Many separatist groups have disowned Hurriyat. What does this mean for Kashmir’s politics?

Over the last few weeks, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that 12 groups in Kashmir had cut off ties with the Hurriyat Conference, an influential collective of separatist organisations in the Valley.

“It is a prominent demonstration of the people’s trust in the Constitution of India within the valley,” Shah wrote on social media platform X on April 8, while on a visit to the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Eight of the outfits were named in his Twitter posts between March 25 and April 11 – JK Peoples Movement and JK Democratic Political Movement, JK Tahreeki Istiqlal and JK Tahreeki Istiqamat, JK Islamic Political Party, JK Muslim Democratic League and Kashmir Freedom Front and the JK Mass Movement.

Besides these, the wife of the leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement told reporters that the outfit was distancing itself from separatism. The names of the remaining three groups are not yet known.

Since 2019, the space for separatist politics has been nearly obliterated in Jammu and Kashmir. Soon after it scrapped Article 370 and unilaterally broke the erstwhile state into two union territories, the Narendra Modi government cracked down on several groups and imprisoned influential leaders.

According to Shah, the disavowal of the 12 groups...

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