Kashmir Issue after the independence of India and Pakistan

Kashmir Issue
The Kashmir issue, the bone of contention between Pakistan and India, has held the Sub-
Continent hostage since 1947. The issue is also one of the oldest items on the agenda of the
United Nations. For Pakistan, the Kashmir issue is not a territorial problem; rather, it is a human
issue, relating to more than 13 million Kashmiris. Owing to its human dimension, the issue
warrants an early resolution, so that the Kashmiri people can breathe a sigh of relief.

Some people think of the Kashmir issue as a complex problem. As a matter of fact, it is a simple
issue, concerning the right of self-determination of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, as enshrined
in the resolutions of the United Nations on Kashmir as well as other international declarations.
The Kashmiri people have to exercise their right to decide their fate as promised to them by India,
Pakistan and the international community. Therefore, their participation in the process is a must.
What is required is the will of the political leadership of the region. Pakistan has shown maximum
flexibility in this regard. Now it is time for the Indian leaders to come forth and reciprocate.

Background
Ensconced in the lap of the Himalayas, the State of Jammu &; Kashmir with an area of 84471
square miles, is surrounded by India, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan. The valley of Kashmir, a
region of the State, is 85 miles long and 25 miles wide. Called a “Paradise on Earth, its serene,
picturesque and bewitching beauty has entranced the prince and the pauper alike over the
centuries. However, the history of its people is a sad story of sobs and woes. Their life remained
a saga of poverty and oppression as the famous scholar Vincent Smith wrote: “Few regions in
the world can have had worse luck than Kashmiris in the matter of government”.
The Kashmir issue, the oldest on the agenda of the United Nations, is an unfinished agenda of
the partition of the Sub-Continent of India. The people of Kashmir, still groaning under the yoke
of India, have a much longer history of struggle for freedom than the peoples of other parts of
the Sub-Continent. The Kashmiris, who have been victim of suppression and were exploited by
various despotic alien rulers, revolted in the 1830s. The Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh, a warlord of
the Sikh empire, crushed the revolt and skinned alive the Kashmiri leaders. Gulab Singh, who
purchased Kashmir from the British Indian Government in 1846 for a paltry sum of 75,00,000
rupees added his own brand of barbarity in Kashmir. Similarly, his descendants were also no less
cruel. However, the ambers of freedom, simmering in the hearts of Kashmiris, burst into flames
in the 1920s and the 1930s also.
As long as the territory’s existence was guaranteed by the United Kingdom, the weaknesses in its
structure and along its peripheries were not of great consequence, but they became apparent
after the British withdrawal from South Asia in 1947. By the terms agreed to by India and Pakistan
for the partition of the Indian subcontinent, the rulers of princely states were given the right to
opt for either Pakistan or India or—with certain reservations—to remain independent. Hari
Singh, the maharaja of Kashmir, initially believed that by delaying his decision he could maintain
the independence of Kashmir, but, caught up in a train of events that included a revolution among
his Muslim subjects along the western borders of the state and the intervention of Pashtun
tribesmen, he signed an Instrument of Accession to the Indian union in October 1947. This was
the signal for intervention both by Pakistan, which considered the state to be a natural extension
of Pakistan, and by India, which intended to confirm the act of accession.

Will of Kashmiri people

The State of Jammu & Kashmir was one of the 584 princely States of the Indian Sub-Continent.
At the time of independence in 1947, Rulers of these states were advised by the then Viceroy to
either join India or Pakistan, keeping in view the wishes of their peoples and the geographical
location. The Kashmiri Muslims had two strong reasons to join Pakistan: their numerical
preponderance (80% of the population) and geographical contiguity. However, the Indian leaders
coerced the Non-Muslim Ruler of the State to accede to India (doubtful). The Kashmiri Muslims
revolted, liberating a large tract of the State and established Azad (free) Government of Jammu
& Kashmir.

India’s Resolutions passing

India ran to the United Nations for intervention, which rejected the Indian claim on the State and
passed various resolutions, supporting the Kashmiris’ right of self-determination. The resolution
of January 5, 1949 reads:
“The question of accession of the State of Jammu & Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided
through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”.

Right to Self-Determine
The UN Security Council reiterated the right of self-determination of Kashmiris in various
resolutions, including of 1951 and 1957, as reproduced below:-
“Observing that the Governments of India and Pakistan have accepted the provisions of the
United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan resolutions of 13 August, 1948, and 5 January,
1949, and have reaffirmed their desire that the future of the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall
be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under
the auspices of the United Nation.
“The convening of a Constituent Assembly as recommended by the General Council of the “All
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference” and any action that Assembly might attempt to take to
determine the future shape and affiliation of the entire State or any part thereof would not
constitute a disposition of the State in accordance with the above principles”. (No: 91 – March
30, 1951)
“The final disposition of the State of Jammu & Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will
of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite
conducted under the auspices of the United Nations”. (No: 122 – January 24, 1957)

Hypocrisy of India
India agreed to hold plebiscite in the State and its leaders made commitments at least more than
forty times to this effect. However, they just wanted to gain time and were not sincere in this
regard. They started talks on Kashmir whenever pressure was put on India and that again as a
dilatory tactic. Pakistan and India fought three wars on the issue and in the wake of each, India
promised to resolve the issue, but did nothing on the ground.
An inordinate delay in implementing the UN resolutions on Kashmir, repeated farcical, sham
elections in the State as well as the wave of democracy, which swept the globe in 1980s, brought
the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) on the streets, agitating for their right of self-
determination. Since India endeavored to kill their spirit for freedom by force, Kashmiris were
compelled to take up arms. To break the will of Kashmiris, India has deployed over 7 hundred
thousand soldiers fully armed and with unlimited powers under the draconian Kashmir specific
laws. They have wreaked havoc there. The atrocities inflicted on the hapless Kashmiris have been
documented by Indian and international human rights organizations, like Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch and others.

Shimla Agreement
Vale of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir.
Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947 partition, and its
economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab could
be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted
in a division of the region. Pakistan was left with territory that, although basically Muslim in
character, was thinly populated, relatively inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped. The
largest Muslim group, situated in the Vale of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half
the population of the entire region, lay in Indian-administered territory, with its former outlets
via the Jhelum valley route blocked.
Many proposals were subsequently made to end the dispute over Kashmir, but tensions mounted
between the two countries following the Chinese incursion into Ladakh in 1962, and warfare
broke out between India and Pakistan in 1965. A cease-fire was established in September,
followed by an agreement signed by the two sides at Tashkent (Uzbekistan) in early January 1966,
in which they resolved to try to end the dispute by peaceful means. Fighting again flared up
between the two in 1971 as part of the India-Pakistan war that resulted in the creation of
Bangladesh. An accord signed in the Indian city of Shimla in 1972 converted the cease-fire line
into the line of control and expressed the hope that henceforth the countries in the region would
be able to live in peace with each other. It was widely believed that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, then prime
minister of Pakistan, might have tacitly accepted the line of control as the de facto border,
although he later denied this. After Bhutto was arrested in 1977 and executed in 1979, the
Kashmir issue once again became the leading cause of conflict between India and Pakistan.

Further Developments in Kashmir Issue

Nuclear Weapon developments

In the 1980s and 1990s, both India and Pakistan began developing nuclear weapons. India
conducted its first nuclear test in 1974 (Pokhran-I), and Pakistan, in response, also pursued
nuclear capabilities. The nuclear arms race between the two countries heightened tensions in
the region.

Kargil War
In 1999, nearly three decades after the Shimla Agreement, the Kargil War broke out between
India and Pakistan. Pakistani forces infiltrated the Kargil district in Indian-administered Kashmir,
leading to a brief but intense conflict. Despite the agreement in 1972 to resolve disputes
peacefully, this conflict highlighted the fragility of the peace process between the two nations.

Attempts at Peace (2000s)

There were various attempts at peace talks and confidence-building measures throughout the
1990s and 2000s, such as the Lahore Declaration (1999) and Agra Summit (2001), but these
efforts often faltered due to the ongoing Kashmir issue, terrorism, and military standoffs.

Mumbai Attacks (2008)

A major setback occurred in 2008 when the Mumbai attacks took place, carried out by Pakistan-
based militants. This attack severely strained relations between India and Pakistan and led to a
suspension of talks for several years.
Pakistan’s Role in Solving the Kashmir issue afterwards 2010
• The PML-N government worked to raise the Kashmir issue on international platforms and
sought diplomatic solutions, its tenure was marked by a generally more restrained
approach to India compared to the more aggressive stance seen during Imran Khan's
tenure. The challenges of internal politics, regional security concerns, and strained
relations with India limited the progress toward resolving the Kashmir dispute.
• Pakistan's role in the Kashmir issue during Imran Khan's tenure as Prime Minister (2018–
2022) focused on intensifying diplomatic efforts and advocating for the rights of
Kashmiris, particularly in response to India's revocation of Article 370 in August 2019,
which stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. Imran Khan's government
consistently raised the issue on international platforms such as the United Nations and
sought to garner global support for the cause. Khan strongly condemned India's actions
in Kashmir, which led to heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
His government also pushed for a peaceful resolution of the dispute, emphasizing
dialogue and the importance of Kashmiris' right to self-determination. Khan's leadership
saw several diplomatic initiatives, including calls for international mediators to intervene,
but the situation remained largely contentious, with limited success in internationalizing
the issue beyond traditional alliance.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the Kashmir issue remains one of the most enduring and complex territorial
disputes in the world. Despite numerous attempts at resolution, including the Shimla Agreement
of 1972, the situation continues to be characterized by political, military, and social challenges.
The historical, cultural, and geopolitical factors that underpin the conflict are deeply entrenched,
making a sustainable peace difficult to achieve.
From Pakistan's perspective, Kashmir is a disputed territory, and the rights of the Kashmiri people
to self-determination must be upheld in accordance with UN resolutions. Pakistan continues to
advocate for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and international mediation,
emphasizing the importance of addressing human rights violations in Indian-administered
Kashmir and ensuring the region’s autonomy.
Ultimately, the path to peace will require cooperation, understanding, and a commitment to
addressing the root causes of the conflict.