Kashmir Problems & Nuclear Politics

1. Kashmir Problems & Nuclear Politics Kuliah 12 & 13

2. Kashmir History (1) • Kashmīr is an ancient area, deriving its name, according to tradition, from the Khasi, a people who lived in the northern mountains several centuries before the Christian era. • The country was originally a stronghold of Hinduism; Buddhism was introduced about 245 bc. Beginning in the mid-14th century ad, Muslim sultans controlled the area for two centuries. • Akbar, the Mughal emperor of Hindustan, conquered Kashmīr between 1586 and 1592, and it became a part of the Mughal Empire. I • n 1819, after a period of Afghan rule extending from 1756, Kashmīr was conquered by Ranjit Singh, the Sikh maharaja (Indian king or prince) of the Punjab. • In 1846 Galub Singh, the ruler of Jammu, concluded a treaty with Britain, which by then dominated most of India, and was confirmed as ruler also of Kashmīr.

3. Kashmir History (2) • Following the August 1947 partition of British India into Pakistan and the Republic of India, a small portion of the predominantly Muslim population of Kashmīr demanded accession to Pakistan, a Muslim state. • The reigning maharaja, Hari Singh, a Hindu, resisted the pro-Pakistani movement. • Pakistan invaded the area, after which the maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union. India dispatched troops to Kashmīr and in the ensuing conflict forced the Pakistanis to yield ground. • Through mediations organized by the United Nations (UN), a cease-fire agreement between the two nations was concluded in January 1949. The agreement created a cease-fire line that divided the territory into Indian and Pakistani areas of control. Subsequent UN efforts to secure troop withdrawals and mediate a resolution satisfactory to both sides were unsuccessful. Heavy border fighting broke out in 1965, resulting in the second Indo-Pakistani war. A UN-brokered cease-fire agreement ended the war after three weeks of fighting.

4. Kashmir History (3) • Both India and Pakistan have claimed all of Kashmīr since 1947, when they gained independence from Britain. The territory has been divided along a cease-fire line since 1949. • The Indian-controlled portion is organized as the state of Jammu and Kashmīr. • Pakistan administers the northern portion as the Northern Areas, and indirectly controls the extreme western portion as Azad (Free) Kashmīr, which has an autonomous government. • China controls a portion of the territory in the east.

5. More Recent Situations • In 1972 India and Pakistan formally agreed to abstain from the use of force to settle the Kashmīr dispute. • However, a militant Muslim separatist movement opposed to Indian control in Kashmīr emerged in the late 1980s, and armed conflict continued in the region. • Violent clashes escalated in 1999 and 2002, and India and Pakistan increased troop deployments along their shared border. In November 2003 the two countries agreed to a cease-fire for their troops stationed in Kashmīr, but the cease-fire did not apply to the militant secessionists. • The border between India and China in Kashmīr has also been a matter of dispute, and the issue flared into open battle in 1962. Since then the two countries have respected current lines of control, and in the 1990s the countries’ leaders signed agreements to reduce troops along the line, open border posts to trade, and to resolve the dispute by peaceful means.

6. Administrative Government • Kashmīr covers an area of 222,236 sq km (85,806 sq mi). • Indian-controlled Kashmīr has an area of 100,569 sq km (38,830 sq mi) and a 2001 population of 10,069,917. The capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmīr is Srīnagar • Pakistani-controlled Kashmīr has an area of 78,932 sq km (30,476 sq mi) and an estimated population of 3 million. The administrative center of Azad Kashmīr is Muzaffarābād. • The area controlled by China covers about 42,735 sq km (16,500 sq mi).

7. Nuclear Dimension in The Dispute • In early 1997 Sharif resumed talks with India over the Kashmīr region; however, negotiations quickly broke down when armed hostilities erupted again. • Tensions escalated further in 1998, when India conducted several nuclear tests. Pakistan responded with its own tests, detonating nuclear weapons for the first time in its history. • The Pakistani government then declared a state of emergency, invoking constitutional provisions that operate when Pakistan’s security comes under “threat of external aggression.” • Many foreign countries, including the United States, imposed economic sanctions against both India and Pakistan for exploding nuclear devices. In the months following the explosions, the leaders of Pakistan and India placed a moratorium on further nuclear testing, and the United States initiated negotiations between the two countries aimed at reducing tensions and circumventing an arms race in the region.