Kashmir History

The Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest unresolved international conflicts in the world today. This dispute dominates Indo-Pakistan relations, and has also become central for peace and stability in the South Asian region. Since 1998 it has been described as a nuclear flashpoint. Pakistan considers Kashmir as its core political dispute with India. India and Pakistan have already fought four wars over Kashmir. The exchange of fire between their forces across the Line of Control, which separates Pakistan controlled Azad Kashmir from Indian Occupied Kashmir, is a routine affair.

The Indian troops-to-Kashmiri people ratio in the occupied Kashmir is the largest ever soldiers-to-civilians ratio in the world. There are approximately 700,000 Indian military forces—including regular army, para-military troops, border security force and police—currently deployed in the occupied Kashmir. This is in addition to thousands of “counter-militants”—the civilians hired by the Indian forces to crush the popular movement.

Since the start of popular uprising, the gurriella warfare between Indian Armed Forces and liberation forces, thousands of innocent Kashmir people have been killed. There are various estimates of these killings. According to government of

India

estimates, the number of persons killed in Indian Kashmir between 1989 and 1996 was 15,002. Other Indian leaders have stated a much higher figure. For instance, former Home Minister Mohammad Maqbool Dar said nearly 40,000 people were killed in the Valley “over the past seven years.” Farooq Abdullah’s 1996 statement estimated 50,000 killings “since the beginning of the uprising.” The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), which is a representative body of over two dozen Kashmiri freedom fighters’ organizations—cites the number over hundred thousand. Estimates of world news agencies and international human rights organizations are over 50,000 killed.