Kashmir War

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FROM THE PRECIPICE OF WAR TO THE PATH OF PEACE:
A SYMPOSIUM ON KASHMIR CONFLICT

QUEST FOR THE RATIONAL SOLUTION TO THE KASHMIR DISPUTE IN THE DIRECTION OF STABLISHING A LONG LASTING PEACE BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

The state of Jammu and Kashmir as it is officially called has been one of the oldest unresolved disputes in the post second world war era. The claim over this picturesque Himalayan state has been the bone of the contention between India and Pakistan, the two of the largest countries of South Asia. Both these countries were carved out of the former British India in 1947 and since then both of these neighboring countries have fought three wars over the disputed region.

The Kashmir dispute is highly complex web of conflict of interests involving in both the countries. And what adds to this complexity is the highly heterogeneous composition of the regional, linguistic and religious demarcation of the people of the state. Even though the state is predominantly Muslim, it also has a substantial Hindu and Buddhist minority. The state has three major geographical regions. The largest of all is the Ladakh, which is a Buddhist majority part of the state with a Shiite minority. The Ladakh is the least populated of all the three regions. It is followed by Jammu, which is predominantly a Hindu majority region with a substantial Sunni minority. The smallest in area but the most populous part of the state is the Kashmir, which is an overwhelmingly Muslim. And on top of this, the state is unevenly divided among India, Pakistan and China. Roughly two-thirds of the state lies under the control of India and the rest is divided between China and Pakistan.

The political significance of the state and the possible consequences of the dispute can also be gauged from the fact that apart from the India and Pakistan, it is also strategically located at the crossroads of the Muslim majority Xinjiang province of China, the new Islamicaly...