Introduction

South Asia's population is characterized by ‘youth bulge’. Some 50 per cent of the population at present is aged less than twenty-five years. Frustrated, uneducated, poor youth are the cutting edge of the insurgent armies. The situation is not rosy for Pakistan. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, there were about 14,000 madrasas in Pakistan with about one million poor students. They provide free boarding to the students. These madrasas provide only rigid and intolerant Islamic religious education. The madrasa students can only become clerics in the mosques. Most of the madrasa students become foot soldiers of the tanzims. The literacy rate in Pakistan in the new millennium is only 48 per cent. During 1996–7, only 1.25 per cent of Nepal's labour force was engaged in industry. Some 71 per cent of the population was below the poverty line and 60 per cent of the population was illiterate. The high population of India results in low per capita income, unequal development and relative deprivation, which are the principal motivators behind armed uprisings in various parts of India. The linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity of South Asia's population have further added a dangerous dressing to the already troubled scenario. This chapter focusses on those insurgent groups which maintain ‘private armies’ that engage in both guerrilla campaigns and conduct terrorist attacks.

India

From its very independence, India has struggled to maintain ‘law and order’ in the north-east and north-west (Kashmir).