Separatist movements of India

Secession in India typically refers to state secession, which is the withdrawal of one or more states from the Republic of India. Whereas, some have wanted a separate state, union territory or an autonomous administrative division within India. Many separatist movements exist with thousands of members, however, some have low local support and high voter participation in democratic elections. However, at the same time, demanding separate statehood within under the administration of Indian union from an existing state can lead to criminal charges under secession law in India.[1][2] India is described as an ‘Union of States’ in Article 1 of the Indian constitution I.e "Indestructible nation of destructible states" by its father of constitution Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar[3] where a state or Union territory of India cannot secede from India by any means and the Central Government has more powers than the respective state governments and can forcefully change the names and boundaries of the states without their permission at any time when needed for self interest and for the maintenance of integrity.[4][5][6]

The Naxal-Maoist insurgency began in India with the Naxalbari uprising in 1967 in West Bengal. Later it also spread to the southern states of India. Currently, it is led by the Communist Party of India (Maoists) and are active in some areas of the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The areas where Naxals operate is known as the Red Corridor. Their support mainly lies with the tribal population of India who have often been neglected by the elected government.

The Khalistan movement in Punjab was active in the 1980s and early 1990s, but was suppressed and eventually died down. Secessionist movements in Northeast India involve multiple armed separatist factions operating in India's northeastern states, which are connected to the rest of India by the Siliguri Corridor, a strip of land as narrow as 23 km (14.3 mi) wide. Northeastern India consists of the seven states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland. Tensions existed between insurgents in these states and the central government as well as amongst their native indigenous people and migrants from other parts of India. Insurgency has seen rapid decline in recent years, with a 70% reduction in insurgency incidents and an 80% drop in civilian deaths in the Northeast in 2019 compared to 2013.[7] The 2014 Indian general election the Indian government claimed it had an 80% voter turnout in all northeastern states, the highest among all states of India. Indian authorities claim that this shows the faith of the northeastern people in Indian democracy.[8] Insurgency has largely become insignificant due to lack of local public support and the area of violence in the entire North East has shrunk primarily to an area which is the tri-junction between Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and north Nagaland.[9]

Jammu and Kashmir has long been wracked by the insurgency since 1989.[10][11] Although the failure of Indian governance and democracy lay at the root of the initial disaffection, Pakistan played an important role in converting the latter into a fully developed insurgency.[12][13] Some insurgent groups in Kashmir support complete independence, whereas others seek accession to Pakistan.[14][13] More explicitly, the roots of the insurgency are tied to a dispute over local autonomy.[15] Democratic development was limited in Kashmir until the late 1970s and by 1988 many of the democratic reforms provided by the Indian government had been reversed and non-violent channels for expressing discontent were limited and caused a dramatic increase in support for insurgents advocating violent secession from India.[15] In 1987, a disputed State election [16] which is widely perceived to have been rigged,[17][18][19] created a catalyst for the insurgency.[20] In 2019, the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked. Since then, the Indian military has intensified its counter-insurgency operations. Clashes in the first half of 2020 left 283 dead.[21] The 2019–2021 Jammu and Kashmir lockdown was a security lockdown and communications blackout that had been imposed throughout Jammu and Kashmir which lasted until February 2021,[22] with the goal of pre-emptively curbing unrest, violence and protests. Thousands of civilians, mostly young men, had and have been detained in the crackdown.[23][24][25] The Indian government had stated that the tough lockdown measures and substantially increased deployment of security forces had been aimed at curbing terrorism.[26] The revocation and subsequent lockdown drew condemnation from several countries, especially Pakistan.

India has introduced several laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Acts (AFSPA) to subdue insurgency in certain parts of the country. The law was first enforced in Manipur and later enforced in other insurgency-ridden north-eastern states. It was extended to most parts of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1990 after the outbreak of an armed insurgency in 1989. Each Act gives soldiers immunity in specified regions against prosecution under state government unless the Indian government gives prior sanction for such prosecution. The government maintains that the AFSPA is necessary to restore order in regions like Indian territories of Kashmir and Manipur.[27] The act has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as a "tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination".[28] On 31 March 2012, the UN asked India to revoke AFSPA saying it had no place in Indian democracy.[29]

  1. ^ "Trinamool Leader Lodges Complaint Against BJP MPs For Demanding Separate Statehood". NDTV. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  2. ^ "TMC students' wing files complaint against BJP MPS over 'separate state' demand".
  3. ^ "Indestructible Union of Destructible States".
  4. ^ "Constitution of India|Legislative Department | Ministry of Law and Justice | GoI". Legislative.gov.in. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Who said that - India is an indestructible Union of destructible states?".
  6. ^ "Can India be 50 states and Tamil Nadu a country? | India News - Times of India". The Times of India.
  7. ^ "70 per cent decline in insurgency incidents in Northeast: Government". The Economic Times. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  8. ^ "State-Wise Voter Turnout in General Election 2014". Election Commission of India. Government of India. Press Information Bureau. 21 May 2014. Archived from the original on 4 June 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  9. ^ "Insurgency on decline in North East, tri-junction between Assam, Arunachal and north Nagaland arc of violence: Eastern Army commander". 14 February 2020.
  10. ^ Ratcliffe, Rebecca (4 August 2019), "Heightened security and anxiety in Kashmir amid fears of unrest", Guardian Quote: "Kashmir is claimed by India and Pakistan in full and ruled in part by both. An insurgency on the Indian-administered side has been ongoing for three decades, and tens of thousands of people have been killed."
  11. ^ Slater, Joanna (28 March 2019), "From scholars into militants: Educated Kashmiri youths are joining an anti-India insurgency", The Washington Post, retrieved 27 November 2019 Quote: "Some of the recruits, like Bhat, are highly educated and have promising careers ahead of them; others are high school dropouts from rural villages. But each embraced violence, drawn to a three-decade insurgency against India's rule in its portion of Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed by India and Pakistan."
  12. ^ Kazi, Seema (2017), "Law, Gender and Governance in Kashmir", in Chitralekha Zutshi (ed.), Kashmir: History, Politics, Representation, Cambridge University Press, pp. 150–171, 153, ISBN 978-1-108-22612-7 Quote: "By 1989-90, the slogan of aazadi (freedom) came to symbolize popular resentment and protest against the denial of democracy, and the demand for freedom from Indian rule over Kashmiri land. In response to a militant-led mass movement for independence by Kashmiri Muslims, the Indian state embarked on an extraordinary military occupation, combined with high levels of violence and repression to contain the rebellion. Among the notable characteristics of Kashmir's revolt was the active participation of Kashmiri women during the most spontaneous phase of the struggle."
  13. ^ a b Kapur, S. Paul (2017), Jihad as Grand Strategy: Islamist Militancy, National Security, and the Pakistani State, Oxford University Press, pp. 84–, ISBN 978-0-19-976852-3 Quote: "Popular discontent in Kashmir resulted largely from chronic mismanagement and malfeasance on the part of the Indian central government, as well as the Kashmiri National Conference. It was not a Pakistani creation. The Pakistanis actively capitalized on Kashmiri discontent, however, and played a crucial role in transforming spontaneous, decentralized opposition to Indian rule into a full-fledged insurgency dedicated to promoting an Islamist sociopolitical agenda and violently joining Kashmir to Pakistan"
  14. ^ Conflict Encyclopedia – India: Kashmir Archived 1 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Uppsala Conflict Data Program, 29 May 1977, retrieved 2013-05-29,
  15. ^ a b Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, Conflict Summary, Conflict name: India: Kashmir, "Roots of Conflict and the emergence of Kashmir Insurgents", viewed 2013-05-29, http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/gpcountry.php?id=74&regionSelect=6-Central_and_Southern_Asia# Archived 3 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "Elections in Kashmir". Kashmirlibrary.org. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  17. ^ Donthi, Praveen. "How Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Shaped the 1987 Elections in Kashmir". The Caravan. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference Prakash 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ "History of electoral fraud has lessons for BJP in J&K". Times of India Blog. 22 November 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  20. ^ Jeelani, Mushtaq A. (25 June 2001). "Kashmir: A History Littered With Rigged Elections". Media Monitors Network. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  21. ^ "Kashmir: A year of lockdown and lost autonomy". DW. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  22. ^ "Communication blackout in Kashmir devastating, time for India to lift restrictions: US House Committee". indiatoday.in.
  23. ^ "At Least 2,300 People Have Been Detained During the Lockdown in Kashmir". Time. 21 August 2019. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019.
  24. ^ "Kashmir city on lockdown after calls for protest march". The Guardian. 23 August 2019.
  25. ^ "Inside Kashmir's lockdown: 'Even I will pick up a gun'". BBC. 10 August 2019.
  26. ^ "India PM defends Kashmir decision". 9 August 2019.
  27. ^ "India campaign over 'draconian' anti-insurgent law". BBC News. 17 October 2011.
  28. ^ "India: Repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act" Human Rights Watch
  29. ^ "UN asks India to repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act". NDTV.com. Retrieved 30 July 2021.