{"id":26334,"date":"2026-07-08T10:47:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/?p=26334"},"modified":"2026-07-08T10:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:47:36","slug":"jihadists-look-to-kashmir-kashmiris-look-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/08\/jihadists-look-to-kashmir-kashmiris-look-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Jihadists Look to Kashmir, Kashmiris Look Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many jihadists, building on the Palestinian model, increasingly see Kashmir as prime land to conquer: the next great cause for global jihad. <\/em>Pakistan has actively enabled and amplified this jihadist narrative by positioning itself as the foremost protector of Muslims, effectively asserting ownership over Kashmir.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In June 2026, Pakistani paramilitary forces opened fire on protesters in… Kashmir. The protesters were not armed rebels. They were ordinary Muslim residents \u2014 traders, students, lawyers, transport workers and women \u2014 demanding cheaper electricity, affordable wheat flour and fairer treatment from the authorities that rule them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sit-ins drew more than 70,000 people chanting “Pak Forces Out.”<\/em><\/p>\n

What began as an economic protest gradually became a broader challenge to Pakistan’s administration of the territory.<\/em><\/p>\n

For nearly eight decades, the “two-nation theory” has provided the moral and political framework through which Pakistan has justified its authority over Kashmir. The Muslim crowds in Kashmir chanting “Pak Forces Out,” however, have delivered their verdict on that claim. What made the protests politically significant was not their scale, but their target: Muslim Kashmiris rising against Pakistan itself.<\/em><\/p>\n

[T]he Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)… has an established mechanism for addressing the Kashmir dispute…. The OIC’s selective outrage \u2014 loud on India, silent on Pakistan’s abuses \u2014 exposes its hypocrisy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite Pakistan’s persistent claim that it is the rightful protector of Kashmiri Muslims and that the Indian-administered portion also belongs to it, Muslims in Pakistan-administered Kashmir are openly rejecting this narrative, telling Pakistan that it is not their protector — that they are better off without its rule. This is particularly striking given that Muslims in Indian-administered Kashmir enjoy greater political rights, economic opportunities, and development compared to those living under Pakistani administration.<\/em><\/p>\n

By bravely confronting the very state that claims to embody Muslim “purity” and protection, the Kashmiri Muslim protesters have dismantled the moral foundation of Pakistan’s narrative from within.<\/em><\/p>\n

While jihadists, with Pakistan’s active encouragement, have been attempting to turn Kashmir into the next major jihadist stronghold and battlefield against non-Muslims after Gaza, the voices of Kashmiri Muslims chanting against Pakistani forces have been rejecting the idea. The founding myth of Pakistan as the “pure” Islamic homeland and true representative and protector of Kashmiri Muslims has visibly collapsed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many jihadists, building on the Palestinian model, increasingly see Kashmir as prime land to conquer: the next great cause for global jihad.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hamas leaders themselves have explicitly framed the Palestinian and Kashmiri causes as one struggle. High-ranking Hamas envoys who traveled to Kashmir in 2025 to headline the “Kashmir Solidarity and Hamas Operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ Conference.” The message\u00a0stressed<\/a>\u00a0at the conference was “The mujahideen of Kashmir and Palestine have become united.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Soon after October 7, 2023, on November 6, during a meeting with Pakistani politician Fazal-ur-Rehman in Qatar, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal\u00a0framed<\/a>\u00a0the “Palestine and Kashmir issues” as a shared “litmus test” for “human rights” advocates. In international forums, Pakistan-based jihadi groups and Pakistani political parties have long\u00a0treated<\/a>\u00a0“Palestine and Kashmir” as aligned.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pakistan has actively enabled and amplified this jihadist narrative by positioning itself as the foremost protector of Muslims, effectively asserting ownership over Kashmir. Their claim is\u00a0rooted<\/a>\u00a0in the “two-nation theory,” articulated by the founding fathers of Pakistan \u2014 Syed Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Iqbal, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This\u00a0ideology<\/a>\u00a0framed Hindus and Muslims as two incompatible nations, with Pakistan (“the Land of the Pure”) ordained as a superior homeland to safeguard Muslim identity against Hindu-majority India.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, however, who translated this into a concrete political demand. He\u00a0argued<\/a>\u00a0that Hindus and Muslims were two separate nations and that Muslims required a sovereign homeland to safeguard their identity. This framed the “two-nation theory” not just as a partition plan but as a claim about the nature of cultures that are incompatible. Jinnah’s view has served as Pakistan’s founding principle and permanent foreign policy.<\/em><\/p>\n

This ideology does not belong to the past. Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir,\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0last year:<\/em><\/p>\n

“Our forefathers believed that we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life. Our religion is different. Our customs are different. Our traditions are different. Our thoughts are different. Our ambitions are different… That was the foundation of the Two-Nation Theory. It was laid on the belief that we are two nations, not one.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On another occasion, Munir\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that Kashmir “was our jugular vein, it will remain our jugular vein, and that Pakistan was\u00a0prepared<\/a>\u00a0to fight additional wars over the territory.<\/em><\/p>\n

80 years after partition, however, the claim is collapsing in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir \u2014a region that is almost entirely Muslim. At partition, Pakistan argued that the Muslim-majority Kashmir should all be part of Pakistan. However, after the 1947-48 war, also known as the first Kashmir war, the territory was divided between Indian- and Pakistan-administered regions. Pakistan has continued to insist that the Indian-administered part rightfully belongs to it. Today, it is Muslim Kashmiris themselves who are clearly\u00a0expressing<\/a>\u00a0their rejection of Pakistani rule.<\/em><\/p>\n

In June 2026, Pakistani paramilitary forces\u00a0opened<\/a>\u00a0fire on protesters in Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot, the principal towns of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. The protesters were not armed rebels. They were ordinary Muslim residents \u2014 traders, students, lawyers, transport workers and women \u2014 demanding cheaper electricity, affordable wheat flour and fairer treatment from the authorities that rule them.<\/em><\/p>\n

The International Human Rights Foundation\u00a0accused<\/a>\u00a0authorities of carrying out a “violent crackdown on peaceful protesters in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which has resulted in over 32 civilian deaths, including at least one woman, between June 8 and 16, 2026.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Protest groups and local media claim the total number of\u00a0wounded<\/a>\u00a0ranged between 200 and 300. Amnesty International\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0internet shutdowns, arbitrary mass arrests, and the application of anti-terrorism law against a grassroots civic coalition. Sit-ins\u00a0drew<\/a>\u00a0more than 70,000 people\u00a0chanting<\/a>\u00a0“Pak Forces Out.”<\/em><\/p>\n

These were the very people Pakistan claims to represent internationally when it speaks on behalf of Kashmiris.<\/em><\/p>\n

The events in Kashmir since 2023 challenge the “two-nation theory.” The unrest began with protests over electricity tariffs and flour shortages in May 2023, organized through the Awami Action Committee, a coalition of traders, lawyers, transporters, students and civil society groups, which\u00a0formulated<\/a>\u00a0a 38-point charter of demands, including subsidized essentials and local electoral reforms.<\/em><\/p>\n

Years of\u00a0economic<\/a>\u00a0frustration boiled over when residents complained that although their territory generates substantial hydroelectric power, they were being charged electricity rates they considered unfair while also struggling with rising food prices and shortages. What began as an economic protest gradually became a broader challenge to Pakistan’s administration of the territory.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pakistan’s response has been harsh. The Awami Action Committee was\u00a0banned<\/a>\u00a0on June 5 under anti-terror provisions. Its leaders face sedition charges. Internet and mobile communications were suspended. Federal paramilitary forces were deployed. Reuters\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0a 10-million-rupee ($36,000) bounty for the arrest of the committee’s leaders.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pakistan has built its international position on Kashmir on the premise that it speaks for Kashmiri Muslims. This premise is now contradicted by the conditions in the territory that Pakistan itself administers.<\/em><\/p>\n

For nearly eight decades, the “two-nation theory” has provided the moral and political framework through which Pakistan has justified its authority over Kashmir. The Muslim crowds in Kashmir\u00a0chanting<\/a>\u00a0“Pak Forces Out,” however, have delivered their verdict on that claim. What made the protests politically significant was not their scale, but their target: Muslim Kashmiris rising against Pakistan itself.<\/em><\/p>\n

The contrast between international responses to the areas of Kashmir under Indian administration and those under Pakistani administration is further\u00a0underscored<\/a>\u00a0by the role of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has an\u00a0established<\/a>\u00a0mechanism for addressing the Kashmir dispute. Its Contact Group on Kashmir meets periodically and issues statements on the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir. It did not convene specifically to address the unrest in Pakistan-administered areas, or to issue a separate condemnation of the massacre there. The OIC’s Kashmir position has historically been shaped by consensus language influenced heavily by Pakistan, aligning the organization’s public messaging with Islamabad’s diplomatic priorities. The OIC’s selective outrage \u2014 loud on India, silent on Pakistan’s abuses \u2014 exposes its hypocrisy.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the end, the courageous demonstrations by ordinary Muslim Kashmiris represent a powerful popular rejection of the “two-nation theory,” exposing the failure and unsustainability of Pakistan’s founding ideology. That ideology underpins Pakistan’s claim that it should control the whole Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. Yet India today is home to almost the same number of Muslims as Pakistan and continues to administer part of Kashmir. Despite Pakistan’s persistent claim that it is the rightful protector of Kashmiri Muslims and that the Indian-administered portion also belongs to it, Muslims in Pakistan-administered Kashmir are openly rejecting this narrative,\u00a0telling<\/a>\u00a0Pakistan that it is not their protector — that they are better off without its rule. This is particularly striking given that Muslims in Indian-administered Kashmir enjoy greater political rights, economic opportunities, and development compared to those living under Pakistani administration.<\/em><\/p>\n

By bravely confronting the very state that claims to embody Muslim “purity” and protection, the Kashmiri Muslim protesters have dismantled the moral foundation of Pakistan’s narrative from within.<\/em><\/p>\n

While jihadists, with Pakistan’s active encouragement, have been attempting to\u00a0turn<\/a>\u00a0Kashmir into the next major jihadist stronghold and\u00a0battlefield<\/a>\u00a0against non-Muslims after Gaza, the voices of Kashmiri Muslims chanting against Pakistani forces have been rejecting the idea. The founding myth of Pakistan as the “pure” Islamic homeland and true representative and protector of Kashmiri Muslims has visibly collapsed.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0egretnewseditor@gmail.com\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many jihadists, building on the Palestinian model, increasingly see Kashmir as prime land to conquer: the next great cause for global jihad. Pakistan has actively enabled and amplified this jihadist narrative by positioning itself as the foremost protector of Muslims, effectively asserting ownership over Kashmir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47471,"featured_media":26335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[149,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-intel","category-top-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47471"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26336,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334\/revisions\/26336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}