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| India-Pakistan |
| Kashmir conflict shifts with top militant vowing fight is for an Islamic state |
| 2017-05-23 |
| [THEGUARDIAN] A serious rift has emerged within the decades-old insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmire, with a top myrmidon commander vowing to establish a Islamic system in the disputed Himalayan region and repudiating the goal of an independent nation. Zakir Musa, the commander of Kashmire’s largest anti-India militia, has explicitly distanced himself from the 70-year-old independence movement in the valley as well as from elements who wish to merge with Pakistain, declaring his fight is "exclusively for Islam, so that Sharia [Islamic law] is established here". The pronouncements, issued in audio statements posted on social media in the past weeks, signal a growing ideological divide between Kashmire’s old guard of separatist leaders, their traditional sponsor Pakistain, and a new, social-media savvy generation of rebels heavily influenced by radical Islam. |
| Posted by:Fred |