Historical background of the Kashmir conflict

GENERAL FACTS:
The State of Jammu and Kashmir is a mountainous region surrounded by Afghanistan, China, India and Pakistan. The total area is 86,000 square miles and the population is about 14 million, including over 1.5 million refugees in Pakistan.

STATUS:
Kashmir was ruled by local kings for centuries before the Moghuls incorporated the region into their vast empire in the 16th century. The British occupied the region in the 19th century and in 1846 they sold the entire region, including the population, to a Dogra Hindu chief named Gulab Singh, for 7.5 million rupees.

CAUSE OF DISPUTE:
When the British left the subcontinent in 1947, their empire was divided into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India.

The smaller princely states, such as Hyderabad, Junagarh, Munawadar and Kashmir were to decide on their own whether to join India or Pakistan. Though Junagarh, Munawadar and Hyderabad opted to join Pakistan, India sent in her forces and took over these states by brute force.

In Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim state, the people wanted to join Pakistan but the ruler hesitated with regard to making a choice. People rose up against his tyrannical rule and were joined by volunteers from other areas of the subcontinent.

The Indians used the situation to their advantage by sending in Indian forces to occupy Kashmir. Later they claimed that the Maharaja had signed a document, an Instrument of Accession, allowing the Indians to intervene in Kashmir. Dr Alistair Lamb, a British historian, has later proven beyond any doubt with his excellent research that there was in fact no such document and that it was impossible for the Maharaja to have signed any such document on the date specified by the Indians.

Even if one chooses to believe the Indians, this accession was conditional on a plebiscite to be held according to UN resolutions. India has never allowed this plebiscite to be carried out. It is also interesting to note that India never allowed anybody to have a look at the document of accession and has later claimed that the original document was destroyed in a government office fire!

CURRENT SITUATION:
Since 1988 Indian forces have been waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kashmiri people. Houses are being burnt, people arrested, tortured, raped and killed. According to Kashmiri sources this has resulted in the deaths of over 80 000 people so far. The numbers continue to rise as the Indians are using increasingly brutal methods to repress the Kashmiri freedom struggle.

SOLUTION:
The international community needs to force India to accept holding talks with Kashmiri representatives and the Pakistani government so that a peaceful solution can be facilitated. The need for such an action has to be realized now that both India and Pakistan are nuclear states. In order to avoid a disastrous nuclear exchange in the future, the Kashmir conflict has to be solved according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people as guaranteed by numerous UN resolutions.

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