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Kashmir activists don't see guns as the answer

Desire for own state runs deep

By Jason Motlagh, THE WASHINGTON TIMES | Saturday, October 11, 2008

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SRINAGAR, India | When pro-independence demonstrations erupted in Kashmir over the summer, Danish Shervani said he hesitated to take part until he saw women and children shouting in the streets.

His initiation was painful. A band of riot police trapped him away from the crowds and beat him with bamboo shafts, breaking several bones and shattering a kneecap.

So Mr. Shervani, 25, a mass communications student, fought back the best way he knew: He uploaded footage of the incident, shot by a friend with a hand-held video camera, on the Internet site YouTube. Dozens of similar videos are posted online.

"We don't use sticks or guns," he said. "We are educated and know other, peaceful ways of advancing our struggle."

His response is emblematic of a new generation of Kashmiri student activists whose desire for an independent state burns as hot as ever but who don't see militancy as the solution.

These separatist leaders are the engine of protests that have shaken India-administered Kashmir in recent months - the biggest since a 1989 revolt degenerated into years of bitter conflict.

"Now 20 years have passed and this movement has transferred to another generation," said Yasin Malik, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and a former militant leader. "They are more angry, but they are committed to nonviolence."

The dispute dates to the partition of Britain-ruled India in 1947. The local prince, a Hindu, chose to accede to India even though Kashmir was mostly Muslim. Fighting led to a U.N. cease-fire, but a plebiscite demanded by the United Nations in 1948 has never taken place. India controls more than half the territory.

Since then, Kashmir has been the trigger for a India-Pakistan war in 1965 and a short conflict in 1999. It has also inspired jihadist movements in Pakistan that have links to al Qaeda.

The latest protests were ignited by an Indian government decision to grant public land to build shelters for Hindu pilgrims who travel to the Muslim-majority state to visit a holy shrine. Separatists said it was a calculated attempt to change the state's religious balance and used the controversy to rekindle tensions. But Kashmiri youth stole the show.