Internal refugees are all over the country.  One example is the Kashmiri Pandits, Hindu victims of persecution by militant Islamists.  Thousands of others have been languishing in refugee camps in the northeast since the early 90s.  Whole families have been terrorized  by violence that could flare up again at any time between extremist Muslims and Hindus following the massacre at Gujat in 2002.      According to the report, “fighting  between leftist extremist groups—commonly called Naxalites—and government security forces is also reported to have led to displacement in several of the central Indian  states.”   

Never-ending war in Kashmir.  The Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir,  the Himalayan region in the far north of India, contain the greatest number of  internal refugees because of a conflict that goes back to India’s independence in 1947.  After repeated wars between  India and Pakistan over Kashmir, a ceasefire was concluded in November 2003.  However, Islamist militants continued armed struggle, some on behalf of independence and others seeking to join Pakistan.  The violence has displaced some 90% of the local Hindu population, the Pandits.  About 250,000 to 350,000 people are now scattered between the Indian capital of New Delhi and the Kashmir city of Jammu.  The report also notes another area of displacement and suffering “along the Line of Control separating Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.  Since the end of the 1990s, clashes between Indian and Pakistani forces and attacks by separatist militant groups led to several waves of displacement from villages along the Line of Control….more than 12,000 (some say 30,000) people are still displaced on the Indian side because their villages have not been rehabilitated or their fields are mined.”  Up to this time only about 20% of the promised funds to take care of the  Kashmiri IDPs have been released. 

Guerrilla warfare and ethnic cleansing in the North-East.  In the geographically isolated and economically underdeveloped North-East, where 200 of India’s 430 tribal groups live, between thirty and forty rebel groups are operating.  According to the report: “An influx of migrants from the  neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal and Burma (Myanmar) has caused a massive population increase and subsequent competition for resources and jobs.  This has also spurred ethnic conflicts over land and fighting for political autonomy or secession.”  At least 50,000 people in the North-East provinces have died in ethnic conflicts since India’s independence in 1947.

In Assam, ethnic clashes, insurgency against the Indian government, and violence among the Assamese against immigrants from Bangladesh, have led to widespread displacement.  However, “the largest displacement situation… stems from fighting between Bodos and Santhals.” 

“In Manipur, counter-insurgency operations … against local militia groups hiding along the border with Burma (Myanmar), as well as ethnic clashes, have resulted in the displacement of at least 6,000 people.”  In the meantime, the peace process continues with the Naga guerrillas, even if violence between the two rebel factions continues. 

“In northern Tripura, it is estimated that  more than 100,000 people are internally  displaced due to ethnic fighting and attacks by insurgent groups…. Another situation of displacement in Tripura has developed due to the building of  a fence along the border with Bangladesh.”

In Arunachal Pradesh an influential student organization maintains that ]the Chakma population, who come originally from Nepal, should be expelled and resettled elsewhere.

 

Maoists in central India.  In several central Indian states fights between the Indian army and rebel Maoists—also known as the Naxalites—and  have been on the increase.  Between 76 and 155 districts in 15 states are affected by leftist rebels, depending on which report one reads; one such account asserts that the violence is “severely affecting 300 million inhabitants in 7,000 cities and towns.”  Naxalites are reported ot control 20% of India’s forests, an area more than twice the size of Bangladesh.

 

A long history of extremism.  In February 2002, in the western state of Gujarat, the celebrated mosque at Ayodhya was destroyed by Hindu extremists.  A ferocious mob of Muslims then attacked a train full of Hindu pilgrims.  In the following days uninterrupted violence left 2,000 Muslims dead while at least 100,000 more were forced to flee their homes; women and girls were particular targets in the reprisal attacks.  Lately the attacks on Muslims have been sporadic, but according to a local organization there are still 61,000 homeless in need of assistance.  

The Indian government has not yet launched all of its rehabilitation plans for the IDPs, delegating responsibility to local administrators, for the most part.  Besides all of these wars, there are many other factors that produce thousands, if not millions, of refugees every year.  The development projects envisioned by the government, like the construction of damns, often result in the forced relocation of populations.  Natural disasters, too, take their toll, like the frequent floods, the Tsunami of 26 December 2004 and the earthquake of  October 8, 2005, in Kashmir.