Kashmir The Unending Tragedy

Kashmir, burdened with an unending humanitarian tragedy and rampant violence, craves for a peaceful settlement. Its reality is the Elephant in the room, with India pretending to sleep. As the country hosts empowerment symposiums, the Valley awaits a political dialogue to take off. The place once considered as a paradise on Earth, is now reduced to being a region fraught with terrorism, hatemongering and blatant human rights abuse. This timely book opens a window into ground realities that most of us are unaware of.

Why has the valley of Kashmir, famed for its beauty and tranquillity, become a major flashpoint, threatening the stability of a region of great strategic importance and challenging the integrity of the Indian state? This book examines the Kashmir conflict in its historical context, from the period when the valley was an independent kingdom right up to the struggles of the present day. Located on the borders of China, Central Asia and the Sub-Continent, the insurgency in the valley has also created serious tensions between India and Pakistan. Drawing upon research in India and Pakistan, as well as historical sources, this book traces the origins of the state in the 19th century and the controversial "sale" by the British of the predominantly Muslim valley to a Hindu Maharaja in 1846. Through an exploration of the implications for Kashmir of independence in 1947, it gives a critical account of why, for Kashmir, self-determination may seem a more attractive option than affiliation to a larger multi-racial whole.

This book examines the origins of the conflict between two nuclear powers – India and Pakistan – and the instability and violence in the disputed territory of Kashmir. It presents to its readers a chronology of events and political decisions that have led to an intractable situation of the present, many decades since the stand-off between India and Pakistan started. Rathnam Indurthy traces the origins of the constant war-like situation between the two most powerful nuclear powers in South Asia through war and peace, agreements and talks, and political leaders and generals. From Indira Gandhi to Vajpayee, and from Zia-ul-Haq, Parvez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif, the volume lays bare the various machinations on the political chessboard. It also looks at the internal issues and politics of Kashmir and offers explanations as well as solutions for the resolution of the festering impasse the two nations have reached. This volume will be of great interest to scholars and readers of foreign policy, international relations, South Asian politics, and defence and strategic studies.

This diary of a young Muslim Kashmiri boy is not one of those usual diaries that young boys write,. It carries none of the supposed ‘fun’ details that teenagers are supposedly indulging in. After all, this Kashmiri boy, Gull Mohammad is living in no ordinary circumstances. He is living in challenging circumstances, in a conflict zone!. He is a Muslim Kashmiri boy who is shifted from his home in Srinagar’s down town, to a madrasa in New Delhi. Mind you, shifted by his own parents in the hope that he will be able to survive and study in a stress-free scenario, far away from the curfews and crackdowns that disrupt life in the Kashmir Valley. But that doesn’t happen. He faces disruptions, disturbances, discriminations, and disparities along the communal strain.He is more than often taunted along the ‘Kashmiri Muslim’ strain. He writes details of the painful taunts and situations, as he is shifted from one locale to the next, finally finding safe refuge in a Calicut situated ‘home’ for children from all communities. Until another destined turn intrudes, leaving him devastated.

Contributed articles chiefly with reference to India.

The escalating tensions between India and Pakistan have received renewed attention of late. Since their genesis in 1947, the nations of India and Pakistan have been locked in a seemingly endless spiral of hostility over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Ganguly asserts that the two nations remain mired in conflict due to inherent features of their nationalist agendas. Indian nationalist leadership chose to hold on to this Muslim-majority state to prove that minorities could thrive in a plural, secular polity. Pakistani nationalists argued with equal force that they could not part with Kashmir as part of the homeland created for the Muslims of South Asia. Ganguly authoritatively analyzes why hostility persists even after the dissipation of the pristine ideological visions of the two states and discusses their dual path to overt acquisition of nuclear weapons, as well as the current prospects for war and peace in the region.

After 20 years of insurgency, Kashmir continues to be a major flashpoint and decisive factor in destabilising regional relations. Resolving the dispute over the state of Jammu and Kashmir is crucial to achieving peace and stability, without which the US Af-Pak strategy is unlikely to succeed. With international eyes focused on South Asia, understanding what is at stake in Kashmir has never been more important. For decades, the dispute over the valley of Kashmir, famed for its beauty and tranquility, has determined much of Pakistan's and India's foreign policy. With the state, located between two nuclear-armed nations, and India blaming Pakistani militants for the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, the potentially wider implications of the conflict are higher than ever on the international agenda.This fully updated edition of Kashmir in Conflict offers a highly readable, carefully documented account of the origins, development and implications of this contentious issue. Beginning with the early history of the independent kingdom of Kashmir, Victoria Schofield traces the origins of the modern state in the nineteenth century, including the controversial 'sale' by the British of predominantly Muslim Kashmir to a Hindu ruler. She examines the implications for the people when in 1947 the Maharaja chose secular, yet majority Hindu, India over Muslim Pakistan and shows why the neighbouring countries continue to argue over the status of Jammu and Kashmir which, according to recommendations... passed by the UN, was to be determined by the will of the people.