India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad: The Covert War in Kashmir, 1947-2004 (Asian Security Studies)

269 Pages·2006·1.08 MB·English

by  Praveen Swami

INDIA, PAKISTAN AND THE
SECRET JIHAD
This book explores the history of jihadist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, docu-
menting the course of their activities and their changing character from 1947 to
2004.Drawingonnewmaterial,includingclassifiedIndianintelligencedossiers
and records, Praveen Swami shows that jihadist violence was not, as is widely
assumed,aphenomenonthatmanifesteditselfinIndian-administeredJammuand
Kashmir only after 1988. Rather, a welter of jihadist groups waged a sustained
campaign against Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir from the outset, after the
Partition of India.
This book first analyses the ideology and practice of Islamist terrorism as it
changed and evolved from 1947–1948 onwards. It subsequently discusses the
impact of the secret jihad on Indian policy-making on Jammu and Kashmir, as
wellasitsinfluenceonpoliticallifewithinthestate.Finally,lookingatsomeof
thereasonswhythejihadinJammuandKashmiracquiredsuchintensityin1990,
the author suggests that the answers lie in the transfiguration of the strategic
environment in South Asia by the nuclear weapons programmes of India and
Pakistan.
As such, the book argues, the violent conflict which exploded in these two
regionsafter1990wasnotahistoricaldiscontinuity:itwas,instead,anescalated
form of what was by then a five-decade old secret war.
This new work will be of much interest to students of the India–Pakistan
conflict, South Asian politics and security studies in general.
Praveen Swami is New Delhi Chief of Bureau for Frontline magazine, and
writes on security- and intelligence-related issues. He has reported on the crisis
inJammuandKashmir,aswellasotherlow-intensityconflictsinIndia,forover
a decade.
ASIAN SECURITY STUDIES
Edited by Sumit Ganguly
Indiana University, Bloomington and Andrew Scobell,
US Army War College
FewregionsoftheworldarefraughtwithasmanysecurityquestionsasAsia.Withinthis
regionitispossibletostudygreatpowerrivalries,irredentistconflicts,nuclearandballistic
missileproliferation,secessionistmovements,ethnoreligiousconflictsandinter-statewars.
This new book series will publish the best possible scholarship on the security issues
affectingtheregion,andwillincludedetailedempiricalstudies,theoreticallyorientedcase
studiesandpolicy-relevantanalysesaswellasmoregeneralworks.
CHINA AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Alternatepathstoglobalpower
MarcLanteigne
CHINA’S RISING SEA POWER
ThePLAnavy’ssubmarinechallenge
PeterHowarth
IF CHINA ATTACKS TAIWAN
Militarystrategy,politicsandeconomics
SteveTsang(Ed.)
CHINESE CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS
ThetransformationofthePeople’sLiberationArmy
NanLi(Ed.)
THE CHINESE ARMY TODAY
Traditionandtransformationforthe21stcentury
DennisJ.Blasko
TAIWAN’S SECURITY
Historyandprospects
BernardD.Cole
RELIGION AND CONFLICT IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
Disruptingviolence
LinellE.CadyandSheldonW.Simon(Eds.)
POLITICAL ISLAM AND VIOLENCE IN INDONESIA
ZacharyAbuza
US-INDIAN STRATEGIC COOPERATION INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
Morethanwords
SumitGanguly,BrianShoupandAndrewScobell(Eds.)
INDIA, PAKISTAN AND THE SECRET JIHAD
ThecovertwarinKashmir,1947–2004
PraveenSwami
INDIA, PAKISTAN AND
THE SECRET JIHAD
The covert war in Kashmir, 1947–2004
Praveen Swami
Firstpublished2007
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
270MadisonAve,NewYork,NY10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,
aninformabusiness
©2007PraveenSwami
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced
orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orother
means,nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingand
recording,orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,without
permissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Swami,Praveen.
India,Pakistanandthesecretjihad:thecovertwarinKashmir,
1947–2004/PraveenSwami.--1sted.
p. cm.--(Asiansecuritystudies)
“SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada.”
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–415–40459–2(hardback)
1. JammuandKashmir(India)--Politicsandgovernment.
2. India--Foreignrelations--Pakistan. 3. Pakistan--Foreign
relations--India. 4. Jihad. I. Title. II. Series.
DS485.K27S932006
954(cid:1).604--dc22
2006014509
ISBN10:0–415–40459–2(hbk)
ISBN10:0–203–96840–9(ebk)
ISBN13:978–0–415–40459–4(hbk)
ISBN13:978–0–203–96840–6(ebk)
For my daughter Tarsha, the light of my eyes
When she is old enough to read this book, I hope she will at least
understand – if not forgive – my sudden and sometimes prolonged
disappearances

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements viii
1 A house on a hill 1
2 The informal war 17
3 The master cell 49
4 Al-Fatah 76
5 Years of retreat and revival 104
6 The war of many fronts 137
7 The nuclear Jihad 172
8 Towards peace? 206
Notes 219
Bibliography 241
Index 247
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I could not have written this book without the generous support of several
individuals, some of whom I cannot name.
AmongstthoseIcan,SumitGangulymustcomefirst:hispersistentprodding
and encouragement led me to begin work on this book, and he generously gave
of both his time and energies in the course of my writing it.
To N. Ram, the Editor-in-Chief of Frontline magazine, I will always be
indebted.HeentrustedayounganduntestedreporterwithcoveringIndia’smost
sensitiveconflict,andstoodbymeduringdifficultieswithboththeestablishment
andnon-stateactors.Frontlinehasoftenbeencomplimentedforboththebreadth
and the depth of its reportage on the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. This is
notbecauseofanyexceptionalabilitiesIpossess,butbecauseofthemagazine’s
unparalleledwillingnesstocommitfinancialandorganizationalresourcestoreal
news – something that is, sadly, a diminishing feature of Indian journalism.
Finally, without the support of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP),
whichawardedmeaSeniorFellowshipin2004–2005,Icouldnothaveactually
written this book. Their decision to grant a prestigious and generous fellowship
toarelativelyobscurejournalistamazing–andIwillalwaysbegratefulforthe
opportunity they provided.
TotheindividualsatUSIPwhoworkedwithmeasthebookwasbeingwritten,
Ialsowishtorecordmygratitude:JohnCrist,myprogrammeofficer,wassaint-
like in his patience and concern; Kiran Sharma provided library support of a
qualityIhadnotimaginedcouldexist;C.ChristineFairwasasourceofnotonly
greatintellectualstimulationbutpersonalstrength.ToRaziliDattaIowespecial
thanks; I was blessed to have a research assistance of such intelligence and
integrity. To my friends in Washington, DC, Murtaza Solangi, Ayesha Siddiqa,
and to Hannah Bloch, Claudia Kinkela and Laurent Murawiec I owe special
thanks for their love and patience.
I am indebted, too, to Ajai Sahni, A.K. Doval, Anupam Gupta, A.M. Watali,
Dinkar Gupta, Farooq Khan, Farooq Ahmad, Gurbachan Jagat, K.P.S. Gill,
K. Rajendra, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, N.N. Vohra, Pushpa Iyer, Sumedh
SainiandUsmanMajidforthetimetheygavetodiscussingissuesdirectlyrelated
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
either to this book or to helping develop, over the years, some understanding of
covert warfare.
Above all, though, I am grateful to J., J., A., K., M., R., R., G., N., and D.,
thepeoplewhomadeitpossibletogatherthematerialneededtowritethisbook
and allowed me to peek into the secret world they inhabit, at not inconsiderable
risk to their careers and, in some cases, their lives.
ix