Indo-Pakistan War over Kashmir

The conflict between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region has resulted in decades of violence and two wars. This article explores the historical background, causes, and potential solutions to the conflict. It also provides study material and assignments related to the Indo-Pakistan War over Kashmir.

Running head: INDO-PAKISTAN WAR OVER KASHMIR
INDO-PAKISTAN WAR OVER KASHMIR
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1INDO-PAKISTAN WAR OVER KASHMIR
The conflict or the dispute in between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir was sparked by a
fateful decision made when India got independence from the British rule in the year 1947 and has led
to decades of violence and has even resulted in two wars1. Since the year, both India and Pakistan
have been locked into conflict over the Kashmir, which is a Muslim dominating region present in the
northern most part of Indian continent. It was once a princely state and now is claimed by both these
countries. It is to note that the roots of this conflict lie in the shared colonial past of these two
countries. Britain ruled most of the Indian subcontinent from 17th to 20th century2. Gradually, the
power that Britain hold over its colony got weakened and an increasing nationalist movement started
threatening the slipping rule of the crown. However, even before the two countries won their
independence from British rule, Kashmir was highly contested. Under the plan of partition that was
provided by the Indian Independence Act, the Kashmir was free for acceding to Pakistan or India. The
local rule of India, Maharaja Hari Singh chose India to take Kashmir and a two year war took place in
the year 1947. With the same in 1965, a new war followed and in 1999 again, India fought a brief and
bitter conflict with the backed forced of Pakistan.
However, in this long conflict of India Pakistan, the problem of Kashmir needs to be solved.
The LOC (Line of Control) in between in Pakistan and India is one of the most dangerous place in this
world. Both the country have their own political reasons for continuing with this fighting3. The issue
of Kashmir has caused significant tensions and conflicts in the Indian subcontinent since its
independence. It is also to note that Kashmir is not just a bilateral dispute among these two countries.
As per Maattanen, Kashmir is a multi-ethnic regions that has internal sub-regions and the inhabitants
of Kashmir have several political goals4. The Pakistani Kashmir comprise of Gilgit Baltistan and
Azad Kashmir, the jurisdictions that want to become a formal provinces of Pakistan in order to gain
the political autonomy over the internal affairs5. The conflict of Kashmir is a long lasting clash of
1 Ganguly, Sumit, et al. "India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir dispute: unpacking the dynamics of a South Asian frozen conflict." Asia Europe
Journal 17.1 (2019): 129-143.
2 Constable, Philip. "The Kashmir Dispute since 1947." (2018).
3 Thompson, Julia, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "The Dynamics of Violence along
the Kashmir Divide, 2003–2015." Stimson, Washington, DC (2016).
4 Määttänen, Linnea. "Peacekeeping: a choice between stability and peace? A study on the effects of peacekeeping on peacemaking in the
India-Pakistan Conflict." (2018).
5 Snedden, Christopher. "Azad Kashmir." Kashmir: History, Politics, Representation (2017): 113.

2INDO-PAKISTAN WAR OVER KASHMIR
views that has led to massive destruction and huge number of victims6. Two theories that have taken
these arguments forward towards resolution and peace of conflicts in the international theory are that
of liberalism and realism. Over the past two centuries, both these theories have accounted for much of
what has taken place in the global arena and at the same time, continue to offer the public the
prescriptions of the state behaviour and all its potential impacts on the peace in between the nation
states.
As per the realist view, nation states are the two significant actors to play role in the
international system. Right from the very beginning of this Kashmir conflict, it was predictable that
the lust for the domination of Kashmir drives both the countries. With the same, the immediate
interest of both these nations is disposing the Kashmir region but behind this intention, stands the very
basic realist concept- the permanent struggle for the hold of power7. It clearly implies that the nation-
states have an internal constraint for keeping and maximising their powers. However, it is to note that
in the case of Kashmir conflict, this assumption of realist has two different dimensions. The first and
the more immediate dimension is basically the conflict in between Pakistan and India. Ever since the
right of domination over the Kashmir was in the India’s hands, it evidently did not want to lose its
territory and in such way it also did not want to lose the power that it holds. For India, it is equal to
helping Pakistan in gaining more dominance over the region and for the Indian leadership it is a great
tragic to look on the development of a new state in its neighbourhood, losing its own 8. Therefore,
Indian wants to keep Kashmir for defending its status of power as well as to avoid the dropping
behind the Pakistan.
On the other hand, the perspective of Pakistan is different as it seems that they have stronger
reason for dominating over the region of Kashmir and the reason is that majority of the Kashmir’s
population comprise of Muslim majority and as most of the Muslims live in Pakistan, it also wants
Kashmir to join the country. Notwithstanding this fact, it is to note that it cannot be denied in any way
that the actions of the Pakistanis are also lead by the maximalist tendencies. They want to occupy this
6 Monitor, The. "As Kashmir Dispute Escalates, Pakistan To Free Captive Indian Fighter Pilot." The Christian Science Monitor. N.p., 2019.
Web. 27 Mar. 2019.
7 Engle, Jeremy. "Learning With: ‘Why Do India And Pakistan Keep Fighting Over Kashmir?’." Nytimes.com. N.p., 2019. Web. 27 Mar.
2019.
8 Peer, Basharat. "India's Broken Promise." Foreign Affairs. N.p., 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2019.

3INDO-PAKISTAN WAR OVER KASHMIR
state at any cost and the high number of victims and the massive disaster do not discourage them in
any way9. Here, another realist assumption is observable and that is of the claim that the primarily
vital aim of obtaining the power and it does not matter how it is obtained. It just needs to be obtained
at any cost. Hence, the first dimension of the Kashmir conflict is the struggle of Pakistan and India for
the domination over Kashmir.
The second one is the kind of actors, which are not situated or located directly in the
neighbourhood but they do influence and form a significant part of the conflict. The most important
one to mention in this context is the USSR and the U.S as two of the significant and emblematic
participants. Since both of these states were in opposition at the time of Cold War, they were on the
opposite side in the conflict over Kashmir also. It was Russia that supported India and on the other
hand, the United States stood by the side of Pakistan10. The Kashmir conflict indeed gave a significant
opportunity for the rivalry in between these two great powers of the world. However, as per the realist
and the liberal theories there is high chances of peace in the international system that have been put
forward by the liberalism and realism and also their non-variants in particular11.
Recommendations
Following steps could be taken in the future in order to make the relationship in between
India and Pakistan positive:
a) Pressurizing Nawaz Sharif in order to end the cross border terrorism and bringing down the
infiltration
b) Keeping the Line of Control (LOC) cold and desist from the cross border artillery duels
c) Reducing the amount of violence in order to revive the political activities in the valley of
Kashmir
d) Isolating the Pan-Islamic Jehadi groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Lashkar-e-Toiba
from the dominating ethnic militant groups of Kashmir such as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
9 Shah, Saeed. "A Brief History Of The Kashmir Conflict." WSJ. N.p., 2019. Web. 27 Mar. 2019.
10 Tamkin, Emily, Laris Karklis, and Tim Meko. "The Trouble With Kashmir." The Washington Post. N.p., 2019. Web. 27 Mar. 2019.
11 Burley, Anne-Marie Slaughter. "International law and international relations theory: a dual agenda." The Nature of International Law.
Routledge, 2017. 11-46.

4INDO-PAKISTAN WAR OVER KASHMIR
e) Encouraging sports activities in between the two nations
f) Embracing an overarching strategic stability regime as well as to shun down the aggressive
security doctrines for reducing the likelihood of the nuclear conflicts.
g) The issues of water should also be resolved by means of mechanisms which are provided by
the Indus Basin Treaty and it should not be allowed for degenerating into serious source of
conflict.
h) Lastly, both the countries need to understand the legitimate interest of the one another and
must pursue them without coming into conflict among each other.

5INDO-PAKISTAN WAR OVER KASHMIR
Bibliography
Burley, Anne-Marie Slaughter. "International law and international relations theory: a dual
agenda." The Nature of International Law. Routledge, 2017. 11-46.
Constable, Philip. "The Kashmir Dispute since 1947." (2018).
Engle, Jeremy. "Learning With: ‘Why Do India And Pakistan Keep Fighting Over Kashmir?’."
Nytimes.com. N.p., 2019. Web. 27 Mar. 2019.
Ganguly, Sumit, et al. "India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir dispute: unpacking the dynamics of a South
Asian frozen conflict." Asia Europe Journal 17.1 (2019): 129-143.
Määttänen, Linnea. "Peacekeeping: a choice between stability and peace? A study on the effects of
peacekeeping on peacemaking in the India-Pakistan Conflict." (2018).
Monitor, The. "As Kashmir Dispute Escalates, Pakistan To Free Captive Indian Fighter Pilot." The
Christian Science Monitor. N.p., 2019. Web. 27 Mar. 2019.
Peer, Basharat. "India's Broken Promise." Foreign Affairs. N.p., 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2019.
Shah, Saeed. "A Brief History Of The Kashmir Conflict." WSJ. N.p., 2019. Web. 27 Mar. 2019.
Snedden, Christopher. "Azad Kashmir." Kashmir: History, Politics, Representation (2017): 113.
Tamkin, Emily, Laris Karklis, and Tim Meko. "The Trouble With Kashmir." The Washington Post.
N.p., 2019. Web. 27 Mar. 2019.
Thompson, Julia, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"The Dynamics of Violence along the Kashmir Divide, 2003–2015." Stimson, Washington,
DC (2016).