Historically, India and Pakistan have always had high tensions between each other. The reasons for this stem from the time India was under the control of European colonial powers, especially the British. India was considered to be one whole nation consisting of both what is now Pakistan and Bangladesh. From 1858 to 1947, though, all of it was under crown rule by the British. When India achieved independence in 1947, in a haphazard attempt to quell religious tensions and the violence they ensued, the British Raj partitioned India. India was split into two states, India and Pakistan, with East Pakistan later becoming modern-day Pakistan, and West Pakistan becoming Bangladesh. Before this partition, India had a mostly homogenous mix of Hindus and minority Muslims. After, Muslims migrated towards the new state of Pakistan and Hindus moved towards India. This led to riots and mass casualties. As many as two million people may have been killed and anywhere from 14 to 16 million were displaced. After the partition was completed, two states that were religiously and politically conflicting now stood beside each other.
This has led to a massive strategic and political dispute over the territory of Kashmir. Kashmir serves as a main source of water and power generation for both nations due to rivers that run through it and glaciers on it. The glacial waters that flow through Kashmir provide water and electricity to a billion people in India. Pakistan also relies heavily on glacial waters flowing from the region to prop up its agricultural sector. The Silk Route, the primary land link between Pakistan and China, passes through Kashmir. This is significant because India is China’s biggest regional rival and a major ally for Pakistan. The Siachen Glacier prevents Chinese and Pakistani troops from linking. If those troops were to group up, then India’s national security over the northern frontier would be shattered. Politically, Kashmir could create a continuous block of Islamic fundamentalist regions from Morocco to Malaysia if it were annexed by Pakistan. Also, western nations have leveraged Kashmir’s strategic position in such events such as the Soviet-Afghan War.
Pakistan and India also both claim Kashmir because of cultural and social reasons. It has become ingrained as the single biggest issue in the Indian subcontinent. Pakistan and India have developed a rivalry over virtually everything. As a result, Kashmir symbolically represents national pride for both countries. Now seeing as why Kashmir is so significant, it is important to understand the history of the conflict and how it can be resolved.
In 1947, Kashmir was ruled by Maharajah Hari Singh and was given the choice of acceding to either India or Pakistan. When he decided to remain neutral, Pakistan attempted to annex Kashmir and sent large number of ‘tribesmen’ and Pakistani army regulars to overthrow Hari Singh, and make Kashmir a part of Pakistan. Singh made an offer to accede to the Indian union in exchange for protection by Indian forces. India agreed and sent its troops to Kashmir, sparking off the first war between the two countries. This invasion and subsequent war in 1948 lead to the creation of a highly unstable and dangerous rivalry. A new war followed in 1965, while in 1999 India fought a brief but bitter conflict with Pakistani-backed forces. By that time, India and Pakistan had both declared themselves to be nuclear powers.
Currently, Kashmir has been divided into Azad Kashmir controlled by Pakistan (also known as Pakistan occupied Kashmir in India) and Jammu and Kashmir, which is controlled by India. In Azad Kashmir, Human Rights Watch has accused Pakistani military and intelligence services and of systemic torture with the purpose of "punishing" politicians, political activists and journalists that are perceived to be against Pakistani ideologies. Activists from nationalist Kashmiri groups have also condemned the killings of students in Azad Kashmir.
Azad Kashmir has also been a haven for terrorist organizations. Two militant groups linked to al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, have been found to have built military camps in that area. Pakistan has also taken part in state-sponsored terrorism. They have funded, trained, and armed those groups and others, leading to various attacks on India. This terrorism and the proxy war waged by Pakistan has devastated Kashmir. The Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence, or I.S.I, has helped set up an entire terrorist network in Kashmir with the purpose of terrorizing and exterminating innocent and moderate Kashmiris to convert Kashmir into a radical Islamist region. The I.S.I. has also worked on the removal of all non-Muslims from the Kashmir valley, which would help lead to radicalization. Such a region would naturally be at conflict with a passive, peaceful Hindu nation like India, leading to Kashmir seceding. This separatist violence has killed more than 47,000 people. These acts have led to India committing surgical strikes, which are military attacks that cause minimal or no collateral damage, against militant camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Many schools in Azad Kashmir have been found to be radicalizing religious schools which reject secularism and the scientific syllabus required by the government. Militants from Azad Kashmir have also attempted to found these schools in Indian Kashmir. This situation is extremely similar to pre-September 11 Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, where militant schools were being created to indoctrinate children and radicalize them.
A solution to all of these issues and a better situation for all Kashmiri people would be allowing for all of Kashmir to be under the control of India. Such a solution would also lead to better economic and social development, and a more progressive and open Kashmir. India’s economic development is on track to leading it to become one of the largest economies in the world, and it is a secular nation which is more progressive and accepting than Pakistan.