A Veil of Terror:: A Detailed Case Study of Political Terrorism in Kashmir

Paper prepared for the 48
th
ISA Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, USA
February 28 – March 3, 2007
A VEIL OF TERROR:
A Detailed Case Study of Political Terrorism in Kashmir
Sophia N. Johnson
Global Affairs Division
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
This paper examines the psycshological impact of terror-related violence on

Kashmir’s
social environment. Historically, both state and non-state actors have resorted to the
same approaches in terrorizing civilian populations, while using different weapons
and
techniques. For both, the goals of terror are political. However, the challenges of
social
and economic order cannot be adequately undertaken unless we clearly understand the
psychology of political violence. These concepts in many ways guide domestic and
foreign policy, but have clear distinctions. On the one hand, a distinction can be made
between violence undertaken because persons have a right to defend their home, and
actions undertaken supposedly to “alter the behaviors and attitudes of multiple
audiences,”
1
whether they are ‘conspiratorial’ or not.
Kashmir’s experience could prove important in analyzing the psychological impact of

political violence. Together with its atmosphere of fear, the Kashmiri militants have
created an atmosphere of widespread discontent. In this regard, “the secrecy of
planning
and the visibility of results” may be illustrative of a more general phenomenon in
which
individual and population vulnerability to violence is linked to terror. At least this has
been the position of researchers who have been active in the field, and the particular
case
of Kashmir.
1
Crenshaw, Martha. (Ed.) Terrorism in Context. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State
University
Press, 1995. pp. 4.
Author’s note: Sophia N. Johnson is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Global Affairs Division at Rutgers,
The State
University of New Jersey, and an adjunct professor at the John C. Whitehead School of
Diplomacy and
International Relations at Seton Hall University. This paper is a work in progress. Do not cite
without
author’s permission.
He who murders a man…it is as if he murdered the entire human race; and if anyone saves a life,
it is as if
he saved the lives of all mankind.
-Qur’an
The violent oppression, and injuries of great persons, (and I would add nations) are not
extenuated, but
aggravated by the greatness of their persons; because they have least need to commit them.
-Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
These two statements – the first found in the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, and
the second by Thomas Hobbes, a seventeenth century European scholar – express a
dominant theme of contemporary writings on modern political terrorism. Political
terrorism, we are told, wrestles between the role of ideas and its political organization.
On the one hand, powerful ideological forces are creating a complex movement,
“especially under the banner of Islam”
2
thus diminishing the traditional significance of
the nation-state. On the other hand, political organizations command “moral
inhibitions”
3
as a reasonable alternative “to alter the attitudes and behavior of multiple
audiences.”
4
As one writer has put the issue however, “terrorism and our conceptions of
it depend on…context…and on how groups and individuals who participate in or
respond
to the actions we call terrorism relate to the world in which they act.”
5
Kashmir’s experience could prove important in contextualizing political
terrorism. Terror-related violence has left a death toll running into tens of thousands
and
a population brutalized by fighting and fear. Together with its atmosphere of fear, the
Kashmiri militants have created an atmosphere of widespread discontent. In this
regard,
2
Reich, Walter (editor). Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of
Mind.
Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1998. pp. 3.
3
Ibid. pp. 10.
4
University
Press, 1995. pp. 4.
5
Ibid., pp. 3
“the secrecy of planning and the visibility of results”
6
may be illustrative of a more
general phenomenon in which individual and population vulnerability to violence has
created a veil of terror. At least this has been the position of researchers who have
been
active in the field, and the particular case of Kashmir.
The advent of political terrorism has put the question of the relationship between
ideas and political organizations in a new guise, but it is in fact an old issue. In the
nineteenth century for example, “the failure of nonviolent movements contributed to
the
rise of terrorism.”
7
The result is paradoxical. Terrorism works as a “protest leading to
reform of underlying conditions;”
8
and, it works to “destroy the infrastructure”
9
of the
society. In effect, “the nonstate or substate users of terrorism – are constrained in their
options by the lack of active mass support and by the superior power arrayed against
them.”
10
Let’s consider the Palestinian-Israeli struggle. “Terrorism followed the failure
of Arab efforts at conventional warfare against Israel.”
11
Whereas the Palestinians gave
primacy to “winning their struggle through violence,”
12
Israel emphasized political
6
University
Press, 1995. pp. 4.
7
Crenshaw, Martha. “The Logic of Terrorism” in Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies,
Ideologies,
Theologies, and States of Mind. Edited by Walter Reich. Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center
Press,
1998., 11.
8
University
Press, 1995. pp. 22
9
Ibid., pp. 22.
10
Ideologies,
Press,
1998., 11.
11
Ibid., pp. 11.
12
Post, Jerrold M. “Terrorist Psycho-logic” in Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies,
Theologies, States of Mind. Edited by Walter Reich. Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center
Press, 1998.
pp. 38
determination for relations. “Decoded, the grievance can be summed up to the social
and
economic conditions in the country.”
13
These issues are as central to human destruction, as both opening statements with
respect
to the subject of modern political terrorism, as it is important to deconstructing the
milieu
of fear in Kashmir. Whereas the Qur’an advocates altruism, Hobbes discusses and
describes what humankind is capable of. In Kashmir, what appears to one as the
logical
and desirable seems to another, a matter ideological irrationality.
This paper will first look at the impact of terror-related violence on Kashmir’s social
environment. Then, assess the overarching goal of political terrorism in Kashmir.
Taken
together, this paper examines the trajectory of terror-related violence, its historical
associations, and reaches in mental health.
The Impact of Terror-related Violence
The study of terrorism focuses undue attention on the state level impact. These
realist and neo-realist notions of security position states as unitary actors and the most
important entity in the international system. That said, the idea of terrorism is
generally
considered one and the same with protecting the territory and national interests of a
state
from external and increasingly internal aggression or interference. Only threats to the
security and existence of states have been considered detrimental to global security
and
thus worthy of global action. However, the factors that engender insecurity among the
people living within states are not limited to the perpetuation of the state. The mental
health and broadly speaking security of people within states are related to their quality
of
13
Rapoport, David C. “Sacred Terror” in Origins of Terrorisms: Psychologies, Ideologies,
Theologies
and States of Mind. Edited by Walter Reich. Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center Press,
1998. pp. 106
life, and therefore terror-related violence must include a number of social and
economic
issues. According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2002 World Report on
Violence and Health, more than 1.6 million people died because of violence,
including
collective violence such as conflicts within or between states.
This complex notion of political terrorism wrestles between a relationship of
terror-related violence and social fear. In contextualizing the issue, “it is critically
important to assess the effects of terrorism on society and on the political process, as
well
as the responses to terrorism by society and by political structures.”
14
On the one hand,
politics largely determines the framework on social activity and channels it in
directions
intended to serve the interests of the public. On the other hand, the political process
itself
tends to create an “imbalance between the resources terrorist are able to mobilize and
the
power of the incumbent regime.”
15
This in turn leads to a transformation of the political
system and social environment. It also fosters a reciprocal interaction between politics
and fear of “violence in the pursuit of change.”
16
A number of varying and somewhat overlapping definitions of terrorism exist.
This concept focuses on the politics of the people. Martha Crenshaw defines political
terrorism in terms described as “the direct activity of small groups.”
17
To provide a
perspective on the nature of political terrorism, Crenshaw points to the social, political
and economic context of the individual political actors. “There is nothing automatic
about the choice of terrorism. Like any political decision, the decision to use terrorism
is
14
Crenshaw, Martha. Terrorism in Context. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University
Press,
1995. pp. 6.
15
Ideologies,
Theologies and States of Mind. Edited by Walter Reich. Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center
Press,
1998. pp. 11.
16
Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. pp. 43.
17
Crenshaw, Martha. Terrorism in Context. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania, 1995., pp.
4
influenced by psychological considerations and internal bargaining, as well as by

reasoned or strategic reactions to opportunities and constraints, perceived in light of
the
organization’s goals.”
18
Walter Reich, in an analysis of the psychology of terrorism
borrows his definition from the U.S. State Department:
“Premeditated, politically-motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant
targets by sub national groups or clandestine state agents, normally intended to
influence an audience.”
19
This definition, like Crenshaw’s tending to isolate the condition under which
decisions
are made, which Reich defines as the act of “premeditation.” Others prefer to look at
terrorism as a conscious design “to create power where there is none or to consolidate
power where there is very little.”
20
Of course, these analyses are not without emphasis on
the last half of the nineteenth century but it captures the increasing complexity and
difficulty of defining the issue. For example, since 1947 the conflict between India
and
Pakistan over the territorial rule of Kashmir has shaped attitudes towards terrorism.
What
started as essentially an indigenous popular uprising against external rule has created a
social environment “beleaguered by terrorism, repression, misery and destitution.”
21
Political terrorism has been largely characterized as a “movement of political
violence….fueled by ethnic, religious and linguistic factors.”
22
The inconsistencies and
failures of government policies in Kashmir have allowed “social elements to
encourage
18
Ibid., pp. 5.
19
Reich, Walter. “Understanding the Terrorist Behavior” in Origins of Terrorisms: Psychologies,
Ideologies, Theologies and States of Mind. Edited by Walter Reich. Washington: Woodrow
Wilson
Center Press, 1998. pp. 262.
20
Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. pp. 44.
21
Fai, Ghulam Nabi. “Free, fair elections in Kashmir” Commentary. The Washington Times:
Sunday
September 15, 2002, B5.
22
Wallace, Paul. “Political Violence and Terrorism in India: The Crisis of Identity” in Terrorism
in
Context. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995, 352
votaries of political violence through passive as well as active support.”

23
Further,
“peasants in villages formerly under the militants’ sway have been disillusioned with
killings, rapes, and criminal activities.”
24
It is in this context that the concept of political
terrorism can be best understood. In Kashmir, political terrorism is largely
characterized
by “movements of political violence directed against the state, and in turn, involves
repressive measures that are often seen as a state of terrorism.”
25
Goal of Political Terrorism in Kashmir
Kashmir has been the source of conflict between neighboring India and Pakistan
for more than 50 years. Currently the boundary – Line of Control – divides the region
into two, with one part administered by India and one by Pakistan. India promulgates
the
formal establishment of an international boundary, with some modifications. Pakistan
and Kashmiri activists reject this plan. At the helm of this bitter debate, has been a
growing and violent separatist movement against Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989.
Both want greater control over the region.
In 1947-48, India and Pakistan fought their first war over Jammu and Kashmir.
Under direct United Nations (UN) supervision, both agreed to ceasefire along a line,
which left one-third of the state – compromising what Pakistan calls Azad Jammu and
Kashmir, and the Northern areas administered by Pakistan and two-thirds Jammu,
Ladakh, and the Kashmir Valley, administered by India. Although the United States
and
the United Kingdom also favor the Line of Control, Pakistan refuses, arguing against
a
predominantly Muslim Kashmir Valley becoming a part of India. Further, formalizing
23
Ibid., pp. 352.
24
Ibid., pp. 404.
25
Ibid., pp. 352
agreement, does not take account of the goal of Kashmiris who have been fighting for
one end: Independence for the whole or part of the State.
The Social Context
The dispute in Kashmir has derelict the social environment. According to
researchers at the University of Kashmir’s Population Research Center, based in the
Indian administered capital, Srinigar, the demographic and health picture of the State
constitutes a cause for “serious and urgent”
26
concern. “The dispute…continues to have
an adverse affect on the health of Kashmiris.”
27
Researchers at the International
Institution for Population Sciences (IIPS) agree. In 1998-99, at the height of the
separatist movement, field officers conducted a study of ‘important aspects of health.’
The project, titled National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) covered a number of
topics
with important policy implications such as nutrition, primary health care, reproductive
health, women’s autonomy, and domestic violence. They collected information from
2,786 households between April 22 1999 and September 20, 1999, and interviewed
2,744
eligible women in these households. One health investigator on each survey team also
took blood samples to assess the prevalence of diseases in Jammu and Kashmir. The
findings suggest health and other societal neglect may be a consequence of terror-
related
violence.
For example:
26
Ahmad, Syed Khursheed and Muneer Ahmad. “A Study of the functioning of the Health
Centers in
Kashmir Valley.” Population Research Center: Department of Economics, University of
Kashmir,
Srinigar – 190006. January, 2001. pp. 2.
27
National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) India 1998-99. Jammu and Kashmir. Mumbai,
India:
International Institute for Population Sciences, October 2002. pp. xxv.
• 49.8 percent of Women reported accessing government health facilities for

sickness;
• 69.8 percent of Women are reportedly illiterate;
• 55.5 percent of Women are involved in making decisions about their own health
care, but only one-fourth make these decisions by themselves, and only about
one-tenth of Women do not need permission to go to the market or to visit friends
or relatives.
• Under 5, childhood mortality rate is 80.1 percent. “Male children are much more
likely to have received all vaccinations than female children (61 percent
compared to 50 percent).”
28
In addition, “twenty-two percent of ever-married Women have experienced beatings
or
physical mistreatment since age 15, and 9 percent experienced such violence in the 12
months preceding the survey. Most of these Women have been beaten or physically
mistreated by their husbands.”
29
Researchers suggest that the proliferation of political
terrorism has “led to the neglect of the preventive, promotive, public health and
aspects
of health care.”
30
Two theoretical perspectives explain the role of political terrorism on the health of
Kashmir. First, “terrorism is assumed to display a collective rationality.”
31
That is, “the
benefits of a successful terrorist campaign would presumably be shared by all
individual
28
India:
International Institute for Population Sciences, October 2002. pp. xxiii.
29
India:
International Institute for Population Sciences, October 2002. pp. xxiv.
30
Centers in
Kashmir,
Srinigar – 190006. January, 2001. pp. 3.
31
Crenshaw, Martha. “The logic of terrorism” in Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies,
Press, 1998.
pp. 8.
supporters of the group’s goals, regardless of the extent of their active participation.”
32
The second perspective is strategic choice. “The wide range of terrorist activity cannot
be dismissed as irrational and thus pathological, unreasonable, or inexplicable.” Since
Women are the inactive participants, expected to benefit from the struggle, insulating
society from access to quality health services seems a reasonable sacrifice for all. In
Origins of Terrorism, Crenshaw pushes the argument a step further with evidence that
in
a similar context, “terrorism can be understood as an expression of political strategy.”
33
Political terrorism she argues “is a willful choice made by an organization for political
and strategic reasons, rather than as the unintended outcome of psychological and
social
factors.”
34
A strategic analysis report conducted in New York and Germany indicates
however that “average citizens may adopt a collectivist’s conception of rationality
because they recognize that what is individually rational is collectively irrational.”
35
For
example, “the central question about the rationality of some terrorist organizations,
such
as the West German groups of the 1970s or the Weather Underground in the United
States, is whether or not they had a sufficient grasp of reality – some approximation,
to
whatever degree imperfect – to calculate the likely consequences of the courses of
actions
they chose.”
36
This is not to suggest terrorist activity is ‘reasonable’ or ‘rational.’
Rather, “rational expectations may be undermined by fantastic assumptions about the
role
of the masses,”
37
and “the misperception of conditions can lead to unrealistic
32
Ibid., pp. 8.
33
Ibid., pp. 7.
34
Ibid., pp. 8.
35
Ibid., pp. 9.
36
Ibid., pp., 9.
37
Ibid., pp. 13
expectations.”
38
The reasoning suggests, “that the belief that terrorism is expedient is one
means by which moral inhibitions are overcome.”
39
Mechanism of Moral Disengagement
40
Conflict influences health outcomes, and is used as a perpetual mechanism of
moral disengagement. To borrow a thought of David Rapoport, researcher at the
University of California, Los Angeles, one of the most ‘arresting’ issues of political
terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir has been the “revival of terrorist activities to support
religious purposes,”
41
and the mitigating role “self sanctions plays…in the regulation of
inhumane conduct.”
42
The demographic health picture is a good indicator of the State,
and constitutes a case for this analysis. It suggests normal “self-sanctions can be
disengaged by reconstructing conduct as serving moral purposes, obscuring personal
agency in detrimental activities, disregarding or misrepresenting the injurious
consequences of one’s actions, or by blaming and dehumanizing the victims”
43
as has
been evidenced by the Kashmir study.
Religion is an important aspect of the dispute. Partition in 1947, gave India’s
Muslims a State of their own: Pakistan. This common faith underpins Pakistan’s
claims
to Kashmir, where many areas are Muslim dominated. The Muslim population of the
38
Ibid., pp. 13.
39
Ibid., pp. 10.
40
Bandura, Albert. “Mechanism of Moral Disengagement” in Origins of Terrorism:
Psychologies,
Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind. Edited by Walter Reich. Washington: Woodrow Wilson
Center
Press, 1998. pp. 161.
41
Rapoport, David. C. “Sacred Terror: A contemporary example from Islam” in Origins of
Terrorism:
Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind. Edited by Walter Reich. Washington:
Woodrow
Wilson Center Press, 1998. pp. 103.
42
Psychologies,
Center
Press, 1998. pp. 161.
43
Ibid., pp. 161.
Indian-administered State, Jammu and Kashmir is over 60 percent, making it the only
State within India where Muslims are in the majority. The argument of religiosity is
also
important because of the dichotomy in Islam. The Shia and Sunni Muslims have
distinct
ideology. For example, “formal religious education is a pattern common throughout
Sunni Islamists movements; which unlike Shia counterparts, are profoundly hostile to
the
religious establishment.”
44
In the case of Kashmir, the majority of Muslims are Sunni.
Second, according to Albert Bandura the overarching relevance of religion
suggests ‘intensive psychological’ mechanisms at play for the actors involved in this
context. On the one hand, religion does not play a role because “victims are incidental
to
the terrorists’ intended objectives and are used simply as a way to provoke social
conditions designed to further broader aims.”
45
On the other hand, third party violence
(Women and children in Kashmir who do not access health care services out of fear)
“is a
much more horrific undertaking than political violence in which particular political
figures are targeted.”
46
In effect the “threat to human welfare stems mainly from
deliberate acts of principal rather than from unrestrained acts of (religious) impulse.”
Third, research by Crenshaw and others point to the fact that political terrorism
bears some economic logic. “Terrorism has an extremely useful agenda-setting
function.”
47
Crenshaw insists that individual actors calculate the cost and benefit. “If it
provokes generalized government repression, fear may diminish enthusiasm for
44
Rapoport, David C. “Sacred Terror: A contemporary example from Islam” in Origins of
Terrorism:
Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind. Edited by Walter Reich. Washington:
Woodrow
Wilson Center Press, 1998. pp. 105.
45
Psychologies,
Center
Press, 1998. pp. 163.
46
Ibid., pp. 163.
47
Crenshaw, Martha “The Logic of Terrorism” in Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies,
Ideologies,
Press, 1998.
pp. 17.
”
48
but, “if the reasons behind violence are skillfully articulated, terrorism can
put the issue of political change on the public agenda.”
49
In Kashmir, the benefits of the
struggle for independence of the whole or part of the State; outweighs costs of health,
especially for Women. “By spreading insecurity – at the extreme, making the region
ungovernable – the organization hopes to pressure the regime into concessions or
relaxation of coercive controls”
50
by India and Pakistan. “Political opportunism and
internal rivalries sharpen the emphasis on militant politics, particularly when religious
symbolism and revivalism are used to mobilize followers.”
51
However, “given the existence of so many psychological devices for disengagement
of
moral control, societies cannot rely entirely on individuals, however righteous their
standards, to provide safeguards against (socially) destructive ventures.”
52
Interpretations of Political Terrorism
Another important aspect of terror-related violence in Kashmir is its associations
and contemporary interpretations. “In its contemporary form, political violence raises
new issues of public policy for the State and necessitates a reexamination of societal
and
economic processes.”
53
There are several groups pursuing the rival claims of Kashmir.
Not all are armed, but since the dispute erupted in 1989, the number of armed
separatists
48
Ibid., pp. 17.
49
Ibid., pp. 17.
50
Ibid., pp. 18. (Crenshaw in Origins)
51
Wallace, Paul. “Terrorism in India” in Terrorism in Context. Edited by Martha Crenshaw.
Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995. pp. 406.
52
Psychologies,
Center
Press, 1998. pp. 191.
53
in
Context. Edited by Martha Crenshaw. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press,
1995. pp.
352.
has grown from hundreds to thousands. The most prominent are the Pakistani Hizbul
Mujahideen.
November 1999:
“Today, I announce the break-up of India, Inshallah. We will not
rest until the whole of India is dissolved into Pakistan.”
54
Indian-administered Kashmiris have also been victims of “brutal…Human
Rights violations.”
55
Sources claim “four hundred thousand Kashmir Pandits have been
pushed out of the Valley by the terrorists.”
56
This fact is corroborated by the
sharp increase in the incidences of domestic violence and infant mortality during this
period. Another “twenty thousand people have been killed in Kashmir alone since
1990.”
57
The strategy of political terrorism has been “one of surrogate warfare,”
58
especially on the part of Pakistan. Walter Laqueur: “Pakistan helped to transform the
conflict between communities in Kashmir into a jihad, a holy war, complete with
Islamists vying for martyrdom.”
59
In this regard, the social environment is considered
“more vulnerable to full-scale attack.”
60
In 1998, both India and Pakistan declared
nuclear powers, and threatened attack. Although the United States intervened, “the
incidence showed how dangerous the situation had become and how easily a major
terrorist attack could have led to war with incalculable consequences.”
61
Further, “the
54
Laqueur, Walter. No End to War: Terrorism in the Twenty-first century. New York:
Continuum,
2003. pp. 184.
55
Ibid., pp. 184.
56
Ibid., pp. 184.
57
Laqueur, Walter. The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction. New
York:
Oxford University Press, 1999. pp. 150.
58
Ibid., pp. 151.
59
Ibid., pp. 151.
60
Ibid., pp. 152.
61
Laqueur, Walter. No End to War: Terrorism in the Twenty-first century. New York:
Continuum,
2003. pp. 184.
rising fear has led the international community to initiate a covert process of bringing
Kashmiri militants and moderates together in order to discuss ways of resolving the
conflict peacefully.”
62
One scholar suggests “independence and freedom are very
different, and all too often the attainment of one meant the end of the other, and the
replacement of foreign overlords by domestic tyrants, more adept, more intimate, and
less
constrained in their tyranny.”
63
Along with the high rate of population growth and displacement, the mortality
rate for Women and children are distressingly high. Almost one third of the total
deaths
occur among children below the age of 5 years; infant mortality is around 65 per
thousand live births. And, the severity of malnutrition is exceptionally high. Wallace
suggests that unless government abandons “heavy-handed military action”
64
with
militants, these “problems, including political violence…come back full circle to
politics.”
65
According to the IIS report, awareness of AIDS is particularly low among women
from households with low standard of living, Women who are not regularly exposed
to
any media, and illiterate Women. “Less than one-third (32 percent) of Women in
Jammu
and Kashmir have even heard of AIDS.”
66
Among Women who have heard of the
disease, 46 percent learned from the radio, suggesting that government efforts to
promote
AIDS awareness have been marginal. Only 2 percent reported learning about the
disease
62
Mahjoor, Nayeema Ahmad. “Who really represents Kashmiris?” BBC Urdu Service online.
Website:
www.bbc.co.uk
63
Lewis, Bernard. The Crisis of Islam: Holy war and unholy terror. New York: The Modern
Library,
2003. pp. 149.
64
in
1995. pp.
406.
65
Ibid., pp. 407.
66
India:
International Institute for Population Sciences, October 2002. pp. xxv.
at a public health facility. With only one in four women allowed exposure to mass
media
in Jammu and Kashmir, AIDS programs will have to find innovative ways of reaching
these hard to reach Women. Another feature of the findings is that health centers
across
the Valley lack basic infrastructures and are not well equipped with the basic facilities
to
provide health. The majority of health centers does not have their own buildings and
are
functioning from rented or abandoned buildings, which do not have proper sanitation,
water supply, and electricity.
The conflict has created a major problem to the general health, and a widespread
epidemic threatens all. Since Kashmiris are reluctant to travel for health services, a
strong community outreach initiative is needed. Wallace rightly suggests the “dangers
involved in repression as well as militant factionalism provide powerful inducements
to
seek a safer style.”
67
Conclusion
The threat of terror-related violence and the factor of fear make the Kashmir
dispute potentially “one of the most dangerous disputes in the world.”
68
Historically,
both state and non-state actors have resorted to the same approaches in terrorizing
civilian populations, while using different weapons and techniques. However, the
social
environment is inextricably linked to politics. Political terrorism is undertaken
because
persons have a right to defend their home, and supposedly to “alter the behaviors and
67
in
1995. pp.
398.
68
In depth: The Future of Kashmir? BBC News Online looks at possible solutions for Kashmir.
Web
page: “Q & A: Kashmir Dispute” Website:
www.bbc.co.uk
attitudes of multiple audiences,”
69
whether they are ‘conspiratorial’ or not. In its ends, it
is sometimes seen as a “reasonably informed choice among available alternatives”
70
It remains to be seen to what extent India and Pakistan will yield to the dispute.
There is gross inadequacy of health and social services, and negligence. In most of the
health centers the abandoned and dilapidated facilities that have been supplied to
health
professionals are so old that they have either become redundant or are a health risk.
Another important aspect of the findings in the studies reviewed is that proper records
are
not being maintained by the health centers, and health awareness materials are not
being
duly distributed due to illiteracy, violence and fear. As these and other issues are
central
both to the contemporary debate on modern political terrorism and to the argument of
this
paper, Kashmir’s experience is very important in contextualizing political terrorism
and
deconstructing the milieu of fear. Terror-related violence has left a death toll running
into tens of thousands and a population brutalized by fighting and fear. Together with
its
atmosphere of fear, the Kashmiri militants have created an atmosphere of widespread
discontent. In this regard, “the secrecy of planning and the visibility of results”
71
may be
illustrative of a more general phenomenon in which individual and population
vulnerability to violence has created a veil of terror.
Terror-related violence is paradoxical. Terrorism works as a form of “protest
leading to reform of underlying conditions;”
72
and, it equally “destroys the
69
University
Press, 1995. pp. 4.
70
Crenshaw, Martha “The Logic of Terrorism” in Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies,
Ideologies,
Press, 1998.
pp. 11.
71
University
Press, 1995. pp. 4.
72
Ibid., pp. 22
infrastructure”
73
of the society involved. In effect, “the nonstate or substate users of
terrorism – are constrained in their options by the lack of active mass support and by
the
superior power arrayed against them.”
74
Just as the Qur’an advocates altruism, and
Hobbes synthesizes what humankind is capable of, likewise, these issues are central to
the conflict in Kashmir. What appears to one as the logical and desirable seems to
another, as undoubtedly unfair. “Those who make peaceful evolution impossible,
make
violent revolution inevitable.”
75
The implications of this vexing analysis are that the trajectory of terror-related
violence
on Kashmir’s social environment has significant reaches on the mental health of the
society.
73
Ibid., pp. 22.
74
Ideologies,
Press,
1998., 11.
75
President John F. Kennedy addressing an Organization of American States Heads of States
Meeting
in Punta del Esre, Uruguay. 1961
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A Veil of Terror:: A Detailed Case Study of Political Terrorism in Kashmir

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A Veil of Terror:: A Detailed Case Study of Political Terrorism in Kashmir

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Paper prepared for the 48

This paper examines the psycshological impact of terror-related violence on

Kashmir’s experience could prove important in analyzing the psychological impact of

influenced by psychological considerations and internal bargaining, as well as by

votaries of political violence through passive as well as active support.”

• 49.8 percent of Women reported accessing government health facilities for

Crenshaw, Martha (Editor). Terrorism in Context. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan.

President John F. Kennedy addressing an Organization of American States Heads of States

Reich, Walter (Editor). Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of

Stohl, Michael (Editor). The Politics of Terrorism (3

Weinberg, Leonard. Global Terrorism: A beginner’s guide. Oxford: Oneworld, 2005.

Ziring, Lawrence. Pakistan: At the Crosscurrent of History. Oxford: Oneworld, 2003

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