From the middle of 1970's growth of Islamic fundamentalism began in Kashmir. No single reason can be given for this. Several factors, such as the geo-political situation of the valley, Sheikh Abdullah's personal political ambition, the problematic accession to India with its aftermath and the inability of the Indian government to integrate the state with the rest of the country, combined to lead to such a situation. Translated into the religious idiom, the fundamentalists aimed to establish the "Nizam-i-Mustafa" or the ideal state of Islam, at the point of the gun, if needed. The beginning of its manifestation was the communal riots in the year 1986 at Anantnag, near Srinagar. The entire socio-political scenario thereafter assumed a ferocious look.
Hundreds of Kashmiri Muslim youth trained in the use of sophisticated weapons and guerrilla warfare infiltrated the valley and started to indulge in bomb and grenade attacks on the security forces and government buildings. The years 1988 and 1989 were worse, when over five thousand Kashmiri Muslim youth received arms training in Pakistan. Endless processions of anti-India demonstrators were taken out. Simultaneously there were bomb blasts, grenade attacks and AK-47 rifle encounters. There was torching of sensitive targets such as the bridges, government offices, schools building and communication centres.
By the year 1989, the militancy assumed a communal complexion. The Kashmiri Pandits, who had been nonpartisan, were dubbed as Indian agents and informers and as such made special targets. Prominent Pandits, such as Tikalal Tapiloo