Kashmir Conflict Between Pakistan and India

KASHMIR CONFLICT BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND INDIA

The State of Jammu and Kashmir is situated between Pakistan and India. Among the key reasons for tension between Pakistan and India is the key problem of Kashmir. Whereas Pakistan has repeatedly termed this the "core issue" in its relationship with India, India has maintained that this matter was settled with Kashmir's accession to India in October 1947. As far as India has been concerned, therefore, the only issue for discussion has been what India regards as Pakistan's continuing illegal occupation of part of Jammu and Kashmir, an occupation that began in 1947Ð'-48, during the war between the two. About 63 per cent of the territory is under Indian occupation; while the rest, 37 per cent, is with Pakistan, called "Azad" meaning independent Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Total population of Kashmir is about 13 million. Population of Indian occupied Kashmir is about 7.7 million and remaining 6 million is with Pakistan. Kashmir dispute is the oldest unresolved conflict between Pakistan and India. Over which both countries have fought 3 wars. Pakistan considers Kashmir as the fundamental political dispute with India, where as India does not consider Kashmir as a dispute, in fact it considers it as its internal affair. The world has accepted Kashmir as a disputed territory and as an international conflict that needs to be resolved.

The history of Kashmir conflict goes back 1947, when both Pakistan and India got independence from the British. Kashmir has always been an independent territory. 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 Mahraja, 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 Marajas, Partab Singh (1885-1925) and Hari Singh (1925-1949) ruled in succession. Maharaja Hari Singh did not wish to make an immediate decision about the future of Kashmir, perhaps hoping for independence. He signed a Standstill Agreement with India and Pakistan. There are two versions of what happened next.

According to Pakistan, the ruler of Kashmir wanted it to be part of Pakistan. India put lot of pressure on the Maharaj Hari Singh to make Kashmir part of India. Seeing this, majority of Muslim population in Kashmir rebelled against the Maharaja. The government of India, alleging that the ruler had acceded to India on the basis of a fraudulent instrument of accession, invaded and occupied a large part of Kashmir, which is now divided into Azad (Liberated) Kashmir and 'Indian-held Kashmir'. India has not kept its promise to hold a plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiris... India needs to implement UN resolutions calling for a referendum.

The Indian version is a different from the above. According to India, Pakistan placed economical restrictions to force Maharaja to join Pakistan. When this failed, Pakistan sent its armed tribesmen to forcibly make Kashmir part of Pakistan. Maharaja Hari Singh was thus forced to seek India's help, and on October 26th 1947 Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. Indian forces entered Kashmir and fighting continued until the battle stabilized. Eventually the United Nations arranged a cease-fire January 1st 1949 and the cease-fire line became known as the Line of Control. Approximately a quarter of the western portion of the state is occupied by Pakistan, with the remainder a part of India. A plebiscite has never been held as promised because Pakistan never fulfilled a prerequisite condition - the complete withdrawal of Pakistani troops from Kashmir. Subsequently, free and fair elections have been held in Kashmir. Lastly, the future of the disputed territory is to be worked out by bilateral negotiations between India and Pakistan as called for in Simla Agreement.

Pakistan in reply to India's above point of view state that the armed tribesmen were not from Pakistan. Rather, they were local Kashmiris who did not want to be part of India. Furthermore, the Maharaja of Kashmir had no right to call in the Indian Army, because the Maharaja of Kashmir was not a heredity ruler. He was merely a British appointee. There had been no such position as the "Maharaja of Kashmir" prior to British rule. Finally, the agreement was that any areas more than 70% Muslim would go to Pakistan. Kashmir has more than 90% Muslims and therefore clearly should have been part of Pakistan.

What makes Kashmir so special? Many things: its landscape, a lush green valley and snowcapped mountains, rivers and lakes. Its rich variety of trees, flowers and fruits. the wealth of handicrafts, the soft feel of the famed shawls, the smoothness of planed walnut wood, the rough and the thick, luxurious pile of a close-knotted carpet; its food crisp-fried chops, mutton cooked in spices and yogurt, meatballs made of finely pounded meat and simmered in a creamy-rich sauce of cardamom, , tea flavored with cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. The people Ð'- variety of races and religions - Aryan, Scythian and Mongolian, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists, faces and images closer to Central Asia than to the plains of India, a wealth of historical remains - the magnificence Sun Temple at Martand, the formal elegance of the Gardens. These are all the sights that make Kashmir a special territory. Other places in India have some of these, but only Kashmir has them all. Kashmir is a very attractive tourist spot. Tourists from all over the world visit Kashmir, as a result a significant amount of revenue is generated annually.

Due to the above mentioned facts, neither Pakistan nor India wants to lose 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 agreement between 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".

India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a pledge to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions. The sole criteria to settle the issue, he said,