POLITICAL – TOPIC 1
THE QUESTION OF KASHMIR
1. Introduction
Kashmir is an area that includes the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir
(subdivided into Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh divisions), the Pakistani-administered
territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and Chinese-administered territories of
Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.
Jammu and Kashmir is a multi-lingual, multi-religious and multiracial State and each group
has its own distinct and peculiar cultural ethos further deepened by geographical divisions
created by formidable mountain ranges. The Jammu region is dominantly Hindu with
Muslims being in majority in certain areas. The Northern area occupied by Pakistan is
inhabited by different races like Mongols, Tadjik, Kirghiz and others. The Muslim population
is almost equally divided into three sects i.e. Sunni, Shia (Jaffaria) and Shia (Ismails).
Sectarian violence is a common feature in the area because of Pakistan's official patronage
of the minority Sunni community.
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict primarily between India and Pakistan, having
started just after the partition of India in 1947. China has at times played a minor role. India
and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir, including the Indo-Pakistani Wars of
1947 and 1965, as well as the Kargil War.
2. Countries and organizations
India claims the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, and, as of 2010, administers
approximately 43% of the region. It controls Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, and the
Siachen Glacier.
India's claims are contested by Pakistan, which administers approximately 37% of Kashmir,
namely Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
China currently administers Demchok district, the Shaksgam Valley, and the Aksai Chin
region. India has disputed China's claims since China took Aksai Chin during the Sino-Indian
War of 1962.
3. Timeline
1947 - End of British rule and partition of sub-continent into mainly Hindu India and Muslimmajority state of Pakistan. The Maharaja of Kashmir signs a treaty of accession with India
after a Pakistani tribal army attacks. War breaks out between India and Pakistan over the
region.
1948 - India raises Kashmir in the UN Security Council, which in Resolution 47 calls for a
referendum on the status of the territory. The resolution also calls on Pakistan to withdraw
its troops and India to cut its military presence to a minimum. A ceasefire comes into force,
but Pakistan refuses to evacuate its troops. Kashmir is for practical purposes partitioned.
1951 - Elections in the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir back accession to
India. India says this makes a referendum unnecessary. The UN and Pakistan say a
referendum needs to take into account the views of voters throughout the former princely
state.
1953 - The pro-Indian authorities dismiss and arrest Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah, leader
of the governing National Conference, after he takes a pro-referendum stance and delays
formal accession to India. A new Jammu and Kashmir government ratifies accession to India.
1957 - The constitution of Indian-administrated Jammu and Kashmir defines it as part of
India.
1950s - China gradually occupies eastern Kashmir (Aksai Chin).
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Indian war with China
1962 - China defeats India in a short war for control of Aksai Chin.
1963 - Pakistan cedes the Trans-Karakoram Tract of Kashmir to China.
1965 - A brief war between Indian and Pakistan over Kashmir ends in a ceasefire and a
return to the previous positions.
1971-72 - Another Indo-Pakistani war ends in defeat for Pakistan and leads to the 1972 Simla
Agreement. This turns the Kashmir ceasefire line into the Line of Control, pledges both sides
to settle their differences through negotiations, and calls for a final settlement of the
Kashmir dispute. The Agreement forms the basis of Pakistani-Indian relations thereafter.
1974 - The Opposition Plebiscite Front in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir drops
demand for a referendum in return for extensive autonomy in an agreement with the Indian
government. Sheikh Abdullah becomes chief minister, and his political dynasty continues to
dominate the National Conference and state after his death in 1982.
1984 - The Indian Army seizes control of the Siachen Glacier, an area not demarcated by the
Line of Control. Pakistan makes frequent attempts to capture the area in the following
decades.
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Start of insurgency
1987 - Disputed state elections in Indian-administrated Jammu and Kashmir give impetus to
a pro-independence insurgency centred on the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
India accuses Pakistan of fomenting the insurgency by despatching fighters across the Line
of Control, which Pakistan denies.
1990 - The insurgency escalates after the Indian Army kills about 100 demonstrators at
Gawakadal Bridge. Attacks and threats lead to the flight of almost all Hindus from the
Kashmir Valley area of the state. India imposes Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in
Jammu and Kashmir.
1990s - The insurgency continues, with Kashmiri militants training in Pakistan and India
deploying hundreds of thousands of troops in Jammu and Kashmir. Violence against
civilians by both sides is widespread.
1999 - India and Pakistan go to war again after militants cross from Pakistani-administered
Kashmir into the Indian-administered Kargil district. India repulses the attack, accuses
Pakistan of being behind it, and breaks off relations.
2001-2004 - Moves to boost relations between the two countries are punctuated by
continuing violence, notably an attack on the parliament of Indian-administered Jammu and
Kashmir in Srinagar in 2001.
2010 - Major protests erupt in the Kashmir Valley of Indian-administered Jammu and
Kashmir over the summer after a demonstrator is killed by the Indian army. The protests
abate in September after the government announce measures to ease tension.
2011 August - Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announces an amnesty for the 1,200 young
men who threw stones at security forces during the anti-government protests in the
Kashmir Valley the previous year. Indian State Human Rights Commission confirms
presence of more than 2,000 unidentified bodies in unmarked graves near the Line of
Control. Activists say many may be people who disappeared after being arrested by security
forces.
2011 September - Indian forces kill three Pakistani soldiers in firing across the Line of
Control. India accuses Pakistan of opening fire first.
2013 February - Kashmiri Jaish-e-Mohammed member Mohammad Afzal Guru hanged over
role in 2001 Indian parliament terror attack, prompting protests in which two young men
are killed.
2013 September - Prime ministers of India and Pakistan meet and agree to try reducing the
number of violent incidents at their disputed border in Kashmir.
2014 August - India cancels talks with Pakistan after accusing it of interfering in India's
internal affairs. The decision comes after Pakistan's High Commissioner in Delhi consulted
Kashmiri separatist leaders in advance of the talks. During a visit to the disputed border
state of Jammu and Kashmir, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi accuses Pakistan of
waging a proxy war against India in Kashmir.
2014 October - Pakistan and India exchange strongly worded warnings, after a flare-up of
violence across their common border leaves at least 18 people dead.
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BJP joins government
2015 March - India's ruling BJP party is sworn into government in Indian-administered
Kashmir for first time in coalition with local People's Democratic Party, with the latter’s Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed as chief minister.
2015 September - Muslim separatist leaders in Indian-administered Kashmir close shops,
businesses and government departments in protest at the enforcement of a colonial-era
ban on eating beef.
2015 November - One person dies in violent protests following a visit to Indian-administered
Kashmir by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
2016 April - Mehbooba Mufti, the leader of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), becomes
the first female chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir following the death of her
father and party founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
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Curfew
2016 July - Authorities impose an indefinite curfew in most parts of Indian-administered
Kashmir after the killing of popular militant by security forces of Burhan Wani, a popular
militant and top commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen group, sparks violent protests.
2016 August - A curfew in most parts of Indian-administered Kashmir is lifted but schools,
shops, most banks remain shut and mobile, and internet services remain suspended. At
least 68 civilians and 2 security officials have died and more than 9,000 people injured in
over 50 days of violence according to official tallies.
2016 September - 18 Indian soldiers are killed in a raid by gunmen on an army base in
Indian-administered Kashmir. India says it has carried out "surgical strikes" against
suspected militants along the de-facto border with Pakistan in Kashmir, but Pakistan rejects
the claims.
4. Overview of the issue
The Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as it was then called) was constituted between
1820 and 1858 and was "somewhat artificial in composition and it did not develop a fully
coherent identity, partly as a result of its disparate origins and partly as a result of the
autocratic rule which it experienced on the fringes of Empire." It combined disparate
regions, religions, and ethnicities: to the east, Ladakh was ethnically and culturally Tibetan
and its inhabitants practised Buddhism; to the south, Jammu had a mixed population of
Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs; in the heavily populated central Kashmir valley, the population
was overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, however, there was also a small but influential Hindu
minority, the Kashmiri brahmins or pandits; to the northeast, sparsely populated Baltistan
had a population ethnically related to Ladakh, but which practised Shi'a Islam; to the north,
also sparsely populated, Gilgit Agency, was an area of diverse, mostly Shi'a groups; and, to
the west, Punch was Muslim, but of different ethnicity than the Kashmir valley. After the
Indian Rebellion of 1857, in which Kashmir sided with the British, and the subsequent
assumption of direct rule by Great Britain, the princely state of Kashmir came under the
paramountcy of the British Crown.
The Kashmir Conflict arose from the Partition of British India in 1947 into modern India and
Pakistan. Both countries subsequently made claims to Kashmir, based on the history and
religious affiliations of the Kashmiri people. Maharaja Hari Singh formerly ruled the princely
state of Jammu and Kashmir under the paramountcy of British India. In geographical and
legal terms, the Maharaja could have joined either of the two new countries. Although urged
by the Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, to determine the future of his state before the
transfer of power took place, Singh demurred. In October 1947, incursions by Pakistan took
place leading to a war, because of which the state of Jammu and Kashmir remains divided
between India and Pakistan.
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Indian view
India has officially stated that it believes that Kashmir to be an integral part of India, though
the then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, stated after the 2010 Kashmir Unrest
that his government was willing to grant autonomy to the region within the purview of
Indian constitution if there was consensus on this issue. The Indian viewpoint is succinctly
summarised by Ministry of External affairs, Government of India:
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India holds that the Instrument of Accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to
the Union of India, signed by Maharaja Hari Singh on 25 October 1947 and executed
on 27 October 1947, was a legal act and completely valid in terms of the Government
of India Act (1935), Indian Independence Act (1947) as well as under international law
and as such was total and irrevocable.
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The Constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir had unanimously ratified the
Maharaja's Instrument of Accession to India and adopted a constitution for the state
that called for a perpetual merger of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India.
India claims that the constituent assembly was a representative one, and that its
views were those of the Kashmiri people at the time.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1172 tacitly accepts India's stand
regarding all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan and urges the need to
resolve the dispute through mutual dialogue without the need for a plebiscite in the
framework of UN Charter.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 cannot be implemented since Pakistan
failed to withdraw its forces from Kashmir, which was the first step in implementing
the resolution. India is also of the view that Resolution 47 is obsolete, since the
geography and demographics of the region have permanently altered since it
adoption. The resolution was passed by United Nations Security Council under
Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter and as such is non-binding with no
mandatory enforceability, as opposed to resolutions passed under Chapter VII.
India does not accept the two-nation theory that forms the basis of Pakistan's claims
and considers that Kashmir, despite being a Muslim-majority state, is in many ways
an "integral part" of secular India.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir was provided with significant autonomy under
Article 370 of the Constitution of India.
All differences between India and Pakistan, including Kashmir, need to be settled
through bilateral negotiations as agreed to by the two countries under the Simla
Agreement signed on 2 July 1972.
In 2008, the death toll from the last 20 years was estimated by Indian authorities to be over
47,000.
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Pakistani view
Pakistan maintains that Kashmir is the "jugular vein of Pakistan" and a currently disputed
territory whose final status must be determined by the people of Kashmir. Pakistan's claims
to the disputed region are based on the rejection of Indian claims to Kashmir, namely the
Instrument of Accession. Pakistan insists that the Maharaja was not a popular leader, and
was regarded as a tyrant by most Kashmiris. Pakistan maintains that the Maharaja used
brute force to suppress the population.
Pakistan claims that Indian forces were in Kashmir before the Instrument of Accession was
signed with India, and that therefore Indian troops were in Kashmir in violation of the
Standstill Agreement, which was designed to maintain the status quo in Kashmir (although
India was not signatory to the Agreement, which was signed between Pakistan and the
Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir).
From 1990 to 1999, some organisations reported that the Indian Armed Forces, its
paramilitary groups, and counter-insurgent militias were responsible for the deaths of 4,501
Kashmiri civilians. During the same period, there were records of 4,242 women between
the ages of 7–70 being raped. Similar allegations were also made by some human rights
organisations.
In short, Pakistan holds that:
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The popular Kashmiri insurgency demonstrates that the Kashmiri people no longer
wish to remain within India. Pakistan suggests that this means that Kashmir either
wants to be with Pakistan or independent.
According to the two-nation theory, one of the principles that is cited for the partition
that created India and Pakistan, Kashmir should have been with Pakistan, because it
has a Muslim majority.
India has shown disregard for the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the
United Nations Commission in India and Pakistan by failing to hold a plebiscite to
determine the future allegiance of the state.
The reason for India's disregard of the resolutions of the UN Security Council was
given by India's Defence Minister, Kirshnan Menon, who said: "Kashmir would vote
to join Pakistan and no Indian Government responsible for agreeing to plebiscite
would survive.''
Pakistan was of the view that the Maharaja of Kashmir had no right to call in the
Indian Army, because it held that the Maharaja of Kashmir was not a hereditary ruler
and was merely a British appointee, after the British defeated Ranjit Singh who ruled
the area before the British conquest.
Pakistan has noted the widespread use of extrajudicial killings in Indian-administered
Kashmir carried out by Indian security forces while claiming they were caught up in
encounters with militants. These encounters are commonplace in Indianadministered Kashmir. The encounters go largely uninvestigated by the authorities,
and the perpetrators are spared criminal prosecution.
Pakistan disputes claims by India with reference to the Simla Agreement that UN
resolutions on Kashmir have lost their relevance. It argues that legally and politically,
UN Resolutions cannot be superseded without the UN Security Council adopting a
resolution to that effect. It also maintains the Simla Agreement emphasised exploring
a peaceful bilateral outcome, without excluding the role of UN and other
negotiations. This is based on its interpretation of Article 1 stating, "The principles
and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations shall govern the relations between
the two countries".
Chinese view
China states that Aksai Chin is an integral part of China and does not recognise the inclusion
of Aksai Chin as part of the Kashmir region.
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China did not accept the boundaries of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu,
north of Aksai Chin and the Karakoram as proposed by the British.
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China settled its border disputes with Pakistan under the 1963 Trans Karakoram Tract
with the provision that the settlement was subject to the final solution of the Kashmir
dispute.
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Water dispute
Another reason for the dispute over Kashmir is water. Kashmir is the source of many rivers
and tributaries in the Indus River basin. This basin is divided between Pakistan, which has
about 60 percent of the catchment area, India with about 20 percent, Afghanistan with 5
percent and around 15 percent in China (Tibet autonomous region).
The Indus is a river system that sustains communities in India and Pakistan. Both have
extensively dammed the Indus River for irrigation of their crops and hydro-electricity
systems. In arbitrating the conflict in 1947, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, decided to demarcate the
territories as he was unable to give to one or the other the control over the river as it was a
main economic resource for both areas. The Line of Control (LoC) was recognised as an
international border establishing that India would have control over the upper riparian and
Pakistan over the lower riparian of the Indus and its tributaries. Despite appearing to be
separate issues, the Kashmir dispute and the dispute over the water control are in reality
related and the fight over the water remains one of the main problems in establishing good
relations between the two countries.
5. UN supervision
The first group of United Nations military observers arrived in the mission area on 24
January of 1949 to supervise the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in the State of Jammu
and Kashmir. These observers, under the command of the Military Adviser appointed by
the UN Secretary-General, formed the nucleus of the United Nations Military Observer
Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).
Following renewed hostilities of 1971, UNMOGIP has remained in the area to observe
developments pertaining to the strict observance of the ceasefire of 17 December 1971 and
report thereon to the Secretary-General.
In January 1948, the Security Council adopted resolution 39 (1948), establishing the United
Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to investigate and mediate the dispute.
In April 1948, by its resolution 47 (1948), the Council decided to enlarge the membership
of UNCIP and to recommend various measures including the use of observers to stop the
fighting. At the recommendation of UNCIP, the Secretary-General appointed the Military
Adviser to support the Commission on military aspects and provided for a group of military
observers to assist him. The first team of unarmed military observers, which eventually
formed the nucleus of the UNMOGIP, arrived in the mission area in January 1949 to
supervise, in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the ceasefire between India and Pakistan and
to assist the Military Adviser to UNCIP.
On 30 March 1951, following the termination of UNCIP, the Security Council, by its
resolution 91 (1951) decided that UNMOGIP should continue to supervise the ceasefire in
Jammu and Kashmir. UNMOGIP's functions were to observe and report, investigate
complaints of ceasefire violations and submit its finding to each party and to the SecretaryGeneral.
When a ceasefire came into effect on 17 December 1971, a number of positions on both
sides of the 1949 ceasefire line had changed hands. The Security Council met on 12
December, and on 21 December adopted resolution 307 (1971), by which it demanded that
a durable ceasefire in all areas of conflict remain in effect until all armed forces had
withdrawn to their respective territories and to positions which fully respected the ceasefire
line in Jammu and Kashmir supervised by UNMOGIP.
The military authorities of Pakistan have continued to lodge complaints with UNMOGIP
about ceasefire violations. The military authorities of India have lodged no complaints since
January 1972 and have restricted the activities of the UN observers on the Indian side of the
Line of Control. They have, however, continued to provide accommodation, transport and
other facilities to UNMOGIP.
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United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP)
In India and Pakistan since January 1949.
Strength:
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116 total, including:
o Uniformed personnel: 42;
o Military observers: 42;
o Civilian personnel: 72:
 International civilians: 25;
 Local civilians: 47;
Fatalities: 11
6. Key vocabulary
UNMOGIP = United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan;
UNCIP = United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan;
7. Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_conflict
http://mapsof.net/kashmir/map_of_kashmir
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-16069078
http://www.peacekashmir.org/jammu-kashmir/history.htm
http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/basicfacts/tour/regions.html
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unmogip/index.shtml
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unmogip/background.shtml