Kashmir

Kashmir, the mountainous region divided between India and Pakistan, continues to be one of the most contested areas between these two countries. Part of the conflict is due to religion: While a large percentage of the population is Muslim, Kashmir is also home to a large and important Hindu community and was formerly ruled by a Hindu maharaja.

At the time of British colonial withdrawal from the subcontinent, there were two classes of states in the British Indian Empire. The first were the states of British India, which were ruled directly from London, with the Viceroy in New Delhi serving as the representative of the British Crown. The second were the “princely states,” which enjoyed national autonomy as long as they accepted the Crown as the paramount power in the region. The Crown, under this doctrine, controlled three crucial policy domains of the princely states—defense, foreign affairs, and communications.

As British rule drew to a close, the last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, decreed that the princely states faced a choice: They could join one of the two emergent self-governing states, India or Pakistan. He also asserted that predominantly Muslim states that abutted either of the two wings of Pakistan would be part of Pakistan. The state of Jammu and Kashmir, however, posed a conundrum. It had a predominantly Muslim population but a Hindu monarch, and it shared borders with both Pakistan and India. Furthermore, Maharaja Hari Singh, the monarch, was averse to joining either state. Despite Lord Mountbatten's entreaties, he failed to accede to either state even after their formal declaration of independence on August 14 and 15, 1947, respectively. In the event, his hand was forced when rebellious tribesmen with the assistance of the Pakistan Army threatened his realm in late October 1947. With his forces facing imminent defeat, he appealed to India for assistance. India promptly offered military assistance, and the Maharaja acceded to India, but not before the invading forces seized a third of the state. On the advice of Lord Mountbatten, India referred the case to the United Nations Security Council, which brought about a cease-fire on January 1, 1948. United Nations peacekeeping forces have continued to patrol the cease-fire line ever since.

Subsequently, India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, in 1965 and 1999. The dispute over this state has proven to be so intractable because its origins can be traced to competing conceptions of state construction in South Asia. Pakistan, which was created as a homeland for the Muslims of the British Indian Empire, claimed Kashmir on the basis of the state's Muslim-majority population. India, on the other hand, claimed Kashmir to demonstrate that Muslims can thrive under the aegis of a predominantly Hindu but secular state.

Over the years, both India and Pakistan's ideological claims over Kashmir have been undermined. Pakistan's religious basis for asserting authority over Kashmir collapsed in the wake of its breakup in 1971 and the emergence of Bangladesh. Since religious affiliation alone could not keep its two wings together, its irredentist claim to Kashmir was now bereft of meaning. Similarly, given the recrudescence of Hindu nationalism in India and the erosion of its secular commitments, India's secular claim to Kashmir is now based mostly on political exigency.

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