Kashmir Issue: Confrontations between India and Pakistani since Partition of the British Indian Empire

1095 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Kashmir conflict between muslims and hindus

In the late 1940s, when the two competing nationalist for India and Pakistani failed to reach accommodation, Britain decided to partition its Indian empire (Wirsing 22). The role of dividing the empire was on the hands of a British representative (Viceroy Lord Mountbatten). He facilitated creation of a Muslim subcontinent, Pakistani. The state of Pakistani was formed with two flanks (eastern and western) separated by 1500 miles of the new states of India (Wirsing 22). The main aim was to establish a region to be occupied by Muslims in the British India. The origins of Indo-Pakistani conflict over the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir are complex, rooted in the process of British colonial withdrawal from the sub-continent (Wirsing 22). Kashmir posed a distinct problem (Wirsing 22), and from the time it was established there have been serial conflicts.

Indo-Pakistan war of 1947; this war took place with a formal declaration neither made by Pakistani nor India. The Indian army and rebels, supported by elements of the Pakistani army, fought a series of pitched battles with each side incurring sufficient losses (Ganguly and Devin 163). Indian army succeeded in acquiring some parts of Kashmir during the first days of the war, but this was soon shut down by insufficient equipment supplies and of army training. As soon as the rebels identified Indian army's weakness, they took advantage of the situation. This forced the Indian army into a tactical retreat, but this did not last long before the Indians launched a counter-offensive (Ganguly and Devin 163). To react to this, Pakistan army became directly involved in the war.

Kashmir situation was more complex because it had a Muslim majority (about 80 percent), a border w...

... middle of paper ...

...pments in the Indian politics depict an intense hatred between the Muslims and Hindus. Policy makers in both countries need to come up with long-term solutions to prevent further losses of lives. Policies which bridge the gap between differences in political, social and religious beliefs need to be implemented.

Works Cited

Fernandes, Clinton. Hot Spot: Asia and Oceania. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.

Ganguly, Sumit, and Devin T. Hagerty. Fearful Symmetry: India-Pakistan Crises in the Shadow of Nuclear Weapons. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 2006. Print.

Lyon, Peter. Conflict between India and Pakistan: an Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Print.

Wirsing, Robert. India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir Dispute: on Regional Conflict and its Resolution. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. Print.

Show More
Related

  • The Impact of Sepoy Revolution on India's Movement

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    James, Lawrence. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.

    Read More

  • Nuclear Weapons As a Defense Mechanism

    1888 Words  | 4 Pages

    ....d.). The Stability-Instability Paradox, Misperception, and Escalation Control in South Asia . Stimson. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://www.stimson.org/images/uploads/research-pdfs/ESCCONTROLCHAPTER1.pdf

    Read More

  • The Cold War and Decolonization

    1661 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the Cold War, many regional conflicts occurred and were noted as the significant battles which later led to decolonization. One of the regional conflicts were India and Pakistan fighting for their independence. In 1947, India was released under Great Britain’s control and gained its independence. However, the country was divided between Muslims and Hindus, which share different religions. Muslims wanted church and state to become unified while Hindus wanted a separation of these two establishments. Since these two ethnic groups disagreed, it was difficult to create a new government. Therefore, India was divided into two nations: India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims. Hindus and Muslims were racing to the border in order to get to their nation state which led to killing 500,000 people due to rioting. Although, Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian National Congressman, wanted to obtain peace between these two religions. Pakistan refused the H...

    Read More

  • Essay On African Americans After Ww2

    1400 Words  | 3 Pages

    After WW2 Britten had been considerably weaken because of World War 2. The fighting also took an exhausting tool on them and on the military and financial recourses. They were so exhausted from the war that they did not resist much when a global independence move swept through the countries they colonized. While the colonized people had a new desire to fight for their independence the Europeans were to war-weary and had little desire to fight back. For years now India had been demanding self-rule from Britten, but as their wish drew closer so did the tension between the Muslim minorities in a land who’s majority was Hindu. Most of the leaders in India were Hindu and they wanted to involve both Muslims and Hindus into the Congress Party. But

    Read More

  • Analysis of India in Comparative Politics

    2278 Words  | 5 Pages

    When Great Britain gave India its independence in 1947, the subcontinent was split into Pakistan and India. Jammu and Kashmir (the area’s official name) was declared sovereign at first, but was eventually split between to two diverse countries. Since 1999, an increase in attacks in the Kashmir region by such methods as tanks and suicide bombers increased. This is has pleased neither India nor Pakistan, and in May 2002, the world watched as foreign peacemaking attempts were made to avoid nuclear war, the closest call since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. If war had happened, CNN estimated that an initial nuclear blast would kill as many as 12 million people, and Pakistan’s targets in India would have been India’s capital New Delhi and its largest city Bombay. 1

    Read More

  • Conflict between Hindus and Muslims

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Prince of Kashmir chose India but Pakistan invaded the province soon after and have occupied part of Kashmir since then. Controversy still surrounds the province today because naturally, Muslims want to control it. While many Muslims relocated to Pakistan and the Hindus to India, half of the Muslim population was left in India and their relations did not improve after being partially separated.

    Read More

  • Cultural Differences Between India and Pakistan

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    A closer look at both India and Pakistan reveals several similarities between the two countries such as their facial and skin features and attributes. However, one of the most defining cultural differences between both countries is that they house two very different ethnicities. Arabs and Indians are two very different kinds of people with different cultures and different perspectives concerning life. The Arab community adheres to a very demanding form of life while the Indian community’s values vary according to personal preferences (Mohmand, 2009). According to Wunderle (2006), the awareness and pride among Arabs in regards to the historical ranking of Arabian influence over the world has been a major drive towards some risky attitudes that the Arab community displays toward other ethnic groups. In fact, a closer look at history shows that the Arab community has been established since the Middle Ages and has lasted for over 700 years (Mohmand, 2009).

    Read More

  • The Concept of Power in International Politics

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Stronger states such as the US waged war against weaker states such as Vietnam. Interestingly, the defeat of the United States in Vietnam and of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan indicates to a more intricate concept of power which is broader than mere financial or military strength. In fact, a lot of the current theories of international relations dispute that power as conventionally described by realists is intrinsically unclear and open to analysis based on particular state of affairs. Nevertheless, it can be successfully concluded that power is primarily associated with what a state can stop another state from doing to it and what a state can do. The ways by which power is executed may be changing, yet the fundamental nature of competing desires and interests remain predominant in defining the international relations.

    Read More

  • The Sepoy Rebellion

    2293 Words  | 5 Pages

    The British economic interest in India was the main factor behind its presence in the subcontinent due to the raw material and market that the region provided.1 To protect their interests, the British East India Company recruited and maintained troops from the local population called the Sepoys.1 Through their various actions in the past, they had assisted the British to conquer territories; thus, the region became a British protectorate rather than their colony. The relationship between the British and the Indian Sepoys was amicable back in the 18th and early 19th century as they worked together. However, tensions began arising due to various factors which ultimately led to the historical rebellion. Dissatisfactions began arising on both

    Read More

  • Indian Nationalism and Indian Independence

    3241 Words  | 7 Pages

    BOSE, Sugata and JALAL Ayesha. Modern South Asia: history, culture, political economy. London, Routledge, 2011

    Read More

  • Sikh Restitution: Martyrdom Of Juggut Singh

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    Criticized as presenting “at best a successful re-creation of the event of Partition in terms of the evocation of atmosphere, the historical details and the authenticity of the locale” that is also a “work of superior journalism” (Belliappa 1), Khushwant Singh’s Train To Pakistan is his first noteworthy literary work. Singh’s narrative in his novel is “quite a departure from the predominant narratives of the day that presented a heroic, romanticized narrative of the struggle for India’s independence” as Jaspreet K.Gill says in his essay. His reaction to the partition is “cynical, satirical and rooted in anger” (K.Gill,64) that should have been expressed at the enormous amount of lives that was lost and could have been prevented.

    Read More

  • India And Pakistan Relations Case Study

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    · Pakistan’s perception of its role emerged from realisation of the two simultaneous forces—the geopolitics of the country that was divided between East and West Pakistan and the Islamic worldview. The former placed Pakistan firmly in the South Asian regional state system while the latter brought it close to the Islamic world of West Asia.

    Read More

  • India and Pakistan- Conflict over Kashmir

    2025 Words  | 5 Pages

    Introduction In late 1947, the newly created states of India and Pakistan went to war over the valley of Kashmir. A United Nations brokered ceasefire divided the state into Indian and Pakistani controlled territories, and resolved that a referendum would be held in which the people of Kashmir would be able to choose to join either country. The referendum has not been held to date. India granted its portion of Kashmir a special status within its constitution, allowing for a great degree of self-autonomy.

    Read More

  • Partition Literature of India

    2069 Words  | 5 Pages

    14 August, 1947, saw the birth of the new Islamic Republic of Pakistan. At midnight the next day India won its freedom from colonial rule, ending nearly 350 years of British presence in India. During the struggle for freedom, Gandhi had written an appeal "To Every Briton" to free their possessions in Asia and Africa, especially India (Philips and Wainwright, 567). The British left India divided in two. The two countries were founded on the basis of religion, with Pakistan as an Islamic state and India as a secular one.

    Read More

  • Colonialism in India

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...tween the Hindus and Muslims, Jinnah felt that Muslims had no future in India (Overfield 216). With the end of British rule in 1947, not only did India gain its independence but also along with it was born an other country, Pakistan where Jinnah served as the first governor (Overfield 216). With the gain of India’s independence, Gandhi was shot the following year in 1948 by a Hindu zealot who resented his commitment to Hindu – Muslim harmony (Overfield 212).

    Read More

More about Kashmir Issue: Confrontations between India and Pakistani since Partition of the British Indian Empire

Open Document