After the partition of India in 1947, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir (see Kashmir region) wanted to maintain the status quo. The only way to achieve this was to remain an independent state. But both India and Pakistan wanted to claim the state of Jammu and Kashmir. With the Maharaja delaying a decision, a revolt broke out in the high lands of Chitral and Skardu and the rebellion spread to involve allied tribesmen from the NWFP. Fearing the defeat of the overwhelmed Kashmir State Forces, the Hindu Maharaja sought military help from India and in turn agreed to accede to India. An Indian defense of the state provoked a response from Pakistan, and signalled the start of Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
However, the outcome of the war was not decisive, and a ceasefire was called in 1948. The UN Resolutions passed after the ceasefire called for a plebiscite to let the people decide the issue. However, despite Pakistan's repeated calls to hold a plebiscite under UN observation, the dispute has not yet been solved and Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan along the Ceasefire Line or the Line of Control ever since.
The Western portion of Kashmir was subsequently divided into the following provinces/regions by Pakistan:-
The Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest unresolved international conflicts in the world today. Pakistan considers Kashmir as its core political dispute with India. India and Pakistan have already fought two wars over Kashmir. The exchange of fire between their forces across the Line of Control, which separates Pakistan Occupied Kashmir from India Occupied Kashmir, is a routine affair.
India’s and Pakistan's unwillingness to come to a common point is the main cause of the dispute. India claims to have ‘signed’ a document, the Instrument of Accession, on 26 October 1947 with the Maharaja of Kashmir, in which the Maharaja obtained India’s military help against an attack. Pakistan does not accept the Indian claim.
The State of Jammu and Kashmir has historically remained independent, except in the anarchical conditions of the late 18th and first half of the 19th century, or when incorporated in the vast empires set up by the Mauryas (3rd century BC), the Mughals (16th to 18th century) and the British (mid-19th to mid-20th century). All these empires included not only present-day India and Pakistan but some other countries of the region as well. Until 1846, Kashmir was part of the Sikh empire. In that year, the British defeated the Sikhs and sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh of Jammu for Rs. 7.5 million under the Treaty of Amritsar. Gulab Singh, the Maharaja, signed a separate treaty with the British, which gave him the status of an independent princely ruler of Kashmir. Gulab Singh died in 1857 and was replaced by Rambir Singh (1857-1885). Two other Maharajas, Partab Singh (1885-1925) and Hari Singh (1925-1949) ruled in succession.
Gulab Singh and his successors ruled Kashmir in a tyrannical and repressive way. The people of Kashmir, nearly 80 per cent of who were Muslims, rose against Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule. He ruthlessly crushed a mass uprising in 1931. In 1932, Sheikh Abdullah formed Kashmir’s first political party—the All Jammu & Kashmir Muslim Conference (renamed as National Conference in 1939). In 1934, the Maharaja gave way and allowed limited democracy in the form of a Legislative Assembly. However, unease with the Maharaja’s rule continued. According to the instruments of partition of India, the rulers of princely states were given the choice to freely accede to either India or Pakistan, or to remain independent. They were, however, advised to accede to the contiguous dominion, taking into consideration the geographical and ethnic issues.
In Kashmir, however, the Maharaja hesitated. The Maharaja, fearing tribal warfare, eventually gave way to the Indian pressure and agreed to join India by signing the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947. Kashmir was provisionally accepted into the Indian Union pending a free and impartial plebiscite. This was spelled out in a letter from the Governor General of India, Lord Mountbatten, to the Maharaja on 27 October 1947. In the letter, accepting the accession, Mountbatten made it clear that the State would only be incorporated into the Indian Union after a reference had been made to the people of Kashmir.
In 1947, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir. During the war, it was India, which first took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948 The following year, on 1 January 1949, the UN helped enforce ceasefire between the two countries. The ceasefire line is called the Line of Control. It was an outcome of a mutual consent by India and Pakistan that the UN Security Council (UNSC) and UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) passed several resolutions in years following the 1947-48 war. The UNSC Resolution of 21 April 1948--one of the principal UN resolutions on Kashmir—stated that “both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”. Subsequent UNSC Resolutions reiterated the same stand. UNCIP Resolutions of 3 August 1948 and 5 January 1949 reinforced UNSC resolutions.
The Indian troops-to-Kashmiri people ratio in the occupied Kashmir is the largest ever soldiers-to-civilians ratio in the world. There are approximately 100,000 Indian military forces—including regular army, para-military troops, border security force and police—currently deployed in the occupied Kashmir. This is in addition to thousands of “counter-militants”—the civilians hired by the Indian forces to crush the terrorism.
Since the start of popular uprising, the gurriella warfare between Indian Armed Forces and foreign terrorists have killed thousands of innocent Kashmir people. There are various estimates of these killings. According to government of India estimates, the number of persons killed in Indian Kashmir between 1989 and 1996 was 15,002. Other Indian leaders have stated a much higher figure. For instance, former Home Minister Mohammad Maqbool Dar said nearly 40,000 people were killed in the Valley “over the past seven years.” Farooq Abdullah’s 1996 statement estimated 50,000 killings “since the beginning of the uprising.” The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC)--which is a representative body of over a dozen Kashmiri freedom fighters’ organizations—also cites the same number. Estimates of world news agencies and international human rights organizations are over 20,000 killed.
The Indian Kashmir in the last few years have seen a considerable improvement with free and fair elections being held, a reduction of Indian troops, developmental work being done by the Indian Government and tourists returning to this beautiful land. Relations between India and Pakistan also have seen a new thaw and talks are underway to solve the Kashmir Issue once and for all. With crosss border diplomacy being the buzzword, the guns have fallen silent. Pakistan too have shown greater empathy to India’s claim on Indian Kashmir and have considerably reduced support to any anti Indian terrorist movements in Kashmir.
However, the outcome of the war was not decisive, and a ceasefire was called in 1948. The UN Resolutions passed after the ceasefire called for a plebiscite to let the people decide the issue. However, despite Pakistan's repeated calls to hold a plebiscite under UN observation, the dispute has not yet been solved and Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan along the Ceasefire Line or the Line of Control ever since.
The Western portion of Kashmir was subsequently divided into the following provinces/regions by Pakistan:-
- Pakistan Administered Kashmir - The narrow Southern part - 250 miles (400 km) in length with the width varying from 10 to 40 miles (15 to 65 km), 5,135 mi² (13,300 km²)
- Northern Areas - A much larger area, 27,991 mi² (72,496 km²), incorporated into Pakistan and administered as a de facto dependency
- Trans-Karakoram Tract - A small region at the Northern frontier of Gilgit-Baltistan agency, ceded to the People's Republic of China by Pakistan in 1963.
World’s Oldest Dispute
The Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest unresolved international conflicts in the world today. Pakistan considers Kashmir as its core political dispute with India. India and Pakistan have already fought two wars over Kashmir. The exchange of fire between their forces across the Line of Control, which separates Pakistan Occupied Kashmir from India Occupied Kashmir, is a routine affair.
Cause of the Kashmir dispute
India’s and Pakistan's unwillingness to come to a common point is the main cause of the dispute. India claims to have ‘signed’ a document, the Instrument of Accession, on 26 October 1947 with the Maharaja of Kashmir, in which the Maharaja obtained India’s military help against an attack. Pakistan does not accept the Indian claim.
The State of Jammu and Kashmir has historically remained independent, except in the anarchical conditions of the late 18th and first half of the 19th century, or when incorporated in the vast empires set up by the Mauryas (3rd century BC), the Mughals (16th to 18th century) and the British (mid-19th to mid-20th century). All these empires included not only present-day India and Pakistan but some other countries of the region as well. Until 1846, Kashmir was part of the Sikh empire. In that year, the British defeated the Sikhs and sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh of Jammu for Rs. 7.5 million under the Treaty of Amritsar. Gulab Singh, the Maharaja, signed a separate treaty with the British, which gave him the status of an independent princely ruler of Kashmir. Gulab Singh died in 1857 and was replaced by Rambir Singh (1857-1885). Two other Maharajas, Partab Singh (1885-1925) and Hari Singh (1925-1949) ruled in succession.
Gulab Singh and his successors ruled Kashmir in a tyrannical and repressive way. The people of Kashmir, nearly 80 per cent of who were Muslims, rose against Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule. He ruthlessly crushed a mass uprising in 1931. In 1932, Sheikh Abdullah formed Kashmir’s first political party—the All Jammu & Kashmir Muslim Conference (renamed as National Conference in 1939). In 1934, the Maharaja gave way and allowed limited democracy in the form of a Legislative Assembly. However, unease with the Maharaja’s rule continued. According to the instruments of partition of India, the rulers of princely states were given the choice to freely accede to either India or Pakistan, or to remain independent. They were, however, advised to accede to the contiguous dominion, taking into consideration the geographical and ethnic issues.
In Kashmir, however, the Maharaja hesitated. The Maharaja, fearing tribal warfare, eventually gave way to the Indian pressure and agreed to join India by signing the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947. Kashmir was provisionally accepted into the Indian Union pending a free and impartial plebiscite. This was spelled out in a letter from the Governor General of India, Lord Mountbatten, to the Maharaja on 27 October 1947. In the letter, accepting the accession, Mountbatten made it clear that the State would only be incorporated into the Indian Union after a reference had been made to the people of Kashmir.
In 1947, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir. During the war, it was India, which first took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948 The following year, on 1 January 1949, the UN helped enforce ceasefire between the two countries. The ceasefire line is called the Line of Control. It was an outcome of a mutual consent by India and Pakistan that the UN Security Council (UNSC) and UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) passed several resolutions in years following the 1947-48 war. The UNSC Resolution of 21 April 1948--one of the principal UN resolutions on Kashmir—stated that “both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”. Subsequent UNSC Resolutions reiterated the same stand. UNCIP Resolutions of 3 August 1948 and 5 January 1949 reinforced UNSC resolutions.
Most densely soldiered territory
The Indian troops-to-Kashmiri people ratio in the occupied Kashmir is the largest ever soldiers-to-civilians ratio in the world. There are approximately 100,000 Indian military forces—including regular army, para-military troops, border security force and police—currently deployed in the occupied Kashmir. This is in addition to thousands of “counter-militants”—the civilians hired by the Indian forces to crush the terrorism.
Since the start of popular uprising, the gurriella warfare between Indian Armed Forces and foreign terrorists have killed thousands of innocent Kashmir people. There are various estimates of these killings. According to government of India estimates, the number of persons killed in Indian Kashmir between 1989 and 1996 was 15,002. Other Indian leaders have stated a much higher figure. For instance, former Home Minister Mohammad Maqbool Dar said nearly 40,000 people were killed in the Valley “over the past seven years.” Farooq Abdullah’s 1996 statement estimated 50,000 killings “since the beginning of the uprising.” The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC)--which is a representative body of over a dozen Kashmiri freedom fighters’ organizations—also cites the same number. Estimates of world news agencies and international human rights organizations are over 20,000 killed.
Improving Scenario
The Indian Kashmir in the last few years have seen a considerable improvement with free and fair elections being held, a reduction of Indian troops, developmental work being done by the Indian Government and tourists returning to this beautiful land. Relations between India and Pakistan also have seen a new thaw and talks are underway to solve the Kashmir Issue once and for all. With crosss border diplomacy being the buzzword, the guns have fallen silent. Pakistan too have shown greater empathy to India’s claim on Indian Kashmir and have considerably reduced support to any anti Indian terrorist movements in Kashmir.
