The Kashmir Dispute: A Complex Cultural and Political Issue

The Kashmir Dispute is a long-standing conflict between India and Pakistan over the region of Jammu and Kashmir. This research paper delves into the history of the dispute, the different perspectives of India and Pakistan, and the various attempts to resolve it. The paper also examines the recent developments in the dispute, including the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir. It concludes by highlighting the need for a regional plebiscite, bilateral talks, controlling misuse of power, minimizing armed forces, and restoring fundamental rights of people of J&K.

TOPIC– THE KASHMIR DISPUTE
Research Question – How has the Kashmir Dispute bedeviled the relations
between India and Pakistan since 1947?
Introduction – This research paper seeks to examine the Kashmir Dispute.
It is not just a dispute between the two countries – India and Pakistan. This
issue has external and internal dimensions. It involves the issue of Kashmiri
identity known as Kashmiriyat and the aspirations of people of J&K for
political autonomy. The perceptions of India and Pakistan are totally different
on this dispute. Pakistan regards it as an unfinished agenda of Partition of
the subcontinent and thinks of it as an issue granting the right of self
determination to Kashmiris, a principle subsequently upheld by the UN
security Council resolution. India, on the other hand, regards it as an integral
part of India and that Pakistan is occupying Indian territory. The promise
made by the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, which is also
envisaged in the Instrument of Accession of 1947, to let Kashmiris decide
their future through a Plebiscite still eludes Kashmir. Leaders of India and
Pakistan are fighting for their socio- economic benefits and also for their
ideology, India as a secular state and Pakistan as a Muslim state, which has
caused defilement to Kashmiri’s rights.
Main Body – The research paper is divided into basically four parts. Part 1
(3rd Century BC- 1947)deals with the geocultural perspective of Jammu and
Kashmir and Kashmir under Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs and Dogras. Part
2(1947) deals with the conditions that compelled Maharaja Hari Singh, the
then ruler of Jammu and Kashmir to sign the Instrument of Accession with
India and the special status provided to J&K under Indian Constitution. Part 3
(1947-July, 2019)deals with the Hari Singh- Sheikh Abdullah rift and the
Centre, Regional Divergence within J&K, 1965 war with Pakistan and
Constitutional Integration and Re federalization of J&K. Part 4 (post August,
2019) deals with the recent developments (specifically emphasising on the
abrogation of Article 370 and 35A that provided special status to Jammu and
Kashmir and its aftermath). It also provides the possible solutions for ending
the Kashmir dispute.
Conclusion – In the past few decades, the Kashmir issue has changed from
a relatively simple territorial dispute to a far more complex cultural, religious
and political issue having global implications . Any solution simply resolving
the territorial dispute would be inadequate. Therefore, it is necessary that

the problem also be dealt with on its religious, cultural, social fronts. So, from
my viewpoint, India must keep an open mind towards a regional plebiscite,
bilateral talks , controlling misuse of power, minimizing armed forces and
restoring fundamental rights of people of J&K.
Sources – This research uses a qualitative research approach. The various
sources that will be used are categorized under following heads :
1. Books – 1.1 Balraj Puri (1981), Jammu and Kashmir : Triumph and
Tragedy of Indian
Federalization, Sterling Publishers Private Limited, New
Delhi.
1.2 Victoria Schofield (2003), Kashmir in Conflict: India,
Pakistan and the Unending War, I.B. Taurus, New York.
1.3 Shujaat Bukhari (2018), The Dirty War In Kashmir, Frontline
Reports, Left
Word Books, New Delhi.
1.4 A.G. Noorani (2014), The Kashmir Dispute, 1947-2012,
Oxford University
Press.
1.5 A.G. Noorani (1964), The Kashmir Question, Mahaktalas
And Sons Pvt Ltd.
Bombay.
2. Web Sources
Links – www.bbc.com
www.academia.com
www.jstor.org
www.crsreporta.congress.govt
Journals – Nikolis Kurt (2015), Solutions to the conflict in Kashmir,
International
Researchscape Journal.
K. Alan Kranstaat (2019), Kashmir: Background, Recent
Developments and US
Policy, Congressional Research Service.
Articles – Moeed Yusuf, Adil Najam (2009) , Kashmir : Ripe for
Resolution? ,Third World
Quarterly.
Muhammad Waseem Shalzad (August,2019), Kashmir
Issue- After Abrogation
Of 370 & 35A, Options for India and Pakistan.