The Kashmir Conflict : a brief history and effort to end the conflict

Recently, the pakistan air force shoot down two india’s jet fighter in kashmir region, a disputed region who claimed by india and pakistan. The shoot down created a a tension betwen the two country. This action can lead a new crisis betwen india and pakistan. After the jet’s shoot down incident, a shootout reportly occured in the india and pakistan border. The pakistan goverment also announce the closing of their air space for the time being until the tension subsided. But this event is not the first time india and pakistan experience an open conflict in kashmir region.

Since 1947, India and Pakistan have been locked in conflict over Kashmir, a majority-Muslim region in the northernmost part of India. The mountainous, 86,000-square-mile territory was once a princely state. Now, it is claimed by both India and Pakistan. The roots of the conflict lie in the countries’ shared colonial past. From the 17th to the 20th century, Britain ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, first indirectly through the British East India Company, then from 1858 directly through the British crown. Over time, Britain’s power over its colony weakened, and a growing nationalist movement threatened the crown’s slipping rule.

After the fall of british empire, india and pakistan become independence as a new country with a different social-cultural background. Because of its location the kashmir region is closed to india but kashmir is consisted by a majority muslim populatin. When india and pakistan declared their independence in 1947, The jammu and kashmir was governed by a hindu’s maharaja hari singh, while most of his subjects were Muslim. Singh Unable to decide which nation Kashmir should join, Hari Singh chose to remain neutral.

But his hopes of remaining neutral were dashed in October 1947, as Pakistan sent in Muslim tribesmen who were knocking at the gates of the capital Srinagar. Hari Singh appealed to the Indian government for military assistance and fled to India. He signed the Instrument of Accession, ceding Kashmir to India on October 26.

This action lead the two country into the first indo-pakistani war of 1947. This war lasts for 1 year and 2 month and resulted a ceasefire agreement, india referred the dispute to the United Nations on 1 January. In a resolution dated August 13, 1948, the UN asked Pakistan to remove its troops, after which India was also to withdraw the bulk of its forces. On January 1, 1949, a ceasefire was agreed, with 65 per cent of the territory under Indian control and the remainder with Pakistan. The ceasefire was intended to be temporary but the Line of Control remains the de facto border between the two countries.

After the ceasefire the tension never subsided betwen the two countries, Fighting broke out again in 1965, but a ceasefire was established that September. Indian Prime Minister, Lal Bhadur Shastri, and Pakistani President, M Ayub Khan, signed the Tashkent agreement on January 1, 1966.

The second ceasefire was indeed to continued by several negotiation betwen the two countries to resolved and try to end the dispute. But the death of the inisiator mr, Bhadur Shastri and and a mass uprising occured in pakistan that made Ayub khan handed his power to gen.Yahya Khan . made this negotiation never happened and created a stalemate.

In december 1971, a Pakistani Air Force planes struck Indian airfields in the Western sector this action leaded a third war. This war , resulting in the formation of the independent nation of Bangladesh (formerly known as East Pakistan), and soon India was faced with a million refugees. in 1972 india and pakistan,signed the Simla Agreement, which reiterated the promises made in Tashkent. The two sides once again agreed to resolve the issue peacefully, as domestic issues dominated.Both India and Pakistan had other important domestic problems which kept Kashmir on the back-burner.

The statuts quo was largelly maintained until july,1983. When india facing a conflict with various kashmir separatist, There are some groups that support the complete independence of Kashmir, while others seek Kashmir's accession to Pakistan. This conflict also known as Kashmir intifada still going until today. In 1999 india launches “operation vijay” or also known as The Kargil war. this was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LOC). The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers disguised as Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the LOC, which serves as the de facto border between the two states. Operation vijay was a great succes to india, although its not change any status or border betwen the two countries. After vijay operation Indian and Pakistani troops regularly exchanged fire at the border.

The year is marked 1998. India and pakistan tested tested nuclear devices in May 1998, and then in April 1999 test-fired missiles in efforts to perfect delivery systems for their nuclear weapons. Pakistan tested its Ghauri II missile four days after India's testing of its long-range (1,250 km) Agni II. After this test, world is shocked, fear that if a major conflict brokeout betwen the two countries, it is can lead a full scale war even a nuclear war.

But some frieandly effort was created by the two countries , try to subsided the conflict he Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, set out to Lahore by bus on February 20, 1999, inaugurating the four times a week Delhi-Lahore-Delhi bus service, the world felt that such a genuine effort at friendly neighbourhood relations would lower the tension along the Line of Control in Kashmir. But, all hopes of diplomacy disappeared once the cross-LOC firing in Kargil began during the mid-1990s. The death toll , including both soldiers and civilians, was more than 30,000. The conflict ended only after Bill Clinton, the US President, and Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's Prime minister, met in Washington on July 4, 1999. Meanwhile, the Indian Army had made significant advances, capturing vital territory on July 4. Despite the apparent efforts to mediate, the US maintained that it was not interfering in what India still claims to be a bilateral issue.

The fear of a full-scale war (with nuclear capability adding a deadly dimension), coupled with precarious economies and the knowledge of what international sanctions could do to them, may have prevailed in both countries. And for a second time the two countries are stucked in a stalemate.

For a decade the tensions are still grow even though there are no major conflict in the region, until 2014 a series of armed skirmishes and firing exchanges between the Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region, as well as Punjab. Started from mid-July 2014, military officials and media reports of both countries gave different accounts of the incidents, each accusing the other of initiating the hostilities. The incident sparked outrage both in Pakistan and India and harsh reactions by the Indian and Pakistan armed forces and governments. in October 2014, the situation became aggressive, the tension are exploded. The two countries threatening each other with “nuclear power”. And On 12 October 2014, Pakistan's Foreign and National Security Adviser, Sartaj Aziz, sent a letter to UN and appealed to resolve the crises. However, the United Nations ignored Pakistan's proposal to intervene in the crisis and reiterated that the dispute be resolved through bilateral discussions n September 2015, a delegation headed by DG Rangers Maj. Gen. Umer Farooq visited India for biannual talks and both sides agreed to stop ceasefire violations. The DG BSF, Devendra Kumar headed the Indian delegation.] The Indian home minister Rajnath Singh told the Rangers delegation that "Indian forces will not fire the first bullet along the international border." Rangers delegation raised the issue of killing of a Rangers personnel called for a flag meeting by Indian BSF fire earlier. The DG BSF guaranteed that no such incident would occur in the future again. Both sides achieved consensus to conduct joint investigations if incidents occurred in the future and to further strengthen the border control. And a status quo ante bellum marked to end the conflict.

And now. In 2019, a potential conflict brokeout again when the pakistan airforce shootdown two india jets. The long history of conflict and never ending effort to resolved the conflict seems will continue to happen. International pressure and sanction seems not enough to prevent further conflict. a further action is needed and india and pakistan must sit together with a cool head to end the conflict and thinking about the future of the kashmir jammu region.