The Never Ending War: between India and Pakistan

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The Never Ending War: between India and Pakistan  

Kaushik Surisetty

April 29, 2009

History 20IB

Mr. Lissinna

Word count:  1843

  1. Plan of the investigation

The topic of this investigation is the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1947-1949, 1965, and 1971. We will look at the causes, practices and the effects of the war.  The question that will be answered through this paper is why the first Indo-Pakistani war in 1947 was triggered and was it predominately the religious differences between each country. Since the creation of the independent nations of Pakistan and India in 1947, Kashmir has been the subject of a political tug-of-war between India and Pakistan. Religious aspects appear to play a significant role in the ongoing conflict, yet geopolitical, economic, and other factors must also be examined. It is important to consider to what extent religious differences have shaped the Kashmir conflict. 

  1. Summary of Evidence

Indo-Pakistani Wars were three wars occurred between India and Pakistan after they gained independence from Britain in 1947. The first and second wars (1947 -1949 and 1965) were fought for the territory of Jammu and Kashmīr now known as only Kashmir, in the subcontinent in the northwestern part of the Indian. The authority of this state still remains a matter of dispute between India and Pakistan. The third war (1971) involved Indian military’s intrusion in a civil war in Pakistan. This brief and decisive interference resulted in the independence of Pakistan’s eastern province, East Pakistan, as the nation of Bangladesh.

The British impacted the two countries as the British gave them their independence. There was no order that was left after the British left. It was the remnants of policy which stated that the states of India and Pakistan would be created by if the majority of the population was Muslim or Hindu. There were many problems with this of course. It is also important to consider the ongoing role the United Nations (UN) has played in the conflict from as early as 1949, when the UN arranged a cease-fire and created the Line of Control, which still exists today. 

From the partition of British India in 1947 onward, the basis of the recurrent strife and violence in Kashmir has been the same that brought forth two separate countries in the first place: fears of the Muslim minority over domination and discrimination by the Hindu majority. At the time of partition, British India was divided into more than 500 "princely states." In the great majority of these, the ruling prince, or maharaja, followed the same religious faith as his subjects. Most states quickly acceded to Indian control, but three resisted: Hyderabad, Junagadh, and Kashmir, or more formally, Jammu and Kashmir. The first two were territories holding a Hindu majority, but ruled by Muslims; while the latter held a majority of Muslims but was ruled by Hari Singh, a Hindu. When it became clear that the Muslim leaders of Hyderabad and Junagadh were reluctant to become part of India, the Indian military occupied and absorbed these states by the end of 1948. In Kashmir, where fully two-thirds of the population was Muslim, the Hindu maharaja refused to commit to either Pakistan's or India's domain. This was interpreted by some radical Muslims in Kashmir as a delaying tactic, designed to prevent Kashmir from joining Pakistan; and an armed revolt, aided by Muslim militia who crossed the border from Pakistan, erupted in southern Kashmir in late 1947. The Hindu leader, Hari Singh, promptly acceded to India and requested military assistance, thus initiating the first of three wars fought over the Kashmiri state. While Pakistan believes that all Muslim areas of formerly British India should belong to Pakistan, India believes that to cede Kashmir to Pakistan would set a dangerous precedent.

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Another perspective on the conflict of Kashmir is geopolitical. In 1846, the Kashmir region was "purchased" from the British by the predominantly Hindu Dogras. Apparently Hindu Dogra rule was autocratic and widely abusive of the rights—indeed few were granted—of the 77% Muslim population. Education of Muslims was neglected, resulting in widespread illiteracy; there was no free press; and Muslims suffered from oppressive taxation. These are social and economic issues; they are not intrinsically religious. The princely states of British India, of which Jammu and Kashmir was the largest, were given three choices: to join Pakistan, to join India, or to declare themselves ...

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