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Malay Mail
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Kashmir, the Himalayan region at the heart of India-Pakistan enmity
NEW DELHI, May 8 — India launched attacks in the early hours of May 7 on what it said were 'terrorist camps' in Pakistan, including in the disputed territory of Kashmir. The strike followed the killing of 26 men, mostly tourists, in Indian Kashmir last month by Islamist assailants that India blamed on Pakistan. The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan, and has been the site of multiple wars, insurgency and diplomatic standoffs. Here is a look at the region, its history, and why it continues to be a source of tension between the two countries: Partition and accession After partition of the subcontinent in 1947 following independence from British rule, Kashmir was expected to become part of Pakistan, as with other Muslim-majority regions. Its Hindu ruler wanted it to stay independent but, faced with an invasion by Muslim tribesmen from Pakistan, acceded to India in October 1947 in return for help against the invaders. Geography and demographics Kashmir ended up divided among Hindu-majority India, which governs the Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh; Islamic Pakistan, which controls Azad Kashmir ('Free Kashmir') and the Northern Areas; and China, which holds Aksai Chin. Indian-administered Kashmir has a population of around 7 million, of whom nearly 70% are Muslim. Article 370 A provision of the Indian constitution, Article 370, provided for partial autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir. It was drafted in 1947 by the then prime minister of the state, Sheikh Abdullah, and accepted by India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Although intended as temporary, it was included in India's Constitution in 1949 by the constituent assembly. Wars and military standoffs India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence, two of them over Kashmir, in 1947 and 1965. A third in 1971 led to the creation of Bangladesh. In 1999, they clashed again in the Kargil region in what was described as an undeclared war. A UN-brokered ceasefire line, the Line of Control, now divides the region. The Insurgency Many Muslims in Indian Kashmir have long resented what they see as heavy-handed rule by India. In 1989, that bubbled over into an insurgency by Muslim separatists. India poured troops into the region and tens of thousands of people have been killed. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants, which Islamabad denies, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support. Revoking of special status In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government revoked Kashmir's semi-autonomous status in a move it said would better integrate the region with the rest of the country. The state was reorganised into two federally administered union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Pakistan strongly objected, downgrading diplomatic ties with India. Recent years Modi says his 2019 decision brought normalcy to Kashmir after decades of bloodshed. Violence has tapered off in recent years, according to Indian officials, with fewer large-scale attacks and rising tourist arrivals. Targeted killings of civilians and security forces, however, were still reported. 2024 elections In 2024, Jammu and Kashmir held its first local elections since the 2019 revocation of autonomy. Several newly elected lawmakers urged a partial restoration of Article 370. Key regional parties boycotted or criticised the vote, saying the winners would not get any real political power. — Reuters
Malay Mail
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
From Partition to present, India and Pakistan's fraught journey of conflict
ISLAMABAD, May 8 — India said it attacked nine sites in Pakistan including in the disputed territory of Kashmir yesterday in response to the killing of 26 people, mostly tourists, on its part of Kashmir last month that it blamed on Pakistan. Pakistan said its response to the Indian missile strikes was underway. India's latest action adds to a long list of military conflicts between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Here is a look at some of the key clashes: 1947: First war over Kashmir Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan were born in August 1947 after the British ceded colonial control of the subcontinent, and months later the two new countries were at war for control over the scenic Himalayan territory of Kashmir. India claimed Kashmir as its then Hindu ruler acceded to Delhi, while Pakistan cited popular support from the region's Muslim majority as a basis for its claim. Fighting raged for months, until the United Nations intervened to establish a ceasefire line in 1949, leaving both countries with control of a part of the territory. Both still claim the entire region. 1965: Second war over Kashmir Still seeking control over Kashmir, Pakistani forces crossed into India's portion of the disputed region, in response to which India launched a military incursion across the boundary. The fighting spread outside Kashmir into many settled boundary areas, seeing pitched battles involving both ground and air forces, and some of the biggest tank battles in history. 1971: War over East Pakistan The neighbours fought their third war over Pakistan's eastern wing, where regional groups were seeking independence from the federal government. Thousands of people died in the conflict, which ended in India helping the region secede, creating the independent country Bangladesh. 1999: Kargil War The countries faced off in the high-altitude region of Kargil after Pakistani troops infiltrated Indian-administered Kashmir. It was the first clash since both officially gained nuclear weapons capability, raising the risks of a catastrophic war. Both sides suffered hundreds of casualties before Indian forces reclaimed the territory, and international intervention stopped the fighting. 2016: Uri Attack India said it conducted "surgical strikes" on alleged Islamist militant launchpads in Pakistani territory after gunmen stormed an Indian military base in Kashmir's Uri region. Islamabad said there had been no Indian incursion into its territory and there was no retaliation by Pakistani forces. 2019: Pulwama Attack India conducted air strikes on what it said was a militant training camp near the Pakistani town of Balakot in response to a suicide car bombing in Kashmir's Pulwama area. Pakistan, which said the planes had bombed an empty hillside and not a camp, launched a retaliatory incursion into Indian airspace that led to a dogfight between the two air forces, leading to the capture of an Indian pilot. The situation cooled after he was released days later. — Reuters
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Archive, 1947: Armed revolt in Kashmir
Srinagar (Kashmir), 24 October Friction between Kashmir state, with its Hindu ruler and predominantly Hindu administration on the one hand, and its mainly Muslim population backed by public opinion in the adjoining Pakistan Dominion on the other, has in recent weeks taken the form of armed rebellion. The Muslim peasantry of the western districts of Poona province have risen against the maharajah and within the last two days the main road link between Kashmir and Pakistan, leading from Srinagar (the capital of Kashmir) to Rawalpindi, has been cut. According to reports in Srinagar today, rebellious Muslims have been aided and armed by Pakistan from across the Jhelum River, which here forms the border between Kashmir and Pakistan. India: the British Raj is dead - archive, 15 August 1947 Consequently the rebels have succeeded in forcing Kashmir state troops (mainly Hindu dogras) to withdraw eastwards. The rebels are said also to have raided armouries and seized several hundred rifles and to have chased out the minority communities of Hindus and Sikhs who had earlier sought refuge in Kashmir territory from the communal troubles in the Rawalpindi division. The latest and most serious development, however, which has hitherto lacked confirmation, is the report that within the last two days the adjacent district of Muzafarabad has likewise passed into the control of rebel peasantry, who in this case are said to be supported by armed raiders consisting of several hundred Pathans from Hazara. According to official sources here these Pathans from across the Pakistan border are running amuck in Muzafarabad district, burning and looting villages without much dis-crimination. All these troubles are of course a direct repercussion of the accession controversy which has been exercising men's minds ever since British suzerainty over Kashmir ceased on 15 August. Because Kashmir's population is more than 80% Muslim, and because its geographical and economic position make it dependent upon Pakistan, Muslims feel that the State must accede to Pakistan. But the union of India has been taking lively interest in the subject and indications are that the Hindu maharajah Sir Hari Singh, has been influenced by representations made by Mr Gandhi and other Congress leaders.
