A B C D E F G H
I J K L M N O P
Q R S T U V W XYZ
Further References
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Intro Page    //    Information Security    //    Home Page

India,
Pakistan,
Jammu and Kashmir,
and militant groups based in or supported from Pakistan

Modified 7 March 2003

It seems impossible to separate these into separate pages, as many so-called "Indian separatist groups" are really Pakistani-based jihadists, and it is impossible to consider either India or Pakistan in isolation without also considering Kashmir.

India — The Indian Union is administratively one extremely large nation, but ethnically it is a collection of many diverse nationalities. It is the result of British imperialism (certainly a fair word, as it was one of the "jewels in the crown" of the British empire). It brought (forced?) together several disparate and historically separate ethnic nations into one political state. Many of these ethnic nationalities have factions desiring independance. There are many legitimate secessionist or autonomy movements.

However, many sites claiming to be maintained by Indian secessionist movements are actually designed by supporters of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba or allied Pakistan-based organizations (see the Pakistan section below for more).

Many of the sites list below seem to be mostly pro-Pakistan and anti-India, instead of being pro-nationality or pro-autonomy. As with anything else on the net, the reader must remember that these are controversial issues and subject to misleading information. If anyone can offer further information about which sites are really backed by Lashkar-e-Taiba, or knows of sites giving the opposing points of view for any of the issues involved, please let me know! The Pakistan-based anti-Indian viewpoint seems to be disproportionally represented on the net.

Pakistan — The New York Times, 5 July 2002, pg A8, had an excellent overview of Pakistani militant groups:

  • Anti-Indian militant groups — originally founded to fight Indian influence over Kashmir:
    • Lashkar-e-Taiba or Army of the Righteous and Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI) — To quote the U.S. Dept of State, Lashkar-e-Taiba "is the armed wing of the Pakistan-based religious organization, Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI) — a Sunni anti-US missionary organization formed in 1989. One of the three largest and best-trained groups fighting in Kashmir against India, it is not connected to a political party. The LT leader is MDI chief, Professor Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. [...] Has several hundred members in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and in India's southern Kashmir and Doda regions. Almost all LT cadres are foreigners — mostly Pakistanis from seminaries across the country and Afghan veterans of the Afghan wars. [...] Based in Muridke (near Lahore) and Muzaffarabad. The LT trains its militants in mobile training camps across Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Afghanistan. [...] Collects donations from the Pakistani community in the Persian Gulf and United Kingdom, Islamic NGOs, and Pakistani and Kashmiri businessmen." Accused of Dec 2001 attack on Indian Parliament, believed to be linked to Al-Qaida.
    • Harakat ul-Mujahedeen (Movement of Holy Warriors) — also known as Harkat Ansar and Al Faran — believed responsible for hijacking an Air India plane in Dec 1999. Operates primarily in Kashmir, against Indian troops and civilian targets, kidnaps tourists, hijacked an Indian airliner 24 Dec 1999. Politically aligned with radical political party Jamiat-i Ulema-i Islam Fazlur Rehman faction (JUI-F). Several thousand armed supporters in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan (especially Muzaffarabad and Rawalpindi), and India's Kashmir and Doda regions. Collects donations from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. http://www.ummah.net.pk/harkat/
    • Jaish-e-Muhammed (Army of Muhammed) — a spinoff of Harkat ul-Mujahedeen, also known as Committee for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovreignity, suspected of kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl, accused of Dec 2001 attack on Indian Parliament, possibly linked to Al-Qaida, reported to have received training in Afghanistan and support from Osama bin Laden.
  • Sectarian militant groups — fighting other Muslim groups:
  • Lashkar-e-Omar or Al Qanoon — A terror coalition formed in January 2002:
    • Formed by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammed, Sipah-e-Sahaba, and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
    • Draws name and inspiration from Ahmed Omar Sheikh, former leader of Jaish-e-Muhammed, arrested in 2002 for murder of Daniel Pearl.
    • Members share distorted view of Islam, hatred of the west, and having trained and fought in Afghanistan.
  • Jama'at-Ud-Da'awa Pakistan — without reading Urdu I'm not sure exactly what their position is, although the home page mentions Kashmir, Jihad, Fatawa, and MP3 CD's (speeches and exhortations, not music!) — http://jamatdawa.org/
  • Also see the page on al-Qaida and the Taliban, as the Taleban were a Pakistani political party founded and controlled by ISI, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Jammu and Kashmir — Note that I've just copied the web site titles so this is a little more than a list of URLs — they aren't my labels, I'm just quoting the authors. The majority seem to really be Indian or (more commonly) Pakistani, rather than Kashmiri.

Home Page Site Map Public Key E-Mail
Use /bin/vi! Hosted on OpenBSD
Hosted on Apache Valid XHTML 1.1! Valid CSS!
© Bob Cromwell May 2008. Created with /bin/vi, hosted on OpenBSD with Apache.    Root password available here