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Begin New Search Topic Separatism Political Geography South Asia

1. India — Expert Comment: Kashmir attack stokes tensions along the India-Pakistan Line of Control

Author:
Pearl Pandya
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
Abstract:
On 22 April, separatist militants fired at tourists in the resort town of Pahalgam in the Kashmir Valley, killing at least 26, including one foreign national. This was the deadliest attack on civilians in nearly two decades, and a rare attack against tourists, who have thus far been largely spared from separatist violence.1 Local reports attributed the attack to The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist separatist group.2 While the group has focused its activities against Indian security forces, ACLED data show the TRF’s involvement in at least 21 attacks targeting civilians in Kashmir since the group’s founding in 2019. Similar to Tuesday’s attack, non-Kashmiris and Hindus have borne the brunt of the TRF’s violence.
Topic:
Territorial Disputes, Violence, Separatism, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, India, and Kashmir

2. Standardization and ethnocracy in Sri Lanka

Author:
Neil DeVotta
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Standardization was the scheme that replaced meritocracy in Sri Lanka education, with positive discrimination to increase the majority Sinhalese community’s university enrolment. It did so by minimizing better-qualified minority Tamils’ university entry, even as the quest for Tamil separatism was gaining ground. The government claimed the scheme was justified to create a more balanced representation in science-based university fields, but it was among the policies that contributed to the island becoming an ethnocracy. While standardization was later discarded, its legacy continues thanks to the district quota system it fostered and the inequalities it helped to cement between ethnic groups. Ultimately, standardization did not merely complicate existing inequalities; it also contributed to anomie and substandard professionalism within the educational and governmental sectors. A path dependence explanation helps us to better understand why the policy was instituted, and why district quotas continue to operate.
Topic:
Education, Inequality, Ethnicity, Separatism, Standardization, Path Dependency, and Ethnocracy
Political Geography:
South Asia and Sri Lanka

3. Baluch Nationalist-Separatist Militant Alliance Threatens Pakistani Security Forces

Author:
Farhan Zahid
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan province has experienced a fresh wave of nationalist-separatist terrorist attacks since 2019, with new targets indicating shifting trends. Baluch nationalist–separatist militant groups have not only ramped up their attacks, but also have changed strategy and formed a new alliance. The implications of this are a steep incline in attacks against the Pakistani security forces.
Topic:
Security, Nationalism, Insurgency, Non State Actors, Islamism, and Separatism
Political Geography:
Pakistan and South Asia

4. Pakistan’s Destabilization Playbook: Khalistan Separatist Activism Within the US

Author:
Aparna Pande, Husain Haqqani, C Christine Fair, Michael Rubin, Seth Oldmixon, and Clay Westrope
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Hudson Institute
Abstract:
Hudson Institute’s South and Central Asia Program assembled a group of South Asia experts to evaluate the fifty-five interlinked Kashmiri and Khalistani groups currently operating within the United States and the possibility that these groups receive funding, support, and military training from Pakistan, have ties to militant and terrorist groups in India, and could detrimentally impact US foreign policy in South Asia. The activities of Khalistani groups located in North America should be investigated, within the limits prescribed by law, to prevent a reoccurrence of the violence orchestrated by the Khalistan movement in the 1980s. During that period, along with numerous attacks on civilians, the Khalistan movement was linked to the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to London that left 329 dead and the failed bombing of an Air India jet in Tokyo on the same day. The US government has shown reluctance to act on intelligence from India concerning Pakistan-supported Khalistan militancy, largely due to Pakistan’s role as the artery providing logistical support to the US military mission in Afghanistan following 9/11. Compounding the issue, China has blocked the designation of Pakistan-based terrorists under the United States’ terrorist-designation process within the United Nations Security Council.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Terrorism, Political Activism, Separatism, and Destabilization
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and United States of America

5. Dynamics of India’s Contemporary Domestic Security Challenges

Author:
A. Z. Hilali
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
India’s immense diversity is unique with its pluralism based on myriad ethnic communities, cultures, religious identities and tribes. Since independence, the country failed to produce one single dominant nation’s concept because identities have not yet forged a common national outlook and its ethnic, religious, and cultural identities remains strong and quite distinctive. Moreover, the Indian federal structure seems to be failed to accommodate the expectations of diverse communities and socio-political cultures. Consequently, the federation is asymmetric with the separatist movements in many parts of the country specifically violent movements in Kashmir, Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and Mezoland which have severely challenged the country’s sovereignty. Furthermore, the insurgencies in Northeast of India and violent movements of Naxalites and Maoist have also challenged India’s territorial integrity. In the same manner the Dalits (Harijan) and minorities (Christians and Muslims), are the victims of superior Hindu caste and Hindu chauvinism. Hence it is perceived that India has lost sight of vital constitutional spirit of secularism and federalism. Further, the worst internal security situation lies on India’s unfair, unbalanced and discriminatory policies with the communities and especially with its judicial system. Nonetheless, it has proved that various socio-economic and political imperatives are not fulfilled by the ruling elites or society. Thus, ethno-religiousideological fault lines, which exist in India, have to be managed with a sense of fairness and transparent federal policies and there is no need to use forces to suppress people. In this context, India requires peaceful and development manual at the national level in order to stabilize all section of society. Without a coordinate approach, the domestic security threats will lead the country to the worst situation.
Topic:
Human Rights, Violent Extremism, Separatism, Justice, Secularism, and Federalism
Political Geography:
South Asia and India