Issue:
The Question of Kashmir
Forum:
Study Guide
Position:
Chair
Name:
Noor Awad
Introduction
The Kashmiri conflict has been an issue of debate for around six decades now; since the
partition of India in 1947 after the conquering of the British rule till this day. It began as a
territorial dispute on the area of the Himalayan mountains and valleys between the Pakistani
and Indian countries and involves a number of different languages, religions and ethnicities;
they both fought three wars including the Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1947, 1965 and 1999; not to
mention the continuous militant operations from both sides. With each side declaring its right
worthy of the disputed area, with India’s argument of already having the consent of ruling the
area because of the instrument of Accession and the Pakistani government saying that the
Kashmiri people should have the right to choose and claiming that it is just supporting the
freedom of the Kashmiris.
In this hostile fight that is full of violence and human right violation; at least 40000 people have
been killed and that’s only since 1989, the unofficial logistics approximate it to be around 80000
half of which are civilians. Not to mention the daily hardship that the community goes through
with a soldier for every 10 Kashmiris.
And what’s really frightening is that both parties involved might have nuclear weapons of mass
destruction fuelling the worries of the civilians and the worldwide community of an upcoming
devastating nuclear war.
As of 2013, India governs 43 per cent of the region containing most of Jammu, the Kashmir
Valley, Ladakh and the Siachen Glacier. Pakistan administers 37 per cent of Kashmir, including
Azad Kashmir and the northern areas of Gilgit and Baltistan. Nevertheless, China occupies 20
per cent of Kashmir.
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Definition Terms
LOC line of control
The military control line between the administrated area of Jammu and Kashmir by both India
and Pakistan.
Impasse
A situation where no progression nor advance takes place.
Territorial dispute
A disagreement about the governing and possession of a piece of land.
Plebiscite
Organizing a voting procedure where the community expresses its stand upon an issue, ex:
elections
General overview
It all started after the partition of India. In 1947 the Indian sub-continent divided into two
separate states: Pakistan and India; This is relevant to the religious majorities, with Pakistan
containing the majority of the Muslim and India containing the majority of the Hindu population.
However there still remained around 650 states present within the two newly independent
countries.
In theory these cities run by princes should have the choice of either declaring independency or
joining one of the two countries, but in reality the cities’ population proved to be indecisive.
Although of course many of the princes wished for their provinces to become independent thus
leading to the formation of a monarchy and a heredity based ruler system, yet that was not to be
accepted by the people of those provinces, especially after their struggle for freedom from the
British rule; thus many violent protests began to rise in the cities.
With that in mind the ruler of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh choose to stay neutral and wanted to
buy himself some time before choosing, and so he requested from both India and Pakistan to
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sign a standstill agreement. India wanted more discussions upon the matter and Pakistan
agreed to sign.
Despite Pakistan’s approval of the standstill agreement, Pakistan was soon accused of
infiltrating soldiers into Kashmir causing an internal revolt and rebellion in the cities of the
province, moreover Pakistan was accused of pressuring the region through preventing supplies
of food and petrol from passing into the region thus suffocating its economy. In response to this
and in fear of Pakistan becoming fully in control of the province, the maharaja decided to join
India; seeking its military aid in order to repel the Pakistani presence and signing the Instrument
of Accession which officially ceded Kashmir to the Indian government. India’s control upon the
region was supposed to be temporary until a referendum could be conducted so that the
Kashmiri people could choose who would rule them.
As a result the first war between the two countries was fought in 1947-1948 over Kashmir. And
in January of 1948 India requested the help of the United Nations and referred the dispute to the
UN Security council, which provided a resolution that called for the removal of Pakistani troops
and a minimum Indian military presence in the conflicted area; not to mention an immediate
ceasefire.
Once the UN mandate was conducted an election by the Kashmiri people to decide their future
was to be held. But Pakistan did not commit to the agreement and continued fighting keeping a
portion of Kashmir under its governance; starting an era of unrest and increasing violence in the
region.
An emergency government was formed in October of the same year with Sheikh Abdullah
whom was on the Indian side as the prime minister. And in the beginning of the year 1949 a
ceasefire was agreed with India controlling 65% of the Kashmir territory and Pakistan controlling
the rest.
But in the year 1962 another party got involved in the territorial dispute. China’s military clashed
with the Indian military. And China was quickly able to take power and control the area claiming
it under its administration and naming the region Akasai Chin.
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And soon after, in the year of 1965, fighting began again between India and Pakistan for a
second war but a ceasefire was established when the Indian Prime Minister, Lal Bhadur Shastri,
and Pakistani President, M Ayub Khan, signed the Tashkent agreement on January 1, 1966.
The Tashkent agreement was their first attempt to end the dispute, but the death of Mr Shastri
and the rise of Gen Yahya Khan in Pakistan resulted in an impasse. And in 1971 a third war
unleashed and the violence and fighting restarted. This resulted in the defeat of the Pakistani
military in east Pakistan and so an independent Bangladesh was formed; moreover in 1972 an
agreement called The Simla Agreement was made between both countries upon settling the
issue on hand with peaceful means and mutual discussions under the UN charter.
Unfortunately, this agreement didn’t take place as neither party put effort in making any peaceful
negotiations or actions happen.
This agreement defined the border lines between the administrated Kashmir areas of both
regions. And lead to the building of an actual fence which was thought to reduce attacks from
both side, but in reality the complete opposite happened as it saw daily bombing and fire
exchange upon it.
The issue settled down in the next upcoming years as each country had other more important
domestic issues to deal with and the Kashmir conflict was put on hold for a while.
In 1989 clashes between the two rose again when pro Pakistani militants attacked the indian
Kashmiri valley causing terror and the death of almost all Hindus in the valley. In this year an
estimated 50,000 rounds of ammunition were used and large numbers of killings of soldiers and
civilians were endured.
Yet that wasn’t the real rebirth of the violence; in 1999 the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari
Vajpayee, went to Lahore which was thought to be such a friendly move as an indicator to the
enhancement of the relation between the countries; But when Pakistani insurgents infiltrated
both Jammu and Kashmir it led to further heating of the conflict especially when Pakistan tried
to cut off the link between Kashmir and Ladakh. In the summer of that year the third war began
when Pakistani intruders entered Kargil and occupied a part of it. India sent jets and fought to
regain the territory.
The fact that both parties tested on nuclear devices raised worries on the conflict turning to a
nuclear one; thus UN intervention was present requesting from Pakistan to retreat. Not to
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mention the US intervention when Bill Clinton met with the Pakistani prime minister to resolve
the issue.
The Line of Control did not view any hope for peace with fire and ammunition being exchanged
between both parties, until the ceasefire in 2003.
But again of course the ceasefire didn’t last long and till this day the casualties of civilian lives
keep increasing with no sign of decline.
Timeline of Events
1947 - End of British mandate rule and partition of sub-continent India.
1947 – The signing of the Instrument of Accession.
1948 – The Un Security Council involvement (Resolution 47)
1957 - The Constitution of India declares both Jammu and Kashmir under its administration.
1950s - China starts to gradually occupy eastern Kashmir.
1962 - China takes control of Aksai Chin.
1965 - A second war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.
1971- Another Indo-Pakistani war
1972- The war ends in defeat for Pakistan and leads to the Simla Agreement.
1974 - The Opposition demands a referendum.
1984 - The Indian Army seizes the territory of the Siachen Glacier.
1990 – Attack upon the Gawakadal Bridge where about 100 demonstrators are killed.
1999 – The Kargil war begins.
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2010 - Protests erupt in the Kashmir Valley over the killing of a demonstrator by the Indian
army.
2011 – The presence of more than 2,000 unidentified bodies near the Line of Control.
2012 – A visit by the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to the Indian-administered Jammu and
Kashmir.
2013 - Prime ministers of India and Pakistan meet to try and reduce the violent incidents at the
LOC.
2014 - Pakistan and India exchange threats, after the eruption of violence across their dispute
border leaves at least 18 people dead.
2015 -Muslim separatist leaders protest against the Indian-administration and close up their
shops and businesses; because of the new implemented law upon beef, as beef is sacred to the
Hindus.
Indian security forces kill Abu Qasim, a militant commander from the group Lashkar-e-Taiba in
Kashmir.
Major Parties Involved
Indian view
India claims that the instrument of accession signed in 1947 had formally given the
region of both Jammu and Kashmir’s control to the Indian administration, not to mention their
view of the UN resolution 1172 as an acknowledgement of the UN concerning the Indian stand.
Also, they accuse Pakistan of illegally infiltrating militants into the region and funding rebellions
to create instability and wage war in the territory. It also claims that Pakistan has yet not
removed its military forces from the area as the resolution demanded and is trying to affect the
Kashmiri people’s opinion upon the Indian government through anti India sentiment. Moreover
India declares its worry upon the region that is under the Pakistani administration and is fearful
of it controlling more areas, pointing out that those areas are suffering lack of political
recognition, are facing economic underdevelopment and are taken away from their basic human
rights.
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Pakistani view
As for Pakistan it views the fact that Kashmir has a Muslim Majority as its right to be in
control of the region, due to it being a Muslim country. Also it claims that India has failed to
commit with the UN Security Council’s resolution as it has failed to actually hold a plebiscite.
And Pakistan further accuses India of not wanting peace and therefore violating the standstill
agreement; Moreover concerning the Instrument of Accession, Pakistan argues that Maharaja
did not represent the Kashmiri people’s views, and he also claims he signed it under duress
thus its legitimacy is to be doubted. Pakistan also points out the fact that the inner uprising of
the region demonstrates the unwished existence of the Indian administration by the Kashmiris,
adding that India is responsible for the death of over 4501 civilians because of the clashes
between its military and counter insurgents especially between the years 1990 to 1999 following
with records of 4,242 women between the ages of 7-70 that have been raped.
Kashmiri view
It is pretty hard to assess the public opinion of what should happen to the region and to
which political party it should join as the region contains various supporters of different parties
and solutions which have different goals and ways to reach them. It was recorded that around
43% of the total adult population wants complete independence for Kashmir. However, 1% of
Azad Kashmir (in Pakistan-administered Kashmir) wants to join India compared to 28% in
Jammu and Kashmir (in Indian-administered Kashmir). And 50% of Azad Kashmir want to join
Pakistan compared to 2% in Jammu and Kashmir. Further, 14% of the total population want to
make the Line of Control a permanent border. The Kashmiri people have been proven to be
indecisive upon the matter as they have yet not unified to find a solution that all consent to; but
they all want the territory to have a taste of freedom and peace where they all get their
humanitarian rights.
Concerning their insurgent and military parties; there are four main militant groups in Kashmir,
which are:
Hizbul Mujahideen:
A supporter of Pakistan which wants to establish an Islamic State in the region, has large
support of ISIS, and has been active since 1985.
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Lashkar-e-Toyeba:
A supporter of Pakistan which wants to establish an Islamic State in the region and has been
active since 1995.
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen:
A supporter of joining with Pakistan and has been active since 1993.
The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front:
This calls for the total independence of Kashmir without joining any of the involved countries.
China’s view
China claims that Aksai Chin is an integral part of china and denies it being a part of
Kashmir. It declared the area a formal part of china after settling the dispute in 1963.
Previous attempts to resolve the issue
The U.N involvement in the Kashmir Conflict largely lasted for 17 years (1948-72) in
which the Security Council passed 23 resolutions and established many peace agreements and
ceasefires.
The first attempt to a peace agreement created by the two countries began in the 2000s
in aim for reconciliation; The Hizb’ul–Mujahideen declared a ceasefire with the Indian
government after a few negotiations but unfortunately the agreement didn’t last long as the
negotiated demands by the military of India declaring it a disputed area were not conducted. In
2003 another ceasefire was attempted among the Line of control in order for negotiations to
immense in 2004; the ceasefire was a successful one as it resulted in the increase of the trade
and movement between the two sides; yet in 2008 the progression once again diminished after
the attack on Mumbai; as it lead to the upsurge of violence after it was declared that Pakistan
planned such an attack.
In 2012 further steps were taken to achieve peace as both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
President Asif Ali Zardari held the first high-level talks. But then the Indian government hanged
the last surviving member of the militant squad responsible for the Mumbai attacks, and
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Muhammed Afzal Guru, whom was convicted of an attack on the indian parliament in 2001. And
since then no further agreement has stood even with the new elected Pakistani prime minister
that assured a new time of Pakistani-indo relations; as India believes that the Pakistani militants
will keep breaking the ceasefire agreements.
Possible Solutions
The ongoing conflict is in need of fast resolve as with the increasing killing toll and the
continuous violation of human rights, the region has reached a critical stage. One of the most
crucial problems to be solved on the short run is a the ongoing fight and clash between both
parties; furthermore all the political troops that are playing any role and accumulating in the
violence of the region should be ceased. Now on the long run a solution must be found to the
fate of the distributed area in which the population will consent whether it is the joining of either
Pakistan or India or even earn their own sovereignty. And ensuring that all parties involved will
accept whichever the result might be is a must. Of course the reconciliation and reconstruction
of the region must be thought of and taken into consideration in the resolutions.
Bibliography
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