Kashmiri separatist seeks end to armed struggle

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SRINAGAR, India -- When Kashmiri political leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told a crowd in Islamabad, Pakistan, last month that he was calling for an end to armed struggle as a means to bring the region out from under the yoke of Indian rule, he did so at no small personal risk.

Preceding his visit, in what many saw as an unsubtle message against his moderate stance, unknown gunmen attacked his home here in Kashmir's largest city with automatic weapons fire and grenades. When Mr. Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, told Pakistani journalists that "we are not prepared to sacrifice any more of our loved ones," to a conflict that has claimed at least 40,000 lives, killed either by Indian forces or by Islamic militants, the United Jihad Council, a Pakistan-based coalition of militant groups, issued a statement attacking Mr. Farooq for "cowardice."

After a similar declaration five years ago, Abdul Ghani Lone, then leader of the Hurriyat Conference, was gunned down by unknown assailants.

Mr. Farooq's father, Mirwaiz Mohammed Farooq, was slain in a similar manner in May 1990.

"We have to change strategy as far as Kashmir is concerned, because Kashmiri forces are not in a position to drive away Indian forces," said Mr. Farooq, spiritual leader of Kashmir's Sunni Muslims, while speeding through the streets of this lakeside city with a heavily armed escort.

"India is able to characterize the Kashmir struggle as a conflict supported by Islamic groups, and the focus on a political settlement is drifting away. We need to shift the focus back to the real issue," he said.

The roots of the Kashmir conflict go back to Britain's colonial rule of India and Pakistan. When Pakistan-based tribesmen invaded Kashmir in 1947, seeking to annex it, the maharajah of Kashmir, Hari Singh -- a Hindu -- sought Indian assistance and signed an agreement to become part of India, allowing Indian troops to rush to his aid.

Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in India, was promised a referendum on the status of the region, but it was never held. A 1948 U.N. Security Council resolution specified that in a plebiscite, Kashmir should only have the option to join either India or Pakistan -- blocking independence, a long-cherished goal of many Kashmiris.

After subsequent wars, the border between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir has remained largely at the present Line of Control.

In 1987, when it seemed legislative elections might be won by a collection of Islamic and secessionist parties called the Muslim United Front (MUF), Indian Kashmir carried out mass arrests of MUF candidates and party workers, provoking pervasive and credible accusations of vote rigging.