The State of Jammu and Kashmir has been the focus of a dispute among India,
Pakistan, and Kashmiris themselves since 1947.
Often Kashmir conflict is described as “the unfinished business of partition”.
Currently, Kashmir is composed of Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir (43%) and
Pakistani-controlled Azad Kashmir (37%), with remaining (20%) controlled by China.
Region was part of Mauryan Empire (250 BC)
Various Hindu dynasties (Shaivism)
The Sultanate of Kashmir (13- 15 century)
Shah Mir 1339 (First Muslim Ruler)
Mughals -1586- 1751 (Akbar)
Afghans 1751-1819 (Durrani)
Sikh 1819- 1846 (Ranjeet Singh)
Dogra Dynasty 1846-1947 (Treaty of Amritsar).
Gulab Singh (1846-1857)
Rambir Singh (1857-1885)
Partab Singh (1885-1925)
Hari Singh (1925-1949)
Maharaja Hari Singh wanted to stay neutral after partition
Shaiekh Abdullah- One of the founders of National Conference Party
(NCP) led a struggle for self rule against the Maharaja since 1931
Quaid argued that according to the partition plan, the state of kashmir with 80% Muslim
majority population should join Pakistan.
Maharaja signed a STANDSTILL AGREEMENT with Dominion of Pakistan in order that
services such as; trade, travel and communication would be uninterrupted.
No such agreement was signed with India.
Persist communal violence against Muslims, Pashtun tribesmen invaded the valley in October
1947.
Hari Singh signed INSTRUMENT OF ACCESSION on 26 Oct and the next day troops were
airlifted in Srinagar.
V.P Menon reached Jammu on 27 october, by that time Indian troops were already arrived.
Original document has not been made public till today.
• Pakistan immediately contested the accession, suggesting that it was
fraudulent, that the Maharaja acted under duress and that he had no right to
sign an agreement with India when the standstill agreement with Pakistan
was still in force.
• Pakistanis also argued that because Hari Singh fled from the valley of
Kashmir , he was not in control of his state and therefore not in a position
to take a decision on behalf of his people.
• 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
(LOC).
UN Security Council ResolutionsUN Security Council Resolutions
• January 5, 1949
• March 14, 1950
• November 10, 1951
• December 23, 1952
• January 24, 1957
• February 21, 1957
• December 2, 1957
• Sheikh Abdullah was made PM of Kashmir in 1948 and headed the
government.
• Article 370 of Indian constitution was framed to “temporarily” to state of Jammu and
Kashmir.
• Defense and Diplomacy
• 1953- Sheikh Abdullah was removed from the post of P.M and jailed for next 11 years.
• 1964- Sheikh released and talks with Nehru begin but the death of Nehru in may 1964
distrupted the talks.
• 1974 -Indira- Sheikh Accord, Sheikh becomes the Chief Minister.
FREEDOM MOVEMENTFREEDOM MOVEMENT
The 1987 assembly elections were rigged to bring NC-INC combine to power
Protests against the rigged election led to strikes and violence
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front and Hizb ul Mujaheedin started a movement for the cause
of independence.
Syed Sallahudin & Syed Ali Shah Gillani were the candidates and boycotted later on .
Election acted as catalyst, people lost faith in democratic system.
The unrest in the valley led to the Govt of India applying the Armed forces act (AFSPA) in
Jammu and Kashmir.
Armed Struggle started.
Worst kind of atrocities (torture, disappearance, massacres, burning of villages etc)
More than 1 lakh Kashmir’s have lost lives.
In January 1990, Kashmiri Pandits faced large scale ethnic cleansing from the young
Kashmiris.
1) Andorran Solution
Proposed by Alastair Lamb in 1998
Both Azad Kashmir and the Kashmir Valley could be declared as autonomous regions with its
internal self-government but with its external defense and foreign affairs controlled jointly by
India and Pakistan - India in the case of Valley and Pak in the case of Azad Kashmir.
Major advantage of this Andorran solution: No territory under Indian control would be
transferred to Pakistan and no territory under Pakistani control would be transferred to India.
Existing LoC will become the border.
2) The Chenab Formula
This plan, first suggested in the 1960s, would see Kashmir divided along the line of the River
Chenab. This would give the vast majority of land to Pakistan and, as such, a clear victory in its
longstanding dispute with India. The entire valley with its Muslim majority population would be
brought within Pakistan's borders, as well as the majority Muslim areas of Jammu. With the
inclusion of Ladakh, which also lies north of the Chenab river, India would be left with
approximately 3,000 square miles of territory out of 84,000 square miles.
This solution would require the voluntary agreement of India to give up territory which it wants
to retain. It is impossible to see what benefit India could derive from the transfer of so much
land, and why the government - or the inhabitants of the region who are not contesting their
status - would ever agree to such a solution.
SOLUTIONS
3) The Status Quo
Kashmir has been a flash point between India and Pakistan for more than 70 years now.
Currently the Line of Control - divides the region in two, with one part administered by India
and one by Pakistan. India would like to formalize this status quo and make it the accepted
international boundary. But Pakistan and Kashmiri activists reject this plan.
4) Independent Kashmir
• The difficulty of adopting this as a potential solution is that it requires India and Pakistan to give
up territory, which they are not willing to do. Any plebiscite or referendum likely to result in a
majority vote for independence would therefore probably be opposed by both India and
Pakistan.
“If war is not an option — as it can become in a nuclear-armed region — then the honest pursuit
of peace is the only alternative.”
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