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www.GOALias.blogspot.comRegional Aspirations 157a majority in the assembly elections held in 1977.Sheikh Abdullah died in 1982 and the leadershipof the National Conference went to his son, FarooqAbdullah, who became the Chief Minister. Buthe was soon dismissed by the Governor and abreakaway faction of the National Conferencecame to power for a brief period.The dismissal of Farooq Abdullah’s governmentdue to the intervention of the Centre generated afeeling of resentment in Kashmir. The confidencethat Kashmiris had developed in the democraticprocesses after the accord between Indira Gandhiand Sheikh Abdullah, received a set-back. Thefeeling that the Centre was intervening in politicsof the State was further strengthened when theNational Conference in 1986 agreed to have anelectoral alliance with the Congress, the rulingparty in the Centre.Insurgency and afterIt was in this environment that the 1987 Assembly election tookplace. The official results showed a massive victory for the NationalMinister. But it was widely believed that the results did not reflectpopular choice, and that the entire election process was rigged. Apopular resentment had already been brewing in the State against theinefficient administration since early 1980s. This was now augmentedby the commonly prevailing feeling that democratic processes werebeing undermined at the behest of the Centre. This generated a politicalcrisis in Kashmir which became severe with the rise of insurgency.By 1989, the State had come in the grip of a militant movementmobilised around the cause of a separate Kashmiri nation. Theinsurgents got moral, material and military support from Pakistan. Fora number of years the State was under President’s rule and effectivelyunder the control of the armed forces. Throughout the period from1990, Jammu and Kashmir experienced violence at the hands of theinsurgents and through army action. Assembly elections in the Statewere held only in 1996 in which the National Conference led by FarooqAbdullah came to power with a demand for regional autonomy forJammu and Kashmir. J&K experienced a very fair election in 2002.The National Conference failed to win a majority and was replaced byPeople’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress coalition government.Separatism and beyondSeparatist politics which surfaced in Kashmir from 1989 has takendifferent forms and is made up of various strands. There is one strandA cartoonist’s take on the Sheikh Abdullah becoming the Chief Minister.“The Kashmiriswere convinced now atthe second dethronementof their elected leader [in1984] that India wouldnever permit them to rulethemselves.B. K. NehruGovernor of J&K beforethe dismissal of FarooqAbdullah’s government.Credit: Kutty“