Islamic State in Jammu and Kashmir

History[edit]

The Islamic State announced in 2016 that ISKP will expand into Kashmir.^[2] In 2017, protestors all around Kashmir, especially in Srinagar, waved the Islamic State flag alongside the Pakistani flag at various rallies.^[3][4] In Nowhatta, outside of the Jamia Masjid, a group of people set the Indian flag on fire while flying the Pakistani and Islamic State flags.^[3] Flying the Pakistani flag, or any national flag, is against the Islamic State's doctrine and is unlike anything that they would do. Later, the Jammu and Kashmir Police confirmed that the Islamic State had no involvement in the rallies and that it was only locals.^[5] The ISJK's existence has mostly been observed online. In December 2017, a pro-Islamic State video in Urdu was shared on Telegram, using the hashtag “Wilayat Kashmir” (Kashmir Province) in which a masked man pledges allegiance to the Islamic State and invited AQI-affiliated groups to join the Islamic State. The ISJK has not been listed an official Islamic State wilayah (province).^[6] 


The ISJK is not recognised by the Islamic State, and ISPP and ISHP are the ones responsible for Islamic State activities in Pakistani and Indian controlled Kashmir, respectively. The ISJK is against LeT, JeM, and HM, who have openly rejected both Al-Qaeda and Islamic State propaganda. The United Jihad Council chairman and HM leader, Syed Salahuddin, stated that Kashmiri jihad movement is indigenous, and does not have a worldwide caliphate goal, and claimed that both al-Qaeda-affiliated groups and the ISJK are attempts by the Indian government to ruin the image of the Kashmiri jihad movement.^[7][8] Syed Ali Shah Geelani accused ISJK, and the Islamic State as a whole, of being un-Islamic and a creation of the West with the intention of dividing Muslims.^[9] The ISJK aims to spread the Islamic State caliphate to Jammu and Kashmir, rather than to split from India or to merge with Pakistan.^[10]