After two decades of calm in large-scale popular movements, Indian-administered
Kashmir recently witnessed mass demonstrations and protests against the state
government's decision to transfer forest land to facilitate a Hindu pilgrimage.

The decision of the Jammu and Kashmir authorities to grant 40 hectares of
uninhabited jungle tract to the Amarnath Shrine Board triggered a furor in the
Kashmir Valley and brought life to a standstill for nearly two weeks, a
throwback to the 1988-1989 insurrection against Indian rule. So forceful was
the clamor that the state government had to eventually rescind the transfer
order.