{{Short description|Kashmiri political coalition}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox political party | name = Muslim United Front | founder = Mohammad Abbas Ansari<ref name="Tribune india 2003">{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030720/edit.htm#6|title=An important player in Kashmir's politics|last=Swarup|first=Harihar|date=20 July 2003|publisher=Tribune India|accessdate=20 May 2010}}</ref><br>Ghulam Qadir Wani<br>Qazi Nisar<br>Abdul Gani Bhat<br>Ghulam Mohammad Bhat | leader = Syed Ali Shah Geelani {{small|(JIK)}}<br>Mohammad Abbas Ansari<ref name="Tribune india 2003">{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030720/edit.htm#6|title=An important player in Kashmir's politics|last=Swarup|first=Harihar|date=20 July 2003|publisher=Tribune India|accessdate=20 May 2010}}</ref> {{small|(JKIM)}}<br>Abdul Ghani Lone {{small|(JKPC)}}<br>Yasin Malik {{small|(JKLF)}} | colorcode = #0A650C | foundation = {{Start date|1986|9|2|df=y}} | ideology = Kashmiriyat<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Varshney|first1=Ashutosh|title=India, Pakistan, and Kashmir: Antinomies of Nationalism|journal=Asian Survey|date=November 1991|volume=31|issue=11|page=1015|doi=10.2307/2645304 |jstor=2645304 |quote=In the elections that followed in 1987, Kashmiriat was mobilized by a coalition of Islamic groups, known as the Muslim United Front (MUF).}}</ref><br>Islamism{{sfn|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003|p=137}}<br>Regionalism<br>Muslim nationalism{{sfn|Sikand, Emergence and Development|2002|p=713}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pd2ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT312|title=The Lost Muslim Rebellion: Kashmir in the Nineties|author=Manoj Joshi|publisher=Penguin Random House|year=2019|isbn=9788184752632|access-date=18 February 2023|archive-date=18 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218094607/https://books.google.com/books?id=Pd2ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT312|url-status=live}}</ref><br />'''Factions:'''<br />Islamic socialism<ref>{{Cite book|title=Demystifying Kashmir|last=Behra|first=Navnita Chadha|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2006|location=Washington D.C.|pages=150}}</ref><br />Islamic fundamentalism<ref>{{Cite book|title=Demystifying Kashmir|last=Behra|first=Navnita Chadha|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2006|location=Washington D.C.|pages=150}}</ref> | country = India | headquarters = Srinagar | abbreviation = MUF | position = Big tent | religion = Islam | affiliation1_title = Members | affiliation1 = {{Bulleted list|Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir|Jammu & Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen|Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front|Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference|Jammu and Kashmir People's League|Ummat-e-Islami|Jammu and Kashmir Muslim League|Kashmir Bazme Tawheed|Jamiate Ulama-E-Islam|Jammu Kashmir National Front|Jamiat-e-Hamdania|Anjuman e shari shiyan|Anjamani Auqafi Jama Masjid|Anjaman-e-Tablig-ul Islam|Majlis-e-Tehfuz-ul-Islam|Muslim Zone Employees Front|Shia Rabitta Committee|Unjman-e-Itehad-e-Muslimeen Tral|Muslim Employees Front}} | successor = All Parties Hurriyat Conference{{sfn|Widmalm, The Rise and Fall of Democracy in Jammu and Kashmir|1997|p=1020-1021}} | slogan = | seats1_title = Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly<br>(1987) | seats1 = {{composition bar|4|76|hex={{party colour|Muslim League (Pakistan)}}}} }} The '''Muslim United Front''' ('''MUF''') was a 'polyglot coalition' of Islamic Kashmiri political parties that contested the 1987 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election in the erstwhile Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.{{sfn|Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace|2003|p=48}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1651?_hi=0&_pos=5705|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312072304/http://oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1651?_hi=0&_pos=5705|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 March 2017|title=Muslim United Front|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press|quote=An alliance of Islamic parties organized to contest the 1987 state elections in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The alliance won only three seats, allegedly due to massive electoral fraud. The group's poor showing in 1987 inspired a new phase of armed resistance to Indian rule in Kashmir that continues today.}}</ref> The Jamaat-e-Islami of Jammu and Kashmir was a key constituent party of the coalition.{{sfn|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003|p=136}} The MUF won four Assembly seats in the 1987 election.<ref name=Nabi>{{cite web | first=Daanish | last=Bin Nabi | url=http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/archives/archives2015/kashmir20150805d.html | title=The 23rd March 1987, The Day That Changed Kashmir As Never Before | publisher=Rising Kashmir | date=5 August 2015 | access-date=6 May 2019 }}</ref><ref name=Bhat>Saima Bhat, [http://www.kashmirlife.net/battleground-amira-kadal-issue-01-vol-08-100167/Battleground Battleground Amira Kadal], Kashmir Life, 24 March 2016.</ref> However, widespread rigging of the election by the ruling National Conference party was reported. In the absence of such rigging, commentators believe that it could have won fifteen to twenty seats,<ref>Praveen Donthi, [http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/mufti-mohammad-sayeed-shaped-1987-kashmir-elections How Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Shaped The 1987 Elections In Kashmir], The Caravan, 23 March 2016. </ref> a contention admitted by the National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.<ref name="Brass1994">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dtKe6XV8z7wC&pg=PA222|title=The Politics of India Since Independence|date=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-45970-9|pages=222–|author=Paul R. Brass}}</ref>
The disaffection caused by the election gave rise to the Kashmir insurgency, which continues to this day.{{sfn|Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace|2003|pp=47-49}}
The present day Hurriyat Conference is largely inspired by the former MUF coalition.{{sfn|Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace|2003|p=52}}
== Background == In 1986, the ruling National Conference, widely accused of corruption, came to an accord with Indian National Congress Party which threatened to erode what remained of Kashmir's autonomy.{{sfn|Johnson, A Region in Turmoil|2005|p=100–}} Moreover, the growing emphasis on secularism led to a backlash with Islamic parties becoming more popular. The key players among these parties were the Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir and its student wing, ''Islami Jamiat-i Tulaba''.<ref>{{citation |last1=Amin |first1=Tahir |author-link1=Tahir Amin |last2=Schofield |first2=Victoria |author-link2=Victoria Schofield |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0433?_hi=3&_pos=48 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105215901/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0433?_hi=3&_pos=48 |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 November 2018 |title=Kashmir |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |publisher=Oxford University Press}} "Culturally, a growing emphasis on secularism generated a backlash, contributing to the popularity of Islamic political parties, especially the Jamāʿat-iIslāmī (established in 1953) and the Islāmī Jamʿīyat-i Tulabā, its allied student body."</ref>
== Formation of Muslim United Front == {{expand section|date=May 2017|small=no}}
In response to these issues was formed the MUF, which attracted support from separatists, youth and the pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami.{{sfn|Johnson, A Region in Turmoil|2005|p=100–}} MUF's election manifesto stressed the need to solve all outstanding issues according to the Simla Agreement, work for Islamic unity and against political interference from the centre. Their slogan in public rallies was wanting the law of the Quran in the Assembly.{{sfn|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003|p=137}}
The Islamic political coalition mobilized support on the basis of Kashmiriyat.<ref name="Thomas1992">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xrPtAAAAMAAJ|title=Perspectives on Kashmir: the roots of conflict in South Asia|date=1992|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=978-0-8133-8343-9|editor=Raju G. C. Thomas}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2017}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Varshney|first1=Ashutosh|title=India, Pakistan, and Kashmir: Antinomies of Nationalism|journal=Asian Survey|date=November 1991|volume=31|issue=11|page=1015|doi=10.2307/2645304 |jstor=2645304 |quote=In the elections that followed in 1987, Kashmiriat was mobilized by a coalition of Islamic groups, known as the Muslim United Front (MUF).}}</ref> The movement's grassroots campaign was said to be 'enthusiastically energetic', attracting youth activists who had been born in the 1960s. A Pandit activist recorded in her memoirs that there had been a 'wave' in favour of the MUF in early 1987 in the Valley.{{sfn|Bose, Transforming India|2013|p=275}}
== 1987 election and rigging == {{Main|1987 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election}}
The 1987 election witnessed the highest record of voters participation, with eighty per cent of the people in the Valley having voted.{{sfn|Bose, Transforming India|2013|loc=p. 275 (PP245)}}
The election of 1987 were considered to be the most compromised in the history of Jammu and Kashmir.<ref name="Tankel2014">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iu1wBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT48 |title=Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba |date=16 January 2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-023803-2 |pages=48– |author=Stephen Tankel}}</ref> Voting was held in the Valley on 23 March 1987 and a Delhi-based magazine reported that strong arms tactics and rigging were used all over the Valley and gangs took over the polling stations forcibly and ballot boxes were pre-stamped in favour of the National Conference.{{sfn|Bose, Transforming India|2013|p=275}}
The MUF won in only 4 of the 43 electoral constituencies it had contested, although it received a vote share of 31.9%.{{sfn|Grover & Arora, Encyclopaedia of India and Her States|1996|p=152}}{{refn|group=note|The Muslim United Front polled 470,580 votes by the official count,<ref>{{citation |last=Hussain |first=Masood |title=MUFfed |newspaper=Kashmir Life |date=23 March 2016 |url=http://kashmirlife.net/muffed-99889/ |access-date=17 February 2018}}</ref> out of 1,477,250 votes cast in the Valley,<ref name=EC>[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1987/StatisticalReport_jk_87.pdf Statistical Report on the General Election, 1987], ''Election Commission of India, New Delhi.''</ref> representing 31.9% vote share. Its share of votes in the whole state was 18.9%.{{sfn|Grover & Arora, Encyclopaedia of India and Her States|1996|p=152}}}} Scholar Victoria Schofield has stated that the MUF might have won four more seats if there was no electoral fraud.<ref>{{citation |author=Foreign Affairs Committee |title=South Asia: fourth report of session 2006-07, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2sgvqiIHjboC |date=2007 |publisher=The Stationery Office, Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons |isbn=978-0-215-03378-9 |pages=28–29}}</ref> On the other hand, an anonymous source in the Intelligence Bureau has advanced the estimate that the MUF may have lost approximately 13 seats due to electoral malpractice.{{sfn|Widmalm, The Rise and Fall of Democracy in Jammu and Kashmir|1997|p=1021}}
The elections were allegedly rigged in favour of Abdullah, Most commentators state that this led to the rise of an armed insurgency movement composed, in part, of those who unfairly lost the elections In July 1988, a series of demonstrations, strikes, and attacks on the Indian government effectively marked the beginning of the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, which escalated into the most severe security issue in India during the 1990s.<ref>{{citation |last=Saraf |first=Muhammad Yusuf |title=Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2 |year=2015 |orig-date=first published 1979 by Ferozsons |publisher=National Institute Kashmir Studies |location=Mirpur |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.3541 |via=archive.org |page=547}}</ref>
== Aftermath == The MUF officially rejected the result of elections saying that the elections are rigged in the favour of Farooq Abdullah and called for an free and fair investigation but instead of punishing those responsible for the rigging the Indian government arrested and tortured the MUF activists,<ref name="Hogan2016">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mM_kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 |title=Imagining Kashmir: Emplotment and Colonialism |date=2016 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-9489-9 |pages=57– |author=Patrick Colm Hogan}}</ref> According to Bose the number of activists arrested and tortured was in the hundreds and possibly thousands. Most of them were kept in custody until late 1987 or early 1988, Among those activists arrested was Yasin Malik and Mohammad Yusuf Shah,{{sfn|Bose, Transforming India|2013|loc=p. 275 (PP245)}} Then in 1988 as a retaliation the MUF organised a series of demonstrations, strikes and attacks against government playing a crucial role in transforming spontaneous, decentralized opposition to Indian rule into a full-fledged insurgency, The MUF used distinctly Islamic themes to mobilise crowds and justify their use of violence sought to establish an Islamic democratic state where the rights of minorities would be protected according to Quran and Sunnah and the economy would be organised on the principles of Islamic socialism also seek the separation of Jammu and Kashmir from Indian administration.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Demystifying Kashmir|last=Behra|first=Navnita Chadha|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2006|location=Washington D.C.|pages=150}}</ref>
Many younger supporters of MUF started to support and joining the militant organisations which had up till the election seen a wane in their support and numerical strength.{{sfn|Johnson, A Region in Turmoil|2005|p=100–}} According to Maulana Abbas Ansari, a member of the Muslim United Front, "The youth would have not picked up the gun nor have known of Nehru's promise of a plebiscite to the people of Kashmir had the election not been rigged".<ref name="Brass1994" /> At the same time, Iran's Islamic Revolution and the victory of Mujahideen in Soviet-Afghan war caused major influence and impact on the Kashmir conflict and added extra confidence and comfort in the Revolt and armed insurgency against Indian administration also evolved the narrative of the Kashmir conflict by steering the struggle away from nationalism and towards Jihadism as many Kashmiri separatist groups including MUF coalition had adopted religious politics by promoting Islamism, Islamic socialism and Islamic fundamentalism in the Self-determine concept of Kashmiriyat against Indian administration rather than nationalist separatism or aspects of Ethnonationationist Political Autonomy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America and the Future of Global Jihad |url=http://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/0118_pakistan_america.aspx |publisher=Brookings.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127080018/http://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/0118_pakistan_america.aspx |archive-date=27 January 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Riedel |first=Bruce |title=The 9/11 Attacks' Spiritual Father |publisher=Brookings.edu |date=26 January 2012 |url-status=dead |url=http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/0911_riedel.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127015845/http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/0911_riedel.aspx |archive-date=27 January 2012}}</ref>
Scholars see that the rise in the organisation's support caused the Congress-National Conference alliance to rig the 1987 election.{{sfn|Amin, The Kashmir Question|2016|p=362}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Varshney|first1=Ashutosh|title=India, Pakistan, and Kashmir: Antinomies of Nationalism|journal=Asian Survey|date=November 1991|volume=31|issue=11|page=1016|doi=10.2307/2645304 |jstor=2645304 |quote=Watching the surge in MUF support, the Conference-Congress alliance rigged the 1987 elections}}</ref>
== Notes == {{reflist|group=note}}
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== Bibliography == * {{citation |last=Amin |first=Tahir |author-link=Tahir Amin |chapter=The Kashmir Question |editor1=Abdulrahim Ali |editor2=Iba Der Thiam |editor3=Yusof A. Talib |title=Islam in the World Today, Part 1 (The Different Aspects of Islamic Culture, Volume 6) |publisher=UNESCO Publishing |chapter-url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002449/244974e.pdf |pages=349–368 |year=2016 |ref={{sfnref|Amin, The Kashmir Question|2016}}}} * {{citation |first=Sumantra |last=Bose |author-link=Sumantra Bose |title=Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-674-01173-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ACMe9WBdNAC |ref={{sfnref|Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace|2003}}}} * {{citation |last=Bose |first=Sumantra |author-link=Sumantra Bose |chapter=The Kashmir Question |title=Transforming India |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=reiwAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 |year=2013 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-72819-6 |pages=225– |ref={{sfnref|Bose, Transforming India|2013}}}} * {{citation |last=Johnson |first=Rob |title=A Region in Turmoil: South Asian Conflicts Since 1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sub5yWzftqoC&pg=PA100 |year=2005 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-86189-257-7 |ref={{sfnref|Johnson, A Region in Turmoil|2005}}}} * {{cite book |editor1-first=Verinder |editor1-last=Grover |editor2-first=Ranjana |editor2-last=Arora |title=Encyclopaedia of India and Her States: Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPVtAAAAMAAJ |year=1996 |publisher=Deep & Deep |isbn=978-81-7100-723-3 |ref={{sfnref|Grover & Arora, Encyclopaedia of India and Her States|1996}}}} * {{citation |last=Schofield |first=Victoria |author-link=Victoria Schofield |title=Kashmir in Conflict |publisher=I. B. Taurus & Co |location=London and New York |year=2003 |orig-year=First published in 2000 |isbn=1860648983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkTetMfI6QkC |ref={{sfnref|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003}}}} * {{citation |first=Sten |last=Widmalm |title=The Rise and Fall of Democracy in Jammu and Kashmir |journal=Asian Survey |volume=37 |number=11 |date= November 1997 |pages=1005–1030 |jstor=2645738 |ref={{sfnref|Widmalm, The Rise and Fall of Democracy in Jammu and Kashmir|1997}} |doi=10.2307/2645738}} * {{citation |last=Widmalm |first=Sten |title=Kashmir in Comparative Perspective: Democracy and Violent Separatism in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfhQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 |date=2014 |orig-year=first published 2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-86694-4 |ref={{sfnref|Widmalm, Kashmir in Comparative Perspective|2014}}}}
== Further reading == * {{citation |last=Hussain |first=Masood |title=MUFfed |newspaper=Kashmir Life |date=23 March 2016 |url=http://kashmirlife.net/muffed-99889/ |access-date=17 February 2018}} * Saima Bhat, [http://www.kashmirlife.net/battleground-amira-kadal-issue-01-vol-08-100167/ Battleground Amira Kadal], Kashmir Life, 24 March 2016. * [http://www.kashmirlife.net/abdul-razak-mir-bachru-issue-01-vol-08-100180/ Abdul Razak Mir (Bachru)], Kashmir Life, 24 March 2016. * [http://www.kashmirlife.net/mohammad-ismail-bhat-issue-no-01-vol-08-100057/ Mohammad Ismail Bhat], Kashmir Life, 24 March 2016. * [http://www.kashmirlife.net/the-big-jamaat-issue-no-01-vol-08-100038/ The Big Jama’at], Kashmir Life, 24 March 2016. * {{cite web | url=http://www.kashmirlife.net/d-day-march-23-1987-issue-no-01-vol-08-100032/ | title= D-Day: March 23, 1987 | publisher=Kashmir Life | date=24 March 2016 | access-date=6 May 2019}} * [http://www.kashmirlife.net/mufs-mind-issue-no-01-vol-08-100053/ MUF’s Mind], Kashmir Life, 24 March 2016.
Category:State political parties in Jammu and Kashmir Category:Political parties established in 1986 Category:Regionalist parties in India Category:1986 establishments in Jammu and Kashmir Category:Kashmir separatist movement Category:Jamaat-e-Islami