Layman's guide to Kashmir crisis :-)

Last time I wrote about some probable solutions to the Kashmir problem. I think its time to roll the tape backwards by about 60 years. I call it the layman’s guide to Kashmir problem!

Circa 1947

India was given independence by Britain under an act called the INDIA INDEPENDENCE Act of 1947. Some of the salient elements of this act were that:

1) The subcontinent of India would be given independence on August 15th 1947.
Independence would mean that the British Raj will be terminated on the midnight of August 15th 1947.
2) The sub-continent would be divided primarily into two dominions INDIA and Pakistan
3) The princely states ( which were governed by the Maharajas viz Wodeyars) would have the option to either join India or Pakistan or remain free without joining any of the dominions.

After Independence the Dogra ruler of JnK, Maharaja Hari Singh exercising the third clause of the Independence Act decided to remain independent without joining either of the new dominions.

But Pak didn’t seem to agree to this decision of Hari singh. It claimed JnK to be an integral part of Pakistan based on the fact that majority of the Kashmiri population was Muslim and if given an option Kashmiris would any day vote to go with Pakistan. Pak implementing on this reckoning started infiltrating tribal irregulars also known as Razakkars into the valley. Its interesting to know that Pakistan till today maintains that it had no hand in this infiltration (much like its stand in the recent Kargil incident).
Hari Singh got to know the real threat when the Razakkars reached the outskirts of Srinagar. He swiftly ceded J and K to India to get military support to thwart the Paki irregulars. It is believed that Sheik Abdullah was by and large the biggest motivation behind this decision.


First Kashmir war: 1947-48.

Once the Document of accession was signed the first Indian troops started landing in Srinagar. The Indians reached Srinagar just at the exact time, one more day we would have lost Srinagar. Indian Army along a petite support from the Airforce successfully chased away the ‘so-called’ tribals from Srinagar. Valiant efforts from the likes of Major Somnath Sharma (1st PVC) recaptured Rajouri, Zoji-la, Uri and other parts Kashmir that were under Paki occupation. By December 1948 when India had just started gaining the upper hand, our ‘great’ pacifist PM who never trusted his army’s capability moved the case to UN. UN(pronounce ‘US’) arranged for a bilateral ceasefire that came into effect on Dec 31st 1948. The statement of ceasefire unanimously called for withdrawal of troops from either sides and also called for a plebiscite to decide the future of Kashmir. For obvious reasons India didn’t adhere to the plebiscite and Pak didn’t pull back its troops.
So from that day onwards the state of Kashmir was divided into PoK (Pak occupied Kashmir approx 1/3rd of the whole area; Pakis call it Azad Kashmir; capital: Muzzaffarabad ) and Jammu and Kashmir (pakis call it Indian occupied Kashmir; Capital: Srinagar) by the Ceasefire Line (called the LoC after the 1971 war).

So this is all about how the two Kashmirs were formed in 1948.



Click here for detailed political map of Jammu n Kashmir
Sept 1965: Operation Gibralter!
Operation Gibraltar (brain child of Ayub Khan) was the name given to the failed plan by Pakistan to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir, India and start a rebellion. Launched in August 1965, Pakistan Army soldiers and guerrillas disguised as locals entered Indian held Kashmir from Pakistan with the intention of fomenting an insurgency among Kashmiri Muslims. However, the strategy went awry from the very outset, as the locals did not respond as expected and the infiltrators were soon found. The counter-offensive for this resulted in the 1965 war which ended in a stalemate. The result of this saw the 1966 Tashkent agreement between Lal Bahadur and Ayub Khan (brokered by Russian premier Kosygin) which was similar to the one that the UN talked about in.

65 war didn’t do any good to better the condition of crisis. By adhering to UN India again lost an opportunity to subjugate Pakistan militarily 


Dec 1971: Bangladesh war.
Although the primary result of this war saw the formation of Bangladesh war, the Shimla agreement it also witnessed redrawing of the cease-fire line to form the LoC. The treaty is often viewed by many as having cemented the Line of Control as a permanent border between the two nations, although Pakistanis consider it temporary, pending a final solution.

71 war was some respite for the Indians and also for the Kashmir crisis as it saw the emergence of the LoC which more or less became a de-facto International border. The focus of the international community started to slowly sway away from the Kashmir crisis which according to them had reached a decisive stage after the war.

The 1984 Siachen crisis , terrorism in JnK and the most recent Kargil war of 1999 can all be viewed as futile efforts of a discontented Pakistan to regain international attention on this issue.



PS: This is an pic where I am trying to depict Paki terrorism in JnK during the 90s which US delibrately didnt notice. The reason was the re-found friendship with Pak during the Soviet occupation of Afganistan.

The crisis is still a national issue for both Pak and India. The ultimate is still not in sight. So till then, its all wait and watch for us. Hope it not all waitiiiiiiiiiiiing!