Genocide is a bit much, imo. Kashmir has been fighting a separatist movement against India since a long time, to merge with Pakistan or be a separate country. Secular and democratic means of resistance such as the ‘Plebiscite Front’ being banned and a rigged election in 1987 led to violent terrorism in the 90s. War crimes, enforced disappearances, harsh search operations, civilian casualties and further suppression of dissent in wartime led to disillusionment with the Indian state among Kashmiri Muslims. Indigenous armed movements were quickly hijacked by Pakistan, which turned them more Islamist in character. They even ratted on less obviously Islamist (but still not quite secular) militants to the Indian Army, who took them down. This was because the JKLF was pro independance and anti Pakistan-merger (For this, see the history of the Hizbul Mujahideen and pro-Independence JKLF).

The was in a context of Pakistani support to the Afghan Mujahiddeen backed by the US, and the various groups it spawned, some quite dangerous like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is now banned in Pak. (For this, see Ajmal Kasab’s confession that his uncle fought in Afghanistan. Also look up said guy, and his associates.)

The colour of the insurgency changed, the Hindu minority in the region was driven out after violent pogroms and estranged from the local Muslim populace in the 90s. Trust was lost, and the movement lost any legitimacy it had. The Indian Army clamped down, war crimes were committed, some of which were quite horrific. Militants, like Bitta Karate targeted Kashmiri Hindus for being non-Muslim, or for the broad perception that they were pro-India. Many perceived India, which at that time was largely secular (unlike now) to be a Hindu country.

The secular, democratic movement decades ago that enjoyed some support among Hindus like Prem Nath Bazaz degraded to a Pak-based insurgency that alienated non-Muslims in the region. I’ve never heard of any K Hindus who harbour any warm feelings for HM now, it’s virtually unheard of. It isn’t really similar to Palestine, because even Hamas did not violently drive out Palestinian Christians in the region, unlike the Hizbul Mujahideen, who did it gleefully. Anyway, any revolutionary sentiment was lost out to an inter-imperialist proxy war between Pak and India.

In the 2000s, there was a resurgence of stone-pelting and terrorism, but things changed after 2019, when the state’s special status was revoked. Earlier, non-Kashmiris buying land in Kashmir wasn’t allowed and they also had their own constitution. After 2019, people could buy land in Kashmir and there were internet shutdowns, a police state and hardline measures to clamp down dissent in any form. Fears of demographic change, and comparisons to Palestine are due to the current right wing government. It’s quite complicated, especially since there never really has been a Kashmiri equivalent to the PLO, and the involvement of extreme terrorist orgs like Lashkar-e-Toiba in terrorist attacks like 26/11 has killed a lot of legitimacy it had. That said, war crimes committed on both sides need to be acknowledged and the Kashmiri Hindus, who generally do not support separatism now, whether it is in a secular or Islamist form and have not returned to their homes out of fear of growing radicalisation in the region must be addressed. It is a very complicated situatiation.

Genocidal intent, afaik, wasn’t shown in the past. India’s position in the media was that there was no indigenous movement, and Kashmiris are largely peaceful and dislike Pakistani ‘terrorism’ (here, terrorism = separatism of all kinds). This has changed to, “Kashmiri Muslims are brainwashed terrorists who hate Hindus.” Pakistan’s media position has been that the Kashmiris ought to have a referendum as was promised to them (which Nehru did promise, but it never happened. Ambedkar was of that opinion too, before anyone here accuses me of terror apologia), and that they never got involved, to the point that they refused to take back their dead killed in the Kargil War, and the last rites were done by India. Most Indians have no idea about the crimes of the Army in Kashmir, so please don’t equate them Israeli settlers.

Neo-fascism has led to some inflammatory content online. The Genocide Watch issued a warning in 2022 that India is at risk of genocide towards Indian Muslims. However, using the very high bar of genocidal intent in Lemkin’s definition of genocide, the central government’s policies have not been genocidal. Though there is considerable risk as Modi’s actions in 2002 have shown both genocidal acts and genocidal intent.

Edit: non-Indians —> non-Kashmiris.