Kashmir has been living with Pakistan - sponsored terrorism and the security forces' response to it for over a decade now. As the terrorists and the security forces took on each other, and the latter combed the population of the valley desperately to pick up the local elements supporting the jehadis, caught in the cross fire were the innocent people. The major dimension of the terrorist violence in Kashmir is the terrorists' commitment to the extermination and subjugation of the Hindus in the state because Hindus do not subscribe to the idea of separation from India, nor do they expect to be governed by the authority of the state which derives its sanction from the law and precedent of Islam.