India lures Kashmir fighters

Kashmir is split between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. They have fought two wars over its control and they claim the territory in entirety.

Anti-India sentiments run deep in the disputed majority Muslim region, where more than a dozen violent opposition groups have been fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan since 1989.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Muslim fighters. However, Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only gives moral and diplomatic support to the fighter groups.

There is a real sense of fear that such infiltration attempts might increase in order to derail the two side from talking to each other.

The Indian government has offered an amnesty package in order to woo back fighters who would like to come back from across the border without fear of persecution  in India.

Al Jazeera’s Prerna Suri reports from Sopore in Indian-administered Kashmir.