Courtesy: AFP
The ongoing and violent protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have multiple reasons, but the most contentious is the demand to abolish 12 legislative assembly seats that are reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir. Islamabad’s civil-military establishment is unlikely to give in to the protestors: these seats allow them to hand-pick winners and control government formation in Muzaffarabad, bypassing local resident voters entirely.
Courtesy: Danish Ismail/Reuters
There have been many reported links between protesters pelting stones at security forces in Kashmir and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with Indian intelligence reports that stone-pelters were paid money by the ISI, and often went on to become militants. This was an important motivation behind the demonetisation of currency notes by the Indian government in 2016. However, this raises the question: has demonetisation really curbed stone-pelting?
Courtesy: isa_adsr/Flickr
Today, Kashmir is very much part of the cauldron that is "Af-Pak", the storm that is raging across the Pashtun belt in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As in Af-Pak, the base for the jihad that is being waged in Kashmir mainly comprises a small fringe of a single community – the Valley Sunnis.
Courtesy: India Today
The real issue in Jammu & Kashmir