Kashmir Issue: Confrontations between India and Pakistani since Partition of the British Indian Empire

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In the late 1940s, when the two competing nationalist for India and Pakistani failed to reach accommodation, Britain decided to partition its Indian empire (Wirsing 22). The role of dividing the empire was on the hands of a British representative (Viceroy Lord Mountbatten). He facilitated creation of a Muslim subcontinent, Pakistani. The state of Pakistani was formed with two flanks (eastern and western) separated by 1500 miles of the new states of India (Wirsing 22). The main aim was to establish a region to be occupied by Muslims in the British India. The origins of Indo-Pakistani conflict over the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir are complex, rooted in the process of British colonial withdrawal from the sub-continent (Wirsing 22). Kashmir posed a distinct problem (Wirsing 22), and from the time it was established there have been serial conflicts.

Indo-Pakistan war of 1947; this war took place with a formal declaration neither made by Pakistani nor India. The Indian army and rebels, supported by elements of the Pakistani army, fought a series of pitched battles with each side incurring sufficient losses (Ganguly and Devin 163). Indian army succeeded in acquiring some parts of Kashmir during the first days of the war, but this was soon shut down by insufficient equipment supplies and of army training. As soon as the rebels identified Indian army's weakness, they took advantage of the situation. This forced the Indian army into a tactical retreat, but this did not last long before the Indians launched a counter-offensive (Ganguly and Devin 163). To react to this, Pakistan army became directly involved in the war.

Kashmir situation was more complex because it had a Muslim majority (about 80 percent), a border w...

... middle of paper ...

...pments in the Indian politics depict an intense hatred between the Muslims and Hindus. Policy makers in both countries need to come up with long-term solutions to prevent further losses of lives. Policies which bridge the gap between differences in political, social and religious beliefs need to be implemented.

Works Cited

Fernandes, Clinton. Hot Spot: Asia and Oceania. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.

Ganguly, Sumit, and Devin T. Hagerty. Fearful Symmetry: India-Pakistan Crises in the Shadow of Nuclear Weapons. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 2006. Print.

Lyon, Peter. Conflict between India and Pakistan: an Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Print.

Wirsing, Robert. India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir Dispute: on Regional Conflict and its Resolution. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. Print.

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