Kashmir, Kashmir Timeline

Kashmir: Nuclear Flashpoint

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Kashmir in a nutshell

Indian Position on Kashmir

Pakistani Position on Kashmir

Kashmiri Position

Who are the Militants?

Who are the Kashmiri Leaders?

What about Article 370?

Popular Insurgency or Terrorism?

Is Kashmir movement communal?

Pandit tragedy

Pakistan's Record in Kashmir

Elections in Kashmir

plebiscite Conundrum

Is a solution possible?

Human Rights in Kashmir

Renegade Militants

Keywords: Kashmir Dispute. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir Dispute.

Keywords: Kashmir Insurgency. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir Insurgency.

Introduction
Pre-1947
1947 Kashmir War

1948-1954 UN efforts

1955-1964

1965 Kashmir war

1966-1986

1989 insurgency and after

1999 Kargil War and after

Bloodshed so far

Proposed solutions

Keywords: Kashmir Timeline, Kashmir History. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir, Kashmir Timeline.

Keywords: Kashmir History. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir History.

Keywords: Kashmir conflict. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir conflict.

Kashmir in a Nutshell

Jawaharlal Nehru: 1952
"We have fought the good fight about Kashmir on the field of battle... (and) ...in many a chancellery of the world and in the United Nations, but, above all, we have fought this fight in the hearts and minds of men and women of that State of Jammu and Kashmir. Because, ultimately - I say this with all deference to this Parliament - the decision will be made in the hearts and minds of the men and women of Kashmir;neither in this Parliament, nor in the United Nations nor by anybody else," Jawaharlal Nehru in the Lok Sabha on August 7, 1952.

- Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, vol. 19 pp. 295-6.

  • 1846-1947: Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) State is created under the Treaty of Amritsar between the East India company and Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu who buys Kashmir Valley from the East India Company for Rs.75,00,000 and adds it to Jammu and Ladakh already under his rule. Kashmir Valley is a Muslim majority region speaking the Kashmiri language and a distinct culture called Kashmiriyat. The people of Kashmir rise against the repressive Maharaja Hari Singh in 1931 and again in 1946 led by Sheikh Abdullah. In 1947, an internal revolt begins in the Poonch region against oppressive taxation by the Maharaja and the rebels form an Azad Kashmir Government in October.


    On 15 August 1947, the Indian subcontinent becomes independent. Rulers of Princely States are encouraged to accede their States to either Dominion - India or Pakistan, taking into account factors such as geographical contiguity and the wishes of their people. The Maharaja of Kashmir delays his decision in an effort to remain independent. Many Kashmiris are fearful of joining India given the massacre of Muslims elsewhere in India.

  • 1947-1949: The Maharaja of the State of Jammu and Kashmir signs the Instrument of Accession (IOA) on 26 October, acceding the 75% majority Muslim region to the Indian Union, following invasion by the tribesmen from Pakistan, according to the 1948 Indian White Paper; India accepts the accession, regarding it provisional until such time as the will of the people can be ascertained by a plebiscite, since Kashmir was recognized as a disputed territory.The Indian army enters the state on 27 October to repel the invaders. Sheikh Abdullah endorses the accession as ad-hoc which would be ultimately decided by a plebiscite and is appointed head of the emergency administration.


    Pakistan disputes that the accession is illegal and sends regular forces to Kashmir and the first war over Kashmir breaks out.On 1 January 1949, a ceasefire between Indian and Pakistani forces leaves Pakistan in control of part of Kashmir including what Pakistan calls "Azad" Kashmir and Northern territories while India terms the territory as POK.


    India takes the Kashmir problem to the United Nations (UN) Security Council on 1 January 1948. On 5 January 1949, UNCIP (United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan) resolution states that the question of the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite. However, both countries fail to arrive at a Truce agreement which is a prerequisite for a plebiscite, due to differences in interpretation of the procedure for and extent of demilitarisation. Subsequently, a plebiscite is never held.


  • 1949: On 17 October, the Indian Constituent Assembly adopts Article 370 of the Constitution, ensuring a special status and internal autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, which is confirmed under the 1952 Delhi Agreement; However, the autonomy would get eroded over the years.


  • 1951: First post-independence elections. The UN passes a resolution to the effect that such elections do not substitute a plebiscite. There are widespread charges of election rigging which continue to plague all the subsequent elections.


  • 1965: Pakistan takes advantage of the discontent in the Kashmir Valley and sends in a few thousand armed Pakistani infiltrators across the cease-fire line in August and incidents of violence increase in Kashmir Valley; Code-named "Operation Gibraltar", one can see evidence of official Pakistani policy at work here; A full Indo-Pakistani war breaks out which ends in a ceasefire on 23 September. Pakistan supported guerrilla groups in Kashmir increase their activities after the ceasefire.
    Balraj Puri, Kashmir: Towards Insurgency, New Delhi 1993, p.31-2
    Alastair Lamb, Kashmir A Disputed Legacy 1846-1990, Roxford 1991, pp.255-271
    Victoria Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict, New York 2000, pp.114-6.

  • 1979: The USSR invades Afghanistan. The US and Pakistan are involved in training, recruiting, arming, and unleashing the Mujahedin on Afghanistan. The mujahedin so recruited would take on their own agenda of establishing Islamic rule in Kashmir from the late 1980's.

  • 1987-1989: The 1987 elections are believed to be rigged; The insurgency in the Valley increases in momentum from this point on, given the consistent failure of democracy and limited employment opportunities; Many of the candidates and election aides become militants. In 1988, protests begin in the Valley along with anti-India demonstrations, followed by police firing and curfew. Militancy increases in 1989.

    End of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan releases a great deal of militant energy and weapons to Kashmir. Pakistan provides arms and training to both indigenous and foreign militants in Kashmir, thus adding fuel to the smouldering fire of discontent in the valley. India maintains that the insurgency itself was started by Pakistan's 'Operation Topac' established in 1988, which is later shown to be false and acknowledged as a hypothetical war game written by Indian specialists.


  • 1990: Between January and May, hundreds of thousands of unarmed kashmiris take to the streets demanding plebiscite and it becomes an insurgency of the entire population. Indian forces resort to brutal repression leading to the alienation of the masses; Thousands of desperate Kashmiri youth cross-over to Pakistan for training and procurement of arms. Many indigenous and foreign militant organizations proliferate, including renegade militants used by the Indian forces. Following killings by the militants, the entire Kashmiri Pandit community flees the Valley.

  • In May 1999, the Indian Army patrols detect intruders from Pakistan on Kargil ridges in Kashmir. India fights to regain lost territory. War between the two countries becomes more frightening given the nuclear weaponry possessed by both countries and Kashmir remains the underlying flashpoint.

    The Indian state considers the accession of Kashmir final and considers it as an integral part of India, is resistant to talks of plebiscite; Pakistan considers Kashmir as a disputed territory and has insisted on implementation of a plebiscite as per UN resolutions; The evolving consensus opinion however is that UN resolutions are out-dated, since the dispute has evolved into tripartite; that other solutions like regional autonomy and independence should be considered given that various regions in Kashmir have evolved independently since 1947 and that the conflict is restricted to the Kashmir Valley.

    Any claim that all would be well in Kashmir but for Pakistan's cross-border terrorism is simplistic and hides the internal trauma in the Valley. Kashmiris are alienated from both countries given brutal repression by India and violence by pro-Pakistan militants; Kashmiri activists resent the gradual erosion of their autonomy promised under Article 370 and the fact that the promised self-determination has been denied so far and hence insist on being included in the talks without preconditions, which both India and Pakistan resist; The stalemate continues.

    In the meantime, grave human right violations by the Indian security forces continue to be reported. Violence and human right violations by militants continue. Pakistan continues to control Azad Kashmir and Northern Territories in a repressive manner. Since 1990, more than 40,000 people have been killed in Kashmir, over half of them are civilians. Caught in the crossfire between militants and Indian security forces, Kashmir continues to bleed.