Violence and insurgency in Kashmir: Understanding the Micropolitics

ABSTRACT One of the longest-surviving insurgent groups fighting the Indian state in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir is Hizb ul Mujahedeen. It has been linked with the Kashmiri offshoot of the Islamist organization Jama’at e Islami and has been called its armed wing. By looking at the degree of involvement of Jama’at e Islami in the Kashmir insurgency and its relationship with Hizb, the article focuses on existing organization structures. Existing structures affect the effectiveness of the insurgent group. More specifically, the paper inverts the focus from Jama’at e Islami as the political front of Hizb ul Mujahedeen and argues that the latter, in a clear understanding of the ‘micropolitics of rebellion,’ used the former to organize themselves. This article also investigates the militantization of Jama’at e Islami – a perception that its political program is inherently violent – because of its association with the insurgency.