Ethnic Conflict?" World Politics, Vol. 43, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 451-478.
22. Literature on ethnic conflict includes Michael E. Brown, ed., Ethnic Conflict and International Security (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993); Robert Gurr and Barbara Harff, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994); Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985); Manus I. Midlarsky, ed., The Internationalization of Communal Strife (London: Routledge, 1992); and Joseph V. Montville, Conflict and Peace-making in Multiethnic Societies (New York: Lexington Books, 1991). For a review and assessment of the literature on ethnic conflict, see Saul Newman, "Does Modernization Breed Ethnic Conflict?" World Politics, Vol. 43, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 451-478.
23. Literature on ethnic conflict includes Michael E. Brown, ed., Ethnic Conflict and International Security (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993); Robert Gurr and Barbara Harff, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994); Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985); Manus I. Midlarsky, ed., The Internationalization of Communal Strife (London: Routledge, 1992); and Joseph V. Montville, Conflict and Peace-making in Multiethnic Societies (New York: Lexington Books, 1991). For a review and assessment of the literature on ethnic conflict, see Saul Newman, "Does Modernization Breed Ethnic Conflict?" World Politics, Vol. 43, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 451-478.
24. Literature on ethnic conflict includes Michael E. Brown, ed., Ethnic Conflict and International Security (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993); Robert Gurr and Barbara Harff, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994); Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985); Manus I. Midlarsky, ed., The Internationalization of Communal Strife (London: Routledge, 1992); and Joseph V. Montville, Conflict and Peace-making in Multiethnic Societies (New York: Lexington Books, 1991). For a review and assessment of the literature on ethnic conflict, see Saul Newman, "Does Modernization Breed Ethnic Conflict?" World Politics, Vol. 43, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 451-478.
25. On the invocation of this theory to explain inter-state conflict in South Asia, see S.M. Burke, The Mainsprings of Indian and Pakistani Foreign Policies (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1974). For a challenge to the impression of unyielding conflict between India and Pakistan, see Šumit Ganguly, "Discord and Collaboration in Indo-Pakistani Relations," in Kanti P. Bajpai and
26. H.C. Shukul, eds., India, Pakistan, and International Society: Essays for A.P. Rana (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1995).
27. See John Richards, The Mughal Empire (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
28. Ian Copland, "Islam and Political Mobilization in Kashmir, 1931-34," Pacific Affairs, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Summer 1981), pp. 228-259.
29. For a discussion of the concept of "ethnic stereotyping," see Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict, esp. pp. 116-171. Also see the introduction in Brown, ed., The International Dimensions of Internal Conflict, pp. 21-22.
30. For a discussion of the concept of "ethnic stereotyping," see Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict, esp. pp. 116-171. Also see the introduction in Brown, ed., The International Dimensions of Internal Conflict, pp. 21-22.
31. Some of the roots of ethnic stereotypes can be traced to the European colonial period. Colonial authorities often manufactured ethnic stereotypes for the purposes of imperial administrative convenience. One enduring ethnic stereotype that was promoted by the British was that of the "martial race," which was attributed to climate and geography: "In the hot, flat regions [southern India] . . . are found races, timid both by religion and habit, servile to their superiors, but tyrannical to their inferiors, and quite unwarlike. In other parts . . . where the winter is cold [northern India and what became Pakistan], the warlike minority is to be found." O'Moore Creagh, Indian Studies, as quoted in Hasan-Askari Rizvi, The Military and Politics in Pakistan (New Delhi: Konark, 1988), p. 138. See also Stephen P. Cohen, The Indian Army (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971).
32. The concept of the "security dilemma" is derived from John Herz, "Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma," World Politics, Vol. 20, No. 2 (January 1950); and Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976). For the standard statement of the neo-realist position, see Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1979).
33. The concept of the "security dilemma" is derived from John Herz, "Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma," World Politics, Vol. 20, No. 2 (January 1950); and Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976). For the standard statement of the neo-realist position, see Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1979).
34. The concept of the "security dilemma" is derived from John Herz, "Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma," World Politics, Vol. 20, No. 2 (January 1950); and Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976). For the standard statement of the neo-realist position, see Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1979).
35. Barry Posen, "The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict," in Brown, ed., Ethnic Conflict and International Security, pp. 103-124.
36. Gurr and Harff, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics, p. 88.
37. S. Jayasankaran, "Balancing Act," Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 158, No. 51 (December 21, 1995), pp. 24-26; William Case, "Aspects and Audiences of Legitimacy," in Muthiah Alagappa, ed., Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia: The Quest for Moral Authority (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995).
38. S. Jayasankaran, "Balancing Act," Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 158, No. 51 (December 21, 1995), pp. 24-26; William Case, "Aspects and Audiences of Legitimacy," in Muthiah Alagappa, ed., Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia: The Quest for Moral Authority (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995).
39. Copland, "Islam and Political Mobilization in Kashmir."
40. Ashutosh Varshney "Three Compromised Nationalisms: Why Kashmir Has Been a Problem," in Thomas, Perspectives on Kashmir, pp. 191-234.
41. See, for example, Ishtiaq Ahmed, State, Nation, and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia (London: Pinter, 1996), esp. pp. 145-146.
42. Prem Shankar Jha, "Frustrated Middle Class, Roots of Kashmir's Alienation," in Engineer, Secular Crown on Fire, pp. 34-37.
43. Lamb, Kashmir: A Disputed Legacy; and Lamb, Birth of a Tragedy: Kashmir, 1947 (Hertingfordbury, U.K.: Roxford Books, 1994).
44. Lamb, Kashmir: A Disputed Legacy; and Lamb, Birth of a Tragedy: Kashmir, 1947 (Hertingfordbury, U.K.: Roxford Books, 1994).
45. See Weiner, Sons of the Soil.
46. Milton J. Esman, "Political and Psychological Factors in Ethnic Conflict," in Montville, Conflict and Peacemaking in Multiethnic Societies, pp. 53-64.
47. See Murray Edelman, The Symbolic Uses of Politics (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972).
48. See Subrata Kumar Mitra, "Room to Maneuver in the Middle: Local Elites, Political Action, and the State in India," World Politics, Vol. 43, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 390-413.
49. Nikki R. Keddie, Religion and Politics in Iran: Shi'ism from Quietism to Revolution (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983).
50. On occasion, states may have to adopt a "talk and fight" strategy. Some ethno-national protesters may be well past the stage of concessions and compromises.
51. The Muslim League was the principal political party that promoted Muslim separatism in British India and was instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. Its support was found primarily among the landed gentry in the United Provinces of northern India. See Paul Brass, Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1974); Prem Nath Bazaz, The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir (Karachi: National Book Foundation, 1954), p. 179; and Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir.
52. The Muslim League was the principal political party that promoted Muslim separatism in British India and was instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. Its support was found primarily among the landed gentry in the United Provinces of northern India. See Paul Brass, Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1974); Prem Nath Bazaz, The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir (Karachi: National Book Foundation, 1954), p. 179; and Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir.
53. The Muslim League was the principal political party that promoted Muslim separatism in British India and was instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. Its support was found primarily among the landed gentry in the United Provinces of northern India. See Paul Brass, Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1974); Prem Nath Bazaz, The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir (Karachi: National Book Foundation, 1954), p. 179; and Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir.
54. The Muslim League was the principal political party that promoted Muslim separatism in British India and was instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. Its support was found primarily among the landed gentry in the United Provinces of northern India. See Paul Brass, Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1974); Prem Nath Bazaz, The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir (Karachi: National Book Foundation, 1954), p. 179; and Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir.
55. Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir, pp. 66-67.
56. See Ian Copland, "The Abdullah Factor: Kashmiri Muslims and the Crisis of 1947," in D.A. Low, ed., The Political Inheritance of Pakistan (New York: St. Martin's, 1991).
57. For a detailed, if biased, account of Abdullah's strategies of mobilization and his rise to power, see Bazaz, The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir.
58. This phenomenon was hardly unique to the Indian political context. For the classic statement of this discrepancy between ideology and organization, see Robert Michels, Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy (New York: Dover, 1959).
59. Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir, p. 209.
60. The one important exception was the communal Praja Parishad Party, formed in November 1947 and led by Prem Nath Dogra and Balraj Madhok, which had a substantial following in the Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu.
61. Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir, p. 188.
62. Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir, pp. 189-190.
63. The special circumstances of Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India permitted the chief minister of the state to be referred to as the prime minister.
64. For a sophisticated discussion of the economic transformation of Jammu and Kashmir, see M.L. Misri and M.S. Bhatt, Poverty, Planning, and Economic Change in Jammu and Kashmir (New Delhi: Vikas, 1994). Some economists argue that the increasing flow of money from the central government into Jammu and Kashmir created a dependent economy in the state. Interview with senior Jammu and Kashmir government economist, New Delhi, January 1994.
65. For the ranking of literacy growth rates, see Afsir Karim and the Indian Defence Review Team, Kashmir: The Troubled Frontiers (New Delhi: Lancers, 1994), pp. 188 and 250.
66. Jagmohan, My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir (New Delhi: Allied, 1993), pp. 179-180.
67. I am indebted to Professor Kanti Bajpai of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for these figures. They were compiled from Mass Media in India (New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, various years). These volumes have been published more or less annually since 1978.
68. For an early critique of the these premises of political development and nation-building, see Walker Connor, "Nation-Building or Nation-Destroying?" World Politics, Vol. 24, No. 3 (April 1972), pp. 319-355.
69. Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies.
70. For a thoughtful critique of Huntington, focusing on his emphasis on "political order" and his neglect of questions of the legitimacy of institutions, see Mark Kesselman, "Order or Movement? The Literature of Political Development as Ideology," World Politics, Vol. 26, No. 1 (October 1973), pp. 139-154.
71. See James Manor, "The Dynamics of Political Integration and Disintegration," in A. Jeyaratnam Wilson and Dennis Dalton, eds., The States of South Asia: Problems of National Integration (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1982).
72. See Ganguly, The Origins of War in South Asia.
73. Jawaharlal Nehru, as quoted in M.J. Akbar, Kashmir: Behind the Vale (New Delhi: Viking/ Penguin, 1991), p. 159.
74. These two elections were free of electoral malfeasances. In 1977, Abdullah had recently returned to power and was at the peak of his popularity. Consequently, he saw little reason to engage in electoral skullduggery. Furthermore, the newly formed Janata government was acutely conscious of its credentials for probity and fairness. In 1983, Farooq Abdullah, who had inherited his father's mantle, enjoyed considerable popularity. For a particularly harsh indictment of Sheikh Abdullah's rule in Kashmir, see Prem Nath Bazaz, Democracy through Intimidation and Terror (New Delhi: Heritage Publishers, 1978).
75. See Balraj Puri, Simmering Volcano: Jammu's Relations with Kashmir (New Delhi: Sterling, 1983).
76. One of those rare occasions was the theft of the Moe-e-moqdas (a hair of the prophet Mohammed) from the Hazaratbal Mosque in Srinagar in December 1963. News of this tragic incident set off rioting as far away as Calcutta.
77. Copland, "The Abdullah Factor," p. 224.
78. See William O. Beeman, "Images of the Great Satan: Representations of the United States in the Iranian Revolution," in Keddie, ed., Religion and Politics in Iran; and Fouad Ajami, "The Sorrows of Egypt," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 74, No. 5 (September/October 1995), pp. 72-88.
79. See William O. Beeman, "Images of the Great Satan: Representations of the United States in the Iranian Revolution," in Keddie, ed., Religion and Politics in Iran; and Fouad Ajami, "The Sorrows of Egypt," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 74, No. 5 (September/October 1995), pp. 72-88.
80. See Ganguly, Between War and Peace.
81. See, for example, John Ward Anderson and Kamran Khan, "Pakistan Shelters Islamic Radicals," Washington Post, March 8, 1995, pp. A21-A22; and Edward W. Desmond, "Pakistan's Hidden Hand," Time, July 22, 1991, p. 23.
82. See, for example, John Ward Anderson and Kamran Khan, "Pakistan Shelters Islamic Radicals," Washington Post, March 8, 1995, pp. A21-A22; and Edward W. Desmond, "Pakistan's Hidden Hand," Time, July 22, 1991, p. 23.
83. Interview with Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, Kashmiri Muslim religious leader and chairman of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference of Kashmir, New York, October 1995.
84. Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, Kashmir: A Pattern of Impunity (New York: Asia Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, 1993).
85. Šumit Ganguly, "From the Defense of the Nation to Aid to the Civil: The Army in Contemporary India," in Charles H. Kennedy and David J. Louscher, eds., Civil-Military Interaction in Asia and Africa (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991), pp. 11-26.
86. Michael E. Brown, "The Causes and Regional Dimensions of Internal Conflict," in Brown, International Dimensions of Internal Conflict, pp. 597-598.