Kashmir is the land of awe-inspiring beauty. Through its incredible and breathtaking beauty, it has earned itself the name of the "Switzerland of the East". Beautiful rivers, calm lakes, tremendous gardens, peak meadows are some of the features of the remarkable landscapes of the Kashmir valley. The peaceful rivers, shiny waterfalls, attractive surrounding and the evergreen forests of Kashmir add to its beauty. Kashmir tourism is also famous for the exotic flora and fauna found in the region. Three mountain ranges surround it the Himalayas- Karakoram, Zanaskar and Pir Panjal. The beauty of Kashmir cannot be better defined than the words of a Mughal Emporer.
"Gar Bar-ru-e-Zamin Ast; Hamin Ast, Hamin Ast Hamin Ast."
It means that if there is paradise on this earth, this is it, this is it, and this is it. It is impossible to exaggerate the beauty of Kashmir.
Over the past sixty three years the problem of Kashmir is no closer to solution, because of which four major Indo Pak have took place Both countries reject total independence for Kashmir. This dispute can be described as a battle between Pakistani guard ship of Muslim rights and Indian insistence on a secular approach. India is unwilling to lose even one additional hectare of this land. To Pakistan, Kashmir bears a symbol of its national ethos and promise to protect Muslim interest against Indian rule. Jammu and Kashmir was a target of externally sponsored religion based terrorism. The goal is to divide people on the basis of sectarian affiliation and undermine the secular fabric and territorial integrity of India. Kashmir militant groups have committed about serious abuses included the deliberate targeting of Kashmir Hindus by terrorists groups and foreign mercenaries. It had...
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... is that the Jihad in Kashmir has given rise to religious militias whose politics is not always inconsonance with their political system in Pakistan. They are tolerated by the state because they are waging war which the Pakistan cannot join. . Besides the popular factions that support either party there is a third faction who supports independence and withdrawal of both India and Pakistan. These have been the respective stands of the parties for long and there have been no significant change over the years. As a result, all efforts to solve the Kashmir conflict have been useless so far. In reality, Pakistan is highly responsible nation. It is calm itself, as compared to the storms around. Even though it had a government headed by many military men, it is a government of Moderates. A stable Pakistan in the world is known as “World’s Belated Recognition of its Status”.
The Partition of India led to millions of people displaced and marked as one of the largest mass migration ever over the world. August 15, 1947 was a very significant day for Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and many others. It marked the day of the British partition of India, and India won its freedom from colonial rule, ending nearly 200 years of British rule. This successful attainment of independence from colonial rule defined a narrative of religious nationalism, but also has led to displacement and violence between the two nation states of India and Pakistan. Once a peaceful union of Muslims and Hindus had become separated, whereas Muslims got Pakistan and Hindus got an independent India (Best et al, 2008). “The Other Side of Silence” (Butalia, 2000, pp.264-300) the oral testimony of a Punjabi woman Maya Rani, who was a child living in Pakistan during the Partition. Her testimony was crucial to understand the historiography of the event, because she was a witness of the impact of the Partition, but she was not directly involved in the violence that the emergence and independence of India that has brought.
The primary focus of this tension arises from a common area – Kashmir/Jammu. The conflict in this region can be accredited to the differences in religion. The conflict in Kashmir stems from 1947. This was the year the partition of the Indian sub-continent occurred. However, this partition of land was based on approximate religious lines created by the British empirical rule, when they allowed the princes of 650 states to choose which country they would join. In theory, these princes had the option of remaining independent, but that option was stamped out due to the revolts of the people living in those states. Kashmir was ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh. Because of its location, it could choose to join either country; however, Hari Singh remained neutral. His choice was eventually ignored in 1947, when Pakistan deployed Muslim tribesmen to capture the capital. At this point, Hari Singh freaked out and asked India for military assistance against Pakistan. In return, Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession and ceded Kashmir to India on October 26, 1927. As we can see, the main reason for this conflict is religion. There are some non-religious reasons for this conflict; however, those reasons eventually tie back to religion in one way or another. One of these "non-religious" reasons relates to the recent development of nuclear weapons in both India and Pakistan. While nuclear weapons add to the terror in the area, their development was a result of conflict between India and Pakistan. This conflict has a...
This book examines the rise of religious extremism in Pakistan, and analyzes its connections to Pakistan Army’s polices and fluctuating U.S. Pakistan relations. The author includes a detailed history of the various governments of Pakistan, much of which is only loosely supports the topic of the book. This review focuses on the chapter-by-chapter chronology of historical periods and events as Abass covers them.
The Partition of India in August, 1947 was a significant event in history that accounted for the separation of one of the world’s oldest civilization into two, independent nations – Pakistan and India. Like many other wars in history, The Partition of India was instigated by religious, political and social conflict. This resulted in violence, discrimination and the largest human displacement in contemporary history. While the Partition was well-studied, much of our understanding was focused on the political side of history, not the human side of it. This was why oral history played an important role in manifesting the complexity of a historical event. Our focus here is Maya Rani’s testimony from Butalia’s book, The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India (2000). Maya Rani’s testimony is a valuable contribution to our understanding of India as we examine a story of a Harijan woman from a minority group whose experience touched on a perspective that we ought to have seen before. Through her story, we are exposed to an entirely different view on the recurring themes of: violence, abduction, belonging and rumour.
During the Cold War, many regional conflicts occurred and were noted as the significant battles which later led to decolonization. One of the regional conflicts were India and Pakistan fighting for their independence. In 1947, India was released under Great Britain’s control and gained its independence. However, the country was divided between Muslims and Hindus, which share different religions. Muslims wanted church and state to become unified while Hindus wanted a separation of these two establishments. Since these two ethnic groups disagreed, it was difficult to create a new government. Therefore, India was divided into two nations: India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims. Hindus and Muslims were racing to the border in order to get to their nation state which led to killing 500,000 people due to rioting. Although, Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian National Congressman, wanted to obtain peace between these two religions. Pakistan refused the H...
Kashmir is conflict territory after the partition of India and Pakistan. Conflict is not only between India and Pakistan but also India and the religious militants. Religious Militants are conducting a jihad to govern by the religious law. Historically, Kashmir included Sufis Muslim not orthodox Muslim. Numerous international events had influenced in the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in Kashmir. Jihad is not originally from Kashmir but they are foreign militancy bought during the end of the Soviet –Afghanistan War. Additionally, they are trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan Inter service Intelligence helped them to incorporate into organized militant groups. Pakistan helped Jihad group with full moral, political and diplomatically. Even though Kashmir conflict is territorial issue it has also turned into religious conflict by the foreigner militant.
The most unsuccessful feature of this part is that all the sects involved in hostility do have the claim of serving the religion. Killing of thinker, religious scholars, and innocent worshipers in the Mosques and Imam bargahs is service to religion in their verdict. A religion of peace and tolerance has been transformed into a religion of fanaticism and radicalism. These radicals not only consider their opponent as infidels but also promised to snatch the right of living. The vested interests of biased bosses and overseas aid have further magnified and manipulated the situation. Each community rationalized itself on accurate course and is certain to go to the haven. They translate the religion according to their own apprehension and believe that other as non-believer and inferior to them. Sectarian differences have re-emerged now with awful passion due to abandoned and uncontrolled religious intolerance enhance by the semi-literate, little educated religious leaders supported by selfish political leaders with vested interests (Naek 2001: 29).Sectarian violence in Pakistan remains a problem today. The Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) reported, 658 persons were killed in sectarian attacks in 2013. And in the first six months of 2014, the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) recognized 51 different sectarian attacks in the country, in which 140individuals were killed and 198 injured. Happenings have
After its “raj” for three centuries (1757-1947), in 1947, the British power was “transferred” to the two dominions, India and Pakistan. The former land was as the successor state of British India and Pakistan a second successor state. The price of the independence was the partition of continental India on the idea of communal majority principle of the “two-nation” theory theorized by the Muslim League. The partition of British India was a turning point because it left many questions unanswered and many conflicts unresolved. One question left elusive was, “Why did indepen...
Wirsing, Robert. India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir Dispute: on Regional Conflict and its Resolution. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. Print.
The most threatening conflict between Hindus and Muslims is the province of Kashmir. This is where the decision to divide India into India and Pakistan seems to have been a terrible mistake. Kashmir, which is the only Muslim majority city in India, lies between the divided India and Pakistan. After India’s independence in the 1940’s, Kashmir had to choose to either unite with India or Pakistan. The Prince of Kashmir chose India but Pakistan invaded the province soon after and have occupied part of Kashmir since then. Controversy still surrounds the province today because naturally, Muslims want to control it. While many Muslims relocated to Pakistan and the Hindus to India, half of the Muslim population was left in India and their relations did not improve after being partially separated.
The valley of Kashmir has its ancient history and civilization. As Biscoe (2005: 67) confessed “Kashmir fortunately possesses an ancient history and a civilization more ancient than our own”. The land of the valley is very fertile and was known as seat of learning in the past. In fact, scholars came from different parts of the world in order to acquire knowledge from the ancient Kashmiri teachers and scholars.
Athwass in its spirit and essence mirrors the ethos of Kashmir, which, for centuries, has represented peace, nonviolence and brotherhood of man (Kaul, 2012). Since 1989, the low-intensity conflict in Jammu and Kashmir has been the most important issue in India's internal security scenario. Possession of the State of Kashmir has been an issue of dispute since 1947 starting with India and Pakistan. After tw...
Lawrence Auster wrote an eye-opening blog excerpt titled India and Pakistan: Why the Mass Killing Occurred. The content of this excerpt explore the fundamental issues of identity and religion that led to the violence in 1947. The author makes his point by utilizing current event such as the train massacre in 2002, in which 50 Hindu women and children were burned alive. The blog is for an audience with some prior knowledge on the topic and continues to expand upon that knowledge. The blog is a secondary source because it introduces its own unique ideas regarding the issue and was written after the time of the event. It was very helpful to my research because it simplifies the wordy information often found on scholarly sites and condenses it into something comprehensible and relatable to the reader.
Within the context of the period 1847-1947 to what extent was Indian independence primarily the result of the growth of Indian nationalism?
I often think why the people of Kashmir were denied their right of self determination. Why they were sold away like a commodity. Did they not possess the status of human beings? Were they not a part of the united India like other Muslims of India? When a rule of democracy and self determination was being followed by the people of every part of the country then, how it came to be unavailable for this part of India.